Aaah! Zombies!!

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Also entitled 'Wasting Away', 'Aaah! Zombies!!' is one example of a modern day zombie flick that manages to bring something relatively original to the table. Unlike most zombie material out there, this one features the story from the perspective of the zombie; a lot like 'Warm Bodies', which may be remembered more fondly, but was released six years after this. The problem here is that this one still floats incredibly low under the radar, largely due to a low-budget look, and complete lack of names. The big one here is probably Richard Riehle, who you're bound to recognize from something.

Anyway, that's not to discredit this film in any way. In all seriousness, I quite like this. Here we have a horror comedy that shows creativity with the zombie genre. It doesn't just do this plot-wise, but aesthetically too. While we see things from the zombie perspective, they are in colour, but anything from anyone else's perspective is black and white. You can tell that the filmmakers had a lot of fun with this. The only real problem is that some of the dialogue is a bit lame when it's trying to be funny, and this is admittedly a very silly zombie movie with nothing much to take seriously out of it. Even 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Zombieland' have their glimpses of tragedy. This is obviously much more played for laughs in its execution, and there's nothing wrong with that, but zombie fans might not get as much a kick out of it as I do.

The film opens as we learn about a military experiment gone wrong when it turns a soldier into a zombie instead of the "super soldier" he was supposed to turn into. The remainder of the "super soldier serum" (by the way, this is a few years before 'Captain America', so not entirely a rip-off) is taken away to be disposed of, but the transport truck gets into an accident, and a barrel of the substance rolls into the back of a bowling alley. There's a bit of a spill that miraculously contaminates a few boxes of ice cream, which one of the employees, Tim (Michael Grant Terry), shares with three friends; Mike (Matthew Davis), Vanessa (Julianna Robinson) and Cindy (Betsy Beutler), who he has a thing for. Of course, this turns them all into zombies, but they actually have no idea.

As things begin to unfold, strange and unexplainable things keep happening to them. In looking for answers, they run into Nick (Colby French); a military private who seems to understand what's going on. He suggests that they are all becoming super soldiers while the rest of the world is "infected" with some sort of virus that makes them speed up. Meanwhile each of the friends have their own concerns and try to tackle them in their own ways, all while unknowingly being zombies. The idea that they all still think everything else is screwed up while they remain normal is an interesting thought - like what if that brain is still human but the zombie can't help its behaviour? It adds an extra layer to the dread of becoming a zombie.

Eventually the film largely becomes about Nick trying to take down the ones responsible for the experiment in the first place; Colonel South (Richard Riehle) and Dr. Richter (Jack Orend) while the friends provide the comedy relief as they keep attempting every day things while trying to figure out what's going on around them. Perhaps most peculiar is one of the characters being contacted for a job interview - so yeah, things definitely do get super weird, and one might even argue kinda stupid. But I definitely do enjoy this whole idea of not being aware - it may or may not be a nod to 'The Others'.

Some of the rules here can get a little bit cloudy too. The way the serum works makes them look like zombies to the straight and narrow, but for whatever reason, drunks can understand them. It's all very scientific, you see. That said, I have to admit, I find that to be a pretty interesting new rule for the zombie-verse. Again, one might see it as stupid, but you've got to admit that it's creative, and you probably haven't seen it before. And that, to me, is exactly what this movie offers - it's something you haven't seen before or, really, since. 'Warm Bodies' is fairly close, but not quite the same. It's unfortunate how low this floats under the radar though, because, while it's not the best zombie movie out there, it's a neat little treat for any underground horror/comedy fan.

3/5

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