Dug Up

As a zombie movie afficionado, I had high hopes for this one based on a 6.5 rating and one of the reviewers saying that it was better than Zombieland. It was not. This is obviously one of those movies with fake reviews skewing the rating. It's borderline unwatchable. The acting is terrible. The fake southern accents are the worst I've ever heard. The set-up was ridiculously long.

Just don't.

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.

"It's rednecks versus zombies and it's not a match of wits!" Horror "comedy" about a zombie outbreak in a small rural town. Three young grave robbers looking for buried treasure instead find a curious looking contraption that has a dial on it. We later fine out that this device is in fact a Necrometer - can't say that I've ever heard of one before - and it is used to raise the dead, which our dimwits have already done. I like seeing decaying zombies rise from their graves and to the film's credit we get to see this. And the ghouls' makeup is half decent too, though the CGI used for bloody gunshots etc looks very cheap. I also liked the fact that the lead guy explains that these are undead zombies as opposed to viral ones, therefore being bitten by one will not turn that person into a zombie. What lets this movie down big time for me is firstly the juvenile humour, farting and sex gags are only funny for so long until they become repetitive and boring. For me this happened very early on in the plot. Secondly there is the acting, it ranges from bad to abysmal. The zombie-comedy sub genre has been done to death, most are mediocre or below, this is by no means the worst that I have seen but I certainly won't be digging it up again.

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.

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.