Dance of the Dead (2008) – Wired Like a Crackhead Drinking Red Bull

Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! Here’s a thought. If some random guy in a graveyard asks you to wheel his wheelbarrow somewhere while he does something else “real quick,” just say no; because, chances are, that wheelbarrow will contain zombified hands and heads. Or…just say yes! Then you have the next month’s worth of practical jokes all lined up! Sounds good! Where’s the nearest graveyard?

Dance of the Dead is a zombie movie (I know, you never would have guessed it) and is surprisingly good. It’s an independent movie directed by Gregg Bishop and written by Joe Ballarini. The cast is made up of mostly unknown people who are the same age as their characters, unheard of but true, and that aspect really adds to the believability of the film. There’s a whole mix of good characters in the film. The main two characters are Jimmy (Jared Kusnitz), a pizza boy, and Lindsey (Greyson Chadwick), the good student. They have the class nerd, Steven (Chandler Darby), the cheerleader, Gwen (Carissa Capobianco), the cracked out band members, the bully, and the crazy Coach Keel (Mark Oliver) who has previous military training. All the right characters are there. The movie follows these high school students on their Prom night trying to save their school from zombies.

Dance of the Dead did a lot of great things. One of the things I was most impressed by was that they had a lot of stunt work instead of CGI. Just imagine being in the middle of a zombie outbreak and seeing zombies explode up from graves and then just start running after you without missing a step! Having trouble? All you have to do is watch Dance of the Dead because that’s what happens. It looks great. They actually had stunt people being pulled up from the ground. They timed it all just right so that they could hit the ground running. Very impressive and memorable, I don’t think I’ve seen that in any other zombie flick. Dance of the Dead is funny, entertaining, and has some pretty good action. I think this one is going in my zombie collection.

Time until initial action starts: ~ 3 minutes

Time until real action starts: ~ 23 minutes

Big Bad Baddies: Zombies

Best Line: “You give me two minutes and I’ll have this school wired like a crackhead drinkin’ a Red Bull.”

Best Kill: Two students are hiding in the bathroom stall at the school. The girl reveals she has been bitten. So naturally, the two of them start making out. The girl turns into a zombie mid make-out and bites the dude’s tongue off. It is gooey, gory, and cool. Then he becomes a zombie and the two zombies continue to make out. Sexy!

Best Zombie Kill: One of the dudes is taking down a ton on zombies out in someone’s yard. He rips off a female zombie’s arm and shoves is down her throat and out the back of her head.

Best Explosion: Coach Keel, the guy who said the Best Line, was given two minutes and he kept his promise. He wired the school “like a crack head drinking Red Bull” and it exploded like a kid who drank too much yoo-hoo.

Action Rating: 3 Zombies bursting out of graves, out of 5.

Illustration by Alex Langley. Rocket Llama World Headquarters.