Shatter Dead

Stark Raven and Flora Fauna. What kind of name are those? Hippies? Porn Stars. Well, we did see them starkers in the shower. I'm just askin' This is Scooter McCrae's entry into the world of writing and directing. Well, he also plays a role in the film. Good thing he had someone else on the camera. He will be back, along with Stark Rave in Sixteen Tongues, a movie whose tags definitely place it on my must-see list.

Now, this film has some weird symbolism that is hard to explain. An androgynous angel, sucking off a gun in her dreams, even an appearance by a Howard Stern/Fartman character, who performs a cesarean with a shotgun (that, you have to see!).

Buckets of blood, lots of breasts, a gun penis, a wacky preacher, what more do you want?

I'm not surprised that this film has gotten so many bad reviews, although this is not to say I agree with them. I contend that Shatter Dead, although obviously not professional looking, is a brilliant film.

Yes, it was shot on a low budget. Yes, it was shot on video and not film. Yes, the sound is low quality. NO, THESE THINGS DO NOT MATTER.

What matters is that there's (a) a very creative take on the zombie genre, (b) a script with tremendous depth that works on multiple levels, (c) many clever lines (that also work on multiple levels), (d) many powerful scenes, (e) a profoundly haunting mood that permeates the entire film, (f) a fantastic musical score, (g) a sharp and dynamic visual style that defies the low budget, (h) well-developed, memorable characters, and (i) efficient storytelling.

If you need your films to have bright colors and celebrities and pop music, then you will not like Shatter Dead. But if you're looking for something that's actually innovative and meaningful, then perhaps you should give it a try.

Instead of complaining about what's wrong with Shatter Dead, like everyone else, let's talk about what's right about it. Directed by Scooter McCrae, Shatter Dead really accomplishes what it's going for. Other than originality, it flaunts a certain quiet, empty, apocalyptic feel. Inspired by God knows what, Shatter Dead centers on a woman named Susan. Susan is trying to make her way home to her boyfriend without blowing someones undead head off, certainly no promises, because this "begging for change" is wearing a little thin. After one of these undead minorities steals the gas out of her car, she sets him on fire. just to let you know what kind of girl we're dealing with. After a run-in with a radical group, who are promoting the way on the undead, Susan finds shelter in a house, especially meant for the living, I guess. There, she meets some interesting characters, some hit on her, some want her soap, but all Susan wants is to sleep. Susan's slumber is soon interrupted by the New Order. Armed with a shot gun and bad intentions, Pericles Lewnes and some Howard Stern guy are on a rampage, determined to convert the living. After ruining the life, or I guess death of a hot young zombie and witnessing a birth/death that you just wouldn't believe, Susan realizes, it might be time to move on. Off to see the boyfriend, but once Susan arrives, she finds a whole new problem. Unlike the more traditional, or even the not so traditional Zombie films, in Shatter Dead, the zombies are only technically zombies, When their heart stops beating, the soul no longer separates itself from the body, and they just rot, for all eternity. This being a punishment from God. Why would God do such a thing? well, That's cleared up in the first minute of the movie, unless you weren't paying attention. The real difference between a zombie and a Shatter Dead zombie is that most zombies in this movie have no bad intentions, they just want to keep on going. Just because there's no flesh-eating doesn't mean there's no gore, just to clear that up. Slightly blasphemous, although, dwelling on that would be missing the point. The point being, Shatter Dead is a damn fine, original, independent film that doesn't seem to get the recognition that it deserves, considering most of these other reviews. Guys, if you really think Shatter Dead sucks, track down Zombie '90 Extreme Pestilence, for a truly enlightening experience. The theme of blasphemy, along with the whole video camera issue tells me that Shatter Dead wont be getting a ten. Nonetheless, this is probably the highest I'll ever rate a zombie film that was shot on video, so, Scooter must have done something right. The misunderstood art that is Shatter Dead deserves no less than 8/10

I had heard that this movie was so cool and creative, so I had high expectations. I was immediately disappointed when the movie started and the picture looked like it was filmed by a camcorder. The female lead's acting is so bad, I contemplated turning the dvd off. That bad. I kept on watching because I paid a pretty penny (more than the average price for a dvd) to get a copy of this movie (from the distributor). I also wanted to see if the story and gore were any good. Good luck. The story is about a girl trying to get back to her apartment, that's it. There was some crappy gore and a xxx scene involving the female lead, her boyfriend and a pistol (a pellet handgun in reality). You can probably figure out the rest. I threw away the dvd, just as I threw away my money when I bought it.

After hearing much hype about this supposedly graphic yet thoughtful zombie movie I gave it a shot, much to my dismay.

Strait-jacking Romero's infamous 'Dawn of the Dead' line about there being no more room in hell for it's plot, 'Shatter Dead' follows the exploits of a rather unpleasant female as she attempts to get to her boyfriend in a world were the dead don't die. Along the way she meets assorted boring humans, a wack-job preacher, and some living dead just trying to get by.

The film tries for high-concept, but lays limp at low-execution. The locations look like spots near the director's home, the actors don't ever act, the script is thin past the set up, the gore FX aren't convincing, the direction is uninspired, etc, etc. Just nothing about it ever works. The film could have tried to rely upon the strength of the set-up to at least flirt with some existential examination, but instead the filmmakers fall back on dime-novel psycho-babble and pseudo-religious rhetoric.

As far as providing exploitive thrills, yet again the promise is not delivered. There is some violence and blood/gore, but it's cheaply executed and badly edited together. On the sexploitive front, things fare no better. While there is a fair amount of nudity, it is mostly of the lead female who (I am sorry to say) is not very attractive. For the whole movie only one bit, just one, actually stood out; a late movie sex scene where a blood drained zombie male is forced to strap on a hand-gun in order to engage in intercourse. That one blurb of exploitive lunacy accounts for the 2 rating.

Not much of a horror movie, not much of a sexploitive movie...just not much of a movie.

2/10