For Love of Zombies: Wednesday Lee Friday Reviews

For Love of Zombies

“For the Love” is a way of describing creative work that you don’t get paid for. It can be web design, writing, music, or in the case of For Love of Zombies, short film. I was kindly sent a screener by writer/director Ron DiPrimio and Little Red Wagon Films; and it took me over a week just to watch it. This is the best Night of the Living Dead fan film I have seen since 1990’s Night of the Living Bread.

The film begins with two pitch-perfect horror nerds on a road trip to drop their girlfriends off at college. The whole cast looks much older than the average college student, but as a fan of the old Beverly Hills 90210, I can let that go. The girls are dressed totally inappropriately for a day of lugging boxes up and down dorm stairs. Typical. Women often make this fatal mistake. (I’m looking at YOU, Diary of the Dead and any other horror film where chicks wear high heels while camping!) The couples make a short stop at—you guessed it: Evans City Cemetery. Once our heroes pass the famous chapel, we’re led into a delightful montage of mugging, belly bumping, and zombie walking through the iconic film locale. Meanwhile, the lame girls sit in the lame car, illustrating how lame they are for not appreciating where they are…because no girl anywhere ever could possibly enjoy a black and white zombie film. Amirite, ladies? Then, more stuff happens. I don’t want to be spoilery, so I’ll just leave it at that. Want a hint? Fine. It contains the bloodiest and most practical use of Jimmy Choo shoes I have EVER seen—and I watch a ton of shows on HBO.

For Love of Zombies is everything it should be–a cheap, smart, joyous short that clearly illustrates a love and respect for the genre, and for Night of the Living Dead. You’ll laugh right along with the zombie-loving nerd-boys on their wacky Pennsylvanian adventure. The special effects are fun and gruesome, and the campily bad delivery of the **ahem** actresses highlights the jovial tone.

The film is available on a DVD that contains a bunch of cool extra features. If you’re a collector, this is a MUST HAVE!
My only complaint about For Love of Zombies is that it’s just too damn short. I was laughing so hard, I didn’t want it to end. You can hear more about that when I pick the brain of FLoZ writer and director Ron DiPrimio. Coming soon to ZZN’s front page.