Dance Zombie, Dance
It's that time of year, that big night where awkward young men get sweaty palms as they try to sort out dates for the High School prom. But plucking up the courage to ask a girl out whilst dealing with jock bullies is not the only problems facing sci-fi nerd Steven (Chandler Darby) as pollution from a nearby power plant has caused the dead to rise from their graves and descend on the school. Now Steven and a misfit bunch of students including a cheerleader, a bully and so on are going to have to find a way to battle these zombies with what ever they can lay their hands on.
On paper "Dance of the Dead" sounds like a killer idea; take a John Hughes style set up of the school prom and use some John Hughes style characters, as in "The Breakfast Club", then throw a big dose of zombie comedy in to the mix so we have some amusing attempts to save themselves from the living dead during their big night. The trouble is that whilst on paper "Dance of the Dead" sounds like a fun idea then end result is not so good and it is plagued by various issues, although thankfully poor effects isn't one of them.
The trouble with "Dance of the Dead" is that far too often the comedy feels like it has been left over from a "Scary Movie" and it makes it feel weak and low budget. That sense of low budget extends to any scene which doesn't involve the special effects of something coming back to life with it feeling like the writers didn't care much for all the scenes which connected it all together. And sadly some of the acting is also distinctly low budget with lots of pauses and the feeling of scenes being staged rather than flowing naturally spoiling things.
What this all boils down to is that "Dance of the Dead" probably could have ended up a decent zombie comedy with more time and money spent on it. But sadly as it stands it feels like a movie made on the fly with those behind the camera making things up as they went whilst making the most out of what ever money they managed to raise.
Tags: Zombie Movies
