waking into a dream journal 12.21.07

this morning's deborah foreman resurgence?
zombie honeymoon
director: david gebroe // 2004
cinema 4 rating: 6

ach! i've fallen for another man's wife! -- i was dreading watching this romantic horror flick just from its none-too-inventive title alone, but then i saw tracy coogan -- ah! i watched her rush down the church steps to speed off with her newly acquired human baggage, and i knew immediately i would be seeing this one through, no matter the consequences, no matter the quality -- maybe it was the dress, maybe it was the joy and innocence in her face as she bends across the car to mischievously play at fellating her new husband on their way to their honeymoon destination -- whatever it was, there was something in her manner that has been sorely lacking in b-movies since deborah foreman got all adult on us -- so much is made about video vixens and queens of the "b" movies, all over-sized breasts and bottoms and whorish attitude (and i have absolutely no problem with any of that, thank you, in my movies), that i must stress how important it is that even the most fleeting impression of innocent naiveté grace itself on our horror leading ladies (and even lads) -- sure, coogan bares a breast here and there, and even when she isn't, she is often scantily or sexily clad in bikinis or evening dresses (she is on her honeymoon after all), but the very point here isn't the overtness of her manner, but rather how subtle it actually is -- the other point is that this irish-born lass actually has some acting chops...

i should take the cable company to task for having an improper description on its info page: it says her husband gets bitten by a zombie, when in fact he merely ingests a lot of noxious fluids that emanate from the mouth of a zombie that staggers out of the surf on a nearby beach -- no explanation is given, and none is really needed, for the film really is distilled down to its basic (and perhaps, necessary, given the minute budget) elements -- the concentration is solely on the (un)happy loving couple, and how they deal with the fact that her husband is slowly devolving into one of the living dead -- pick any scenario where one partner suddenly realizes that the person they have given themselves to life and limb is no longer what they thought they were (or any spousal abuse plot for that matter), and you pretty much have the metaphor at work here -- much has been made over the years of how pliable the zombie/living dead genre, more so than any other horror subgenre, is when it comes to social issues, fears and satire, and zombie honeymoon, in its small romantic comedy way, continues that trend -- i say "romantic comedy," though it is a misnomer, as that implies the standards of that also well-established genre, and there are only traces of it here -- the film is exceedingly romantic though, as these two stick to each other faithfully and lovingly (and, on coogan's character's part, insanely -- which may be the point, too) until the body parts are piled all around them -- the film is also dryly amusing in places, though the characters that are supposed to be humorous (the best friends who join them eventually) roundly fail in that regard -- the real humor comes out of the situation, and i liked the casual manner that the camera would just pick up on its edges a random limb laying about on the bed, even if coogan doesn't even notice it -- in fact, it's a relief that it isn't the light comedy that i thought it would be; the blackness and dryness of the humor is what actually kept me around, long after my instant, moony-eyed schoolboy crush on tracy coogan wore off -- alright, it hasn't worn off...