Man, Canada has been on a roll lately with their indie horror comedies. First, Eddie The Sleepwalking Cannibal tore up the Tribeca Film Festival and now, a few months later, A Little Bit Zombie impressed me at Fantasia Fest with its wit and originality.
Directed by Casey Walker, A Little Bit Zombie follows two couples out on a trip to a cabin in the woods where they hope to rough it out, have a little fun, and unknowingly helps our lead, Steve’s fiancée, Tina, plan their wedding. Upon arrival, the two couples, Steve (Kristopher Turner)and Tina (Crystal Lowe) and Craig (Steve’s best friend-Shawn Roberts) and Sarah (Steve’s sister-Kristen Hager), start to settle in when Steve is bit by a mosquito who just consumed zombie blood. Overnight, Steve starts to transform into the undead, resulting in unnatural cravings for meat and drooling over brains. Since he’s cognizant, Steve would never consider eating his friends or family, but if the guy wants to live he needs to satisfy his hunger; and that’s when the movie takes us on a hilarious ride involving cat fights, brain shopping and avoiding the zombie hunters Penelope (Emilie Ullerup) and Max (Stephen McHattie).
I went into A Little Bit Zombie blind and walked out seeing the light. I loved the idea of a zombie with a conscience and really enjoyed the way it all played out. Most of the characters were amusing and exactly the opposite of their gender counterparts: Steve was a skinny and whipped man, while his buddy Craig was a large dimwitted brute who does what he wants. His sister is laid back, doesn’t care about looks and hates Tina, whereas his wife-to-be has to have everything planned and acts like a Jersey Shore guidette. Throw all those personalities together and you’ve got yourself endless comedic possibilities.
The film opens with a badass zombie massacre orchestrated by McHattie, but the real focus is on the mosquito. This little guy turns into a zombie bug after biting the living dead and develops its own devilish personality, taking us on a first person zombie adventure. It alone sets up the comedic tone of the film, especially when it attacks Steve and refuses to die. From there we experience Steve’s transition as he starts to crave brains, freaks out his friends and tries to deal with the fact that he’s dead.
One of the most impressive parts about this film is that even though it is B rated, it has a lot of depth to it and that’s due to the fun script. There are a ton of entertaining jokes in the film, some of which go two or three deep after the initial punch line, but if you’re in a crowded room you’ll miss them because of the laughter. This means that this movie is ripe for multiple viewings, something that’s not an easy feat.
As for the horror aspect, the movie doesn’t have many bloody scenes, but when they present themselves they are pretty gruesome and usually comedic. This is mostly due to Max’s gung-ho, I-don’t-give-a-shit personality, which results in plenty of shots to the face and a plethora of blood splatter.
Since this is a campy film, I wouldn’t judge it too harshly. My main complaint about the film is tha
t Turner’s delivery felt very suburban, like Ward Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver. His style only worked once and that was during a 1950s black and white style dream sequence. I don’t really know anyone that talks like that anymore, so I didn’t buy it. , I also wasn’t a huge fan of Emilie Ullerup as the geeky zombie hunter. I never really felt any sort of emotional connection to her and I blame it on her poor delivery. She was wonderful to look at, but I just never believed in her, which is a shame, because her character was great but she never felt strong enough opposite the crazy McHattie.
Lastly, while most of the acting was B appropriate, I have to give props to Crystal Lowe for nailing her part as the bitchy fiancée. Everybody in the audience hated her character from the get-go, and though she may have changed slightly, we all still hated her at the end which is a testament to her commitment and willingness to embrace the hatred.
Overall, A Little Bit Zombie was an amusing feature that surprised me with its endless amount of wit. The movie felt like a labor of love, radiating passion from the filmmakers while clearly respecting the genre, something which is always to be admired. Even if it isn’t the greatest horror comedy ever, it’s one hell of a good time that’ll have you drooling in more ways than one.
Rating: A clever zom-com that churns out consistent laughs, has great kills and ends up being a fun addition to the horror comedy arsenal (6.2/10)
A Little Bit Zombie will be released on Blu-ray and DVD later this year by Anchor Bay in Canada and Phase 4 here in the states.
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