My Uncle John Is a Zombie! (2016) User Reviews (7)

Original, fun, and a surprisingly feel good film

[rorryc · 28 November 2017]

This is the first review I've written for a movie this is also the first movie in years that has spoken to me as a woman by providing a strong female character whose position and struggles I both empathize and identify with.

I drove to Pittsburgh to the premiere of My Uncle John Is A Zombie. I didn't know very much about the film and had been invited by a friend. I didn't know what to expect and based on the review buy Eric E. Poe I did not have high expectations and I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised.

The movie starts out very much the same as the original Night Of The Living Dead and I settled in to watch what I expected to be another spin off or rehashing of the original. I couldn't have been more wrong.

John Russo was so funny as Uncle John. He put together a fun campy story and did a stellar job of writing, casting, and directing the movie But in every scene Cy-Fi dominated the screen. From her original eye catching wardrobe to her expressions communicating tangible emotions to her being the only character who behaved differently when faced with different situations. The interactions between her and Oscar are gold. I wish there would be more scenes with the two of them interacting. The interactions between her and Sarah French need better development, but her contempt and hostility towards the woman police officer is very much mirrors how many people feel about how the police allow dangerous criminals walk free due to sloppy work (a child molester in this instance) while harassing everyday people struggling to protect and provide for their families. As a single mother I identify with Cy-Fi's character in many ways. While she struggles to care for her aging uncle while providing for her family. It's struggle I know very well.

As a feminist I can't say enough good about the majority of the main characters being female and not being cheaply exploited. Good actresses or not, it's refreshing to see women taken seriously instead of being used as fan service to keep male interest. All of the female characters were written as strong, confident, and intelligent women.

The really bad: Whomever was in charge of continuity for the script did an awful job, You can tell that have the scenes for the female reporter where shot at an entirely different time. The drastic changes in her hair color make the time line for her character's involvement extremely confusing. I'm still not clear as to when the scene of her standing in front of the brick wall is supposed to fit in, same with the extremely choppy and awkward scene between the Reporter and Sarah French in the dressing room. In several scenes it seems like the dialogue was just chopped up and carelessly slapped together this negatively affects the momentum of the film.

The most touching part of the entire experience was actually meeting Cy-Fi. The premiere was on her birthday, and she event invited me to come to the restaurant with them afterwards. It might not seem like a big deal to everyone, but that was the first time a movie star has talked to me without my having paid. Sadly I had to get home to my son, I don't like leaving him with a sitter past midnight. Then her and some of her friends walked me the three blocks to my car in the cold in formal wear. She'd just met me and was willing to take time out of her busy schedule to see that I got there safely.

I know these reviews are supposed to be about the movie, but Cy-Fi made my experience memorable. It's rare to see a person of her status honestly care about the safety of a stranger.

Somewhat fun

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 13 April 2022]

After being drafted into the army for a two year tour, John Russo came back to Pittsburgh and started working with The Latent Image, making commercial films but always planning a feature someday. Russo crafted a rough idea about a young man stumbling upon a host of ghouls feeding off human corpses, then George Romero wrote forty pages of a story based on that rough concept.

When Russo and George A. Romero parted ways after the movie that ensured -- Night of the Living Dead -- Russo retained the rights to any titles featuring Living Dead while Romero was free to create his own series of sequels. Russo's book Return of the Living Dead became the movie. And before that he was already making his own films like Midnight, The Booby Hatch, Heartstopper and The Majorettes, which was directed by Bill Hinzman, the Cemetery Zombie in Night who also directed Flesheater.

Directed by Russo and co-written with Robert Lucas, this film can at least claim that while Russo may not be the father of the modern American flesheater movie, he's definitely at least an uncle. Or Uncle John, the somewhat still-human undead main character of the film, a zombie who becomes a celebrity in a world that now treats the undead like a different ethnic group.

Shot in the same Evans City cemetery as Night, as well as locations in Clairton, West Mifflin and Braddock, this takes place a half-decade after the canon real events of the first film and now, Uncle John is a horny old man protected by his niece Cy-Fi (using her real name, she's also in Crucifvixen and the documentary Pola in she plays herself as a rave DJ) and nephew Oscar (Gary Lee Vincent, the 2020 remake of Midnight). Meanwhile, zombie hunter Reverend Hotchkiss (Russell Streiner, the man who once said, "Barbara, they're coming to get you.") is hunting him down and a cop named Jane Smart (Sarah French, Art of the Dead) wants to know how he stays alive if he isn't eating people.

