Pop Culture Buzz

GRADE: A

In the past few years the general public has been subjected to an onslaught of terrible or mediocre zombie films; “Land of the Dead”, “Resident Evil”, “Planet Terror”, “28 Weeks Later”, “Undead” etc. The great ones are few and far between; “Dawn of the Dead”, “28 Days Later”…and the best of the bunch has to be “Shaun of the Dead” (which is a comedy!). The genre itself has been lacking in the creative spirit which made it my favorite to begin with. This was until I watched “Fido”, a film I immediately fell in love with within the first few frames.

The Wikipedia.com plot description for “FIDO” is as follows: When the Earth passed through a cloud of space dust and the dead arose from their graves to devour the flesh of the living, it first seemed that all hope for humanity was lost. Society’s rapid slide into chaos, however, was soon halted when scientists at a company called ZomCon created a special collar that turned the rampaging animated corpses docile. Now, thanks to ZomCon, everything is under control - or is it?

I would describe “Fido” as “Pleasantville” meets “Night of the Living Dead”. But even that description doesn’t capture the brilliance of the details in this film. “Fido” not only has an ingenious premise but it crafts a tightly shrewd social commentary of the 50’s and of race relations into a comedy/zombie horror film. The film goes even further with subtle references to the women’s movement, child neglect, adultery, necrophilia, credit consumption and on, and on without being heavy handed. This movie has a compelling underlined message that just happens to be sandwiched in between gore, great performances and genius comedic dialog.

Carrie Anne Moss is captivating as the 50’s housewife Helen Robinson. Her wardrobe and her glowing classic Hollywood good looks have never been so beautifully captured onto film. Her precise movements and dead on depiction of a 50’s “super mom” will have you in stitches. Some of the more funnier moments in this film are the scenes with Moss interacting with her pet zombie “Fido”. There are some tender, touching and yes, some revolting scenes in “Fido”. If you loved “Shaun of the Dead” you must see “Fido”, it is a great companion piece to the British cult hit that stars Simon Pegg.

There are some really great performances in “Fido”. Especially by Billy Connelly as “Fido” the zombie house pet/servant. There are a lot of jokes crammed into “Fido” and I look forward to owning this movie to catch the little jokes I missed with multiple viewings. The gore is not as bad as you would think and it isn’t the focal point of the main story. I am a big fan of this new breed of zombie films my friends and I call “Zom-Com’s”. A mix of comedy and shrewd wit are always a welcome addition to my splatter flicks! “Fido” is proof that these two elements work just fine together!

WATCH THE “FIDO” MOVIE TRAILER HERE: