Gorehounds Unite!

When Benny tries to impress his crush Stephanie by throwing a party (with the help of his friend Smalls), he finds himself in quite a dilemma: a nearby medical testing facility has had an outbreak of test subjects for an experimental virus that revives the dead. When the infected undead show up to the party, it's up to Benny and Smalls to try to save the day.

 Die and Let Live came out of left field for me....I had heard about the film in the past and it kind of dropped of my radar. Imagine my suprise when I opened my mail the other day and found a copy of it for review! I was apprehensive from the get go as horror/comedy is usually never done right on a small budget and even with the big budget films. Case in point is every film of the last few years with the exception of Shaun Of The Dead and maybe Fright Night and Return Of The Living Dead (I know Im leaving some out. list any you can think of in a posting oin the forums!)

 With that being said I wasnt suprised that my joy was cut very short withing the first few minutes of viewing it. The film starts out with a Cop or FBI agent running through a parking garage thats crawling with zombies (with horribly done zombie make-up I might add!). He encounters one that bites him on the arm and proceeds to put the gun in her mouth and blow her head off.....With a huge plastic sheet convieniently put up behind her to prevent getting blood on the walls.

 Lets take a break from the review at this point and review what was going through my head and why this bothered me so much. When this played out it was so cliche and the acting and make-up were so bad that when combined with the digital video it just screamed "Bad Homemade/Backyard filmmaking". And while this isnt always a negative to a film this one made it hard for me not to just hit eject and throw it onto the Review later pile.

 Ok now let's rejoin this previously scheduled review already in progress. So we follow this agent up the elevator as it reveals in the background the many zombies shuffling outside the complex. The elevators open and the zombies surround the agent and start to tear him open.......freeze frame in mid-scream and the main titles come up. I think to myself OK that was cliched but pretty cool and it shows some artistic ability on the filmmakers part.

 After the title sequence ends we join Benny and Smalls(our main characters) in the local coffee shop talking.....this starts to go on for quite awhile as we learn that benny is hopelessly attracted to Stephanie who's involved with the town womanizer and all around asshole Andrew.

 At this point I'm thinking what the hell happened to my horror/comedy and how did I get stuck in another lame American Pie rip off. Someone must have accidentaly burned over a part of the film I was supposed to see and then a strange thing started to happen. As I listened to the two main characters engaged in dialogue I realize that theres something here worth paying attention to. The dialogue is on par with something Kevin Smith or Quentin Tarantino might write for their characters,Ok thats somewhat of an overstatement but really how many truly low budget films has this caliber of dialogue.

 So here I sit really starting to like the characters and the direction the film is starting to take when all of a sudden the scene where Benny and Smalls devise a plan to show Stephanie that Andrew is a low down dirty cheat starts to take a turn to off the wall comedy!  They decide to have a party so Benny can have some time alone with the newly broken up stephanie.At this point Ive even really forgotten this was a horror/comedy and start to really enjoy the film as it is up to this point. This is also the point in the film where it really starts to take off and makes this viewer spit out his beer more than once laughing at the perfectly executed comedy.

 So far the story has been a really bad low budget horror that turned into a great character study and is really now just showing the comedic gold planned for the rest of the film. The comedy is a blend of Teen sex comedy, Monty Python, and even some Shaun Of The Dead thrown in for good measure.

 Once we get to the party the movie just goes bonkers with some really hilarious gags and prat falls with some really witty dialogue. This is also the point where we are reintroduced to the horror/comedy elements of the film. And to be honest up to this point Ive completely forgotten about the horrible ending and am fully engaged by the story of Benny and Smalls and this strange world they inhabit (in no small part because of the characters and the writing).

 So finally everything is completely gelled and has come full circle.....It's also at this point that Ill leave off for you to follow the story (AKA get out and buy the DVD!). From here on out Ill discuss what worked and what didnt as well as why. So scroll down and lets dig in!

 My main problems with this film was that the beginning felt really tacked on and had a very schitzo feel to it in the way the different parts were put together. I am sure this could have probably been fixed with a little trimming and cutting but this comes with the territory when it's the first film by new filmmakers with a very limited budget. I cant hold the look of the film against them as your only as good as your equipment in these cases but the use of some different camera angles would help break up the boring areas. Editing as well could have been better by using some more fades and disolves (but noit over use of course). But these are all things that will come with experience and as such won't deduct any points from the rating of this film.

 The other thing that bothered me was that the effects even for a low budget film were very amatuerish. By this I mean they used alot of toilet paper and liquid latex as well as some prothstetics from known halloween make-up companys such as Reel F/X and Ben Nye. This as well could have been fixed had the filmmakers had more experience with lighting techniques and make-up application. I will also point out that some of this was intentional as well for comedic effect such as the bad wigs and fake mustaches. This also goes for the other problem that a low budget film will always suffer from. That is the acting and how differing the performances were (some for comedic reasons as well). The main characters and the girls in the film were actually more than passing but some of the zombies and bit characters were pretty horrible.

 All in all I have to admit that this film had everything going against it as horror/comedy are the hardest genres to combine effectively. Very few get it right....but this is one of the few in many years that actually delivers. And when thinking about the fact that this is the filmmakers first feature length film thats nothing short of a miracle and speaks volumes about the talent they possess. This is how independent cinema is supposed to turn out and I hope in the near future we can actually see these guys given a budget worthy of their talent.

 I am now convinced given the right circumstances that horror and comedy can be done on a small budget as long as all the right pieces come into play. The viewer will also enjoy picking up on the references to genre films as well as childhood films/series from 20 years ago as well as the great cameos by the many great people that make Troma a force to be reckoned with. Another fun aspect to the film is that the characters are so fun and well written youll recognize most of the characters as someone youve known at some point in your life. I know Ive known them all at one point or another! Lol

  This is the perfect film for any fan of the Return Of The Living Dead series as well as recent classics like Shaun Of The Dead. If you like belly laughs with your blood this is the film for you. I just beg anyone who views it to give it a chance through the slow opening and what youll see unfold to the end will be well worth the wait and you won't be sorry. I for one am putting in my vote to use these actors again in similar roles as I couldnt get enough of them in the scant 75 minute run time. Die and let Live takes you from Gut Munching to Gut Busting and beyond! Grab a beer and call some friends over......your in for a hell of a ride!

 Visit the official site here: http://www.iwcfilms.com/dieandletlive/main.html

 And Heretic Films here: http://www.hereticfilms.com/

RATING:

4 of 5 Severed Heads!