DEADHEADS

Following the deliciously hilarious BUTTER, I literally jogged to the Alamo Ritz to catch the 10:00 screening of DEADHEADS. The reason for the haste had to do with the small size of the auditorium where the movie screened. Fortunately, I arrived at the right time and managed to get a seat; however, because of the popularity of zombie flicks, several attendees were turned away.

Writer/director brothers Drew Pierce and Brett Pierce present an interesting take on the zombie genre, combining elements of mostly road trip movies and romantic comedies. Mike (Michael McKiddy), a young man awakes from death as a zombie, but a cognizant one and not of the usual brain dead variety. His last memory is of his heartwrenching break up with his girlfriend. He meets a fellow "smart" zombie named Brent (Ross Kidder)who encourages him to go after his love and fight for her. The two hitch a ride with an old Vietnam war veteran (Harry Burkey) and acquire a pet zombie whom they name Cheese (Markus Taylor). While they have some fun and Mike has some time to reflect and remember his life and death, they must also deal with the government agents looking to either put them down or collect them for further experiments.

This micro-budget film, has some things going for it, but doesn't quite accomplish the greatness it had the potential to achieve. Drew and Brett Pierce manage to make their movie work somewhat despite their financial and resource limitations; however, the main weakness of their film lies in the writing and some of the annoyingly over the top performances. Some of the humor works, while some falls hard and flat. The Pierce brothers show much potential as directors, but could use some help with their writing. For die hard zombie fans, it is worth a look, but a look on DVD.

Mark Saldana
The Movie Doc