Trying to grow up in life, a pair of slacker friends are forced to put away their fantasy life when a strange zombie outbreak arrives in their small town and brings them to the realization that they're going to have to rely on their former lifestyle in order to save their friends.
This here was quite the troubling if still enjoyable effort. One of the more engaging and enjoyable parts here is the fact that this one manages to display a great sense of humor about itself even in the midst of the melodrama. From the start, we're given idea of the kind of film this wants to be with an anime opening featuring the two tearing through hordes of zombies featuring homemade weapons before fighting a giant man-sized chicken monster, and finally that continues nicely with the rather fun anime style in the finale which is even bigger and bolder. This level is goofiness is continued with their childish love of fantasy and superheroes, ranging from dressing up in costumes to role-playing and wearing outfits to children's parties and it gives the film some solid laughs. This indeed does lead into the action which is a lot of fun, as their encounters with the zombie hordes running loose in the city generates scenes like them running away from the hordes in the mall, a great battle with the creatures attempting to break into the barricaded compound and finally the big encounter down in the tunnels where the group manages to utilize the highly impressive and unique homemade weapons that adds a lot to this one by giving it some great action with those tools heavily displayed in the scene. Alongside the strong make-up work on the creatures, these here hold this one up over it's few flaws. The biggest issue here is the fact that the film never seems to know what to do with itself in regards to its human drama. This tries a familiar approach with a troubled father/child relationship, but here it feels more like a retread aping the success of others. The relationship between the father and his son simply doesn't have the same energy here due to the father actually trying to reconnect to the complete refusal of the child such that it simply comes off as being stubborn on his part. Likewise, that plays havoc with the film's pacing since the action scenes with the zombies are fast and frantic and they come off rather enjoyable with a lot to like. However, the film stops to a halt when they shift focus to the family dynamics so that at times it's possible to even forget a zombie apocalypse is running wild outside if it weren't for the mentions about not going outside and at times it feels somewhat dull due to this focusing not on the zombies but rather on this drama set-up. These here are what holds it back slightly.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.
