Horror Film Review
ZOMBIE HONEYMOON
Reviewed by Steve Biodrowski
This is an oddball but rather interesting film. Although the title might suggest a Troma-type camp-comedy, ZOMBIE HONEYMOON actually plays out more like an independent art house effort, focusing on the emotional turmoil of losing a loved one to unforeseen circumstances. In fact, despite its cannibal corpse clichés, the film's closet precedent in the horror genre may be David Cronenberg’s 1986 version of THE FLY, which also forced audiences to endure the inevitable deterioration of its lead character.
The story tells of Danny and Denise (Graham Sibley and Tracy Coogan), a young couple whose happy honeymoon turns to tragedy when an interlude on the beach is interrupted by a horribly decayed attacker who spews black bile into Danny's mouth. Infected, Danny at first appears only ill, but a trip to the hospital reveals that his vital signs have stopped, and he slowly begins transforming into one of the living dead. The process engenders a hunger for human flesh that turns him homicidal, but Denise stands by him until the bitter end, even when it seems he may be on the verge of passing the curse on to her... Shot on High-Definition Video, the low-budget effort too often resembles a home movie, undermining the credibility of the story. Writer-director David Gebroe strives to balance the horror and the pathos, but he doesn't find a way to turn the visual look of the video photography to his advantage (unlike THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, wherein the grainy hand-held photography underlined the pseudo-documentary approach). Fortunately, the night scenes fare somewhat better, with the low-key lighting going a long way toward hiding the visual shortcomings. The story also suffers from a few gaps, both in plot and credibility. The origin of the zombie that infects Danny is never explained; it's just a bald plot device -- a sort of metaphor for the intrusion an unexpected tragedy. Later, Danny somehow stashes a victim in the bathtub without Denise noticing, and it's never explained how he managed this. Later, as Danny loses more and more of the vestiges of humanity, he turns upon his close friends, but Denise never stops loving him. Although her loyalty is meant to be endearing, it leaves the unsavory sense that true love somehow absolves murder and cannibalism. Overall, the film's sensibility (which emphasizes tears as much as blood) seems geared more for a Sundance film festival audience than a crowd of midnight movie gore-hounds. But the over-the-top finale delivers enough blood-soaked carnage to please even the most jaded zombie fans
In the end, ZOMBIE HONEYMOON works reasonably well in spite of its flaws. Thanks to sympathetic performances and a sincere effort at storytelling on a human level, the film effectively captures a tragic sense of a happy couple's great love cut short by circumstances beyond their control. It's not a typical zombie movie, and it's not a genre-bending masterpiece, but it is worthwhile attempt to do something different.
TRIVIA
Writer-director David Gebroe based the story on his sister and brother-in-law, who marraige was abruptly terminated by an untimely death. You can read Gebroe's comments about his inspiration for making the film here.
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