Zombie comedies, what can we say? I think when we watch them (and with most of them) we think "well it's no Shaun of the Dead". I know not everybody likes Shaun of the Dead, but for those people who do then when a zombie comedy movie comes out it's almost an automatic comparison, is this movie as good as Shaun of the Dead? Well anyways, with Stag Night of the Dead I may compare it to Shaun in some ways but I'm not going to be unfair, this is an independent movie that didn't have the same budget as Shaun, so let's see what it's got. Straight from the outset you can tell this is going to be a fun movie. It's your typical group of "lads" out on a stag night looking for a good time. Turns out the best man has set up something special for the day and the group are going to take part in "Zomball" which is basically shooting zombies with guns that look like they are out of Stargate but shoot like they are out of Ghostbusters (whatever you do, don't cross the streams
). Along with the Stag party they also appear to have taken the stripper with them who adds a nice edge to the laddish behaviour as she sympathises with the groom's predicament of not really being into the whole stag night scenario at that point. Zomball is a simple game for them to play; all they have to do is shoot the zombies and follow the rules of the game. These rules are pretty much stay together, keep your eyes open for recharge points for the guns and never humiliate a zombie. Now, as fans of horror we all know what happens when rules have been defined right? Yes, ever one of the rules are broken and the zombies end up annoyed and out for some human flesh. As the zombies take over the army base where all this is taken place, how will the stag party (and stripper) survive? Well you'll have to watch it and find out won't you? I find the acting in these types of movies something that often lets them down. I have to say though in this movie I was pleasantly surprised. Yeah, there are some actors who seemed to go over the top with their character or who struggled to really come across as believable but for the most part they did a good job. The annoying characters had me wanting them to die way too quickly, and thankfully the most annoying of them all was the first to die. Strangely enough though when he became a zombie he actually became more tolerable and more of an interesting character which was a pleasant surprise. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. When a movie is made on a budget that's not "Hollywood" size there seems to be a lot of decisions that have to be made, namely how much of it do they blow on the SFX. In this movie they seem to have decided on a more minimalistic approach on the gore and where CGI is used it's actually used with a purpose, not like you're average Hollywood horror that throws so much CGI at us it's like our eyes have taken so much of it in they're going to pop. There are obvious moments when CGI is used but it adds to the scene, it's there for a purpose which is what I like to see. Is it as good as Shaun of the Dead? no, and does that matter? not a bit.