MovieChat Forums > Doghouse (2009) Discussion > IMO not a very good zombie movie (please...

IMO not a very good zombie movie (please no flaming I'm not trolling)


To me this movie wasn't a very good Zombie movie, here is why:
1) Probably most crucial to me is that there was no fear of infection. Very early on they learn that the virus only effects women, so they are in no danger from that. Fear of infection (even if its not mentioned straight out in the movie) is a huge part of zombie movies. (this problem is a problem throughout the movie)

2)The "hordes" of zombies are around the same size or smaller than the group of friends for most of the movie (until the very end). See, the reason why 1 or 2 zombies in other zombie films can still be scary is that all they need to do is bite or bleed on you (depending on the movie) for you to become the walking undead, this isn't even a factor in this movie. SO what do we get? "special zombies" one with an axe, one with a sword, one with a couple pair of scissors, we later meet the butcher and the fat lady. Then to add more "fright" they mutate and become stronger and faster or whatever (can't really tell too much of a difference though) and that they group think more. In reality the only reason things get worse is because the zombies are actually in a group, the ONLY way they'd really be any kind of threat.

3) This is more a taste thing but to me there wasn't very many memorable kills. There was the old lady that got hit with the ball, but that didn't kill her, still funny though. Then there was the old lady with the sheers, I honestly can't remember any other, I just watched the movie a couple days ago (a bad sign).

4) This is more a movie flaw than a flaw with it as a zombie movie. But I found the characters and story to be very VERY contradictory in many instances. They freak out whenever they see a "zombie" there could be 1 with all of them there and they'd still run away screaming like little girls. Where this becomes a problem is when they are in the van about to get away, with TWO zombies in there without fear of infection they run out screaming. Leaving their friend there with the phones they needed Why on earth wouldn't they fight it? especially since the one guy had a bullet in his gun "I was saving it until I really needed it" wouldn't getting away be a time of need? no, they choose to go out. They walk around alone a lot, not really concerned it seems, then they are freaked out beyond reason. This to me comes to a head when they get to the car. There are 5 of them by the car, their way out, but they say "we can't fit. GIVE ME A BREAK! get on the roof, open up the trunk, sit on laps whatever. Then their friend is getting stabbed, they don't help, they run, they get in the van (which they probably could have done instead of going to the car) and the driver is back inside of it with the door shut? what? They are getting away... but what? one of their friends is still alive! they must have liked him a lot more than the long haired one (didn't catch all of their names) they watched get stabbed to death because they go back and get him. Not even going to talk about the ending.

Sure, movies like Sean of the Dead had the whole going to the Winchester thing! but by the character's logic (shown in the movie<----important thing here) going there was a good idea. In this movie what they do and how they react doesn't make sense at all.

The movie had good moments, but just seemed to drag on, not many memorable moments. A lot of people are comparing this to Zombieland, to me that isn't a very good comparison. To me this movie is much more like the movie "Black Sheep" (the horror movie from New Zealand, not the Chris Farley movie) Zombieland is a good Zombie film. As a movie in general Zombieland left me wanting more wishing it was longer. Doghouse on the other hand left me hoping and waiting for it to get better, which it didn't really do. I did though find the humorous dialog in Doghouse pretty good which is the primary reason I give it a 5/10.

WEREWOLF
"I don't know you had him last" -Tom Servo

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I agree, fact is rather then taking on 2 disabled half-dead people in a van and getting away (1 if you consider they could have just shot the other), they decide to run back into town and take on the whole swarm of the things.

Maybe this is the reason these guys seem to get along so badly with women, they're absolutly retarded.

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1) Using the same formula all over again is boring. Plus, his is a comedy at heart. A comedy with gore. The viewer was not supposed to get scared.

2) I thought this was a good change, too. Plus, "more zombies" doesn't automatically translate into "more scary". Even if ... I said above, this movie wants to amuse the viewer, no to scare him.

3) You are right, it's about taste. Personally I don't need flashy and "memorable kills". In fact, many of those "memorable kills" in other movies make me chuckle. See, there are so many zombie movies that basically all kinds of death have already been done. And yet every new movie attempts to find something new. The result: The deaths get more obscure to the point were they get laughable. If not the death itself, then the situation that allows this death. They have to construct the situation in a way that this "creative" death becomes plausible and that, of course, gets increasingly difficult.

4) Well, I give you this one, I thought the same thing. Dispatching those 2 or 3 zombies and then just drive away is still far better than trying to hide somewhere in this infested village. But then I reminded myelf that the movie would have been over right there if they did this. And I think this is okay in movie like this - a movie that doesn't take itself too serious.

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This film is neither scary nor funny nor so bad it's good.

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"Calvinism is a very liberal religious ethos." - Truekiwijoker

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