Fido (2006)

Fido’s premise is a unique one; take the 1950’s suburban era and add flesh-eating zombies. You would think that the idea itself would give all sorts of opportunities for great social satire. Sadly, this is not the case. Perhaps if the movie was an animated cartoon, the laughs would have occurred more often; I only found myself merely chuckling every once in a while. Upon more thought, Fido, simply takes the last 30 seconds of Shaun of the Dead (a much superior film) and struggles to extend it to 90 minutes.

This particular zombie movie gives an explanation to the infestation. A 1950’s movie reel introduces the premise by stating that space dust seeped through the earth’s atmosphere and re-animated the dead. But, by way of sophisticated high-tech collars, provided by a corporate empire named Zomco, the dead become enslaved to do the menial jobs of humans. We see the zombies deliver newspapers, walk dogs, and serve the living. Carrie Anne Moss plays a June Cleaver-type of role, sub servant to her husband and her good-natured son, stereotypically named Timmy.

The production value is high, with some striking cinematography reminescent of Pleasentville. Other than that the film is barely watchable. The film just does not go far enough. It neither works as a horror/comedy hybrid nor does it work as an allegory. Compared with other zombie movies like 28 Weeks Later or Dawn of the Dead, the gore in Fido is very much in the PG-13 realm. In fact, the only horrific things I saw were the un-semimetal moments between Fido and the Carrie Anne Moss character. No matter what you do, you cannot make a sympathetic zombie. Would you want a rotting corpse serving you food? With the amount of horror movies being produced year after year, this one should filter down to the bottom. If you want a comedy/horror movie, just pick up Shaun of the Dead as previously mentioned or Slither.

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