Zombie Bro
Who knew electrical tape would serve as your best defense against a zombie outbreak?
Cast of Characters:
Brooklyn – Keoni Davis
Butch – Ned Morgan
Calissa – Natassija Belle James
Teddie – Cooper Flynn
Ma – Karina Bracken
Pa – Anthony Taufa
Francine – Lauren Grego
Director – May Grehan
Screenplay – May Grehan
Producer – May Grehan & Claudia Pickering
Not Rated
The Rundown: Meet Teddie (Cooper Flynn). He’s quiet and socially awkward, but absolutely adored by his parents. And he’s also a zombie.
Whaaaaaaaat????!!!!
With the town under attack… somewhat under attack… honestly, not really under attack at all, it’ll be up to Teddie’s sister Francine (Lauren Grego) to save the day, all while dealing with her inept dolt of a father (Anthony Taufa) and sweetly naive mother (Karina Bracken), both of whom are quite blissfully unaware that their son wants to eat them.
You can do it, Francine. Stab him square in the head… in a family-friendly kids film.
Pre-Release Buzz: Despite reveling in all things blood, guts and gore, monster horror has not been entirely divorced from children’s viewing. Whether it’s the Hotel Transylvania franchise, the Goosebumps films, or going all the way back to the Scooby-Doo animated series, onscreen monsters have managed to drop the grotesque in exchange for wholesome from time to time. So now, after hitting the festival circuit and finally making its way to VOD and a limited theatrical run, we have Zombie Bro, a low-budgeted homage to George A. Romero toned all the way down to an R. L. Stine adventure.
The Good: God bless Lauren Grigo’s little heart; she’s really trying here. Her performance is certainly not what I’d call a breakout by any means, but she’s asked to carry most of this picture, a difficult feat for any child actor to uphold. Even when her performance falls flat, at the very least, her effort is evident.
The Bad: Understanding how extremely difficult it is to get a film completed, much less released, it’s admirable that writer/director May Grehan was able to complete this project given its budgetary restraints. That said, there’s no getting around this fact: boy, this film was a rough watch. Budgetary restraints are hardly the main issue here, but it can’t be denied that the film’s lack of creativity pushes the film’s obvious lack of any budget further to the forefront. Much can be forgiven if a film is entertaining. A clever, imaginative script doesn’t cost you a dime, and if Zombie Bro delivered an engaging story with laughs, you could excuse cheap carnival face paint makeup and sight gags like a very obvious toy stuffed arm passing as the title character’s torn limb. However, if the story fails to captivate, then the film only ends up drawing more attention to its limitations.
The biggest problem plaguing Zombie Bro is the awkward sense of comic timing displayed by Grehan. Throughout the film, moments with the potential for laughs are presented, but they’re unable to stick the landing. A confrontation between Francine and two school bullies where one bully scolds the other for making a racially insensitive joke could’ve played out like a kids’ version of a Blazing Saddles gag, but is delivered like a “The More You Know” lecture with no self-awareness at all. Other moments such as Francine’s dad finding a threatening message smeared in blood and is obliviously only concerned with the mess he’ll have to clean up begins with enough of a laugh, but drags on and overstays its welcome.
Admittedly, Grehan does score one effective laugh during a scene where Francine’s mom eerily says “you’re next” to her, implying she’s about to be eaten, but then adds that it’s to be dropped off at school.
The Ugly: So let’s talk about the dad, who, as Kirk Lazarus from Tropic Thunder would say, goes full-retard. I can put aside the fact that he is moronic enough to think that electrical tape is strong enough to keep a bedroom door shut tight like a sealed tomb. Grehan was probably playing that up for humor. I can also, maybe, overlook his half-hearted explanation of why he bullied Francine around like some kind of douchey older brother, which culminates in a quick apology from him and just like that she moves on, as if he wasn’t a dick to her for about 90% of the movie.
C’mon, Zombie Bro. You gotta earn those heart to heart moments.
What I can’t look past – and I’ll play nice and avoid spoilers here – is a third-act decision the dad makes that is infuriatingly stupid. It’s not only a decision that potentially risks both his and his daughter’s life, it’s one that he could’ve easily avoided. In fact, it’s one he didn’t even need to avoid at all if he had at least half a functioning brain to not just giddily swan dive right into the problem.
Maybe Grehan is excusing such a decision for the sake of humor, but that’s a head-scratching move then given the not-so-funny consequences that come about from the dad’s idiocy.
Consensus: Zombie Bro is ultimately harmless, but sadly suffers from an unimaginative script and poorly constructed comic gags, both of which compound the issues raised by the film’s clearly apparent lack of budget.
Silver Screen Fanatic’s Verdict: I give Zombie Bro a D- ( ½★).
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