“You almost killed Kitty Meow-Meow!”

Story: Army doctors make a “Superman” serum that works great. Y’know, after the subject dies and reanimates. Prolly needs some tweaking. Meanwhile, four friends – two dude BFFs and their respective crushes – decide to try mixing soft serve with beer… But those cream-base containers have been sitting outside, soaking in the Superman gloop. (Oopsie. Guess getting trying to cover up your science goofs doesn’t work if the goop gets knocked off the truck.) Does your tummy hurt?

Scares: This one’s played for laughs.

Splat factor: Zombies. So there’s blood and stuff.

Closing scene “shocker”?: Zippo.

Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: A zombie movie with zombie POVs? Original.

Trick or Treat?: This one’s an absolute hoot. Zombies don’t realize they’re zombies, so in their eyes the world (shot in color in the film) is going bonkers. Meanwhile, IRL (shot in black and white) they’re horrifying. Will these guys and gals figure it out? Cue hijinks!

Lemme just get this out first. I hate the name of the bar the newly minted zombies head to. “Chink’s”? C’mon now creators, you can do better than that. But that’s a blip on the plot screen, however ooky it made me feel, and the film revels in its own glorious stupidity, so I’ll give it one pass. Outside of that? Aaah! is a neat spin on the zombie genre, with plenty to laugh about. This is a perfect drunk-watch film, and gearing it up for a group watch via Zoom, or however you cool kids group watch stuff nowadays. 

To the zombies, humans are super fast (“must be meth”) and their voices sound like adults from Peanuts cranked to super speed. And the zombies can no longer understand the written word. But humans that are drunk as hell don’t notice the zombification of others until they sober up. I think I love this film, and its crazy mixed-up premise. This is a film that revels in its stupid, taking you along for the crazy ride. “Take the Skinheads Bowling” by Camper Van Beethoven is a goofy song for a goofy climax, as zombies struggle to keep humans drunk at a bowling alley. Yeah, you gotta be there to get that. You should be there.

Starring Vampire Diaries‘ Matthew Davis and Bones‘ Michael Grant Terry as the BFF bros, with a humorously deadpan Colby French as a misguided Armed Forces zombie who thinks it’s everyone else who’s infected. They know exactly what kind of movie they’re in – the gonzo tongue-in-cheek kind – so they crank things up to eleven and deliver enjoyable performances. The shifts from zombie POV (where they seem to be perfectly normal human beings for the most part) to what’s really going on (GRRRR ARGH) are great, with the actors really going for it as zombies. Shout out to great makeup FX that are a touch understated…until they’re not. 

The ending is kinda wobbly, as if they really didn’t know how to wrap up this idea, shurugged, and said yeah this’ll do. While there’s a hint of a possible sequel, that film never came to be. Probably for the best. This is a story that’s best played fast and quick, with lots of laughs. And several adult beverages, or whatever floats your boat.

Score: 4 out of 5 pumpkins.