Preview: American Zombie (2008)

• Poster: B+

Review:

Unlike the trailer, the poster is definitely inspired. The air-punching fist of a zombie compares itself nicely with a trailer that starts off at a war protest. It's the kind of image we might have expected in some post-apocalyptic film where the masses rebel against their oppressors. There may be something to that symbolism compared to the documentary, but the trailer doesn't suggest that at all.

• Trailer: D+

Review:

When I first saw the title and the poster, I thought this might be another zombie comedy like last year's Fido, but the trailer totally blows that away in the opening instant when it resolves into a documentary. What the documentary's about other than a perception that some people think their zombies (don't we already have a vampire counter-culture?) is a complete mystery to me, which tells me the trailer not only hasn't done its job, but it has convinced me I don't care to see it.

Oscar Prospects:

Such a ludicrous conept will not only be ignored by the Academy, it won't even make the bake-off competition with the Documentary branch.

Release Date:

• March 28, 2008

Full Review Synopsis:

I have not seen this film.

-Wesley Lovell (March 9, 2008) Original