Necroville (2008)
Review by Tristan Wright
God bless Shock-O-Rama. In a market that’s annually being polluted with the worst fucking horror movies imaginable, Shock-O-Rama never fails to deliver the goods. Whether it’s a horror comedy or just a straight up horror film, they never cease to impress me. Such is the case with tonight’s movie Necroville. What’s not to love about this: a couple of average Joes are a for-hire Monster Disposal team in a small town overrun by some nasty ghouls. I shouldn’t really have to continue as that’s pretty much all you need to know. Monsters + Comedy + Shock-O-Rama = purchase. However since we have some standards over here, I’ll elaborate.
Necroville: a quaint suburban town that just happens to be overrun by zombies, werewolves, vampires, aliens, and anything else your mind can fathom. Enter Jack (Billy Garberina) and Alex (Adam Jarmon Brown). Jack is a young man whose life never really took off after high school because he’s been too busy going from job to job with his chubby friend Alex. After losing their position of employment at the local video store, the two set out to find another pair of jobs, much to the annoyance of Jack’s needy girlfriend Penny (Brandy Bluejacket). As it turns out, she thinks Alex is a loser and blames him for how unsuccessful Jack has turned out. Determined to show her that he’s capable of a maintaining a real job, Jack and Alex sign up with Zom-B-Gone – a monster disposal company that only handles the worst of the worst.
All seems well and good until one day, while dispatching a living room full of “vampires” they realize that they were merely a bunch of goth kids. They ask their boss about this, and find out when a big cluster of goth kids are hanging out, it usually means a master vampire is in the area, and controlling them to do his bidding. Well shit. To make matters worse, Jack’s soon to be ex-girlfriend has fallen for her past flame – Clark (Mark Chavez). Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Clark ends up being the master vampire Alex and Jack are hunting. With Alex handling the guns, and Jack using his martial art skills, the two set out on a destructive path to bring down the head vampire, and save Jack’s girlfriend in the process.
First of all, there was a great dynamic between these two. Just like Shaun of the Dead, you’ve got your sensible, problem-solver (Jack) and your funny, cowboy-outlaw type (Alex). Their constant banter during zombie fights is a major highlight of the movie. Whether it’s Alex trashing Jack for his clingy, bitch of a girlfriend, or Jack coming to her defense while cracking fat jokes at Alex’s expense, it’s comedy gold and had me laughing more than once. There were some surprisingly nice special effects in this film as well. I say surprisingly because with a film like this, you don’t imagine there’s much room in the budget for anything jaw-dropping or even semi-realistic. However, there were a handful of scenes that were just plain cool to see, including a first-person view of Alex wielding a shotgun. I know. Pretty badass.
For such a long movie, this one had essentially little-to-no filler. There were several scenes in which the duo dispatched of several zombies that all seemed to run together, but each was uniquely funny and full of some hilarious prop gags. The only time the film ever seemed to drag was the drawn out dialogue scenes between Jack and Penny. Some were fine, but others seemed to go on and on, and with only two or three camera angles to break up the monotony it seemed to never end. Luckily, these scenes were usually broken off by a nice visual gag or a good one-liner by Alex that trashed Jack’s girlfriend. Aside from that, and the odd dubbing issue, there really aren’t any complaints from me. It seems that Billy Garberina and Adam Jarmon Brown wrote themselves a pretty solid buddy comedy, and did a damn fine job of pulling it off.
This one gets two thumbs up in my book. It’s just the right combination of bloody gags and good laughs, and doesn’t stop until the credits roll. If you’re looking for that cheesy, Troma-like movie fun, look no further.
Necroville has all the gore and laughs you’ll ever hope to find in a single movie.
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