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''Dance of the Dead'' is a 2008 American
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
zombie comedy film, directed by Gregg Bishop and written by Joe Ballarini. The film featured Jared Kusnitz, Greyson Chadwick, Chandler Darby, Lucas Till, Blair Redford and Carissa Capobianco. The plot revolves around the mysterious reanimation of the dead and the efforts of several students to save their
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
prom A promenade dance, commonly called a prom, is a dance party for high school students. It may be offered in semi-formal black tie or informal suit for boys, and evening gowns for girls. This event is typically held near the end of the school y ...
from attack. The film had a limited theatrical release at Mann's Chinese 6 Theatres in Los Angeles on 13 October 2008, before being released on DVD. The movie premiered at a number of film festivals throughout 2008, including the South by Southwest Film Festival and the Atlanta Film Festival, to universal critical acclaim.


Plot

A high school prom in
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to th ...
is unexpectedly interrupted when a graveyard, next to a power plant, becomes the sudden source of resuscitated cadavers. As zombies march on the high school, a motley group of dateless teenage outcasts, among them Jimmy (Jared Kusnitz), Lindsey (Greyson Chadwick), Steven (Chandler Darby) and Kyle (Justin Welborn), take on the zombies and save the day. Lindsey breaks up with Jimmy the day before the prom and starts going out with Mitch. On the way to the prom, Mitch takes Lindsey to the cemetery to "loosen up" and makes out with her. Mitch is drawn out of the car and killed by a zombie then turns into one himself. Meanwhile, members of the school's SciFi club, Jules, Steven, Rod, and George, are investigating the cemetery when they are attacked. Rod is killed and the remaining three are rescued by a gravedigger who reveals that he was aware of the occurrences but kept it quiet to keep his job. He instructs them on how to kill the zombies before running off. The three get surrounded again, but Lindsey comes to the rescue and they all escape in Mitch's car. After making a pizza delivery and discovering that a family is now zombies, Jimmy finds a crashed truck with his enemy Kyle as the only survivor. Jimmy and Kyle run into a cheerleader named Gwen, and the three are attacked. They manage to kill all of the zombies with a bat they find and a gun Kyle carries in his truck. Unfortunately, Jimmy's truck is stolen by two zombies, leaving the three without a getaway vehicle. In another neighborhood, Nash Rambler ( Blair Redford), Jensen and Dave the Drummer are in the middle of writing a new song for their band. Nash asks Jensen to open the garage door to let in some air because Jensen has been smoking pot, and they discover zombies when Jensen opens the garage door. The zombies attack, but the band members also accidentally find that the zombies like music and they keep playing to keep the zombies at bay, but also inadvertently attracting more. Mitch's car breaks down, and Lindsey, Jules, George, and Steven take refuge in a nearby house. Jimmy calls Lindsey to find her. He, Kyle and Gwen then make their way to the house through the town sewers. On the way, they discover a substance that the power plant dumped that they believe caused the re-animation of the dead. The house in which their friends are hiding turns out to be a funeral home. Fumes from the power plant re-animate the corpses stored there. Kyle and Jimmy kill them all, but not before Kyle is bitten in the neck and turns into a zombie and the others are forced to beat him to death. Gwen manages to retrieve the funeral home's hearse and the group escapes with the intent to rescue their fellow students from the prom. On the way to the school, the hearse's tires are shot out. The teens also discover their coach is still alive, and after telling him what has happened, he helps arm them. The group heads for the prom in the coach's Hummer. On the way, they find and rescue the besieged band. The band then joins the group to stop the zombies. At the school, they find all of the town's zombies have gathered there and that they've arrived too late to save everybody. The coach decides to use his explosives to blow up the school. While the coach starts setting up around the school, the schoolkids block all the doors so the zombies can't escape. While looking through the school, the SciFi club members find a small group of survivors, including the prom queen, and start to lead them out to safety. The coach accidentally drops the detonator into a chip bowl. Jimmy, however, is forced to go back for it, and Lindsey follows him. They sneak through the gym to get to the detonator but are noticed and attacked. Before they can be killed, the band starts playing " Shadows of the Night" to distract the zombies. Jimmy and Lindsey dance while looking for the remote. On the way out the others are attacked but manage to kill their attackers, while Gwen hides the fact that she was bitten. She pulls Steven, for whom she has developed feelings, into the bathroom. There she reveals the truth and the two kiss, but she turns into a zombie and bites Steven's tongue off. She kills him, which turns Steven into a zombie as well. The two zombies kiss again and then start to eat each other. In the gym, Jimmy and Lindsey are still looking for the detonator when a zombie accidentally pulls the plug on the band's instruments, stopping the music and causing the zombies to attack again. While the two hold off the zombies, Jenson tries to plug in their instruments. Jimmy and Lindsey are forced to hide beneath the bleachers, where they are attacked by Mitch, now a zombie. The two escape with Lindsey killing Mitch. The band manages to plug in their instruments and begin playing, allowing Jimmy to get the detonator. As the group attempt to make their escape, Jensen is caught and killed by the horde. The surviving four make their way out of the school through a window. The zombies are unable to escape out the locked doors, and Jimmy blows up the school - killing all of the zombies while kissing Lindsey at the same time, thus rekindling their relationship. The survivors, including a group that hid at the prom, take a bus to a pancake house for breakfast courtesy of the coach to eat and plan an attack to shut down the power plant and prevent the zombie plague from spreading. The gravedigger also survives and complains about the fact he has to clean up the mess.


