DANCE OF THE DEAD

Director: Gregg Bishop

Stars: Jared Kusnitz, Greyson Chadwick, Chandler Darby, Carissa Capobianco, Blair Redford, Justin Welborn, Mark Oliver

Year: 2008

Rating: R

I had passed this film by on the DVD rental shelf a couple of times, in favor of other fare, until a good friend suggested that I needed to see it. Now that it's become one of my favorite indie films of all time, this refreshing and very funny zombie horror/comedy hybrid - right up there with Shaun of the Dead in both quality and humor - was so enjoyable, I almost feel the need to send said friend a gift; I'm that grateful.

Populated (for the most part) by a cast or young, relatively unknown actors, the lack of star casting adds even more to the reality of the film, as we open (after a brief - and a bit unsettling - opener with a gravedigger in the local cemetery) on a smallish town whose teenagers are gearing up big-time for the upcoming prom. Jimmy (Jared Kusnitz) is one such teen, the class clown who spends more time in biology cutting up than cutting into his frog. It's just another day for Jimmy, who by the end of it winds up in detention with his friend Steven (Chandler Darby) - a Sci-Fi Club geek not-so-secretly in love with the popular cheerleader beauty in school, Gwen (Carissa Capobianco). As Jimmy suffers through detention, after school, with the unrelenting, military-trained drill sergeant Coach Keel (Mark Oliver), Steven's having his own issues - after learning that Gwen's prom date ate some bad spinach and is sick with food poisoning - with trying to ask Gwen to go to the prom with him. Even with his sci-fi geek buddies egging him on, Steven is unable to bring himself to ask his object of affection to go ... especially after learning it's the long-haired leader of the rock band that was just rejected by the prom board, Nash Rambler (Blair Redford), she now has her eyes on.

Things only get worse when Gwen finally asks Nash to take her to prom - only to find out what a sexist pig he is - even as Jimmy gets his own ego deflated when his own prom date, Lindsey (the beautiful-in-a-quirky-way Greyson Chadwick) finally tires of Jimmy's inability to take anything seriously, and dumps him right in the gym that same afternoon. Jimmy decides to stag the prom, as Lindsey takes up an invitation to go with a boy from the right side of the tracks, Mitch (Jeff Adelman) ... as both Gwen and Steven, individually, decide to forsake the prom altogether - Steven in favor of a ghost-hunting cemetery jaunt with his Sci-Fi Club buddies instead, as Gwen throws on some sweats and an iPod to take a run around her neighborhood.

But all this is bupkis compared to when the dead start coming back to life - and out of the ground, craving brains (seemingly thanks to the highly-toxic nuclear power plant, literally on the outskirts of town). Jimmy - called on his way to prom to deliver a pizza in his pizza-wagon car, barely escapes a family of zombies wanting to chew on him instead ... as Mitch pulls over in the cemetery on the hill, overlooking a sweet view of the city (obscured as it is by the oversized power plant in the distance, as well), and attempts a pre-prom make-out session with Lindsey - that is, until zombies yank him right out of his car. Nash and his bandmates, meanwhile, are jamming in a garage when the dead attack - until, by accident, they find out that music hath charms to soothe the savage dead - as the high school psycho-bully, Kyle Grubbin (Justin Welborn), gets his own savagery knocked down a peg or two, when attacked by the real thing in savagery. Even the sci-fi club, headed by Steven, soon realizes they've bitten off more than they can chew in the graveyard - when the cemetery residents come back to life, wanting to chew on them.

The various prom misfits join forces - first in small groups, until they finally all find each other - to battle the brain- and flesh-eating dead. Even Coach Keel slips into full commando mode to aid them in their quest, as the gang realizes that the zombies are most likely heading for the noisiest, tastiest banquet ever - the senior prom - and head out, armed, to battle the dead and save their classmates.

I went into this film with no expectations, and yet feel it exceeded any expectations I could have had. Done on a small budget, with typical indie-film flaws, any of those flaws can easily be forgiven and forgotten in light of the great cast and storytelling the film has to offer. It works as a zombie film - gory enough to satisfy the blood-lovers, with a few real jump-in-your-seat moments and plenty of action - yet, at the same time, it's funny as hell and still tells an involving story that really makes you like, believe in, and root for the characters. Jared Kusnitz and Chandler Darby, as Jimmy and Steven, are true hero-geeks you'll grow to love, and Greyson Chadwick and Carissa Capobianco - Lindsey and Gwen - prove to be feminine beauties that also in no way need a guy around to help kick zombie butt. Mark Oliver and Justin Welborn even play a couple of off-the-wall nutcases that you grow to care about in the film, as well.

Dance of the Dead is an excellently-cast, funny as hell, suspenseful and bloody zombie flick with both a heart and brains. You couldn't ask for more from a full-budget Hollywood blockbuster - let alone a little indie film that's just a real pleasure to watch.

Thanks for the recommend, Larry; I loved it. ****1/2 - Reel Awesome-Reel Must-See