Canadians Do It Better
By Roz Young, March 4 2011
Last weekend I joined a friend for a mini Zombie movie marathon. We watched some shorts that fit Matt’s category of “So Bad It’s Good”, including “Special Dead” – zombies attack a camp for handicapped kids (yes, exactly what you think, so much awesome fail) and “Night of the Living Jews” – on the first night of Passover, zombie Jews attack a polite family who respond with bacon. The first one, “Special Dead” isn’t anything that special and was hilariously bad, but a bit disappointing. Good for a few laughs, make up was decent, but the whole movie was very dark. That’s what you get for shooting outside at night without a budget for lights. “Night of the Living Jews” is a short that you must see. It’s fantastic. I love movies that hit that perfect balance between committing to the zombie genre and not taking yourself too seriously. High five writer and director Oliver Noble!
Heading in to the later hours of the evening, we watched October 2009’s “Dead Air”, and I was immediately shocked to learn that someone made a crappy version of our beloved “Pontypool”. And the Canadian release of Pontypool was in September 2009! I can’t believe that two people independently came up with the idea for a zombie plague trapping a radio DJ and his crew in their studio while they continue to broadcast through the pandemonium. Not sure if serious... Regardless, the Canadian movie is far superior, and you can read Matt’s review to learn a bit more. If you need something to be weird, if you need something to be full of suspenseful nothingness, if you need zombies to scare you over the radio waves, trust Canada to make that happen.