Cast

* Jared Kusnitz, as Jimmy, a pizza deliverer * Greyson Chadwick, as Lindsey, Jimmy's lovely girlfriend and vice-president of the student council * Chandler Darby, as Steven, the class nerd who harbors a secret crush on Gwen * Carissa Capobianco, as Gwen, a popular cheerleader * Randy McDowell, as Jules, president of the Sci-Fi Club * Blair Redford, as Nash Rambler, leader of a band of drug-addled teenagers * Mark Oliver, as Coach Keel, the school coach with some kind of military background * Justin Welborn, as Kyle Grubin * James Jarrett, as gravedigger * Lucas Till, as Jensen, another member of the band


Production

The Film itself was based on a script written in the late 1990s. It was filmed in
Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all ...
and North Georgia. The cast of ''Dance of the Dead'' marked the debut of relatively unknown Georgian natives—including Greyson Chadwick, Chandler Darby, and Carissa Capobianco—and the return of sophomore actors Jared Kusnitz ('' Doll Graveyard'') and Randy McDowell (''Good Intentions''). According to director-producer Gregg Bishop, he and the producers "searched for months for the right kids, ones who were good at improv, and ended up casting more kids in Georgia ... They were more natural. hecasting director would throw them curveballs and the ones who could hang and go along ended up in the movie." The soundtrack features the track "Something's Going Wrong" by Los Angeles gothic doom proto-metal band The Sixth Chamber.


Distribution

''Dance of the Dead'' was hand-picked by director
Sam Raimi Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007) and the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present). He also directed the 1990 superhero film '' Darkman' ...
for distribution in a deal with his new partnership Ghost House Underground and
Lions Gate Entertainment Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian- American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquarter ...
. The film was a part of Ghost House's inaugural slate of offerings dubbed "October Horror". Rob Tapert says “This was a movie that
Sam Raimi Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007) and the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present). He also directed the 1990 superhero film '' Darkman' ...
and myself watched on a Sunday afternoon, we howled and we howled till Sam’s wife and kids started banging on his office door wondering if we were alright. I think I’ve watched it about five times so far.” Following the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
, German distributor Splendid Film bought the rights for German release.


