The second half of the film features Elmer, Luke, and Sue battling for survival against the oncoming hordes. Surprisingly, it is actually fun. No, it is not original and it does not forge any new ground. Still, it delivers some laughs, it has some blood, and it is fun. Seriously, this will never be remembered as a great film, but it is undeniably fun.
Undead or Alive is the directorial debut of screenwriter Glasgow Phillips, who had previously been a staff writer for South Park and Father of the Pride. He does a decent job here of making a low budget film that is fun enough to recommend but not good enough to actually call good. I believe the likability of the cast has a lot to do with why it is as fun as it is.
Audio/Video. The video looks pretty good. It is anamorphic widescreen in a 2.35:1 ratio. The colors are sharp and the sometimes gorgeous cinematography shines through. The 5.1 audio track is quite nice as well; all sounds and dialogue are nicely balanced. There is nothing to complain about here.
Extras. The disk has a modest complement of bonus material.
- Commentary. The track features writer/director Glasgow Phillips, and actors Navi Rawat, James Denton, and Chris Kattan. This is actually an entertaining listen, it even makes the movie a bit more fun. They are having a good time and clearly enjoyed filming, and it shows right through on this track. One of the things learned is that the town they filmed in was the same one used for the reality show Kid Nation.
- From South Park to the Wild, Wild, West. This is a look at Glasgow Phillips' beginnings on South Park (season 6). It is also a behind the scenes look at the making of the film. The whole thing is hosted by Phillips. (14 minutes)
- Geronimonsters: The Zombies that Walked the West. More talking with Phillips as we take a look at the zombies and make-up effects from Robert Kurtzman. The effects were quite good with the rotting corpse look. (12 minutes)
- Trailer. The original promo trailer.
Bottom line. Rent it, get some friends together, grab a couple of beers, pop some corn, mix well and enjoy. I cannot say enough that it is not a good movie. Despite the lack of any worthy story, or anything that smacked of originality, I enjoyed it and I suspect that some of you will too.
Mildly Recommended.
Article comments
1 - Anon
Hey, I'll delete my comment, but I'm pretty sure that Denton was labelled as the dentist, and Luc a "pretty"cowboy.
Either then that, good review.