GHOST HOUSE UNDERGROUND:
DANCE OF THE DEAD
10/10/08
Thirty minutes into Dance
of the Dead I was about ninety percent sure that director,
Gregg Bishop, was a graduate of some sort of film school.
Guess what, I was right. After checking around on the
internet, I found that Gregg Bishop is indeed a graduate of
The University of Southern California School of Cinematic
Arts. I guess there is some sort of obligation in which most
film students have to make a zombie movie that takes bits
and pieces of every other zombie movie ever made. Granted,
I’m not saying here that Bishop made a bad movie, but I’m
trying to point out the fact that to make a great original
zombie movie, this day and age, you might just need the
collaborate efforts of both Boyle and Romero.
In Dance of The Dead the students of Cosa High are getting
ready for the biggest night of their lives: The Prom. The
school features the stereotypical groups. The geeks who run
the sci-fi club, the rockers who don’t even want to go to
Prom because they won’t get to play, the cheerleader and the
bad boys who just want to fight with everybody. The Prom
heats up when the dead start rising from their graves due to
the fumes from a nearby power plant. Lead by the geeks,
these groups of outcast must bound together to defeat the
zombie infestation.
While the production value of Dance of The Dead isn’t the
best, it gets the job done. The best thing about the movie
is the chemistry between the characters and some of the
dialog is actually quite good. The only problem is we’ve
seen this type of movie before and Bishop doesn’t introduce
anything new. However, Bishop does show potential with his
visual style and while still a little bit sloppy at times,
some of his shot are a lot more coordinated than what we see
in a Hollywood production.
VIDEO:
Widescreen (2.35:1)
AUDIO:
English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Subtitles -
English/Spanish/English
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary by with
Director Gregg Bishop and Writer Joe Ballarini
Making of Dance of the Dead Featurette - Director
Gregg Bishop and Writer Joe Ballarini discuss amongst other
things finding the funding for Dance of the Dead - (23:14)
Blood, Guts and Rock n‘ Roll: Effect and Stunts of
Dance of the Dead Feaurette- Gregg Bishop discusses how he
created the effects for the movie (5:00)
Deleted/Extended Scenes with Optional Audio Commentary with
Director Gregg Bishop - Nine deleted/extended scenes
are featured as director Gregg Bishop states that most are
from the first act of the movie and had to removed for
pacing and to get to the zombies as quickly as possible.
Voodoo: Short Film by Director Gregg Bishop with
Optional Commentary - The short film that began Gregg
Bishop’s career and has won over 10 film festivals. (5:23)
Review
By Brad Peterson
brad@smartcine.com
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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