Movies: Undead

While there's been a lot of hoo-hah about Japanese horror films in the past decade or so, other countries continue to put out horror movies, some good and some bad. I'm a sucker for zombie movies, so when I saw "Undead," an Australian zombie flick, I knew I had to give it a go. But let's just say this movie might not be what you expect.

Rene is a small-town beauty queen looking to move to the big city, but fate steps in as the town is overrun by zombies apparently created by falling meteorites. To say any more would spoil things, but the movie takes as many cues from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" as it does from "Night of the Living Dead." There's also a substantial amount of comedy in the movie, which is alternately hilarious and annoying.

My favorite of the stock of characters is an appropriately ass-kicking fisherman/gunstore owner named Marion, with the runner up being an arrogant police officer named Harrison (who reminds me a lot of Rimmer from "Red Dwarf"). Choice quote from Harrison:

"I'll ----in' finish you off faster than a ----in' birthday cake at a fat chick's ----in' birthday party!"

Rating: 6/10