Undead

(2003)***1/2

When the small town of Berkeley is pummeled by a meteor shower, the dead start coming back to life. In true Night of the Living Dead fashion, 5 of the town’s denizens end up holed up in a unibomber-like homestead. Armed with an arsenal of weapons, including a triple-barreled shotgun, this clan fends of a relentless zombie attack. Then the aliens arrive. . .

This is my first great find of horrorthon 2005! Sure it rips off Romero’s Dead films, Shaun of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and even Phantasm, but this is a rollicking, hyper-violent, hilarious good time. It’s not easy to blend horror and humor, but Undead does this seamlessly. The acting/dialogue is strictly b-level here, but that doesn’t matter. What we get is a fast-paced auctioneer that never takes itself too seriously. Fans of zombie films will really dig this film. My only complaint is that the final third of the film veers off into a decidedly strange direction, which includes some spaceship/alien stuff that I never quite understood. This knocked it down a half star for me only because the sci-fi element adulterated what would've been a perfect zombie picture. Still, this is a funny, tongue-in-cheek effort that kept me laughing. Definitely recommended.