There's also a right wing hunting camp that wants to protect the Second Amendment and also kill as many zombies as possible. Also, if you love commercial breaks within the film, this has them. It also has Debbie Rochon, Tiffany Shepis, Felissa Rose and Lloyd Kaufman with the Toxic Avenger and Sgt. Kabukiman, which was enough to make me want to shut this off but I got through it.

Jizmak the Gusha from Gwar is in this, out of makeup, as is George Kosana, who played Sheriff McClelland in Night and who is finally called to task for shooting more black zombies than white ghouls. I mean, this film has John Russo in zombie makeup on a sex swing somewhere at a rave party in Braddock along with social commentary and if you're willing to take that ride, it's here.

This movie at best, is a learning tool for what not to do

[therealkellz · 1/10 · 28 December 2020]

Where do you begin with this movie? I'm gonna start with the dialogue being dull and having absolutely no flow to it. The characters weren't even remotely worth caring about because they just sounded like they were reading their lines off the ground. From minute one, it felt like the movie was begging for an audience and tried too hard from start to finish. Oh it gets better, the movie constantly overcompensates for lack of plot by frequently shifting to a news story. Were the audiences falling asleep that much? So here's what the supposed plot is. Uncle John is kept in hiding by his half wit niece and quarter wit nephew who share a brain that doesn't work. Then, suddenly, after an interview with a super bitch reporter, he becomes famous and plays the dirty old man entitled to women a third his age. Sorry Russo, but Vince McMahon already beat that concept to death in the Ruthless Aggression era. The only thing redeeming about this movie was the nostalgia of Night Of The Living Dead, which will always be the GOAT of zombie flicks. This movie was crowdfunded so lack of funds is not an excuse for being bad, I've seen better movies made on a no budget. The lessons to be learned by aspiring filmmakers from this movie are simple, create characters people care about, don't beat a concept to death, and tighten up your cinematography and editing skills before you put yourself out there.

The Dead must be Spiked

[nogodnomasters · 8/10 · 16 May 2020]

This is an homage film to at least two previous zombie films. It is built on the premise the old black and white "Night of the Living Dead" and "Return of the Living Dead" were true. The sheriff who shot Ben in the first film is confronted in this one. The ability of zombie's being able to talk is from the other feature. John Russo who was heavily involved in both features plays Uncle John in this one. This also includes some "B" film favorites: Sarah French, Debbie Rochon, Tiffany Shepis. The feature spoofs our politically correct society as well as "Faux News." Note the Lucas family headstone in the cemetery.

On the negative side, the Lloyd Kaufman insert was stupid. Cy-Fi couldn't read a line to save her life. Danielle Inks wasn't much better.

Guide: F-word. picture posed nudity.

Fun if slightly underwhelming zombie comedy

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 31 January 2020]

Having recovered his human faculties, a high-functioning zombie emerges from hiding and agrees to become a spokesman for the fair treatment of zombies in a society ready to kill them at a moment's notice, but when his celebrity status starts to bring unwanted attention to him he turns to his trusting family to keep him safe.

This was a highly enjoyable and entertaining effort. Among the more entertaining elements present here is a strongly original setup that gives a pretty unique take on the zombie formula. Taking on the used trope of a zombie returning to his natural capabilities years or even decades after the apocalypse broke out which isn't new, the idea of turning that into a cultured, refined creature able to express his thoughts and desires in every bit the way a normal person can even with the traditional zombie antics, creating a fine setup here. As well, there's also a lot to like with the different action scenes. The various hunting scenes of the group out hunting the various zombies at the compound has some fun with the swarming zombies coming together and getting shot in fun gun-battles. These scenes at the camp occur pretty frequently in short bursts showing the various groups of individuals out hunting the various beings in the forest which always seems to go wrong at the best opportunities is a lot of fun with the rather enjoyable gore and disembodied parts on display. That makes the finale a lot of fun with the assault on the compound resulting in massive zombie swarming scenes, tons of indie-flavored gunfights and solid gore all-around really make for an enjoyable time making this one quite fun to end on. The other enjoyable aspect to like is the comedy aspects featured here, which are quite obvious from the main setup. There's a lot to like with the outlandish premise of the zombie coming into the picture able to wax poetically, exercise to catch prey easier and live out the lifestyle of an internet celebrity due to these aspects. That satire on the premise of reality-show stardom by their series of flashy, sound-bite riddled interviews on the program where everything comes off with a great deal of hilarity for how it parodies the modern sensibilities of people wanting to get themselves out there no matter how they appear. The rest of the comedy, from the quips and physical jokes here that are rather enjoyable, making this one pretty entertaining overall. The film does have a few minor flaws. The biggest issue will undoubtedly come from the lack of any real threat to be had from the main zombie who, despite the intentions of exorcising to catch up to younger women or the constant mentions of him trying to eat people. That makes this one come off like a one-note joke the longer it goes on with all the flirting and dirty-old-man double-entendres that make the atmosphere even less of an issue than it was before with no real terror to be had from the main zombie. Some of the storyline twists, from who's in league with who in the hunting game or switching around the anchors on the shows, come off for no reason why they happened but there's not a whole lot else wrong here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and sexual humor.

