Film Review: DeadHeads (2011)

SYNOPSIS:

Two inexplicably coherent zombies awake amidst a zombie attack and decide to take a road trip to find the one’s lost love, unaware they are being chased by the agents of a ruthless company with it’s own agenda.

REVIEW:

Mike Awakens (Michael McKiddy)from a deep deep sleep. One that has lasted almost 3 years. As he pulls open his body bag and yanks off an array of wires, he discovers he may not be one of the living any more. It’s not that he doesn’t quite know where is he is, it’s the fact that zombies are all around him and yet seem to except him as one of their own. Though it doesn’t really take long for Mike to figure out from his bad complexion and peeling skin that he is also a full fledged zombie. Somehow he has managed to maintain his intellect and speaking ability of which he runs into a similar situation-zombie named Brent (Ross Kidder). The 2 of them become a pair in need who don’t quite understand their current situation. Brent who has been around a bit longer gets the gist of it as they realize that they’ll just have to make the best of their new state of living (or dying for that matter) while they figure out a new game plan. It probably doesn’t help that Mike’s arms keeps falling off or that Brent has a hunger for meaty human parts.

Michael McKiddy plays the nerdier of the 2 as Mike Kellerman, with Ross Kidder playing the hipper but slightly more stoned-laid-back zombie Brent Guthrie. The 2 of them make an instant great combo that drums up images of comedy pairs like “Harold & Kumar” or “Wayne’s World”. However, I was making more of a connection to films like “Tucker and Dale vs Evil“. They do meet a few worthy characters in their need to push onward, that helps keep the story moving forward.

“DeadHeads” ends up being a unique experience in that their actually is a fair amount of gore that somehow evolves into a love story. More specifically, Mike realizes that he is still in love with his girlfriend of 3 years ago (when he was shot into he head by her dad). With a  high school reunion just over the horizon, he figures it’s his chance to approach her and profess his feelings. The enforcements are chasing Mike and his team down while their only weapon seems to be a much larger zombie they named “Cheese” (Markus Taylor). With a fair amount of close calls from capture, attacks, and a hired gun on their trail, they manage to escape just in the knick of time from being pulled back from the powers that be.

On the most part I would really call “DeadHeads” a hilarious film, but it is somewhat (dare I say it)..”cute” in its hip and fun approach to the undead and romance. I think the film could evolve even better if it were to franchise out into a series of episodal films that take the 2 on crazy adventures as …well, a Harold & Kumar sort of way. The production levels are adequate and the overall package is a centered around a good time. Directors Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce have come a long way from their 2002 film “Dead/Undead” and have never let go on the need to keep the zombie franchise alive.

“DeadHeads” brings a rich entry of horror-meets-comedy poking fun at the current craze of zombie films. The film is mostly aimed at comedy but uses the gory details and violence of zombie films to introduce this crazy new entry into the zombie league of releases that have arrived. The entry doesn’t surprise me with TV shows like “Death Valley” making a week to week run and former movies like “Zombieland” mixing its bits and parts with humor and silly situations. It’s a pretty good call to say that movie goers just enjoy the crap out of their zombie films, so its always nice to get another one that indulges into humorous new takes while still keeping the content in the R rated range.

DeadHeads (2011)