American Zombie

Anyone seen this movie yet, I'm so excited

'American Zombie' Movie Review


By Mark H. Harris, About.com

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With American Zombie, documentary filmmaker Grace Lee delves into fiction -- sort of -- with a "zom-com" mockumentary that deals with the issues of identity that she tapped into so successfully in her acclaimed film The Grace Lee Project. This time, however, she uses the conceit of the living dead to represent the marginalized persons seeking a place in society. The juxtaposition of zombies in everyday life is, of course, a ridiculous concept, but unlike Fido, which presented a similar scenario, the undead in American Zombie talk, think and operate as functional citizens -- more like Geico cavemen than Romero zombies.

The Plot

Aspiring filmmaker John Solomon convinces real filmmaker Grace Lee (both playing themselves) that she should focus on zombies for her next documentary. Apparently, zombies, or "revenants," live among us every day, although they tend to fall through the cracks of society, lacking health care, the right to vote and the ability to get a driver's license. Through Lee's (and, to a lesser extent, Solomon's) lens, we learn that zombies are created by a virus known as R428, which can be transmitted to others through a bite. Also, they come in three distinct types: feral, low-functioning and high-functioning.

It's the latter type that the documentary features. Specifically, there are four subjects that the cameras follow, each adhering to a different philosophy for dealing with their social status as living dead. Ivan (Austin Basis) is a fun-loving slacker adolescent who doesn't think about anything beyond beer and babes. Judy (Suzy Nakamura) is a conformist who wants to meld into the living "human" majority. Joel (Al Vicente) is a proud militant zombie who's formed the Zombie Advocacy Group (ZAG) to fight for zombie rights. Lisa (Jane Edith Wilson) is a New Age spiritualist who seeks a deeper meaning to her existence.


Zombie Ivan

Cinema Libre/Lee Lee FilmsAs Grace seeks to expose the everyday struggles facing zombies, John, a frustrated horror director, seeks to uncover something more sinister. He's convinced that zombies are more like the flesh-eaters shown in movies than they would have us believe. When the documentary crew is allowed access to the annual Live Dead festival, though, Grace begins to suspect that something's amiss. The veil of secrecy is too much for the filmmakers to bear, and they find themselves risking everything to uncover the shocking truth.

The End Product

At its heart, American Zombie is a razor-sharp character study, chock full of painfully real characters with oddball quirks, from John's tendency to dress in scrubs to Lisa's penchant for string art to Judy's scrapbook fetish. All of the characters, including the filmmakers, have faults, and the movie mines dark comedy from universal human emotion, personality quirks and awkward interactions. At its best, it's classic mockumentary stuff -- the sort of dry humor that's become fashionable with The Office and Christopher Guest's films.

But American Zombie goes deeper than typical fake documentaries by using the subjects as allegories for the plight of marginalized Americans. The zombies could be any underprivileged racial minority, immigrant or even the homeless -- all of which are hinted at during the course of the film. Thankfully, though, the social commentary doesn't hit you over the head with obtrusive bullet points.

The humor, on the other hand, could actually stand to become more obtrusive. It's hard to know exactly how dry to make comedy like this. Too dry and you run the risk of becoming dull. Too, um, moist (?) and you come off as trying too hard and being too sitcom-y. American Zombie errs on the dry side, sometimes to a fault. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments (such as a private eye who teaches us how to dispose of zombies), but mostly it coaxes amused smirks.


Zombie Joel
Cinema Libre/Lee Lee FilmsIn the latter quarter of the film in particular, the tone struggles to find a cohesive mix of comedy, drama and horror. It's not until this portion that the horror elements truly creep in, and as a horror fan, it feels odd for me to say that these elements comprise the weakest part of the movie. The narrative seems to break down at the end, with plot points left hanging (What's with the mysterious blue vials?) and characters suddenly acting "out of character."

That said, American Zombie remains unfailingly watchable throughout. It's smart and insightful with situational humor that drops time-release bombs that simmer and explode. It buys into its concept and commits to it completely, drawing us into a world that is at once familiar and fascinatingly alien.