Dance of the Dead | 2008
Dance of the Dead
"Dance of the Dead" is a 2008 American independent zombie comedy film directed by Greg Bishop and written by Joe Ballarini. The film stars Jared Kusnitz, Grayson Chadwick, Chandler Darby, Lucas Till, Blair Redford, and Carissa Capobianco. The plot revolves around the efforts of several students to save their high school dance from mysteriously resurrected corpses.
The film had a limited release on October 13, 2008, at the Mann's Chinese 6 theater in Los Angeles, followed by a DVD release. It premiered at several film festivals throughout 2008, including South by Southwest and the Atlanta Film Festival, and received critical acclaim worldwide.
In a Georgia high school, a dance is unexpectedly interrupted when a graveyard next to a power plant becomes the source of resurrected corpses. As zombies march toward the high school, several teenage outsiders without dates—Jimmy (Jared Kusnitz), Lindsay (Grayson Chadwick), Steven (Chandler Darby), and Kyle (Justin Welborn)—fight against the zombies to save the situation.
Lindsay breaks up with Jimmy the day before the dance and starts dating Mitch. On their way to the dance, Mitch takes Lindsay to the graveyard to "calm her down" and kisses her. However, Mitch is dragged out of the car and killed by a zombie, turning into one himself. Meanwhile, members of the school's sci-fi club—Jules, Steven, Rod, and George—are attacked while investigating the graveyard. Rod dies, and the remaining three are rescued by a graveyard caretaker who had kept the incident quiet. He teaches them how to kill zombies and escapes. The three are surrounded again, but Lindsay comes to rescue them, and they escape in Mitch's car.
While delivering pizza, Jimmy discovers a family has turned into zombies and finds an accident involving Kyle. Jimmy and Kyle encounter cheerleader Gwen and are attacked. They manage to kill all the zombies with a bat they found and Kyle's gun. Unfortunately, Jimmy's truck is stolen by two zombies, leaving them without an escape vehicle. In another neighborhood, Nash Rambler (Blair Redford), Jensen, and drummer Dave are composing a new song for their band. Nash asks Jensen to open the garage door for air, and when Jensen does, zombies appear. The band members discover that zombies like music and continue to play to keep them at bay, but attract more zombies.
Mitch's car breaks down, and Lindsay, Jules, George, and Steven take refuge in a nearby house. Jimmy calls to find Lindsay and heads home through the town's sewer with Kyle and Gwen. They come to believe that the waste dumped by the power plant has resurrected the dead. The house where their friends are hiding turns out to be a funeral home, and the smoke from the power plant revives the corpses stored there. Kyle and Jimmy manage to kill all the zombies, but Kyle gets bitten and turns into one, forcing the others to kill him. Gwen brings the hearse from the funeral home, and they escape to save the other students at the dance. On their way to the school, the hearse's tire is shot, and they discover the coach is still alive. After explaining the situation, they receive weapons from him. They drive to the dance in the coach's Hummer, rescuing the band along the way.
Upon arriving at the school, they find all the town's zombies gathered, realizing they cannot save everyone. The coach decides to blow up the school using explosives. While the coach sets up explosives around the school, the students block all the doors to prevent the zombies from escaping. The sci-fi club members searching the school find survivors, especially the prom queen, and begin to lead them to safety.
The coach accidentally drops the detonation device into a chip bowl. Jimmy has to retrieve it, and Lindsay follows him. They try to access the device through the gym but are discovered and attacked by zombies. Just before they are killed, the band plays "Shadows of the Night," distracting the zombies. Jimmy and Lindsay dance while searching for the remote.
During their escape, other friends are attacked, but they manage to fend off the attackers, although Gwen hides the fact that she has been bitten. She takes Steven to the bathroom, reveals the truth, and they kiss. However, she turns into a zombie and bites Steven's tongue. She kills him, and Steven also becomes a zombie. The two zombies kiss again and begin to eat each other.
In the gym, while Jimmy and Lindsay are still looking for the detonation device, a zombie accidentally unplugs the band's instruments, stopping the music and allowing the zombies to attack again. The two fight off the zombies while Jensen tries to reconnect the instruments. Jimmy and Lindsay hide under the bleachers, where they are attacked by the zombie version of Mitch. Lindsay kills Mitch, allowing them to escape. The band reconnects the instruments and starts playing, enabling Jimmy to retrieve the detonation device. As the group attempts to escape, Jensen is caught and killed by a horde of zombies. The four survivors escape through a window. The zombies cannot escape through the locked doors, and Jimmy blows up the school, killing all the zombies while rekindling his relationship with Lindsay with a kiss.
