hardcoremoose

I call this the ultimate zombie film, not because it portrays the largest horde of undead cannibalizing the world at large, but because it gets back to the roots of the zombie as a metaphor.

George Romero had more in mind when he created the cannibal zombie genre than simply wanting to show people being eaten by rotting corpses. This was never more apparent than in Dawn in the Dead, when our consumer natures are explored by comparing them to the zombies who are also consumers of a different, but similar, variety (and all played out in a mecca of consumerism - a shopping mall).

That's why zombies are scary - because they are us. They look a lot like us, but their corruption is outwardly visible. They behave a lot like us, just a bit more repugnantly. And in the end it's always humans - not zombies - that are the real monsters.

(possible spoilers ahead)

Dellamorte Dellamore takes this theme and blurs it. In the beginning everything is black and white - the zombies are the bad guys and must be destroyed. But then things get fuzzy, as sometimes the undead don't seem quite so bad, maybe just misunderstood. Eventually the line between the living and the dead is completely erased and we begin to see people for themselves - not as simply "alive" or "dead". Along the way we get to explore other themes as well, such as (obviously) mortality, love, personal identity, and maybe even the meaning of life.

Pick this film up. It is clever, funny, well-directed, with great special FX, and an excellent performance by Rupert Everett. Don't forget though, this is a horror film - it has its share of violence (not nearly as gory as many Italian films, but still pretty gruesome by American standards).

Overall, this film is a mixed bag.

The acting is acceptable and the production values are decent. There are plot holes, but given the budget and subject matter, these can be overlooked. This film is more about mood anyway, and the actors and director do a good job of establishing that without digressing to unintentinal camp and humor, as often happens with zero-budget films. Some of the dialogue is a bit stilted, but the actors pull it off with a fair degree of credibility (the fact that they are British helps; their proper way of speaking helps with the goofy-sounding verbiage).

The real problem with this film is that there's not enough going on in it. There is some violence, some of it disturbing, but a little more action would have made this film a lot more entertaining.

This film is good for a rental, but you won't get enough viewings out of it to make it worth owning.

This film is critic-proof. Any film that blends horror, kung-fu, and action with such reckless abandon while demonstrating such a blatant disregard for even the most basic elements of narrative structure simply can not be judged in any normal way. Oh yes, you can certainly form your own opinions about it, but to analyze it critically (which presumes an intellectual dialogue of some sort) puts you in the same category as all those helpful people who keep trying to tell me that pro-wrestling is fake - you're way too serious for your own good. I know pro-wrestling is fake, just like I know this movie stinks by all normal standards, but I love them anyway, not in spite of those 'shortcomings', but because of them.

So if you love gore, crazy action, bad dubbing, and general strangeness, this is the film for you.