Thirty minutes into Dance of the Dead I was about ninety percent sure that director, Gregg Bishop, was a graduate of some sort of film school. Guess what, I was right. After checking around on the internet, I found that Gregg Bishop is indeed a graduate of The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. I guess there is some sort of obligation in which most film students have to make a zombie movie that takes bits and pieces of every other zombie movie ever made. Granted, I’m not saying here that Bishop made a bad movie, but I’m trying to point out the fact that to make a great original zombie movie, this day and age, you might just need the collaborate efforts of both Boyle and Romero.
In Dance of The Dead the students of Cosa High are getting ready for the biggest night of their lives: The Prom. The school features the stereotypical groups. The geeks who run the sci-fi club, the rockers who don’t even want to go to Prom because they won’t get to play, the cheerleader and the bad boys who just want to fight with everybody. The Prom heats up when the dead start rising from their graves due to the fumes from a nearby power plant. Lead by the geeks, these groups of outcast must bound together to defeat the zombie infestation.
While the production value of Dance of The Dead isn’t the best, it gets the job done. The best thing about the movie is the chemistry between the characters and some of the dialog is actually quite good. The only problem is we’ve seen this type of movie before and Bishop doesn’t introduce anything new. However, Bishop does show potential with his visual style and while still a little bit sloppy at times, some of his shot are a lot more coordinated than what we see in a Hollywood production.
Movie Review By Brad Peterson
Release Date: October 14, 2008
