“Jesus was the original zombie.”

I guess zombie movies have reached the point where they’re basically self-consuming niche titles that have nothing new to offer. They’re either vague remakes of Romero, or vague remakes of “Shaun of the Dead” which is where “American Zombie” comes in. It’s a mock documentary that also tries to be social commentary, and more often than not it manages to work well as a tongue in cheek little satire on society and its fear of immigration and outsiders. Every society has to have a minority of individuals who choose a lifestyle that we have to chastise and condemn, and director Grace Lee takes an interesting step in exploring this collective action of a fearful society through the scope of the horror genre that turns zombies into a group of re-animated beings seeking to go about their lives in a world that has little room for them. Lee wryly gives us a view of a world that doesn’t want the walking dead because there’s simply not enough room left.

And like every other minority, the zombies are often manipulated, taken advantage of, and preyed on by the religious and alleged shamans through spiritual healing as well as bringing to light our lust for immortality. “At what cost, eternal life?” is the question constantly posed, and it's not an easy resolution. Lee also takes this time in focusing on the lives (so to speak) of the zombies to gradually unfold a mystery that brings this dark comedy in to a realm of pure horror as co-filmmaker John constantly antagonizes the subjects and begs to discover what’s in their refrigerators (certain they are storing body parts for consumption), while also mocking the sheer pretensions of documentaries that take great pains in the conceit of guerilla filmmaking, while also being pompous cinema verite in the process. Lee brings the story along in anticipation of the upcoming “Live Dead,” a type of gathering of the walking dead that is extremely closed off to humans, which ushers in the hints of horror Lee slowly aims for, and the screws turn to take a very compelling direction on zombie films as a whole. Lee covers all bases and when we least expect it, she also manages to sneak in a creepy zombie flick.

Grace Lee's mock documentary about the zombie minority is a great concept with potential for some cheeky undertones with a creepy second half, but that's sullied by her inability to pick a tone for her film, as well as pick an actual story for her premise, while much of what we see on screen is left up in the air thanks to the abrupt ending.