Zombie Town, a feature film that hit Canadian theaters over the summer and is now streaming on Hulu just in time for Halloween, is a zombie movie based on the book by R.L. Stine, co-starring a surprising number of comic luminaries from Saturday Night Live and The Kids in the Hall.
The Gist: Not to be confused with the 1989 film Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, just plain Zombie Town is an R.L. Stine adaptation with a meta twist: It’s a zombie movie about a movie that turns people into zombies. Mike (Marlon Kazadi), its teenage hero, is a small town movie-theater employee who doesn’t even like zombie movies (or, for that matter, his small town). But he wants to impress his best friend and secret crush Amy (Madi Monroe), a big horror fan, so he tries to show her the only copy of a new film by reclusive local director Len Carver (Dan Aykroyd), who’s sort of a more Canadian George Romero with John Carpenter’s sour attitude. Unfortunately, the movie transforms much of the town into zombies – an off-brand kind that bloodlessly suck out souls, rather than feast on flesh or tear victims limb from limb. Regardless, this bums Mike and Amy out, so they seek out Carver, hoping he’ll be able to help. He lets them in on a horrifying (and somewhat confusing) secret about his films.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: With R.L. Stine’s name prominently featured in the credits (and Stine himself appearing in a mid-credits scene), Zombie Town will obviously recall Stine’s famous Goosebumps series, which has been adapted for both TV and film. This Stine source material is based on isn’t part of that series, and is aimed at slightly older audiences – but only slightly, given that it’s a zombie movie without any blood. Teen horror-adventures like Gremlins, The Lost Boys, and The Monster Squad are also distant relatives, but Zombie Town should count itself lucky if anyone thinks of those cult classics while watching this. It’s more akin to last year’s dismal Spirit Halloween.
Performance Worth Watching: In a film full of cameos that generally feel like a chain of favors with no payoffs, Bruce McCulloch from The Kids in the Hall gets some real laughs as the stern but ineffectual cop dad to one of Carver’s zealous superfans. (His fellow Kid Scott Thompson has less to do in an even-smaller role, but it’s sure good to see them both.)
Memorable Dialogue: Most of the dialogue lands between tedious and awkwardly phrased, but when Dan Aykroyd gets to stop the movie cold to info-dump some amusing ludicrous expositional lore with a straight face, you’ll get the sense that this was why he agreed to this part in the first place.
Sex and Skin: In the sanitized universe of Zombie Town, it’s a little surprising that two teenagers even share a kiss. It’s honestly a mystery how this movie got a rating as harsh as PG-13.
Our Take: There are plenty of Halloween adventures aimed at younger audiences, but it’s rarer to see a zombie movie that tweens can enjoy without getting a host of disturbing nightmares in the bargain. Zombie Town fulfills half of these qualifications: It won’t inspire nightmares, but enjoyment may be a taller order for any age. The movie seems to have a basic affection for zombie movies and the fervent dedication they inspire (a trio of die-hard Carver acolytes are probably the funniest characters in the movie), but it’s hard to craft much of a tribute without gore – or subtext. Disregarding the zombie stuff and just looking at the movie in terms of a fun spooky-season romp, Zombie Town assembles the ingredients and then neglects to mix them. Mike and Amy are a cute odd couple on paper – the scaredy-cat and the tough pop-punk girl – but the actors have no real chemistry on screen, and this is one of those teenage romances where the best friend wins the girl’s heart by… not doing much of anything in particular (which makes it a particularly lousy thing to show an impressionable kid). There’s a crew of sketch-comedy alumni in the supporting cast, but they don’t have much comedy to perform, to the point where original SNL cast members Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase play their parts straight and barely reunite (it seems unlikely Chase and Aykroyd were on set together, until they seem to be in the same room for that mid-credits scene). The budget is big enough to license several terrific pop songs, but evidently isn’t spent on visual effects or even particularly moody lighting.
Our Call: You know what they say: If your kid can’t handle the scariest movies, show them… the most Canadian? But unless you’ve got a precocious tweenage Aykroyd completist in your life yearning for a Nothing But Trouble reunion, SKIP IT.
Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.