You're all nuts. This movie was great.
I sat down tonight to watch a small horde of zombie flicks. Been an avid fan of the genre for many long years. "Dawn of the Living Dead" was just horrible, not even in the "so bad it's good" category. It just plain blew. Then Dead Meat comes up next, and honestly, I'm expecting cheese, complete with generic zombies with bad makeup, a godawful script, --y'know, the usual. Right away I notice the camera work is good, and I get my hopes up a little. The story starts out at a slow pace, and yeah, it generally stays that way, but even a fast-paced script can be bad. Making sure someone's talking or shooting something in every scene doesn't make a movie good. Dead Meat kept a good pace, and I enjoyed the dialogue, which didn't attempt to play to the audience for points, and just kept it real. The FX were just fine. Nothing to win any awards, but most importantly it didn't "look" like the usual stupid, cheap effects. They got the job done. I've read several negative reviews here, and some of the points mentioned I find to be uninformed and misleading, and if that's the mindset one has going in, yep, you won't like it. The music: someone said it sucked. I think you're nuts. The music was perfectly timed, very moody, fairly original, and actually fit the scenes it was supporting. Well done. Another point mentioned was that it was trying to use elements from other films. That's a load of crap. What you're seeing is someone that cleary was inspired by other directors, and has created his own style from those influences mixed with his own ideas. There weren't any "homages" here, but there was plenty of applied influence. A touch of John Carpenter, a huge does of Sam Raimi, etc. This guy could go far, and I'd like to see what else he'll be doing in the future. Someone else said the acting was bad. Well, I've acted, and I've watched more movies than God (did I just hear thunder?), and not one person in this movie was obviously acting. Whether you like the words the script puts in their mouth or not, or love/hate the characters themselves, if you can't tell that they're acting, they've done their job, and done it well. I enjoyed this cast, even down to the Coach, and being an American I couldn't understand much of anything he said. I'm usually pretty good with accents and dialects, but his brogue was so thick and vowel-mangling that it was virtually incomprehensible most of the time to the western ear. Professor Higgins would commit suicide after a few days with this guy. :) And someone also said the humor wasn't good, or at least cloned gags. Well, ok, that's your opinion, and I won't argue the piont because of that, but I will say I see it completely differently. I absolutely loved the way they remained deadly serious throughout, and never once cracked an intentional joke, even when the situation was something that, if you saw the scenario written on paper, you'd fall over laughing at how ludicrous it sounded. Another point in this movie's favor, if you think about it. They actually pulled it off, used the almost satirical elements, and kept it all serious without losing their composure. I don't want to give spoilers, but the whole cow tie-in, and subtle gags along the way that stemmed from that (sleeping while standing in the field, the evil were-cows, and so forth) were just priceless, and didn't detract at all. I wish I could see a Gary Larson review of this movie somewhere. I think he'd be in heaven. :) Anyway, bottom line is that this really was a pretty decent flick, if you like this sort of thing. I can tell you I was wanting more when it wrapped up and the credits rolled. That's always a good sign. Would love to see this spawn sequels, if done by the same crew.
And, just for fun, a few possible titles for sequels:
Dead Meat II: Night of the Cud
Dead Meat II: MOOOOd killer
Dead Meat II: Bossy's Eire!
Dead Meat II: The Bloody Isles
Dead Meat II: Emerald Apocolypse
Dead Meat II: Paddy's Blood
Dead Meat II: Hey Brother, Can Ye Spare a Pint?
Dead Meat II: The Milk of Inhuman Kindness
Dead Meat II: Belfast Jones and the Herd of Doom
Dead Meat II: Human - It's What's for Dinner
Dead Meat II: Revenge of the Steak Sauce
Dead Meat II: Death on the Hoof
Dead Meat II: Rides a Pale Cow
Dead Meat II: Udder Destruction
Dead Meat II: 28 Gallons Later
Dead Meat II: Night of the Living Bovines
Dead Meat II: The 2% Solution