Thursday, September 15, 2011

Review: Juan of the Dead

We've been trying this year to lighten up the mood, after a 2009 season filled with war and other forms of death and destruction.  What better way, we thought, to lighten things up than with a zombie-themed comedy/horror flick?

Juan of the Dead's writer/director, Alejandro Brugués, hails from Argentina, though this Spanish-language film is set in Cuba.  Brugués drops in humor now and then related to the reigning regime, which takes to using typical Communist propaganda to blame the zombie behavior on the Americans.  Zombies are now "dissidents".

Other than that and dark humor moments, such as Juan's sidekick friend's occasional accidental harpooning of a non-zombie, there just wasn't too much much to keep a viewer awake for this one.  Overall, the film had a very melancholy feel to it.  A common theme was various characters' motivation to return to or to leave Cuba.  Juan, meanwhile, is confident he will survive the zombie plague, as he has other catastrophes in his homeland.  He's going nowhere.

I wanted to like this movie.  Despite my best efforts, I just couldn't enough reason to.  My imdb rating: 5/10.

No comments: