Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's time for the Senior Prom at Cosa High School, but unexpected guests are about to crash the party: the living dead kind, that is. As fate would have it, the only ones who are able to come to the rescue are the people who *aren't* able to go to the prom. These fall into familiar "types": the class clown, the geeks, the tough guy, the rockers, etc. With their gung-go coach leading the way, they go into battle against the zombies.This viewer wouldn't consider himself overtly impressed by this one. It's easy enough to take, but at best it generated some modest chuckles, no real belly laughs. It makes no attempt to hide its low budget, what with the hilarious way it situates a nuclear power plant right by a cemetery. What also helps is its level of energy and its consistent forward momentum. It sure doesn't have a lot of story, but that's obviously not the point; it's just out to show its intended audience a good time. There's enough splatter to go around, and some decent sight gags.The characters may largely be clichéd, but they're not hard to root for, with wise guy Jimmy (Jared Kusnitz, "Otis") leading the way. Greyson Chadwick ("Daddy's Little Girls") is appealing as his leading lady Lindsey. Justin Welborn ("The Signal") is amusing as the punk Kyle, Carissa Capobianco ("The Watch") leaves a favourable impression as the cheerleader Gwen, Lucas Till ("X-Men: First Class") and Blair Redford ('The Lying Game') have fun with their roles as rockers, and Mark Oliver ("Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland") is a hoot as the coach.There's nothing memorable here, unless one wants to count the fact that these zombies can be subdued by rock music. Unfortunately, there's not much of an ending; the unsatisfying resolution seems to be setting up a sequel.Five out of 10.

...to the undead competition, "Dance of the Dead" marks the full-length feature debuts of a number of relative unknowns who may (or may not) be going anywhere. In a genre dominated by any number of standout efforts like "Return of the Living Dead," "Shaun of the Dead," "Fido," and "Zombieland," it really takes something special to transcend mere competence in film-making. Sadly, "Dance..." doesn't quite do that, although I give it a few points for the attempt.As is usually the case, it's the tyro script that keeps this one in the realm of the mundane. After a somewhat promising opening, way too much time is spent introducing the principal characters, none of whom are overly interesting (with the possible exception of the criminally underused Gravedigger), and establishing the tone of the proceedings, which promises comedy but fails to consistently deliver. The slim plot that ensues is distressingly banal, centering on the usual hijinks of recognizing the situation, surviving it, and the eventual efforts to save a prom from zombiedom. None of it is unique or terribly entertaining, sorry to say. Perhaps the greatest fault is the hodgepodge of zombie tropes that refuse to mesh throughout the film: sometimes they're slow, sometimes they're fast, sometimes they literally vault from the grave! And then there's just pure silliness like zombies that can drive cars, or carry their severed head around, or are pacified by music. The make-up and fx range from good to slipshod, but nothing stands out as memorable; set pieces veer from the slapstick of a bodiless pair of zombie legs staggering away to straight-up Romero-style grue and disembowelment, but none of it is scary or suspenseful or even particularly disturbing. There's no tension in the film at all, mostly due to characters painted in broad strokes, leaving the viewer no reason to care about them.Basically, "Dance..." brings nothing new to the table, and that condemns it to the disease of boredom. One positive note I have to give it is that the young cast, by and large, actually appears to be the right age for their high school characters. That's just about the only unusual thing in the whole film.Ho-hum DVD viewing that I'm glad I copped at the library. A short piece done by the director in college shows more promise than the feature film can live up to.

Not all zombie movies are the same. I guess that statement would hold true for any category of film. When a genre becomes hot, it's only natural that derivative works will start popping up left and right—good, bad, unexceptional. This movie billed itself as a dark comedy—a spoof of all those high-school/prom horror flicks. In this one, some of the waste from the the local nuclear power plant has apparently gotten into the water, and caused the undead to wake. Normally, this would just be a minor nuisance, except that this time, they're threatening to ruin Junior Prom. The horror! I generally love spoofs, and it seemed like this one would be just witty enough and self-aware to be great. Unfortunately, self-referential comedy is really hard to play, and this movie ends up feeling a little more affected than clever. And, nothing kills cool faster than trying too hard. Oh, the movie is still good fun. I love these new floppy-haired teenagers. Their humor is smarter and more quick-paced than it was fifteen years ago. They're way more sophisticated than my generation was when I was in high school. I think it's because the internet is way better now than it was then. But the movie still isn't that original. Just the same old jokes in a new package. I found it pretty hard to maintain any kind of real interest in the story. This was definitely a "tidy up the house, while the movie plays in the background" kind of a flick. Although the music was pretty awesome. Like all these high school movies, this one features a garage band with members that are just a few years too old to still being in high school. (I think the age thing is intentional). Usually these bands are pretty bad, sounding like they're taking inventory of all the cafeteria's pot and pans. But, in this movie they actually rock pretty hard. It's super fun, upbeat rock with some melody and not too much reverb (plus, the musicians pretty cute too). Again, that may be the age thing. All the other kids are the pimply, "if I had a girlfriend, she'd kill me" type of teenager. I guess that detail makes this movie a little more realistic than some others that star "alleged" high-schoolers. All in all, I think I'd skip this movie if I had it to do all over again. But, if anything, this movie is worth it for the awesome musical numbers.

This movie was an awesomely fun film. For those that complain about the "inconsistencies" read here: This is NOT a serious film. It's meant to be fun, and does a great job of that. I can't fathom why anyone would have a problem with Rock'N'Roll being used to hold the zombies off. This is called DANCE of the DEAD. What would the movie have been about if they couldn't use music as a weapon? Despite the nods to other great zombie films, Dance of the Dead kept the whole thing interesting, and feeling original. The Zombie make-out scene in the bathroom was both gross and amazing. How come whenever somebody tries NOT to make a Night of the Living Dead remake, everyone complains? Night of the Living Dead is the greatest Zombie movie of all time, but it is not the only Zombie movie, or even the first zombie movie. I want to see what other people come up with when they use Zombies as an enemy. As long as the creature in question has a hankering for flesh or brains, I don't care if they suddenly know how to fly. Please people, stop trying to nitpick movies to death. If you can't just sit there and enjoy the experience, at least for the first time through, then maybe you should give up watching movies. BRAINS... Now I'm hungry.