Dug Up

Hey everyone... Dug Up will finally get you to appreciate what so many halfbaked overblown cable shows never accomplish. This one portrays the ridiculousness of 'zombie' films as they should be done. Over the top campy, hammy glory, and you won't be disappointed. If you like throw backs to the 70's, 80's and 90's camp horror films & comedy's then you'll love this. Great performances and redneck humor at its best. The final conflict with "Dukes of Hazard" stylized knock 'em dead and William Shockley channeling Kristofferson from "Blade" is hilarious.

This movie was filmed in Vermont, but would have been right at home in a backwoods hillbilly area. In fact, the actors do a great job of being clueless and stupid. Unfortunately, that can only go so far. The sheriff of the town is always busy doing extracurricular horizontal activities. An old man dies, and it was rumored he had gold and treasure hidden, and Trevor decides he will try and find it. Instead of gold hidden in a grave, they find a box, and inside is a dial and a medal. In turning the dial, they cause the dead within 100 miles to rise out of their graves. And the zombies can be quite fast. It is low budget and it shows. It is also fairly goofy. But it also wears thin after awhile.

Have you ever watched a movie that was so stupid that you felt stupider after watching it? This is such a movie.

I rather enjoy zombie comedies, so I was hopeful that "Dug Up" might be a nice indie that had flown under the radar. But the reviews that warn you to ignore the10s should be respected. Because "Zombiand," it is not.

Being low budget, I can excuse the really bad makeup and special effects. I can excuse a certain amount of sloppy storytelling and character development. I can even excuse laughable plot holes and lazy, dumb wrap ups. But what I can't excuse is filming a movie in Vermont while pretending to be the most insulting stereotypical Southern rednecks known to man.

The cast of "Dug Up" apparently rifled through all the old "Dukes of Hazzard" wardrobe, while perfecting their unknown Southern regional accents by everyone just kind of agreeing that all Southerners talk that way while punctuating the script with plenty of uses of the term "thingamajiggy" thrown in while slapping their hips and hyucking. Like all us Southerners do. Reading the other reviews, apparently I wasn't the only one appalled and insulted.

You know, had they NOT chosen to make anyone south of Mason-Dixon the butt of their joke and just played it straight, it probably would have been a much better film. It wouldn't have been near as stupid and the jokes may have landed better. I don't know...how do Vermonters talk? But honestly the ONLY reason I didn't shut this crap show off after 10 minutes was because I wanted to give it a chance, and to fairly review it.

Not a masterpiece. But it has a few funny bits. The best was early on when the sheriff is at the location of a deceased man, and it's a sight gag that you might miss if you look away. There are a few other funny bits and the movie knows what it is and does not take itself seriously. Decent zombies, goofy, and for what it is, in its class, it's a solid 8. Well, what else can I say about it? The effects budget was certainly decent. The characters are stereotypes, but so what? The whole idea of the main male character visiting his sister at work was disturbingly hysterical to me and I'm really out of things to say. If you like bad movies, you'll like it a lot. Even though its on the cusp of just being good dumb fun.

I know this film was made in 2013 and 'Shaun of the Dead' was in 2004, but either way, both movies were released during the 'renaissance' of the zombie era. The difference is that 'Shaun of the Dead' was one of the first flicks (of the time) to mix zombie-horror and comedy and it was funny, endearing and well-written. Jump forward nearly a decade and 'Dug Up' in also a comedy-horror film set during an undead uprising. And it's not that bad. It's just not that good, either.

If we say - speaking generally - that 2002's 'Resident Evil' (movie) started the modern obsession with zombies, then now - over twenty years later - we've seen almost every different type of take on the subject matter. If you want a 'straight' zombie-horror, then you have everything from Romero's films, to 'The Walking Dead' TV series, or '28 Days Later.' Whereas, if you're looking for something similar, but more light-hearted then you'd - most likely - choose 'Shaun of the Dead.' And, let's pretend that 'Shaun' didn't exist and you asked me - now, in 2024 - to name my 'Top 20 zombie comedy films' I could probably do that and give you a load of movies you probably haven't heard of, but all have laughs at the expense of some shuffling ghouls.

And that's where the problem lies. Even if I had to list twenty zombie-comedies, 'Dug Up' still wouldn't be included. You'll notice I'm not really telling you much about the plot. That's because there isn't one. It's merely one of many similar films which tries to be funny and original, but just can't really offer anything that you haven't seen before.

There's some brief nudity in the opening act, if that's any incentive for you to watch it. But I found it on a streaming service and happened to pause it to go to the kitchen. I figured it must be about halfway (forty-five minutes) through and was amazed when I saw I was only twenty minutes in.

Like I say, it's not terrible. If you really want to watch about 'Number Thirty' in the top hundred list of best zombie-comedy films then this is it. Otherwise, simply stick to 'Shaun' - chances are you already own a copy in your DVD collection.