Amigo Undead

**

Financial advisor, Kevin (Randall Park), adopted as a child, gets a call from ne'er-do-well brother, Norm (Steve Agee), and is asked to visit him at his new place for his 40th birthday. Norm lays it on thick about having diabetes and being a dying man, initiating a guilty desire by Kevin to visit his brother, emphatic about his situation. Of course, Norm is full of shit and soon Kevin realizes this. Only having land, no house or apartment, Norm has invited two friends, postman Wayne (Michael McCafferty) and fellow deadbeat, Ian (Josh Caden), to hang out as Kevin arrives unimpressed with his brother's use of inheritance after their parents' death. A Mexican named Jovan (Ed Galvez) does construction for Norm on this old west town and seemingly chokes, collapsing to the desert, dusty ground. Wayne loses a gun from his holster and it goes off accidentally, shooting Jovan! So now Wayne, concerned, instigates burying him to protect all of them, when it was just about rescuing himself. What the four couldn't realize was the land is cursed and burying Jovan a bad mistake. Jovan returns from beyond the grave, accursed and unstoppable, motivated by the curse to pursue Norm and his friends. Norm owns the land so the curse passes to him. In order to break the curse, he'll need to pass the land to someone else. Played for laughs, Amigo Undead (2015) covers similar ground as other zombie films. It focuses extensively on Norm and Kevin's odd brothers relationship. Norm a drifting, irresponsible, obtuse dick, manipulative of his soft, pushover brother, as Kevin had an office white collar job that makes him miserable and empty. This death hurls them into an unexpected nightmare. Ian is unfiltered, awkward, and odd in his choice of conversation and response while Wayne is self-serving, protective of his own welfare, and willing to resort to whatever measures will save his own hide. A severed head and intestines used as a choking weapon befall victims while Undead Amigo, Javon, endures gunshots, fire, a hatchet to the head, and grenades but still keeps coming. At only about 80 minutes, this little desert zombie movie is especially dedicated to quirky family problems, relationship issues, and differences in personality. Norm ridicules Kevin, using 'fuckin idiot' a lot while tricking him into doing things for him. Kevin seems naive and gullible, a patsy to Norm aplenty. Yet he's the one that seems to have his shit together while Norm has wasted his life, squandered his inheritance on no-good land. And that Norm can persuade him to commit to burying a body, although he clearly protests, and remain with the party despite every reason to stay is quite ironic. The use of two Native Americans in the hopes of curing the curse results unexpectedly also. The film detours slightly when the four come across a religious nut (David Clennon; Palmer in The Thing (1982)) who thinks the Undead Amigo's presence is a sign of the Apocalypse! Doesn't outstay it's welcome but isn't extraordinary in any way, Amigo Undead might pop up late at night while channel surfing and serve as minor entertainment. I didn't mind it because the foursome are such a disaster waiting to happen, you can just look at them and tell this. McCafferty as the loathsome Wayne steals the film. Norm was impossible for me to like while I felt for Kevin because he's had to deal with this guy for so long. The parents dying because they were answering a distress about their son's drug problem and how Kevin supposedly blamed Norm serves as an underlying nagging wedge that comes between them. A rural cop gives the four trouble at the service station, but Javon takes off both his arms before he can arrest them.