The October Zombie-Thon - Day 26: Die and Let Live
Posted by Trevor Snyder on 10.26.2008
The Sandlot...with zombies? Why not?
DIE AND LET LIVE (2006)
Directed by: Justin Channell
Written by: Justin Channell, Joshua Lively, & Zane Crosby
Country: USA
"Oh, joy…another low-budget zombie comedy. Just what I wanted…another low-rent Shaun of the Dead wannabe from a bunch of talent-free kids who are apparently just learning how to use a video-camera. Yeah, this is gonna be great."
Read the above statement with the appropriate level of sarcasm and you'll have a pretty good idea of my attitude when I originally approached today's movie. And who can blame me? Sure, I'm never completely resistant to watching any zombie movie (obviously), but the recent deluge of underwhelming "zomedies" trying oh-so-hard to cash in on Edgar Wright's masterpiece has made it a little tough to get too enthusiastic about yet another.
And yet, something interesting happens while watching Die and Let Live. Or, at least, it happens once you get past the generic "security guard fights a group a zombies" opening segment (which feels kinda like almost every low-budget zombie movie opener you've ever seen). And then, sure, once you're past the opening credits and into the movie proper, you also have to wait until you start to forgive the rather amateurish acting (which you should have been expecting, anyway).
Once that happens, though, is when the interesting thing happens: you begin to realize that you're actually laughing at what these characters are saying. And I don't mean laughing at how bad the dialogue is. No, I mean what's coming out of the characters' mouth is genuinely funny; the sort of verbal exchanges that wouldn't feel out of place in a Kevin Smith movie. After a few more minutes, you might just forget any preconceptions you had about the movie, and sit back and enjoy. Now in the proper mood and mindset, you might get all the way to end credits before realizing you've just watched the best indie zombie-comedy to come down the pipeline in a long time.
Co-writers Joshua Lively and Zane Crosby play Benny Rodriguez and Scotty Smalls…and if you instantly think the names sound a little familiar, then you – like me – are probably a big fan of The Sandlot, as the filmmakers here, obviously. Die and Let Live's main group of buddies are all named after characters from that classic family comedy, and the movie contains numerous nods to it throughout. Anyway, Benny and Scotty are life-long best friends, and they've got the matching dolphin-encrusted friendship pendants to prove it. When we first meet them, Benny is busy pining after his friend Stephanie, who is too in love with her cheating boyfriend Andrew to even notice Benny's adoration.
When Stephanie is finally let on to Andrew's unfaithful ways, Benny sees it as the perfect opportunity to make his move, and invites Stephanie to an impromptu party at Scotty's summer cottage. Although Benny is hoping for a small get-together, in order to better work his romantic charms, the boisterous Scotty accidentally lets news of the party slip to the wrong people, triggering the arrival of hordes of drunken, wild revelers. What's more, Benny also has to deal with avoiding Liz, the girl who has a crush on him (and who some of his friends are convinced is the one he should be hooking up with, anyway). All of Benny's various love-life problems probably seem a hell of a lot less important, however, when a zombie virus created at a nearby pharmaceutical company causes a swarm of flesh-hungry ghouls to descend on Scotty's place, trapping the partygoers inside until they can think of plan for escape.
And so we have a teen-party-comedy mixed with a zombie movie…an often groan-inducing combination in the wrong hands, but here realized to great effect by Lively, Crosby, and co-writer and director Justin Channell. Sometimes when watching a movie you get the feeling that the people who made it must be a very funny group that would probably be a blast to hang out with, and that's definitely the case here, as the three bring a delightfully strange sense of humor to the proceedings. As webmaster of the Internet fan-site Tromatized!, Channell is sort of a Troma-protégé in training, and it shows (it also helps explain the cameos from Troma-regular Trent Haaga and Lloyd Kaufman himself, here playing reporter Floyd Faukman). While perhaps not as over-the-top as the majority of Troma's offerings, Die and Let Live still delivers the same kind of chaotic, surreal humor that fans of Kaufman's company love.
OK, sure, the near-constant Sandlot referencing goes a little overboard – particularly a sequence where the characters try to retrieve a set of car-keys from the zombie-infested other side of Scotty's fence, which turns into a scene-by-scene recreation of the Sandlot kids trying to get their ball back from the Beast's yard. But, hey, it all culminates in an excellent "you're killing me, Smalls" joke, so I can live with it. On top of that, there are a number of truly-amusing bits, including a brilliantly absurd Forrest Gump-inspired flashback that is probably the movies funniest moment. I also enjoyed the partygoer who just happens to be carrying a gun ("for werewolves") and sword ("for goblins"). Hell, even just the end-credit music – an ode to the joys of fanny-packs – is a lot funnier than the entirety of a number of other independent zombie comedies.
Oddly enough, this might be one of the few zombie movies where – and I can't believe I'm about to say this – the zombies actually get in the way. I know, I know…I'm just as shocked to be saying it as you are to be hearing me say it. But my only nagging complaint about this movie is that the zombies themselves are treated as little more than window-dressing. Channell and company didn't seem to spend any time figuring out how to make the zombies funny, but they also have no real interest in making them actually threatening or scary. For the most part, they just kind of wander around outside the fence, while the majority of the film's comedy plays out in the interactions between the characters on the other side. Every once and a while Channell remembers to show us a zombie attack, or remind us that our characters are in fact trapped because of the living dead, but the comical antics of Benny and Scotty were enough for me, and I really wouldn't have minded just seeing this one play out as a "normal" teen-party comedy. Then again, I've always said that just about anything is better with zombies, so maybe it is enough that they're just there.
The movies only other problems are the kind that you would expect from such a low-budget movie, like the aforementioned shitty acting (these actors are constantly tripping over their lines) and unimpressive locations (Scotty's summer house is one of the least visually appealing locales I've ever seen host a movie party). These are the kind of things that can bother you when the entire movie is a mess, but a lot easier to ignore when you're too busy being genuinely entertained by what's playing out onscreen. A lot of the credit for that can go to the duo of Lively and Crosby. They might not be delivering amazing performances, but their own natural charisma and likability definitely comes across. This is particularly beneficial in the case of Lively, since Benny spends the whole movie clearly going after the wrong girl, but you never quite get mad at him for it.
To sum up, Die and Let Live certainly isn't the most original zombie movie you'll see, but thanks to a winning sense of humor and the infectious energy of everyone involved (it always helps when you can tell everyone is having a blast making the movie), it's still the best in the recent crop of similar films. And the fact that it was made by a bunch of kids hovering around the age of 20 should probably lead to a lot of soul-searching from the more seasoned adult filmmakers that regularly churn out crap nowhere near as amusing as this.
FINAL SCORE: 3.5 out of 4 Bubs (Highly Recommended)
