Dead Shack

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Luke S Apr 8, 2019 Dead Shack is a heartwarming coming of age tale about a group of three teens coming to terms with the hand life has dealt them, stretching their wings as they gain independence, or... something. I don't know. There are zombies and Lauren Holly suits up in some kick-ass zombie-proof armor. That's enough for me. The movie hit Kickstarter in November 2016 looking for a bit more cashola to improve effects and pretty things up. According to director Peter Ricq, even though the movie was already fully funded, he felt some extra money would let them add better digital effects and improve the movie's quality. After a successful funding campaign -- bringing in nearly $13,000 Canadian monies -- the finishing touches were added and Dead Shack got its world premiere in Switzerland at the 17th annual Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival. In preparation for this review I watched the movie as well as the proof-of-concept trailer they made a few years prior to the fund raising campaign. That early trailer was shown to investors to secure dollars for the movie and, to be honest, had a couple of things in it that should have been included in the final product. The first being young Master Finn Wolfhard [Netflix's Stranger Things (2016-2019), It (2017)]. Wolfhard stars as one of the kids in the development trailer and does a great job, but all three of the actors were re-cast for the final version of the film. The pre-movie trailer also has a great scene where the teens argue over who gets what weapon. Sadly, this scene didn't make it into the finished product and was replaced by an Evil Dead-esque tool shed suiting up montage. That was okay, but the argument scene had a lot more character. It would be interesting to find out why the change was made. Dead Shack, the production version, follows the weekend adventures of a low-budget family getting away from the city for a few days of fresh air and heavy drinking. Brother and sister, Colin [Gabriel LaBelle; The Predator (2018)] and Summer [Lizzie Boys; TV's When Calls the Heart (2014)], are joined by Colin's best friend Jason [Matthew Nelson-Mahood; TV's V.C. Andrews' Heaven (2018)] for the "cabin in the woods" experience. The Jason character was a bit too meek for my taste and the Colin character was a bit too ass-hat, but Lizzie Boys did a good job as Summer and the three together were at least believable, if not always likable. The siblings' dad, Roger [Donavon Stinson; TV's Reaper (2007-2009), TV's UnREAL (2015-2018)], on the other hand, easily stole every single scene he was in. With his Irresponsible Grown-Up routine combined with Dad Jokes and excellent comedic timing, he spent most of the movie overshadowing the teens who were trying their hardest to be the stars of the show. His girlfriend, Lisa [Valerie Tian; Jennifer's Body (2009), TV's The Magicians (2016)], was more or less just a prop for jokes which was too bad, but sometimes that's how things shake out. Joining Roger in the Scene Stealing Club was "The Neighbor" [Lauren Holly; The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015), TV's Motive (2013-2016)]. Holly looked like she was having a blast making the movie and brought a fun, campy, seductive vibe to the zombie-keeping villain character. The motive for running into The Neighbor in the first place seemed a bit contrived, but they had to get there somehow and it led to some good zombie action so we'll cut it some slack. Dialog-wise, Dead Shack was reasonable. I found the teens pretty unlikable some of the time, but what do I know? Maybe that's just how teens are. Pacing of the film was great, though. No laggy parts and the director wasn't afraid to go under the 90 minute mark; Dead Shack runs at a lean 85 minutes and makes the most of it. As a partially crowdfunded indie flick, Dead Shack does a lot with not very much. Effects are decent -- the Kickstarter money was put to good use -- and the action rolls right along. If you've got Shudder and are looking for some decent zombie fun, check it out. Let's see if you're as pleasantly surprised as I was. See more

Theodore M Oct 11, 2018 A pretty bad horror comedy. I don't really like horror comedies so take this with a grain of salt. Of the 4 main characters, 2 were likeable and 2 weren't. The plot wasn't unique... neighbour in the woods is a psycho killer. The acting was pretty bad. The direction and effects were really good, hence it still got 2*. See more

