Heck, Billy Connolly (of The Boondock Saints fame among others) plays the damn zombie! Dylan Baker (Dr. Connors in Raimi's Spider-Man) is the boy's father with Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix, Memento) in the mother role so you know the acting is brilliant. You couldn't have a better cast. Henry Czerny is another amazing actor whose name I didn't know until I looked him up, but you've seen him in tons of stuff, and he's one of my favorites in this. There's a lot of subtle but hilarious humor just playing with the conventions of this sub-genre. Such a shame then this gem only got released on two screens in the US. Way to go, Lions Gate! Good original horror? Dump it. Saw 25? Wide release with all the promotion you can buy!
I keep looking at that poster, wondering why it doesn't interest me. Maybe because it's just another zombie? If it actually tried to convey the story ie a boy and his zombie, I think I'd be more interested but probably a trailer would really have to do it. Ok, maybe this isn't an easy sell, but Lions Gate could've at least tried to market it. Again, look at Edward Scissorhands... they found a way to sell that (probably just because of Burton's success with Batman and Beetlejuice). What's funny is Eddie also opened on just two screens but grew and grew until it ended up grossing $56 million just in the US. Studios suck. It's all about minimizing risk and increasing profit... welcome to the business.
Hey, wait, why is this in here? Bad Google.
Great review. I like the way you think. Personally, I think this movie has all the right things going for it. Amazing cast, great cinematography, unique premises and lots of laughs. I think it's great to see a zombie-apocalypse movie where humanity is improved as a result. What would you do with your own zombie servant? I'd get him to fold laundry. I have laundry.
ReplyDeleteI also got the chance to review this movie on my Horror Movie Review blog. Take a look if you get a chance, I can always use some feedback from another critic.
http://horrormoviemedication.blogspot.com/2013/03/fido-zombie-is-mans-best-friend.html