|
"Night of the Living Dorks"
DVD
So this week, we've
got a new entry into the category of "pathologically screwed-up
horror by nation". Japan no longer holds the title all by
its onesies, folks...oh no. Japan's old buddies the Germans have
thrown their hat in that ring, and have done so in grand style.
Presenting "Night
of the Living Dorks", a production that alternates wildly
between cringe-inducing awkwardness (no one, no one, should have
to listen to their mother describe how their father handled HIS
morning wood issues, and certainly no one else should be subjected
to it either) and uproarious comedy.
As for plot--there
is one, surprisingly--three complete dorks (hence the title) have
gone off into a graveyard to join some goths in a voodoo ceremony
for raising the dead. This is largely because the nice guy dork
and de facto leader of the dorks has a crush on the local stuck
up prep chick and is appealing to his hot goth chick next door
to put on the voodoo hookup. Naturally, as is generally the case
when local goths put on a voodoo ritual (especially when they
use frozen chicken and a "pentagram" with six points),
something goes wrong, and thus, our dorks become zombies.
What follows is--and
I get the feeling I've said this before--a regular zigzag course
wavering from cringe-inducing awkwardness (banging the school
hottie and getting walked in on by the cute girl-next-door goth
chick while you're trying to appeal to said goth chick for a cure
for your zombie state) to uproarious comedy (having to staple-gun
your junk back in place following said banging.).
There have been a lot
of comparisons to other movies thrown around about our dork feature,
but I think one has been missed above all. Anyone else see the
Devon Sawa / Seth Green vehicle known as "Idle Hands"?
Well, if you liked "Idle Hands" then you're going to
get at least a few chuckles out of "Night of the Living Dorks".
Sure, it's "Idle Hands" low-budget and really, really
Deutsche cousin, but if you're prepared to forgive some awkwardnesses--guys,
it's GREAT that you have the presence of mind to try and do a
"Thriller" parody but dammit anyway, you really need
to license the MUSIC to pull it off!--you'll get plenty of good
laughs in return.
Anyone expecting a
zombie epic or a survival horror smackdown is in the wrong place.
What you'll get here is art thievery, a string of bad ideas, a
house party to make John Hughes cringe, lots of high school clique
interfighting (wow...guess they've even got this kind of thing
going on in Germany.) and of course, plenty of the good old fashioned
teen movie cliches that we thought were swamped when Randy Quaid
showed up in the teen movie that actually made fun of other teen
movies, "Not Another Teen Movie".
On the downside, the
subtitles are a joke. What the characters say on the English audio
track only occasionally matches up to what the subtitles claim
they say. But this is a relatively small downside and only really
a problem for the hearing impaired.
The ending is an absolute
riot, plain and simple, and features everything you've come to
know, love, and maybe even loathe about this kind of movie.
The special features
includes English subtitles, English and German audio, an alternate
ending, a behind the scenes featurette, deleted and extended scenes,
a blooper reel, and trailers for "Night of the Living Dorks"
and "Night of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary Edition".
All in all, despite
the lousy subtitles and some really, really awkward moments, "Night
of the Living Dorks" manages to be an excellent synthesis
of the zombie movies we all love and the teen movies that we begrudingly
tolerate.
Night
of the Living Dorks
***
DVD
Directed by Mathias Dinter
Written by Mathias Dinter
Starring Tino Mewes, Manuel Cortez, Thomas Schmieder, Collien
Fernandes
Produced by Philip Voges, Mischa Hofmann
NR
92 mins
2007
Check
out the Video Store Guy on his own ever-lovin' website. Featuring
never before seen pieces exclusive to Reel Advice! (reel.panel2panel.com)
|
