Between Turbo Kid and Summer of 84, the writing/directing trio of Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell have proven themselves to be fresh voices in the horror/sci-fi genre. No matter what they serve up on the table, you can count on it having a bold, unique flavor. Their latest zombie comedy, We Are Zombies, which just premiered at Fantastic Fest, is no exception. There aren’t many walking dead movies quite like it. Yet the film is ultimately a letdown, because it feels like there’s so much more potential for what results in a shambling plot that doesn’t say much outside of the occasional moan and groan. Based on the graphic novel by Jerry Frissen, We Are Zombies is set in the fictional city of Metropolis (aka Necropolis), where a zombie virus has spread throughout. Only these aren’t your typical brain munchers. These zombies don’t have any interest in human flesh. They merely…exist. Segments of society fight for zombie rights, referring to them as the “living impaired”, while others want them wiped out completely. With the megacorporation, Coleman Pharma, offering to take undead loved ones off of family hands as a donation to science to “study the brain”—sure, Jan—a trio of slackers see it as an opportunity to pose as Coleman employees, steal zombies and sell them. But when a pair of actual Coleman employees kidnap their grandmother as ransom for all of the “product” they’ve lost, the trio must get the money, save grandma, and stop a sinister plot by the company. The premise at the heart of We Are Zombies is a fascinating one. Akin to other undead comedies like Fido or Warm Bodies (but raunchier), it expands on that idea of the person still remaining somewhere underneath all of that rotten flesh. What if we could co-exist with zombies? What would that be like? The film (sort of) answers that question through a brief opening montage that shows people protesting on both sides of the zombie debate, talk shows discussing their freedoms or lack thereof, and clips of things like a porn site dubbed “Zombies I’d like to fuck”. This is a world where there are homeless undead asking for change and desecrating a body in a cemetery is considered a hate crime. Yet despite all of the rich, brain-y commentary existing on the edges of the story, the film hardly bites into any of it. We Are Zombies is one of those cases where it’s difficult to get a grasp on exactly how this fictional society operates. Outside of that montage introduction, the film struggles with world building, offering up mere scraps where a juicy hunk of lore would do wonders. We as the audience can grasp that the people in this city aren’t aware of what caused the undead to rise, but what isn’t clear is exactly where the zombies stand. On one hand, they’re seen operating brothels or working as cooks at a fast food chain (that can’t be sanitary). But then we see zombies getting run over and decapitated to the shoulder shrugs of police. So, they can own a business, but can also be bought and/or treated like roadkill? Some zombies talk and behave exactly as they did as humans, whereas others groan and moan like the creatures we’re used to. Any one of these things is fine on its own, but the lack of consistency and detail leave you dazed and confused within a world that doesn’t seem to make any sense. There isn’t much development on the character side of things, either, with our main trio coming off as largely one note. Freddy (Derek Johns) is your average too dumb to exist guy who doesn’t know the word “metaphor” and says things like “I don’t tie my shoes…it’s a way of life”. Karl (Alexandre Nachi) more or less just wants to screw a zombie. And his half-sister, Maggie (Megan Peta Hill) is a hacker straight out of an 80s movie with a pissed-off attitude. They’re a bunch of charming dorks, and the actors play well off of each other through doses of silly comedy, but there’s about as much meat on the bone of their characters as a corpse that’s been dead for centuries. Between the trio always arguing or running from danger in scenes that come and go as quickly as they started, there’s little room for human moments that bring these people to life and engage the audience. It’s an odd miss from the filmmakers behind such loveable characters as seen in Turbo Kid. At least We Are Zombies still has that trademark energy and style that we’re used to from the directors. A delicious color palette acts as a feast for the eyes, capturing the feel of a colorful graphic novel in nearly every frame. Even the cold and sterile offices of Coleman Corp infuse shades of purple into folders and uniforms to inject some life into the setting. The zombies may be undead, but the film buzzes like a burst of electricity zapping into the bolts of Frankenstein’s Monster to the tune of a banging score. At around eighty minutes, the film sprints along from one thing to another, which keeps the juices flowing, but comes at the expense of building any sort of suspense when it counts. It’s as if the filmmakers want to distract the audience from the fact that the script is just as confused as we are, passing up every opportunity to dig into the substance of the premise. We Are Zombies seems to want to be a discussion on how we as a society tend to toss away the under-privileged, but poor world building and an unfocused script leave the film with a message as garbled as a zombie’s moans. Still, some good laughs, excellent zombie make-up and the filmmaker’s penchant for over-the-top gore make this an entertaining albeit underwhelming shamble with the undead. By Matt Konopka
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