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Overall Rating : 5/10
Directed By : Stephen Bradley
Samantha Mumba (The Time Machine)
David Leon
Tadhg Murphy
Laurence Kinlan
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : December. 12, 2007
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| PLOT Seventeen-year-old Nathan is in love with Jessica, but he just can't get up the courage to ask her out. So Jessica and Nathan’s best friends take the initiative and set them up on a date. However, thanks to Jessica’s disapproving father, the plan falls apart. Then, mistakenly led to believe that Jessica went all the way with local lothario Kenneth, Nathan ends up drunk and falls victim to a careless, fatal accident. Nathan’s mother Grace is not about to let her son go. Seizing upon an old voodoo book she has discovered in church, she performs a restorative ritual and brings back Nathan – as a flesh-craving zombie who sires more teen undead while trying to control his appetite for his beloved. As Grace races to find a way of undoing the voodoo spell, Nathan struggles to save his friends and gorgeous Jessica |
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| THE REVIEW In this UK/Ireland co-production that is essentially a cross between American films like, MY BOYFRIEND'S BACK, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, we meet Nathan, a high school student, whom has always had eyes for a close friend named Jessica. Even though this is the way he feels, he can't ever seem to work up the courage to tell her. In an effort to get things started for their pal, two of Nathan's best friends arrange a late night meeting between the two. When Jessica no-shows(which wasn't her fault), Nathan is basically heartbroken as he walks home in the rain. What he doesn't know is that Jessica did find a way out of the house and arrives to find that Nathan has already gone. Due to it raining outside Jessica catches a ride with another classmate - this is where Nathan sees his beloved Jessica in the car with another guy, in a situation he believes is happening, but real isn't. Depressed and lonely, Nathan returns home to hang himself while being in a drunken state. But to his surprise, he awakens the next morning to find he is still alive - or so he thinks. He has no pulse, and he slowly develops a hunger for human flesh, it is later explained that his Mom, who has been practicing a little black magic, has actually performed a ritual to bring her son back - unfortunately, something went wrong. Nathan is now a flesh eating zombie, and no matter how much he tries to hide it, people begin to wonder about him. When he gets into a scuffle with one of his enemies after a disco dance, the confrontation ends with Nathan biting him, passing on the virus. From then on the virus begins to spread across the campus and town alike, as the other guy wasn't as conservative. With the town being taken over by a horde of flesh eater, Nathan, whose caught in-between being a human and a flesh eater himself must try to get his friends, especially Jessica to safety, before he himself fully turns. I first heard about BOY EATS GIRL about two years ago when it was first released in Region 2 areas. It was being compared to the likes of AMERICAN PIE, teen film wise and SHAUN OF THE DEAD, when it came to it's comedy. Personally I didn't mind that it might be like AMERICAN PIE, but what I was worried about was the comparison to SHAUN OF THE DEAD. If you have read some of my other reviews, you'd know that I think SHAUN OF THE DEAD is an awful film. I have never understood what it is about that film that got it all of it's praise - the humor was dry and unfunny......just so dreadful to watch(at least to me it was). And then a film called NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS, a teen horror comedy from Germany came along last year. I actually kind of liked NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS, and that too was compared to SHAUN OF THE DEAD, but I found DORKS, to be much funnier and enjoy. So as you could imagine, when I got ready to watch BOY EATS GIRL, I wasn't really expecting to like it all that much - all that I hoped for is that there was a nice balance between the story aspects and comedy aspects, and not too much of one and little less of the other. The film starts of more as a high school teen drama than anyone else. Nathan loves a friend whom doesn't know it and he desperately wants to make his feelings known to her. This is a plot that can be found in almost any movie, more so an American teen film - in fact, although shot in Ireland, the film feels Americanized. from the point when Nathan commits suicide and then resurrected, from then on, the mood kind of changes, to that of of some other comedies, most resembling the previously mentioned MY BOYFRIEND'S BACK from 1993. Back from the Dead which one more chance to confess his love only to have a few obstacles hinder his progress, if it sounds all too familiar - that's because it is, In BOY EATS GIRL, a familiar plotline is taken and added in is the zombie fad that never seems to go away, that's all that BOY EATS GIRL really is, but some of it's comedy and gore make it rather entertaining. The comedy here, unlike SHAUN OF THE DEAD isn't really forced and isn't over-saturated and it doesn't over stay it's welcome. However some of the intended funny scenes in BOY EATS GIRL aren't as funny as the filmmakers probably had hoped they'd be, but nonetheless some are. The only problem that BOY EATS GIRL really has is a problem in it's pacing - and it's a big one. Most of the time I never complain when a film moves at a steady fast pace, but this is one film that has a pace, that takes away from it's overall story. In some scenes this film moves entirely too fast and jumps from one scenario to another just to quickly. Right after Nathan dies, it jumps to him waking up the next morning, with absolutely no padding in between - there isn't even an explanation as to how a dead teen can be alive after hanging himself.... all we have to go on is that we see his mom reading some kind of Satanic ritual book of some sort. Also I won't spoil it, but the ending feels rushed, making no sense at all, almost as if they couldn't think of an ending to go with....so they simply through one together. It's an ok movie, but technically it is very sloppily plotted. The acting is what you'd expect in a Horror/Comedy like this, it's very mixed. There wasn't a particular performance that stood out above the rest, not even from the leads in my opinion everyone was just average. The film is marketed around the fact that one of the leads is Samantha Mumba, who was one an International RnB/Pop star at one time. She had one album released and even was featured on American teen music shows like TRL, only to fade away a short while later to begin acting. She has since had a small role in the big budget movie THE TIME MACHINE, and has recently seemed to focus on independent films - this being one of them. Honestly speaking, judging from this film, she hasn't exactly fully developed into a full-fledged actress, as she just wasn't that impressive. Maybe she will get better, but I believe she should've stayed in music - because in music - you don't even have to be the most talented of people to have continuous success. Overall, I found BOY EATS GIRL to be not as funny as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS, but still more enjoyable than the film that everyone seems to compare just about every Horror/Comedy with these days, SHAUN OF THE DEAD. |
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| GORE
METER 3.5/10 Not as gory as the title may suggest. We basically just get the typical gore that comes with any zombie film - bloody flesh eating. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 4.5/10 The soundtrack consists of various rock tracks, some of the tracks were appropriate for their respected scenes, while others, I thought were just thrown in to make the film more "hip" |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM BOY EATS GIRL is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, it is actually a rather enjoyable story, but it is weighed down by many flaws - most have to do with it's pacing. Other than this and a disappointing ending, it's an ok way to pass the time, just don't expect anything new from it. This DVD will be released on December 18, 2007 |
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