American Zombie
By: Amy Nicholson
The estimated 5,000 zombies in LA call themselves many things: decedents, revenants, the non-living community, or “so completely boring,” as cubicle worker, scrapbooker, and undead square Judy (Suzy Nakamura) insists. Grace Lee’s straight-faced mockumentary takes her claim at face value as it follows her, slacker convenience store clerk Ivan (Austin Basis), brittle funeral florist Lisa (Jane Edith Wilson), and Joel (pronounced Yo-el), president of ZAG, a zombie activist group whose motto shouts: “We’re here, we’re dead, get used to it.” Playing herself, Lee wants to make an up-with-dead-people portrait that shines light on how the diverse zombie community integrates into the city. There’s horny zombiechasers, factory owners who abuse their non-sleeping workers with round-the-clock shifts, and outreach pastors who point out that “Jesus was the original zombie.” Except Lee’s co-filmmaker John (John Solomon) can’t stop pissing their subjects off by asking if they eat human flesh. Tension escalates at the annual Live Dead festival—a Burning Man for the undead—where over four days, the mood darkens as folk sing-a-longs get swapped out for frightening dance parties. Lee and co-writer Rebecca Sonnenshine nod at philosophy, but the film’s real achievement is a tone-perfect realism with sharp teeth. (Amy Nicholson)
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