I really don’t remember if I was sent this 2011 film as a screener, was gag gifted it, or bought it on a whim but the DVD has been sitting in my over-sized pile of movies to watch for about 2 years so I decided to bite the bullet and sit down to watch it. After having watched it I really hope it was a screener or gift and that I didn’t actually pay for it. That should give you an idea where this is going.
In this realm of a zombie apocalypse we end up finding that the zombies are caused by some kind of space virus right off the bat that comes down and starts infecting people. We see a quick idea of how it spread and fast forward to two stoners who are surviving after the apocalypse. We don’t really see how they are surviving by getting their supplies but we do see how they are getting by on their own supply, or weed that is. Yes, ‘Bong of the Dead’ should have given it away with the name that it’s a stoner zombie film. It’s an idea that could have potential if it didn’t seem like writer and director Thomas Newman (‘Lake Placid’) was stoned while he was creating it.
The introduction actually is catchy. It’s a bit of off humor silent film styled horror that makes you think that the director may have been on to something. It was a different way to not only introduce how zombies were done but had enough of a different approach that I got my hopes up about the film. That was a mistake. I’m not sure if it was genius or fluke but all of the good will the film bought was spent right after that.
Edwin and Tommy are the two ‘heroes’ of the film though in all honestly all they want to do is chase their next high. What we find out that makes them have to go and deal with more zombies is that apparently the brains of the undead make for some killer fertilizer for weed. (Yes, because THAT sounds like a good idea to try out.) With their stash getting low they must run to ‘the danger zone’ in order to track down more of the undead and grab a few brain filled skulls to restock.
While the thought on the twist of humans needing zombie brains is fun, getting there is painful. The dialogue is full of horribly written (and not funny) stoner jokes and a pile of what is apparently waxing poetic about the state of the world in the zombie apocalypse.
It just didn’t mesh together.
The film had an almost redeeming moment when the two stoners car runs out of gas and they meet ‘Leah’ as the bad ass chick whose been on her own. It worked for a full ten minutes and I again got my hopes up until she suddenly was quite smitten with the two, in her own way. I understand that she had to ‘go along with them’ to move the story forward but the way they did it? Just didn’t work for me.
Oh, and there is an intelligent zombie trying to build an army from the not-so-intelligent undead that’s out there as well.
Now on the one hand the film had a lot of things going for it visually with the $5,000 budget it had to put it together. *I* could probably not make a movie that looked better on that budget. So I really can’t knock the movie visually (and they did have a decent look for most of the undead as well.) So I can’t completely tear this one apart.
So with a slow plot and a not funny script when it’s supposed to be a zomcom.. I just can’t suggest picking this one up.
I’m pretty sure I was just a LOT more fair to this movie than it deserved. It must be the holiday spirit.