Poe S Oct 11, 2018 There was no review yesterday as it was a repeat of a movie I reviewed a few months ago, Dude Bro Party Massacre III. With that said, however, including the aforementioned movie, I've been on a good run of movies. Five good movies in a row. And during the annual horror fest too, which is when I would expect that good run of movies the least. Out of 9 movies I've seen this month, not including this one, 7 of them have been good or better. That's unprecedented for me, I think. With that said, however, does this movie make six good movies in a row and 8 out of 10??? Well, and this one really hurts me to say, but no. The reason that it hurts me is that, legitimately speaking, I enjoy these kinds of movies. Not that there's a whole 'genre' of films like this, but what I mean is middle of the pack horror films that just sort of sneak past people. Most of these usually have a low-budget, but it's never to the film's detriment, a good script and a more than game cast. I remember a movie called A Little Bit Zombie (which is on Prime as we speak), that I saw some years ago, and that movie would fit in that category. It's not gonna win any awards, but it is still a lot of fun to watch regardless. And this movie seems to be cut from that same mold that the aforementioned movie is cut from. And I don't know why but, as I mentioned, the scripting is solid, the cast is really good, particularly Donavon Stinson (who plays Roger) and the horror, while not great gets the job done. Here's the thing about this movie, though, and that is that it's completely undemanding. You don't need to be intelligent to figure out what's going on in this movie. Jason and his best friend's family go to this shack in the woods. While there, they find out that their 'neighbor' is killing people and feeding them to her family, who have been turned to zombies somehow. Jason, Colin and Summer decide to put a stop to this after Colin and Summer's father is in danger of being zombie food. Simple and to the point. I say undemanding, but I don't mean it as a negative in the slightest. This is a point I seem to stress quite often, but movies like this need to exist. There needs to be a balance, not everything needs to be thought-provoking, vague or confusing. So I think the movie definitely embraced that simplicity and they focused on what, they knew, would be the strength of the movie and that is the interplay between the cast. I already mentioned that Donavon Stinson is great in this movie, but Lizzie Boys, Matthew Nelson-Mahood and Gabe LaBelle (Summer, Jason and Colin respectively) have to carry the load and they're more than up for the task. Seeing as this is a Canadian movie and I don't know much about Canadian TV or, really, its films, I'm assuming that these three had to have had some experience. That's not the point, however, the point is that their chemistry is top-notch and, realistically speaking, they have to do most of the heavy lifting as Roger is a secondary character. To the film's credit, the young actors are very enthusiastic and they deliver the goods. If I'm being honest, and I always am in these here reviews, I would say that the movie was good for the most part. But there was just a moment, somewhere in there, where the movie just sort of tapered off. I think they blew their comedic wad too early and the latter half of the film suffered because of it. There's this one scene that should be really funny, where Roger has this father-son talk about how Roger wants to be the cool dad and how he's a bit irresponsible at times. While all this is going on, Summer and Jason are killing some kid zombies in the background. Well, you don't see it, you just hear them 'arguing' with each other about how to kill the zombie kids, while some blood splatters on a nearby wall. And, somehow, it's not as funny as it probably read on the script. Again, I don't know why, but the scene didn't work. Well, I mean, it did, but the point I'm making is that it wasn't as funny as I'm sure they originally meant it to be. Like I mentioned, the latter half of the movie is not as good as the first one. That's not to say that it was bad, just that it paled in comparison. It's even weirder when the movie isn't even 77 minutes long before the credits start to roll. So you'd think a movie like that would just fly by. Though, to be fair, I did have some issues with my laptop (that I hook to the TV via HDMI cable because my PS3/4 controllers are fucked and I can't use my consoles. So that delay went on like 30 minutes or so. But, to be fair, if I did watch it in 'two sittings', as it were, I think that's probably to the benefit of the movie and not the opposite. So there definitely were some issues with pacing or, at least, structuring the jokes in the movie to where all the best jokes were in the first half. With that said, I mean, I still found a lot to enjoy in this movie. Like I've already mentioned, the casting is great and the scripting, for the most part, is good. The movie, in general, has a lot of enthusiasm and I like its spirit and its tone. The sad thing is that despite all the goodwill the film builds up, it doesn't add up to a movie that I felt was good. It falls just slightly short of that. This pains me, because I legit was on the road to liking this. Regardless, 2.5 stars isn't the worst rating either. In fact, I'd probably give it 2.75 stars if I could. There's some inconsistency issues here that keep this from being good, but I do applaud the effort of everyone involved. This was clearly a labor of love, even if I can't wholeheartedly recommend it.. See more

Poe P Oct 7, 2018 Not particularly impressed to be honest! Found it to be somewhat boring and the effects were rather poor CGI reminiscent of something I'd expect to see on a syfy original. See more

Hagrid S Oct 4, 2018 Some funny and gory moments

Han L Jul 20, 2018 Pretty solid low budget horror. The drunk dad section was the highlight, the appaling acting of the bad guy the low point

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Dead Shack

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