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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Mathias Dinter
Tino Mewes
Manuel Cortez
Thomas Schmieder
Collien Fernandes
Supplied By : Anchor Bay Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Feb. 21, 2006
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| PLOT Philip and his best friends Konrad and Weener are the three biggest losers at Frederich Nietzsche High. But when an inept voodoo ceremony by the local Goth clique leads to a fatal car accident, this trio of über-dorks returns as indestructible zombies with an insatiable appetite for human flesh, wild parties and gym class revenge. |
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| THE REVIEW In Germany's Horror/Comedy NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS we follow best friends Philip, Wurst(or Weiner as translated in English), and Konrad. The three are not what you'd call popular kids on campus or in their everyday lives as their peers label them losers and the women want no part of them - it's especially difficult for Philip who has his eye on High School hottie, Uschi. One day during class there is some kind of show and tell, held and perhaps the only demonstration to catch the eye of the three boys is the art of black magic brought to the attention of the class by the "goths" of the school, headed by Rebecca, a girl whom lives next door to Philip - she has always liked Philip since childhood and despite her efforts, he doesn't notice. After class Philip approaches Rebecca and asks her if there would be a spell that could be performed that would cause his crush Uschi to suddenly find him desirable, Rebecca reluctantly agrees to experiment and tells him to meet her in the nearby graveyard that night. They meet up, Philip also brings along Wurst and Konrad to witness on the event. Not really sure what they are doing, the goth group gathers all the material needed to perform the spell, and when the hocus pocus is said and done, as you would expect...nothing happens... or does it. Fairly disappointed the boys head home in Wurst's van. They are driving along and just as Wurst lights up his bong and takes a hit, he takes his eyes off the road causing him to crash, killing all three of our "dorks". The next scene cuts to the friends waking up in the morgue, except for one thing...they're not dead. It turns out the botched spell they deemed not to work, actually did, and the three now find themselves members of the living dead. (the ashes they used in the ritual were actually the ashes of a zombie, that Rebecca coincidentally buys on an EBay-like auction site) They return to school the next day still adjusting to their new "condition", but it isn't long before they begin to use it to their advantage. With death, they have inherited a way of self-healing themselves from injury - so to them they feel virtually invincible. The three friends, once shy and intimidated by the popular guys at school go up against them head on and their newfound bravery gains them the popularity they never had with their classmates..... and the ladies. From then on, the boys are participating in wild parties, but when Philip finds out that in a few upcoming hours, their dead-like state will become a permanent one, he gathers the help of Rebecca to find an antidote. I have had NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD sitting on my shelf for a couple of weeks now and honestly I have been putting it off. It is for the fact that I have never been a zombie fan(I am more of a Slasher guy myself), and on top of that, there have been just too many damn zombie films emerging as of late. I was also concerned that this was a German picture, and the fact that most English dubs are done poorly. and just because I am not always in the mood to read subtitles, I just wasn't eager to get to this one. But after seeing the film, I wanted to kick myself for not checking this out sooner, the reason being is that NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS is quite entertaining. The plot of the film reminds me of a little bit of REVENGE OF THE NERDS, mixed with the Horror elements of SHAUN OF THE DEAD except with the teen comedic humor of AMERICAN PIE. If it wasn't known to be a German film, and did not have the dubbing, one would quickly think that NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS was made here in America, as it has many of out stereotypes including; the blonde hot girl, preppy jocks, and yes even hip-hop posers. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS, although it seems to be strictly based off of the zombie element, it's not, as the comedy in the film is more prominent here. Take the 80's teen comedy you know and love and mix in a little George A. Romero and there you go, it's a story where the likeliest of people become cool, and it happens to them almost a little too late as they are beginning to decompose - parts begin to fall off, yes even their genitals. The reason this review isn't as uniform as my normal reviews and seems to be all over the place. is because I just don't know how to explain NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS, but one thing I can say is that in no way is this like SHAUN OF THE DEAD, something someone could assume by looking at it. I was never a fan of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, I actually found the humor in that film to be quite dry and stagnate. In this film the comedy was hip and fresh, always remaining fresh - and it felt familiar, it wasn't like I was thrown into a foreign film I could not relate to,. The characters as well as the acting were all likeable, but no one really had a standout performance, everyone stayed on the same level, not really stepping out into the forefront, with that said, it's not a bad thing - just no performance within will like;y be memorable. Overall, > NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS, surpassed my expectations, as I immediately dismissed it as being "just another zombie film" or a "SHAUN OF THE DEAD" clone", but what I got was a film that easily falls more within the teen comedy genre, with humor that in some cases made me laugh out loud, but also had enough elements involving flesh-eating and the undead to maintain the horror - it's not often that the two are mixed this well. |
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| GORE
METER 4.5/10 Not all that gruesomely gory, but it is gory in a comical way. One of the guys(Konrad) becomes more flesh hungry than his other two pals, so he is always attacking and eating people(mostly bullies who have did him wrong). There are several severed body parts; ears, feet and at on point...even Philips testicles. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 5,5/10 I really liked the score for this film, most of the tunes are fun and hip, with instrumentals and various differing rock tracks.....I personally liked the remixed Michael Jackson sounding track. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Not all viewers will find NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS enjoyable. At first glace of the title most will think it sounds stupid, and I understand - because I did initially. Once past the rather un-thoughtful title, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS is a Horror/Comedy that ranks right up there with some of our American Comedies, while still not the best, it is better than some - I recommend at least checking this one out. |
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