The survivors take a bus to a pancake house for breakfast with the group that had hidden at the dance. Thanks to the coach's generosity, they plan an attack to shut down the power plant and prevent the zombie outbreak. The graveyard caretaker also survives and complains about cleaning up the situation.
"Dance of the Dead" was produced based on a script written in the late 1990s. The film was shot in Rome, Georgia, and northern Georgia.
The cast of "Dance of the Dead" marks the debut of relatively unknown Georgia actors like Grayson Chadwick, Chandler Darby, and Carissa Capobianco, as well as the return of second-year actors like Jared Kusnitz (from "Doll Graveyard") and Randy McDowell (from "Intentions of the Good"). According to director and producer Greg Bishop, he and the producers "spent months looking for the right kids and ended up casting kids who were good at improvisation. They felt more natural. The casting director threw them into difficult situations, and the kids who handled those situations well ended up in the movie."
The soundtrack includes "Something's Going Wrong" by The Six Chamber, a gothic doom proto-metal band from Los Angeles.
"Dance of the Dead" was a film personally selected for distribution by director Sam Raimi through his new partnership with Ghost House Underground and Lionsgate Entertainment. The film was part of Ghost House's first slate, "October Horror." Rob Tapert stated, "This is a movie that Sam Raimi and I watched on a Sunday afternoon, and we laughed and laughed until Sam's wife and kids knocked on his office door to see if he was okay. I've seen it about five times now."
After the Cannes Film Festival, the German distributor Splendid Film acquired the German distribution rights.
"Dance of the Dead" premiered to sold-out audiences at the 15th South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival held in Austin, Texas, from March 7 to 15, 2008, where 113 feature films were screened, 64 of which were world premieres. The film was selected for "Round Midnight."
The film was also screened at the 32nd Atlanta Film Festival in April 2008, where Access Atlanta called it a "must-see movie." All three screenings of the film were sold out. Blabbermouth Entertainment marketed the film at the 61st Cannes Film Festival in May 2008. Other festivals where the film was screened include the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland on July 3, 2008, the German Fantasy Film Festival on August 15, 2008, the 9th Film4 FrightFest in London on August 23, 2008, and the Rome International Film Festival in northern Georgia on September 7, 2008.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, five critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average rating of 7.19/10.
Jason Whyte of eFilmCritic.com described the film as "a success in almost every way," stating it is "an independent film that makes great use of a small budget, providing everything you want in a horror comedy." Scott Weinberg of FEARnet remarked, "I was surprised that character development was possible," adding, "It's fast, funny, painful, sweet, quirky, and bloody. Basically, it's a lot of fun." Reviewer Brian Gibson, who expected a "cheesy zombie movie," described it as "a zombie/dance weekend movie that became one of the biggest surprises at the festival." Anton Bitel of the British film magazine Little White Lies noted that he was tired of the zombie comedy genre but saw a film distinguished by "sharp writing, fun characters, and a genuine affection for geek culture." Colin Armstrong of Twitch Film wrote that the film owes a significant debt to Dan O'Bannon's classic punk meat-eating film "Night of the Living Dead," while "Dance of the Dead" offers some new ideas while executing things we've seen many times in bizarre ways. Steve Barton of Dread Central gave the film five stars, stating, "It has everything we want in a living dead movie—great characters, good-looking zombies, and tons of gore!" Tim Anderson of Bloody Disgusting also awarded the film five stars, calling it "the best horror comedy of the year or any year." David Hartley of Bloody Disgusting gave the film four and a half stars, stating, "Of all the films I saw at SXSW this year, 'Dance of the Dead' was the most impressive and entertaining, regardless of genre."
"Dance of the Dead" was released on DVD in North America on October 14, 2008. The DVD includes an audio commentary by director Greg Bishop and writer Joe Ballarini, along with deleted and extended scenes, and Bishop's optional audio commentary. The DVD also features several bonus videos titled "The Making of Dance of the Dead," which includes extended commentary from the cast and crew. The second bonus feature, "Blood, Guts, and Rock 'n' Roll: The Effects and Stunts of Dance of the Dead," discusses the technical production of the film. Additional features include a trailer gallery and a 5-minute and 30-second short film titled "Voodoo" by director Greg Bishop.
