The October Zombie-Thon - Day 01: Undead or Alive
Posted by Trevor Snyder on 10.01.2008
A zombie flick starring Chris Kattan...and it's actually good! No, really.
UNDEAD OR ALIVE (2007)
Directed by: Glasgow Phillips
Screenplay by: Glasgow Phillips
Story by: Glasgow Phillips & Scott Pourroy
Country: USA
In last year's Zombie-Thon, I bemoaned the lack of true "zombie westerns" while reviewing The Quick & the Undead, a film that tried to solve this problem, but kinda dropped the ball by setting the action in the future and using motorcycles in favor of horses.
How exciting, then, to kick off this year's Zombie-Thon with a film that is at least a little closer to what I've been looking for. No, it's still not the deadly serious "cowboys vs. zombies" tale that I think could be delivered someday. Actually, it's a comedy (and if the full title - Undead or Alive: A Zomedy doesn't tip you off, the fact that the first zombie on the scene is played by comedian Brian Posehn should do the trick). But hey, at least it gets the time period right.
A brief prologue explains that Geronimo – shortly before his death – summoned a zombie plague as a final curse against the white man. The film doesn't really fill in the gaps between that and the next scene, in which a rancher (Posehn) staggers up to his family home and promptly eats the brains of his wife and young daughter. The "curse," not surprisingly, is transmitted through bite…but if you ask me, Geronimo probably could have come up with something a little more all-encompassing if he truly wanted to wipe out the white man.
Oh well, no matter. The real meat and potatoes of the story begins when we're introduced to Army deserter Elmer, played by James Denton (who I'm told is from Desperate Housewives, but I'll just have to take everyone's word on that one), and his unwanted but persistent partner Luke, played by Chris Kattan. Yep, that Chris Kattan. I did mention this was a "zomedy," right? Anyway, the unlikely duo eventually steal a small fortune from a corrupt sheriff (Upright Citizen's Brigade's Matt Besser). Not surprisingly, the sheriff and his dim-witted deputy are soon in hot pursuit. Somewhat surprisingly, they are also zombies, having been bitten by the rancher from the first scene. With an undead posse hot on their heels, Elmer and Luke catch a lucky break when they team up with the beautiful Sue (Feast's Navi Rawat), who just happens to be Geronimo's niece, and might just know the cure to the "White Man's Curse."
If you're going to make a zombie/western comedy, the true measure of your success is going to rest on how well you can both poke fun at and stay true to the spirit of both genres. Thankfully, Undead or Alive is up to the challenge. Although the films primary concern is scoring laughs (no surprise, given that writer/director Glasgow Phillips is a former South Park writer), it never sacrifices its horror and western elements. Well, okay, maybe the horror elements are a little questionable – the zombie attacks are never particularly frightening (in fact, they are often kind of annoying – edited in a MTV-esque "rapid cuts" style). But there are a number of fun gore gags, which is probably enough for a certain contingent of zombie fans.
Personally, I was even more impressed with the film's western elements, and it's here that I think the movie really stands out. Sure, the plot plays a little more like a B-western than a John Ford classic, but hey, it is a "zomedy," after all. What's particularly notable is how much this actually looks and feels like a true western. The production value is pretty damn good for a film that, I can only assume, was not exactly a mega-budgeted production. Phillips makes the most out of his locations and costumes, and ends up with a film that feels like a fairly authentic western…at least until walking corpses start showing up and biting people's heads.
It also helps that James Denton makes a genuinely good western hero (or anti-hero, as the case may be). I wouldn't mind seeing him give it a go in a straight western, as his strong performance here suggests he would probably do well. As for the other performances, Chris Kattan is quite good as the comedic sidekick. As Luke, he wants nothing more than to live the stereotypical cowboy life, and his clueless attempts to do so (and Elmer's annoyance at them) form the crux of the movie's humor. I realize not everyone is a fan of Kattan's style of comedy, and those who didn't like him before will probably not be won over here. Personally, I've always thought the guy was pretty funny, and enjoyed his character here.
Meanwhile, Matt Besser's evil sheriff is a pretty one-note villain, but he hits that one-note extremely well. Also worth mentioning is the great character actor Leslie Jordan as a priest left to fend for himself in a town overrun by bloodthirsty ghouls. It's a fun subplot, even if you could remove it and not at all affect the rest of the film's story.
The performance that would probably receive the most criticism is that of Navi Rawat, but that's mostly because her Sue speaks and behaves in a manner that is completely out of time and place in this genre. Still, to complain about something like that in a movie like this is kind of beside the point. She's on hand to look good and remain likable while helping our heroes, and she certainly accomplishes both of these.
I have my issues with the film…besides the aforementioned poor editing of the zombie attacks, I was also bothered by the film's soundtrack, which is full of incongruous modern music. I know it seems odd to complain about something like that when I was just defending the modern behavior of Rawat's character, but at least Sue's personality serves the comedy of the film. There's really no excuse for setting action scenes to modern rock instead of more appropriate western-sounding music.
Still, Undead or Alive gets enough things right to make up for its few shortcomings. For instance, I liked that the zombies here retain their intelligence and speaking abilities (a trait that wouldn't fly in many films of the genre, but works perfectly in a comedy of this sort). And I also give it special points for it's decidedly non-Hollywood finale. I'm sure it will upset some viewers, but I give them credit for not going with the obvious happy ending, and instead delivering something that genuinely surprised me.
What can I say…I had a real blast with this movie. No, it's still not the true zombie-western I've been waiting for, but it's hard to quibble given how truly entertaining it is. While it's rarely laugh-out-loud funny, it's amusing enough that you should have a smile on your face the whole time – which is more than can be said for many other "zombie comedies."
