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Marion:
Crazy’s definitely
come to this town for a visit.
Small town, hapless folks, average day, and
a comet. All of which are the menu for a brutally satirical zombie film
known by horror fans as “Undead.” The low budget Aussie production has
become renowned among horror fans as one of the better zombie films to
come around in years, and they’d be right. Aside from the masterpiece
“Shaun of the Dead,” The Spierig Brother’s film manages to be both
creepy, and utterly twisted a concept hard to accomplish with zombie
fare now an utterly tired genre. What occurs in “Undead” is the typical,
yet unpredictable. A bunch of comets crash in a small town, and now all
the residents have become brain eating zombies—don’t you hate when that
happens? Now, the remaining survivors, a bunch of officers, a model, a
pregnant nurse, and a bayou hunter, have to find their way out and
figure out how to stop the epidemic.
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One of the most interesting
ambiguous plot twists is not just having acid rain that
mounts with the zombies, or zombie fish that can jump out of
water to bite its victims, but also having a stalwart from a
John Woo film appear in the guise of a bayou Aussie. Marion
has a long rimmed had, a goofy beard, and suspenders, but he
also has spurs and kicks all sorts of zombie ass.
Hell, he can flip, he can fight,
he appears at the right times, and knows what to do in a
really bad situation. |
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How
Marion came to be, how he built a fortress out of his small cabin,
and how he was able stock his ammo remains a mystery, but if you’re
looking for the most unusual horror heroes of the genre, look no
further than Marion, played by Mungo McKay. If you’re expecting a
straight up zombie flick, you’re in for a disappointment. The
Spierig brothers go into this film with tongue planted firmly in
cheek, and that’s what makes “Undead” so much fun.
What’s
interesting about the Spierig’s film is the pure sense of unease
from the get go, but that’s undercut by the zombie fish trying to
bite someone’s face off. The atmosphere is fun, with a story that’s
both creepy, and utterly moronic, but also features some of the most
ridiculous but fantastic stunts accomplished by our hero Marion.
Beyond his outlandishly fun character, The Spierig Brothers give us
a fun and often creepy little zombie entry into the genre, and I had
more fun than I thought I would.
One of the biggest problems from “Undead” is
the often ambiguous plot devices that are utterly irritating, even to an
audience who enjoys using their imagination. For example, we never do
find out where Marion comes from, we never find out how he learned
martial arts, how he obtained such advanced fire arms, and how he
learned to combat the zombies. This man has much knowledge of the
technology and strategy taken in consideration with the alien siege, yet
we never get the complete logic behind his knowledge. Beyond that, the
characters we have to sit with are morons.
Rather than shooting with their weapons, they just stand there screaming
most of time as the zombies lay siege to them. I’d be screaming like
Frankie Vali on helium too, but shit you have guns in your hand, use
them until you’re out of ammo! And the Spierig brothers vainly attempt
to add a sense of characterization by often forcing dramatic situations
down our throats to connect with them. And it’s often very weak and
utterly grating on the audience. The fact the characters are trapped by
flesh eating zombies and decide to argue about a lost beauty contest is
utterly horrible writing, and the missed opportunity for true focus
that’s never touched on in the first half of the film.
At the end of the day it’s no “Shaun of the
Dead,” or “Dead Alive,” but damn is it ever an entertaining
tongue-in-cheek zombie comedy. “Undead” is very flawed, but its also
pretty entertaining, with some over-the-top gore that will please the
horror hounds. For an equally entertaining experience, check out “Evil
Aliens.”
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