Sometimes humorous, sometimes bittersweet, sometimes WTF

[poe_eric · 12 April 2017]

I was a recent attendee of Mad Monster Party 2017 in Rock Hill, SC, since my short film, "Incubation Period" was playing there as part of a short film block. I was pretty excited about that, as can be expected, but I was just as excited to see the premiere of "My Uncle John Is a Zombie," written and directed by John Russo.

I had heard about "My Uncle John...," first through a crowd-funding event, and then at the Mad Monster Party 2016, where I met John Russo. Since Mr. Russo was attending Mad Monster Party 2017, and would be in attendance at the premiere of his film, it was even more exciting. When the day arrived, I was pretty pumped.

First, let me delve into some of the negative aspects of "My Uncle John..." (I know this was a rough cut, so hopefully some of the issues will be worked out, eventually.) Film and sound quality were not so great. Fixable issues. A lot of the acting (there were tons of brief character appearances and featured extras) was simply not very good. The story line seemed a little jumbled, and wasn't very tight.

Onto some of the positive aspects. John Russo did a fine job as Uncle John. He had some great lines, and there were lots of funny moments. Tiffany Shepis was a surprise I wasn't expecting, and did a fabulous job, as usual. Debbie Rochon was right on point with her brash zombie-killing character. It was great, and a little bittersweet, to see George Kasana one last time, and in a film that was sort of an homage to "Night of the Living Dead."

It made my day that as I sat there in a theater, watching "My Uncle John Is a Zombie," with John Russo in the room with me, Tom Savini came in for a few minutes, and sat right next to me. Always interesting to hob-nob with the legends.

I can't give this film, as I saw it, a solid A. There were too many technical things gone wrong for that. I will, however, give it a B minus. If you're a zombie fan, this is a must see for the connections to zombie legends.

John Russo proves there's Life after Death...

[poe-48833 · 9/10 · 28 March 2017]

Just spent three days at the Mad Monster Party in Rock Hill, South Carolina, meeting some of my heroes and seeing a rough cut of MY UNCLE JOHN IS A ZOMBIE! NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD co-creator John Russo plays the title character and his ghoulish makeup only highlights his matter-of-fact delivery and candidly candid comments and gives his character an almost Groucho Marx-back-from-the-grave quality. It's a truly outstanding performance. Russ Streiner is also in top form as a righteous man o' God who wants to put a stop to all this fornicatin' and necrophelia. (In Real Life, Streiner is hands down the sweetest celebrity I've ever met, quick with a smile and a fast draw with a friendly handshake.) The late George Kosana also has a brief cameo. (For those of you who don't know it, Kosana played the Sheriff in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the man who delivered the memorable line, "They're dead... they're all messed up.") My niece told me that she'd seen Judith O'Dea ("Barbara" in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD) at the Convention and that she "hasn't aged a day." I had to see for myself, and, sure enough, it was true. I nabbed her autograph and, following a Q&A session in which she proved to be as quick-witted as Russo and Streiner, I suggested to Mr. Russo that she'd make a good sex therapist/dominatrix in MY UNCLE JOHN IS A ZOMBIE! (I suggested that she could "service" the righteous Streiner after his sermons and, later still, become "Uncle John's" "therapist"). Ms. O'Dea is what they used to call "a classy dame." When I asked Tom Savini if he had any photos from his remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, he crossed his arms and said, "I was too busy directing the movie to take any pictures." Nonetheless, I bought a poster (which he graciously signed) of the original DAWN OF THE DEAD. (At the screening of MY UNCLE JOHN IS A ZOMBIE!, there was someone sitting directly behind me who- no doubt inadvertently- kept making noise. I held my tongue, trying to concentrate on the movie. My niece came in and asked me how long it would be before we could leave; I told her I had no idea and she left. Later, she asked me: "Did you know that Tom Savini was sitting right behind you?" I laughed. And, just for the record: this isn't a criticism of Savini in any way, shape or form; it's just what happened that day.) The only member of the DEAD posse that I didn't get to meet was The Maestro himself, George Romero- but there'll be other conventions, I'm sure...