LKMYNTS: Hide And Creep.

This is a gloriously low-budget zombie film. And I mean low-budget. The movie is about a small town in Alabama that gets overrun by zombies. It follows numerous characters, including a young video store owner named Chuck (Chuck Hartsell); a man who wakes up naked named Michael (Michael Shelton); a group of redneck friends named Keith (Kyle Holman), Ted (Chris Garrison), and Ned (Eric McGinty), all of whom belong to a self-made hunting club; a church reverend (Barry Austin); the sheriff's secretary named Barbara (Melissa Bush); and a couple others.

Now, it sounds like there are too many characters, but it handles them all pretty well. The best characters are definitely Chuck and the hunting trio (particularly Keith). I watched this film a couple years ago and loved it, but then immediately forgot what it was called. But I always remembered those two characters. And now that I've recently remembered it (and bought it via Amazon, despite it being available on Netflix Instant Streaming), I can watch it whenever I want!

Of course, the movie does have problems. Due to its incredible low budget, you already know the acting isn't gonna be all that grand. Luckily, the type of humor is very dead-pan. They act like a zombie outbreak is just an everyday occurrence, and they just wanna get back to what they were doing (like watching a football game). I love that kind of humor. Because of this, the acting can be overlooked at times due to the purposefulness of the unrealistic or over-the-top performances. The only other real issue is minimal blood and gore. Oh, there's blood and gore in the movie, but the camera had to cut away often from the violence, most likely due to not having the budget for good special effects. But what we do get to see (particularly a head bite about halfway into the film) is actually really decent.

On top of the humor, the movie has love going for it. Let me explain. You can definitely tell that this movie was made by fans of not only the zombie subgenre, but film itself. Of course there are jokes and references to Romero, but it goes beyond that. There's some nearly Kevin Smith-eque conversations (minus the vulgarity) about films like Evil Dead, Dead Alive/Brain Dead, and even a random Citizen Kane joke. This writer is truly a fan of film and the genre, and that's one of the things that really drew me in to the movie.

If there were any other minor negatives, it would be that the movie just kind of ends. Nothing big or fancy. No huge climax. There's a bit of an "oh no!" moment, but that's about it. It just... ends. It's not complete unsatisfying, though. There's also a couple jokes that are more for Alabamians than anybody else, but they're few and far between. Overall, it's a hell of an entertaining movie if you're into low budget zombie comedies.

Otherwise, I totally recommend the movie. It needs some more love. It's not a ROFL movie or anything, but it's amazingly clever and smart, and it'll get some constant chuckling at the very least. And if it helps at all, there's nudity (and not just the one dude).


A Keanu 'Whoa'

(P.S. I don't agree, however, with the poster that says it's even better than Shaun of the Dead. It really good... but it's not that good.)