Release


Film festivals

''Dance of the Dead'' premiered to sold out crowds at the 15th South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas, March 7–15, 2008 alongside a lineup of 113 feature films, including sixty-four world premieres, high school-themed features and rock documentaries. It was a 'Round Midnight selection. The film was also screened at the 32nd annual Atlanta Film Festival in April 2008, where ''Access Atlanta'' called it a "must see"; three separate showings of the film were sold out. Bleiberg Entertainment marketed the film at the 61st Cannes Film Festival in May 2008. Subsequent screenings included the International Fantastic Film Festival at
Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (Fr ...
, Switzerland, on 3 July 2008, the Fantasy Film Fest in Germany on 15 August 2008, the ninth Film4 FrightFest in London, UK, on 23 August 2008, and the Rome International Film Festival in North Georgia, US, on 7 September 2008.


Critic response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, a
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
, reports that 80% of five surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.19/10. Jason Whyte of eFilmCritic.com called it a "triumph in nearly every way; not only is an independent film that takes its small budget and runs with it, it is everything you want out of a horror comedy and more." Scott Weinberg of
FEARnet Fearnet was an American digital cable television network, website and video on demand service owned by Comcast. The network specialized in horror entertainment programming through a mix of acquired and original series, and feature films. Back ...
was surprised that "character development" was possible, and called it "fast and funny, sick and sweet, nerdy and gory. Basically, a whole lot of fun." Expecting a "cheesy zombie flick", reviewer Brian Gibson instead described it as a "zombie/prom weekend film that ended up being one of the best surprises of the ilmfestival." Anton Bitel, who writes for UK film magazine ''Little White Lies'', was tired of the zombie comedy genre in general yet still saw a film distinguished by "sharp writing, amusing characters, and a real affection for nerd culture." Collin Armstrong of
Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...
wrote, "Owing a sizable debt to
Dan O'Bannon Daniel Thomas O'Bannon (September 30, 1946 – December 17, 2009) was an American film screenwriter, director and visual effects supervisor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres. O'Bannon wrote the screenplay for '' Alien'', adapt ...
's classic punk gut-muncher ''
Return of the Living Dead ''The Return of the Living Dead'' is a 1985 American comedy horror film written and directed by Dan O'Bannon in his directorial debut, and starring Clu Gulager, James Karen, Thom Matthews and Don Calfa. The film tells the story of how a ware ...
'', ''Dance'' manages to offer a few new ideas while mostly just taking those we've seen time and again to gonzo levels of execution." Steve Barton of
Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website ...
rated it five out of five stars and wrote that the film "is rife with everything we could want in a living dead flick — great characters, good-looking zombies, and tons of gore!" Tim Anderson of
Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/ website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and mu ...
rated it five out of five stars and called it "the best horror comedy of this or any other year". David Harley, also writing at Bloody Disgusting, rated it four-and-a-half stars out of five and wrote, "Out of all the films I’ve seen at SXSW this year, regardless of genre, ''Dance of the Dead'' stands out as the most impressive and entertaining."


DVD release

''Dance of the Dead'' was released on DVD in North America on 14 October 2008. The DVD contains an
audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
by the film's director, Gregg Bishop, and writer Joe Ballarini, as well as deleted and extended scenes with optional audio commentary with Bishop. The DVD also contained several featurettes, including, "Making of ''Dance of the Dead''," with extended commentary from cast and crew members. The second, "Blood, Guts and Rock 'n' Roll: Effects and Stunts of ''Dance of the Dead''", discusses the film's technical production. Several additional features included a trailer gallery and ''Voodoo'', a five-and-a-half minute short film by director Gregg Bishop.


See also

* List of American films of 2008 * List of zombie films * Living Dead


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dance Of The Dead (2008 Film) 2008 films 2008 comedy horror films 2008 independent films 2000s teen horror films American comedy horror films American independent films American teen horror films Films set in Georgia (U.S. state) American zombie comedy films American science fiction horror films 2000s science fiction horror films American science fiction comedy films 2008 comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films