Undead or Alive (2007)
Directed by Glasgow Phillips
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(Entertaining)
(Amateur Night)
(Gut Buster)
(Not Scary)
Summary
Set in the Old West, legend has it that Geronimo put a curse on the White Man just before he died, and that curse came to fruition as zombies! Army deserter Elmer and effeminate cowboy Luke start a scuffle in the saloon, and the corrupt sheriff rewards them by taking their money and tossing them in jail. Unfortunately the guy in the cell next to them is a zombie! Elmer and Luke escape from their cell and lock the deputy up instead and head out of town after holding the sheriff at gunpoint. The sheriff organizes a posse to track them down, but not before becoming infected and turning into zombies. On the run, Luke and Elmer are ambushed by an Indian girl, Sue, who hates white men and is on a mission to kill the entire garrison housing the soldiers that killed her uncle, Geronimo. They decide to work together and head off to find the soldiers, but the sheriff and his zombie goons are hot on their trail. They do find the soldiers, but are captured and taken to the fort. But the sheriff has already arrived at the fort and has turned the soldiers inside in to zombies! All hell breaks loose and the entire garrison are turned into zombies, leaving only Elmer, Luke and Sue untouched. Trapped inside the fort, they find a tunnel underneath, but Elmer becomes infected during the escape. The tunnel is fortuitously fully stocked with explosives, so Elmer runs a fuse all the way outside and the blow the entire fort sky high. Luke and Elmer are standing together, seemingly to say their goodbyes (since Elmer is a zombie), but Elmer suddenly bites Luke in the cheek! Turns out Elmer is a clever man and remembers Sue mentioning that the cure is to eat the living flesh of the one who created the bad medicine. Flash forward and we see a restored Luke and Elmer after they have just eaten some squaw!
Review
On this site ratings are relative. We're not talking Caddyshack or Dumb and Dumber here, but this movie is funny! Shaun of the Dead is a great zombie comedy, but the majority of its humor is based on the viewer being familiar with zombie movies. This movie uses humor that stands on its own. Cheesy? Definitely. If you're looking for sophisticated funny, look elsewhere. Some of the jokes about Indians are extremely non PC, but they're so over the top that I couldn't take them seriously enough to be offended (take that for what it's worth from a white guy!)
Clearly this movie was done with modest funds, but that does nothing to hinder it. There are many positives that you usually don't associate with low budget zombie flicks, e.g., good acting, original story, solid humor, and nice background music. These far outweigh the lack of special effects. At first my gut feeling was trouble when the an early scene had a bar fight that included a punch that didn't even come close to landing where the guy was rubbing his chin in pain! Despite the amateurish effects, there is a decent amount of gore and some good zombie decapitations. The zombies are extremely virulent. Elmer gets infected merely by punching a zombie in the face and cutting his knuckle in the process. And the change happens in just minutes. The featured zombies retain their human personality and mental faculties, so it's pretty tough to outsmart them.
Zombie Traits
| Speed | 
(Human)
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| Intelligence | 
(Human)
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| Strength |
(Normal)
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| Zombie Source | Geronimo's white man's curse |
These zombies act just like they did when they were alive. They just look ugly and have the zombie craving for human brains. They can also take a ton of abuse. Even a gunshot in the head doesn't kill them, seems you have to either decapitate them (or completely destroy the head). The source of the outbreak was Geronimo's curse on the white man just before he died. But unlike most zombie movies, this one has a cure...you just have to eat the living flesh of the medicine man who created it!
Best Zombie Kill
Back in town only the preacher has escaped the zombie outbreak. When he gets cornered by the town prostitute turned zombie, she undoes her bodice to reveal her enticing bosom, then gives him the kiss of death and bites off his lips!
Best Zombie Death
Luke is a wannabe tough guy, but he's like a wimp most of the time. When he confronts a zombie shopkeeper while looking for supplies he screams like a little girl. He manages to jam a shovel into its neck, but isn't strong enough to sever it! So he jumps up and down on the shovel like he's digging a hole until the head finally comes off, and he's freaked out during the entire process.
Memorable Scene
The opening scene of the movie shows zombie Ben attacking his wife and daughter. Somehow Ben survives the entire movie, and the last scene shows him digging up the graves of his family and they crawl out as happy zombies with big grins as they are reunited with their father!
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