One Cut of the Dead (2017)

 This is the kind of film that reminds me of why I LOVE horror films done on the cheap but with ingenuity, cleverness, a fantastic sense of humor, and unpredictability. God, how often have I just said, "Fuck no" lately to Hollywood horror? At some point I turned to independent horror done by hungry filmmakers with content finding its way to the likes of Shudder. I just fucking want to watch a good horror movie again that knocks me for a loop in a good way. Well Friday evening, I watched the absolutely wonderful One Cut of the Dead (2017). What I was particularly thrilled about while watching this was how all kinds of disasters that happen outside the purview of the audience are revealed to us, while what is created in front of the camera disguises a lot of the problems! 

Like when a pampered actor who needs to be validated of his star power is pulled into doing what the director (both in front of the camera as a character and outside the camera trying to steer the ship away from a tsunami) wants or how the wrong water can disrupt a crew member's bowels so the director must try and lead him to a "pooping spot" as his daughter (who volunteers herself into working behind the scenes as a producer not taking no for an answer!) concocts a plan to include him as a zombie later in order to "appease continuity". Why a makeup artist (the director's bored wife, volunteered by her daughter since mommy was once an actress so method the violence caused by her in character got her practically blacklisted from the industry!), an actor playing a zombie (the prima donna the director must try and manipulate to do what he wants in front of the camera), and the lead actress who is supposed to be bitten on the neck by him (her agency made sure to specify their beloved actress not get too stressed or bloodied on set, with those demands collapsing as the shoot was undergoing serious issues beyond the camera's lens) are put in a bad position to cover for miscues and behind the scenes tumult by improvising through awkward pauses and lulls within a long take conversation...one has the director's wife showing the young actors self defense exercises! The lengthy camera hold on the lead actress's face, holding fixed onto her, is because certain plans are botched, or unforeseen miscommunications (or just crew and cast running around chaotically while never emerging in shot to ruin whatever is in front of the camera) pull apart what should have been less disorganized or out of sorts. One of the zombie actors, an older man using drink to ease his shivers and bad nerves (this kind of drinking could lose him his daughter, though!) and always in need of eye drops to cry, is wasted, the director has to use his own body and rig up a rope around him to make sure he moves about towards potential victims in-shot, without appearing in front of the camera himself. Anytime you are watching the 30 minute, one-take zombie film within a zombie film, when certain odd camera shots and character moments play out, with you wondering, "What the fuck was that about?" it is because of what we get to see later after the credits roll...even a jib "drone shot" of the camera pulling back off the top of a school building from the lead actress (covered in blood after surviving zombies chasing her, her boyfriend being "bit", and butchering the director with an ax out of furious breakdown), how they were able to do that was members of the crew forming a pyramid on all fours with the director's daughter the one holding it as they try to keep from collapsing!

It was just refreshing to have a good time again. I had no idea what I was getting into since this was hosted on Shudder by Joe Bob Briggs for his Last Drive-Inn and the film was new to me. I had never heard of it or read about it. Consider my surprise once the film at the beginning is over and the film about how that film was made starts...it's wicked smart and sly. If you think about it "One Cut of the Dead" is actually a film within a film within a film. A film about a film crew making a film...and it was made for next to nothing budget-wise. This gem has me laughing out loud several times...and it has been a while since I laughed, to tell you the truth because with how fucked up America is lately, there hasn't been much to laugh about. 5/5s