For any discerning zombie-movie aficionado, I'm pretty sure that (most) of us can agree that in order to make a halfway decent zombie film, just add some hordes of the undead into virtually any situation and watch the fun begin. Well after watching Stag Night Of The Dead, I can certainly concur with that statement.If you are looking for a good-time, laugh out loud, beer swilling, hoot and holler at your TV kind of movie, this is it. Director Neil " Napoleon" Jones has put together quite the male bonding film and ratcheted up the entertainment factor with this 85-minute zom-com.
Dean ( played by Sebastian Street), comes off as kind of a hen-pecked groom to be that has been taken out for his bachelor party by 4 of his good friends, Marky - the best man, DJ Ronnie - a homeboy wannabe, T.C - the psycho, expletive spewing Tourette's Syndrome sufferer, and Sanjay, the smart and savvy businessman with a heart full of love for his daughter. Added to the guest list is Gordon, Dean's soon to be father in law ( played heroically by Doug Grant), and Candy, a PVC clad stripper/ dominatrix that most certainly can hold her own in either a gun or street fight.
Marky the best man has quite the party planned for his soon to be married friend, and after a short time all of the pals and the stripper head off in a limo to a top-secret military base to play a little game of " Zomball". Sound interesting ?? You haven't seen anything yet. It turns out that the military has been stockpiling scores of the recently deceased and renting out the military base for the fun and games. But is that the ONLY reason ?
Back to the story and the rules of the game. Each player is equipped with an electronic pulse assault rifle, which sends out a surge reminiscent of the proton packs in Ghostbusters. These bursts of electricity are used to put down the zombies when they are released into the playing field ( select areas of the military base.) When a zombie is put down, they are merely stunned and will return to attack mode in a short 5 minute span. Multiple charging stations are scattered around the base and MUST be used to juice up your weapon, a simple task that some of the fellas seem to keep forgetting. I mean who wouldn't want this kind of fun at their bachelor party ?? So many zombies to put down with NO rules and.........oh wait.... yeah, there is one MAJOR rule that must be adhered to and that is " Never humiliate a zombie, or the game is over" - well, it's not too long before the guys have broken this one too.
The story doesn't slow down too much and does have some pretty intriguing twists and turns to it, like why is Dean's father in law so good at killing these creatures of the undead, and what is the secret that Marky is keeping from his friend that could potentially scrub his upcoming vows ? The zombies are varied but effective as victims of a nationwide pandemic gone uncured, with plenty of rotted flesh and gore to spare. Now I've been positive for a while now, so NOW its time to be a tad negative...... so here we go. Some of the characters in this film are so god-awful and annoying that I found myself pleading for them to get wasted ( DJ Ronnie) - who's storyline descends into the WTF ? category after an attempt at love with a zombie redhead.
But I won't linger on the down side, as there isn't too much of one here, simply due to the fact that if you want a fun, no frills, zombie shoot em up flick, than this is for you. I have to say that I was honestly entertained with this one from start to finish, and recommend it to the die-hard fan that refuses to take the genre too seriously.
2.5 out of 4 stars
