October 19, 2018
Written by: Phil Ivanusic, Davila LeBlanc, Peter Ricq
Starring: Matthew Nelson-Mahood, Lizzie Boys, Gabriel LaBelle
Quote: "You cannot shotgun what you can't see, dumbass."
Trivia: Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things (2016) and It (2017) fame starred in the proof of concept trailer for the film's Kickstarter campaign video.
Dead Shack is a comedy horror that intermixes these two influences into a very unique blend. The comedy is mostly really light (although there is a handful of dark comedy thrown in) and juxtaposed next to the brutal gore and violence, it gives the film an odd quality. Many previous reviews have already commented negatively on this aspect of the film, however I liked it. It reminds me of Sam Raimi's use of comedy in Evil Dead 2. While the movie is a zombie film, it is the banter between the characters, especially Roger and his son Colin that are most memorable in the film. Their exchanges, and the dialogue as a whole, are so seamless that it almost seems like they're doing improv. The gore is extreme, the story original, and the soundtrack is absolutely on point.
The film begins with a man trying to escape a fairly secluded house. As he runs away he is trailed by a person wearing homemade armor complete with welder's mask holding a rifle. The man hides in a car where the armor person turns loose a zombie on him to consume his body. This scene both piques the viewer's interest, introduces the antagonist, and sets the mood for the film, a dark and horrific mood the film will strip away bit-b-bit. During the next scene, our film follows our protagonist, Jason, as he rides his bicycle across town. More than just introducing the character, the aerial shots show the wealth disparities of the city, from the beautiful mansions where Jason begins to the dilapidated shacks where Jason finally meets his best friend Colin and his family (father Roger, sister Summer, and dad's girlfriend Lisa). During a lunch we learn that Jason is tagging along with the family on their cabin vacation, he is pretending to be poor, he has a crush on Summer, and the family is hilarious!
After arriving at the cabin, the three kids stumble upon the house from the beginning of the movie where they watch as the person in the armor (Lauren Holly), who is a woman and is now out of her armor, drugs two guys and feeds them to zombies that appear to be a type of pet for her. The kids are able to escape but not without the woman noticing them (Colin throws a rock at a car window... to distract her?). When they get back to their cabin, they find their dad and his girlfriend are hammered playing strip Go-Fish. Although the father doesn't believe them, he agrees to go with Jason and Summer to the lady's house while Colin stays back with Lisa. While gone, the neighbor arrives, killing Lisa but Colin is able to escape. Back at the neighbor's house, the father drugs himself by drinking the poisoned wine the lady used on the two people earlier and Jason and Summer are forced to fight off zombies on their own while hiding the father's drugged body. After killing the zombies, the neighbor arrives furious that the kids have killed the zombies which were her family members. The neighbor kills the father (damn, he was the best part of the movie) before being run over by a truck and then having her head crushed with a sledgehammer.
The movie provides a much needed reworking of the well worn zombie genre. While the movie is a zombie film, there is no large outbreak and no cause given for the zombification of the neighbor's family. The movie simple states that her family are zombies and then moves on. Also, while these zombies seem to have the power to spread their disease to others, there doesn't seem to be any fear of a zombie outbreak. I find it really interesting that in a zombie film, the filmmakers seem to do everything in their power to downplay the zombies and instead focus on the family using the zombies only as a catalyst to move the family into action.
Dead Shack is not a comedy with some spooky moments or with a smattering of genre elements. Dead Shack is a horror movie with some genuine gore. There are several scenes where the camera spends a fair deal of time focusing on the zombies tearing apart their victims. The scene where the neighbor returns and unleashes her (husband?) zombie on Lisa is also proof that the filmmakers are not shy of violence. While much of the violence happens off camera, there is enough along with the aftermath to make any gore hounds happy. Then there is the moment when Summer and Jason kill the two zombie children and the final head crushing scene with the sledgehammer. There is no doubt this is a horror movie, and I think that is what confused critics. There have been zombie and gore comedies before (Shaun of the Dead and Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil are two great examples) but they usually have a lightness to them to compliment the comedic moments. This film has no lightness and the comedic moments seem out of place inserted into the darkness of the movie. While others have criticized this approach, I loved it and felt it gave the movie a fresh originality.
Speaking of comedy, the movie is actually really, really funny! Colin and his father provide most of the comedy which starts early on in the film. At lunch Colin is threatening to squirt others with ketchup and when the father tells him not to waste food, Colin responds, "Ketchup is not food Ronald Reagan!" The father has no understanding why its not okay to call his girlfriend Oriental and the hilarious moment when he is trying to pretend he wasn't up to anything when the kids catch him in the middle of Strip-Go-Fish. Colin has his own great moments and probably the funniest is while Lisa is being killed. He is having a pee while she's being killed and he is stuck urinating. Troubled by whether to flee but pee all over the floor or stay and finish up, his urine oscillates between hitting the floor and making it into the toilet. A real Sophie's Choice. There is another great scene where the very drunk dad is trying to let Colin know how much he loves him (everyone's favorite type of drunk) while in the background we can hear Summer and Jason argue over killing the zombie children and how terrible it is. "I love you Colin-" "Oh man, they're kids, this is really messed up!" "Seriously buddy, you mean the world to-" "Smash her skull in!" It makes for a really funny albeit dark moment.
I loved this movie! It is a great flick for anyone who likes horror and comedy but doesn't want their horror watered down or the laughs downplayed.
...what's your thoughts?
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