Movie Chat

Once a week I’ll be discussing a Book or Movie/TV Series I love.  Or posting a submission from a reader/author about a movie or book in the horror or zombie genre. Sharing the love of a book or movie as if you were talking with a friend.

Sit down, relax and let’s chat

The offering this week is a movie that cracked me up, and had an original idea that was interesting. I told my daughter, Chris, about this movie and somehow she convinced her teen daughter to watch it with her. Heather does not like horror, so it was surprising that she loved the movie as much as her mom did.

Aah! Zombies!!

 The film uses color footage to show the action from the zombies point of view in which they see themselves as normal humans and occasionally switches to black-and-white footage to show the zombies from the point of view of normal humans.
    Wasting Away, Wikipedia 


As the synopsis explains; when the film is black & white, the characters are seen as they really are - zombies. They moan when they think they are talking, they walk slow, like drunkards, and look like the undead. When it switches to color they see themselves as normal human beings. They talk normal, move like they always did, and see themselves as they were.

The story starts with a soldier who gets turned into a zombie via a military experiment. The rest of the serum is transported by soldiers, who accidentally lose a barrel from the back of the truck. The serum ends up mixed up with ice cream served at the bowling alley. One of the characters works at the place and he plus all his friends eat it, turning into zombies.

They see themselves as normal, but something is weird in the world around them. Things are speeding up, such as when people talk. They run into Nick, the soldier who was first infected. He think he and the others are immune to the infection because they ate dairy products. He suggests they stay together, being convinced the military will hunt them down to cover up.

Nick goes into a Mexican restaurant to spy on the Doctor and Colonel involved in the experiment. It was a hilarious scene, with Nick dressed in Sombrero and poncho . He hears patrons sounding like they took super speed while they talk, kind of a chipmunk sound. He tries to serve food but he keeps having body parts dropping onto the food, like an ear if I remember correctly.

There is a lot that happens and I don't want to give it all away. But  Cindy & Tim, two of the zombies go to check on Cindy's family with bad results, while Vanessa goes to an interview. That was another hilarious scene that didn't end well for the interviewer. He was intent on seduction but got more than he bargained for!

The story ends with everyone but Mike and Nick getting away and starting their own zombie town. It was funny and sad. They saw themselves doing things like playing ball and having a normal existence, while back to the reality color film, they were zombies stumbling around and moaning.

If you love campy, comedy horror movies like I do, you must rent this one!

Myra Nour
www.myranour.net