Director – Peter Ricq (Come Together, Freaktown)
Starring – Matthew Nelson (V.C. Andrews’ Heaven, A Knife), Lizzie Boys (iZombie, Shut Eye), and Gabriel LaBelle (The Predator, iZombie)
Release Date – 2017
Rating – 4/5
I grew up on zombie flicks and slashers. I’ve always been a fan of both but the popularity of The Walking Dead has turned the undead sub-genre into a pop culture phenomenon. When I was a teenager I was obsessed with zombie comedies like Shaun of the Dead, Dead and Breakfast, Dead Heads, Bong of the Living Dead, and so on. These films were always fun but the post-apocalyptic zombie films that fell in the wake of The Walking Dead lacked the humor and focused too much on the human survival and interaction with other survivors over the crisis at hand. We do have a few horror comedies here and there but the serious zombie flicks far outweigh the comical ones.
Sometime last year I received the press release for the zombie comedy Dead Shack. I fucking loved the poster and the premise sounded interesting. I posted it on the site and, like so many films, I forgot about it as time moved on. That changed when I was given the opportunity to review the film on blu. I could not turn it down and I’m glad I did not.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows a dysfunctional family and a family friend who rent a cabin for a weekend getaway. While in the countryside they do some exploring when they come across a seclude home with an unusual amount of cars on the property. They decide to investigate the property and discover the woman living there lures men back to her home to kill them. They try to tell their dad and step mom but they are too drunk to understand the severity of the situation so they take him back to the home to show them where they learn that she is killing men to feed her undead family. Now their father is in danger and it’s up to them to stop the flesh hungry zombies and a heavily armored mommy.**Spoiler Alert**
It was sometime ago when I saw the pitch video for a crowdfunding campaign for this film. Since then the film has changed some but the end result is still fucking entertaining.
The acting in this one is fun. The young cast carries the film and brings to life some unforgettable characters. They work very well together and I would be shocked if I don’t see them in more unforgettable horror flicks in the future. The supporting cast does a fantastic job but the three young stars of this film are perfect in their roles.
The story for this one isn’t anything new or reinvents the sub-genre but it does offer up some fun. The mother killing men to feed her undead children is something comic fans may recall from The Walking Dead comics with The Governor and his daughter. I did not get that far into the show to know if this was something adapted but in the comics this was a cool concept. I’m sure movies have depicted this long before the comics but this is what comes to mind. With that being said, it still holds the viewer’s attention very well and the humor is paced evenly throughout for a very enjoyable experience.
Finally, the film does not shy away from the gore. The film has several bloody deaths on screen with great practical effects. The gags are great and the zombies look awesome. They don’t stand out like some of the other zombie films from decades ago but they still look good. Overall, Dead Shack was worth the wait. The cast is brilliant and the humor carries over very well through the horror. I highly recommend checking out this zombie comedy as soon as possible. Check it out.
