Dance of the Dead (2008)

Review by Sean Patterson



"Thanks, babe, but we've got our weapons."

A small town is invaded by the walking dead when the local power plant's fumes start to bring corpses back to life. Dance of the Dead is a bit derivative and contains most of the standard zombie-movie tropes, but the well-written characters and a story that keeps the audience guessing pull the movie together into a very solid and fun classic-zombie romp.
Dance of the Dead wastes no time setting up it's quirky characters. There's Jimmy, the clever smart-ass who gets detention after subtly insulting his asshole science teacher. Jimmy is in a relationship with the cute, bubbly redhead, Lindsey, who's head of the Hawaiian high school hula prom committee. Jimmy is friends with the dorky guys in the sci-fi club, which seems to be more of a paranormal investigators club. In detention, Jimmy is stuck with Kyle, the redneck punk who likes backyard wrestling. The hard-ass gym teacher, who is obviously am army reserve drill sergeant, is in charge of detention. Then there are the stoners with their garage band and androgynous lead guitarist.
These characters are both cliche and over-the-top, but the material is so well-written that it's easy to forgive a little hyperbole. The situations they find themselves in are ridiculous and a little silly, but the sincerity of their interactions allowed me to suspend my disbelief quite easily.
The movie is well-edited and directed. There's a fun montage of High Schoolers getting ready for prom night that stands out and serves as a nice counterpoint to the violence that follows.
The sci-fi club forgoes prom to engage in a little graveyard ghost-hunting, which somehow starts the zombie apocalypse. The guy who tends the graveyard doesn't seem surprised when zombies pop up. Evidently he's been reburying the undead for quite some time. A pity he never told anyone.
The movie quickly begins to play with audience expectations and establishes early on that even some of those well fleshed-out characters won't stay alive for long. There's a good mix schadenfreude in seeing the unlikable characters go down, along with some character arcs that bring a few of those hated characters around to being favorites.
After establishing the personalities, the movie doesn't waste any time getting to the bloody mayhem. The special effects are better than i thought they'd be, with moving hands and animate decapitated heads. The zombies are fairly classic, with a bit of the newer fast-zombie template mixed in. The make-up is believable, and there are plenty of humorously gory moments for genre fans.
The survivors eventually storm the prom in an attempt to end the zombie rampage. Not everyone makes it, but the story threads come together in an explosive finale that is satisfying and sweeps away a few minor plot holes. Dance of the Dead is good, old-shool zombie mayhem with a sense humor and great characters.