A group of slackers face an army of zombies. The Cuban government and media claim the living dead are dissidents revolting against the government.
Director: Alejandro Brugués
Cast: Alexis Díaz de Villegas, Jorge Molina, Andrea Duro, Andros Perugorría
Release date: March 16, 2012 (USA)
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hr. 32 min.
Genres: Comedy, Horror
Review:
Juan of the Dead is the kind of film that I kept hearing about but promptly forgot about. Thankfully, I had the good fortune to catch it playing on HBO Latin recently and was pleasantly surprised. I went into this film mostly blind since I vaguely remembered the trailer. I rather enjoyed its freewheeling gonzo type of filmmaking. It has a very Cuban feel to it, anti Castro satire is peppered throughout, mixed with Shaun of the Dead and even some Ghostbusters for good measure. It’s not nearly as polished as either of those films but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a lot of fun. The humor is vulgar and inconsistent but when it hits its mark it delivers some impressive laugh out loud moments. Alexis Díaz de Villegas, who looks like a Cuban John Turturro, is a capable lead throughout. Supporting characters kind of fall in and out of the plot so there’s not much development going on but for a film like this it’s not much of a detriment. There are some more glaring issues such as the non existent plot which changes course at a moments notice and some shoddy effects but none of it really kills the fun.
B-
