By Stephen Farber
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) -
Grace Lee's "American
Zombie" is an ambitious mixture of mockumentary, satiric social
commentary and off-center horror movie. The mix doesn't quite
jell, though there are a number of clever moments.
It's uncertain whether devotees of "Night of the Living
Dead" or "28 Days Later" will enjoy a tongue-in-cheek sendup of
the genre, and fans of Christopher Guest-type mockumentaries
might be put off by the primitive production values. Box office
prospects will be iffy when it opens in limited release on
March 28, but DVD business should be better.
Lee includes herself in the film as a documentarian
determined to bring human understanding to members of the
undead community living in Los Angeles. (Indeed, Lee has made
bona fide docus on a number of social issues.) In character,
she reluctantly goes into partnership with another genuine
filmmaker, John Solomon, who plays a genre director eager to
help her gain entry to the zombie community.
Some of the most entertaining sections of the film are the
insider jokes about the prickly collaboration between these two
auteurs from different corners of the indie film universe. "We
don't use storyboards in documentaries," Lee tells her
overeager partner during one of their many rifts.
They decide to focus their film on four zombies: Ivan
(Austin Basis), a convenience-store clerk; Judy (Suzy
Nakamura), a customer-service rep for a health food company;
Lisa (Jane Edith Wilson), a florist; and Joel (Al Vicente), a
political activist who helps to organize the top-secret Live
Dead zombie convention every year. The film interweaves the
four characters' individual stories; their problems include
mundane professional and romantic issues as well as somewhat
more troubling dilemmas like the worms that ooze from the open
wound of one of the zombies. While chronicling these
adventures, the film also takes time to include talking-head
"interviews" with scientists and other experts who pontificate
on zombie culture.
The film changes tone when the filmmakers are granted
permission to attend the zombie convention and are exposed to
horrific rituals, which ultimately place them in jeopardy.
While these moments are meant to be more frightening than the
earlier quasi-docu scenes, the low budget undermines the
intended shock value. Still, there are a couple of nifty
surprises that do work effectively.
The best moments are the humorous ones. A scene in a sweat
shop in which the owner explains why he hires zombies for cheap
labor has genuine satiric bite. A religious revival meeting, in
which a character suggests that "Jesus was the original
zombie," also is droll.
Performances vary widely in quality. Some of the "experts"
who expound on zombie culture are portrayed by such amateurish
actors that the film threatens to collapse. But the four leads
deliver deft performances, and Lee and Solomon play themselves
with panache.
Technical credits reflect the low budget but do not really
detract from the proceedings. The main problem is that the
satire is highly uneven, and the whole enterprise is a bit too
drawn out to retain its irreverent momentum.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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