Buck Wild

Buck Wild

Starring Matthew Albrecht, Jarrod Pistilli, Dru Lockwood, Isaac Harrison

Directed by Tyler Goldt

Synopsis:
A hillbilly is bit by a Chupacabra, and doesn't look so well afterward.  Around the same time, friends Craig (Matthew Albrecht), Jerry (Jarrod Pistilli), Tom (Dru Lockwood) and Lance (Isaac Harrison) arrive in town for a guys-only hunting trip.  Almost as soon as they arrive, they notice some strange things happening in the small Southern town, and learn that the Chupacabra bite turned the hillbilly into a zombie, who in natural zombie fashion turned the other townspeople into zombies as well, and they set their sights on the four out-of-towners for a late night meal.

Review:
Zombies are all the rage, and its one of my favorite horror subgenres.  Ever since George A. Romero, everyone has been trying to create the next big low-budget zombie film that will live forever in history as one of the best.  "Buck Wild" is not one of them.

What the film does have, however, is a good-natured feel to it.  It knows its not gonna be great, and it treats it as such.  It's not afraid to make fun of stereotypes (the overly goody-goody guy, the womanizer, the offbeat eccentric, the nerdy sarcastic one) and propel them to insanely over-the-top performances.  However, this sometimes becomes excruciating, like the director took notes in how to act in the theater.  When you're in a play, you're supposed to be over-the-top and go beyond the limits because people who are sitting in the far back need to know what's going on, and if you're acting like your normal self, they'll miss what you're doing.  With film, you don't need that much of an over-the-top feel, but "Buck Wild" does that in ways that sometimes end up more annoying than funny.

The worst part of the film is that it sometimes has no clue, it seems, in what direction it goes in.  Some zombies are intelligent and talk, and even take a stoner break after eating some pot brownies.  There's a British hillbilly who's the most feared person, even though he's the most metrosexual person out there.  There's a Chupacabra somewhere out there, but no one seems to care.  Then there's the classic zombies that permeate the picture.   If the director had focused on just one of these things, it would've been a whole lot better.

Summary:
"Shaun of the Dead" it's not.  However, it's still an enjoyable film to watch after a long day of work, and you just want to unwind.

My Rating: C-