Pretty Good

One of my all time favorites.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Undead or Alive (2007) Is a small budget zombie western comedy (or zombedy, as the filmmakers call it). Before his death, Geronimo cast a curse on the White Man that results in zombification. This causes a lot of grief for two misfit wannabe cowboys who along the way experience a lot of adventure, friendship, love, loss and eventually the perfect western ending. But these aren't your typical Romero ghouls, they reason and even speak, more familiar to fans of The Return of the Living Dead, a shot to the brain won't kill them but instead you have to cut off the head. The cast had good chemistry and seemed to be having a lot of fun, after the credits there is a gag reel so stick around for that. You'll see some familiar faces: Cristin Machele, a staple of B zombie movies who always has a topless scene, plays a saloon girl who saves the goodies for a priest. James Denton who I recognized but couldn't place. And Brian Posehn from The Sarah Silverman Show. The make-up was at times primitive, the (thankfully) limited CGI terrible, but the writing was above par having been penned by South Park writer, Glasgow Phillips, and much of the dialog was witty. The girls are cute, not much nudity to speak of, the gore isn't over-the-top but comes at a steady pace. Undead or Alive isn't a particularly good zombie movie and it's a terrible western, but somehow it all comes together nicely and kept me well entertained. Recommended.

DISCLAIMER OK as a journalist I'll come right out with the disclaimer that the writer/director, Glasgow Phillips, was on my youth soccer team (a scrappy goalie) and later a classmate in high school (a class clown who could be philosophical along with a sharp wit). But we aren't best friends and hadn't been in touch for 20 years, but I had to try to track him down about the South Park/Muhammad hubbub and for verification that we went to school with the original Cartman - Matt Karpman -- who was an honest to goodness ginger, which is ironic in the real sense of the word not the Alanis Morrisette mixed up sense that too many fools use, but that's another topic for another time.REVIEW There were some excellent casting choices. Kattan plays the sensitive scared cowboy well. One critic had a good comment that the other cowboy by Will Farrell could have made it that much funnier and saved it from straight to DVD fate, but it also could have become too silly and this movie had some good campy horror -- enough to make you jump, but not so much you loose your lunch like those who get a bad case of the Geronimos (I would have liked a few more good fart jokes like Cletus). Cletus was a hilarious and best captured the spirit of the film - bumbling, bloody and undead -- he manages to scare you then embarrass himself for your laughing pleasure and keeps coming back for more. Brian Poshen also had the right touch for a goonie goon and Glasgow scored it well in the commentary that Poshen's whimper was a pitch perfect punchline for what this movie was meant to be: good silly fun. While the budget might not have been high enough for Ferrell, the make-up and effects created a crisp feel of gruesome without being gore. Meanwhile, Denton as Elmer plays the right kind of straight man to get frustrated with Kattan's struggles without being too strong or silent to sympathize or show his struggles with the unusual undead. The old class clown put together a fun popcorn flick for horror and slapstick buffs without relying on the South Park creators. Too bad this movie didn't get a chance in theaters. I hope it gets picked up by TBS, Spike or Syfy and gets enough buzz that Glasgow gets the backing for another flick.TO THE OVERSENSITIVE CRITICS ... I've scanned some other comments and think the complaints about the movie being racist or sexist are way off and made by folks way too sensitive. I go with the Carlos Mencia philosophy on all that stuff and think all people are fair game to tease, even mock. Racism is forcing one group to live in substandard conditions to your own or thinking that they should because those other people are inferior to you. All the characters were equal opportunity insulters. The Indian (native American) culture is not belittled and the actress who played the heroine (yes the Indian was a 3D good-guy without a feather or talking like Tarzan) Navi Rawat is an actual Indian, perfectly cast for much more than ethnicity, she had a comic touch with sass, sexiness without selling her skin and sporting enough to pull off most of her own stuntwork fighting off bad guys with swords. She had no qualms with the picture and gives it as good as she takes it with the cowboys. If the movie chose to show a little more skin (already R for the violence, and straight to video, I'm surprised it didn't) she could have made for the better ending some suggest with the other meaning of eating, though sacrificing a couple toes would have made for the happier ending audiences yearns for without the humor. Needless to say, if you didn't laugh, it was because you were too busy telling yourself that good people don't laugh at such stuff. You stiff probably wouldn't laugh at Blazing Saddles either. This movie may not be on that level, but a decent comparison, poking fun at some standards. Anyone so sensitive should have read the cover to know to creator was a former South Park writer and expected politically incorrect humor -- to be honest I was hoping for a few more people to poop their pants when they died. What can I say, as a South Park lover, I love fart jokes and toilet humor so this movie was right up my alley.

Army deserter Elmer Winslow and local cowboy Luke Budd are on the run after robbing the evil Sheriff Claypool, stealing his money and fleeing the town, they find themselves with an angry posse on their trail.Joining Elmer and Luke is an Apache warrior, who's out to wreak vengeance on behalf of her decimated people; her plan is to attack the U.S. Army wherever she can find it, and she takes Elmer up on his offer to go with her to the nearest Army outpost he knows.Their plans become complicated when they discover that, as a result of the great Apache Geronimo's curse on the white man, all the people of the surrounding areas have turned into zombies.While watching the opening credits for the film 'A Zombedy' pops up into the title segment, informing viewers that this will be a comedy.As soon as i saw that, i knew this was going to be a stinker. I just didn't know how much of a stinker it was going to be.The story is dire, the performances are not too bad, but given the material they have been given to use, they look embarrassed, and come the end of the film, it all feels like 'Ghosts of Mars'.They have tried to make it seem original by setting it in the Wild West, but it's all too obvious they are trying to cash in on 'Shaun of the Dead'.More yawn of the dead.

I bought this in the discount bin for 5.00 bucks. It was worth that just for the extras and gag reel. This is not a great movie but western zombie movie hybrids rarely are meant to be. They are meant to entertain. This one does that on all levels.The two lead actors are very good, funny at times, playing it straight at others. The written material is pretty good, a few good chuckles and a couple of laughs throughout the movie.The special effects are generally low budget but still very watchable, and they never pull you out of the movie.The story is simple and moves along very briskly as a "B" movie like this should.For a "B" Zombie movie this was a good one. Fun and entertaining, if you like well done lower end movies, you can do a lot worse then this.