Night of the Animated Dead

 Howdy readers of the Rotten! Well we are almost to Halloween and I have had some scouring for different titles and bizarre stories, when I came across this interesting little gem. Due to losing all rights to his own intellectual property; the late George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Knightriders, Creepshow, The Dark Half and Land of the Dead) spawned a tremendous love for the zombie horror sub-genre. Many have used this same time over and over as homage or a means to get their feet wet in the industry with these gore-fueled nightmares. Hemisphere Entertainment throws their hat in the ring with an animated retelling of the 1968 cult classic with accomplished and enthusiastic voice cast, bringing us back to that terrifying night. This is Night of the Animated Dead. 

 

Mob of zombies or disgruntled Packers fans?

 

 

 

 

 

With classic hand drawn cells vs the 3-D CGI 2012 creation, the movie unfolds in that faithful cemetery visit to the grave with Barbara (Katherine Isabelle of Ginger Snaps, Carrie, Stargate SG-1, Freddy Vs Jason, Sanctuary, Supernatural, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, American Mary and The Green Sea) and anal retentive grump brother, Johnny (Jimmi Simpson of Loser, Rose Red, D.E.B.S., Seraphim Falls, Date Night, Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter, Westworld and Shriver) who winges on about the drive, how it has ruined his Sunday and in general, being an ass.

No sooner has the wreath been delivered and prayers been said, Barbara is nearly assaulted by a zombie who Johnny attempts to body check, only to crack his coconut on a marble slab (First one of you shouts spoilers, I would point out this is plot based from the 1968 original) and he is down for the count. Barbara makes her way on foot to a seemingly empty farmhouse for shelter, only to run into some more gruesome ghoulies. 

 

Well, it's either zombies or beaver pelt smells.

 

 

 

 

 

Enter Ben (Dule Hill of Sugar Hill, Color of Justice, She's All That, The Guardian, Miss Dial, Pysch, Doubt, Psych: The Movie, Suits, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, Hypnotic, Muppet Babies and Psych 3: This Is Gus). Our tall, gruff protagonist that whoops some undead ass, secures the house and gets Barbara to realize the object danger that she is in. With meager barricades, a few Zeds violently dispatched, Ben tries to reason with Barbara on their level of supplies, weapons and the fact this house is littered with wood scraps. Previous owner must have died from sheer exhaustion, collecting all these wood scraps. Or this house momentarily belonged to a family of beavers. Take your pick. Make no mistake, folks. This sucker is rated R for the zombie gore. We're in a medium allowing more visual and visceral goings on. 

 

Pep Boys' sales pitch just not working.

 

 

 

 

 

There are differences to be sure. Case in point, we actually get a flashback with Ben making his way from town.  Good ole Beakman's Diner turned into a slaughterhouse but ZERO CRICKETS CHIRPING, so I was already thrilled to see and hear this.  Naturally our four additional survivors make their way up from the cellar and we get the smattering of dialogue expected.  While I am a huge Josh Duhamel (Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!, Crossing Jordan, Las Vegas, When In Rome, Movie 43, Safe Haven, Battle Creek, ) fan , I loved how Karl Hardman's Harry Cooper sounded like a pissed off 1930s radio announcer.  Sorry Josh. 

 

Bad table manners! Bad girl!

 

 

 

 

 

Whether or not Mr. Cooper will hang with us, we have his wife Helen ( Nancy Travis of Three Men and a Baby, The Vanishing, So I Married An Axe Murderer, Greedy, Duckman, Almost Perfect, Becker, The Bill Engvall Show, Rose Red, Married Young and Last Man Standing) and hapless (not to mention brainless )couple Judy (Katee Sackoff of Battlestar Galactica, Halloween: Resurrection, Oculus, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Don't Knock Twice, Longmire, The Flash, Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian, Robot Chicken and Another Life) and Tom (Jame Roday Rodriguez of First Years, Providence, Miss Match, The Dukes of Hazzard, Psych, WWE Raw, Baby,Baby, Baby, Christmas Eve, Pushing Dead, Psych: The Movie, Buddy Games, Psych 2 Lassie Come Home, A Million Little Things and Psych 3: This Is Gus)

And yes Psych fans, both Shawn and Gus are voicing in this. Yeah I got a good laugh too.

The animation style is similar to an era like the Super Powers days...only with tons of flesh rending and blood caked gore. Great voice work overall and clearly this was done with a certain amount of passion for the subject matter. Grey matter that is.

Ultimately this is a love letter to the Godfather of the zombies, cherishing the original and another version of what you have already seen in the black and white. We're not breaking new ground but it's not meant to. It is meant to showcase some animation talent and voice cast credentials. For the haters that complain the pace is too slow, it's duplicating the formula on how certain film was striding in the day. I guess folk born after 1985 are unfamiliar without a film not relying on an ass-load of jump scares and two-dimensional, douche dialogue.

At 71 minutes, the flick delivers what it set out to do and I had fun making cartoon references and riffs throughout the movie, but I do that kind of crap through "A-list"cinema as well. Grab it for a goof, surprise people with this dark cartoon. Hell, make a drinking game out of it. I had a blast with it. 

 So here's to retouching on a cult classic. Keep an ear out for MAD TV and Sh*t My Dad Says alumni,Will Sasso as the Sheriff. The man can deliver.

FYI, watch the Riff Trax version of the original Night of the Living Dead. You enjoy the snark and riffs.

Bit overkill for this squirrel hunt, Sheriff.