Undead Or Alive (Horror-Western-Comedy/Image/DVD-Video)
Picture: B- Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C
As I
watched Glasgow Philips’ Undead Or Alive
(2007) in its amusing recreation (without overdoing it) of the Spaghetti
Western look, plus the best performance by Chris Kattan in years, an attempt to
do a Zombie Comedy crossed with The Western that has a few moments and an
ambitious production where the money is on the screen, I was rooting for the
film to get better. It did not, but I
think there is a cult audience (something this critic rarely sees) for the film
in a way that might have been expected for Sam Raimi’s The Quick & The Dead.
Though
Raimi’s film was not a horror flick, it too wanted to embrace the Spaghetti
Western. Here, this film is a bit better
at it, despite shots and editing that are more standard and horror oriented
than what you mighty see in the many zombie films now. Kattan and James Denton play unwilling
partners trying to get money back from a common nemesis, but when everyone goes
zombie from what in this case turns out to be a Native American curse against
“the white man” for genocide and the like, the film ceases being a true
Western.
Even by
adding Navi Rawat as the niece of Geronimo (!?!) implausibly, as beautiful and
interesting as she can be, the film implodes quickly, never is that funny and
takes on more than it can handle. The
problem with the film and its script in particular is how it does not know how
to handle the implications of some of its ideas, if it is even aware of them.
Though
done as a joke, there is still some racial territory in the idea that highly
exterminated Native Americans created the curse that made the living dead
possible. There are more than enough
great legends of monsters and creatures from that culture’s mythos (Piasa Bird,
Matchemonedo, Diablero) that a link to zombies (which does not work here
anyhow) is made. Whole feature film
thrillers, unintentionally funny like The
Manitou, also attempted to cover said territory. With all that, you can see how flawed the
premise is here. It is worth a look if
you are curious, but don’t expect much.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 is the most pleasant surprise of all, looking
good, shot nicely in Super 35mm by Director of Photography Tom Callaway with
the costume design and production design only furthering a film that looks more
expensive than it likely was. The hard
work pays off. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
is not bad, but while dialogue is clean & clear, surrounds could have been
utilized better. The genres covered are
known for their sound, so why hold back?
Extras include the trailer, two making-of featurettes and an audio
commentary track by Phillips, Kattan, Denton and Rawat that is not bad.
- Nicholas Sheffo
