When Sheriff Lincoln wakes from a coma to find the world has been taken over by zombies, he heads off immediately to find his wife and son, Chris (who he insists on calling Carl due to his previous head trauma). Meanwhile, one of the lumbering corpses, Romeo, has begun to regain his senses and falls in with a ragtag group of survivors, including the Stetson-wearing zombie hunter Chicago and survivalist with a toy crossbow Darnell. Before long Romeo has fallen in love with one of the girls while trying desperately to hide his undead status as Sheriff Lincoln guides them to a farm house which could provide the ultimate sanctuary.
Yeah, you can see what they’ve done there.
As the film mercilessly ploughs through the storylines of The Walking Dead, Warm Bodies and Zombieland, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it goes from bad to worse. Yet, somehow, The Walking Deceased is far funnier than it has any right to be. One of its strengths is undoubtedly its low budget. This isn’t one of those Hollywood Scary Movie knock-offs that gets thrown together, instead this was put together by a group of filmmakers and actors who clearly had fun doing it. The script is also commendable, employing the best bits of the elements it’s satirising (including voiceovers from Zombieland, over emoting from Walking Dead and teen angst from Warm Bodies) to create an almost Airplane-esque return to form for the genre. Almost. While the blood and guts effects are good enough to pass muster.
Maybe it’s because the title and cover art install such low expectations from the outset, but The Walking Deceased definitely has more bite than you’d expect even if it does require you to have seen the source material in the first place to appreciate the gags. Definitely a movie to be enjoyed with a huge pizza and copious amounts of alcohol – then you might even forgive the ‘cameo’ from Shaun and Ed from Shaun of the Dead (almost).
THE WALKING DECEASED / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: SCOTT DOW / SCREENPLAY: TIM OGLETREE / STARRING: TIM OGLETREE, JOEL OGLESBY, DAVE SHERIDAN, TROY OGLETREE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
