Yes, it’s that Mormon zombie comedy horror that we’ve all been waiting for and, just scraping over the one hour mark, it’s ideal fare for the undemanding horror fan to enjoy with a large takeaway and a couple of beers.
The plot? In a small town in Utah all of the Mormons are suddenly turned into flesh-eating zombies. That’s it. A few people try to survive, quickly figuring out that the creatures are very, very hard to kill but their one weakness seems to be anything containing caffeine (because caffeine drinks are amongst the many fun things that Mormons tend to avoid, apparently). Armed with a load of cola drinks and some sharp, pointy things to slice zombies up, the group heads towards a local, medieval-themed pub and just tries to stay alive.
Shot for under $15,000, The Book Of Zombie deserves praise for it’s sense of fun and the way the low budget was used BUT it’s essentially a one-joke movie that overstays it’s welcome by a good 15-20 minutes despite it’s slim running time. Directors Paul Cranefield, Scott Kragelund and Erik Van Sant (with the latter two also being responsible for the script) show promise and there were certainly a number of big laughs strewn throughout the movie but there were also one or two dull patches even as the zombies were surrounding our plucky protagonists. The special effects were pretty well done throughout, with a nice gloopiness to them, and things don’t feel like they’ve just been assembled in 5 minutes for a few dollars even though it’s also clear that time and money were always important factors.
Movie fans will find some things to enjoy here – a fun title sequence, some messy kills, a number of references to popular 80s movies and even a fantastic punchline to end the whole affair – but the film struggles to step beyond many of it’s obvious limitations. The acting is okay at best, in a Troma kind of way, the soundtrack is . . . . . . . . audible, the gags are enjoyable enough as long as you’re not expecting anything too original (and I realise how bizarre that statement sounds considering this is a film about MORMON ZOMBIES) and a lot of little moments in the movie end up reminding you of much better movies. Heck, even the initial plan to get to the local store and the way it was played out onscreen immediately had me pining for Shaun Of The Dead.
The guys did well with what they had available to them but there’s plenty of room for them to improve as their careers, hopefully, develop onwards and upwards.
DIRECTORS: PAUL CRANEFIELD, SCOTT KRAGELUND, ERIK VAN SANT
CAST: BRIAN IBSEN, LARISA PETERS, ANDREW LOVISKA, PAUL CANTU, ADRIENNE MACLAIN
DURATION: 61 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: USA
Film Rating: 
