Tag line : School's out...and so are the zombies!

Eager to cash in on the popularity of "Shaun of the Dead" , Irish film maker Stephen Bradley quickly shot this teen horror comedy about the pitfalls of teenage love against a backdrop of zombies running amok in the suburbs of Dublin.

In this, David Leon stars as a lovestruck teenager named Nathan, who's desperately trying to win the affections of Jessica, the school heartthrob (as played by singer and occasional actress Samantha Mumba). But when his attempts to ask her out fail, he goes off and inadvertently hangs himself, when a drunken antic goes horribly wrong.

But when his mother resurrects him using a book she found in the crypt at the local church, Nathan awakes to find himself developing a bizarre taste for human flesh. Fortunately, he's a vegetarian, so chowing down on his friends doesn't initially appeal. But after biting the ear off the school bully during a scuffle, it sets in motion a series of events that leads to a zombie outbreak in the town.

With the number of undead increasing exponentially, Jessica and Nathan's friends Diggs and Henry attempt to seek refuge and fight off the zombies whilst his mother works out how to undo the zombie spell and save him. Will they survive and will Nathan's vegetarianism help stop him attacking his friends before they can undo things, or will the zombies take over the rest of Ireland?

Featuring some truly outrageous gore effects, including a zombie massacre sequence with an industrial JCB mower attachment that puts Peter Jackson's  "Braindead" lawnmower death scene to shame, the film is highly entertaining. Though you may find the film actually works better as a comedy.

Overall marks : 5/10.

Other Information.

• The original script title was "Zombie Love".

• The films budget was £5,000,000.

• As with many films of this nature, the characters are meant to be all in their late teens, around  17/18, however the actors were in reality well into their 20's when they filmed this.

• Originally the film was going to be shot completely in and around Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. But in order to secure funding and take advantage of certain tax breaks from UK investors, the film makers had to shoot some of the film on UK soil. This meant some scenes were shot over on the Isle of Mann.

• R&B singer Samantha Mumba got involved with the project after the film makers sent a script to her agent Lois Walsh (the fat twat off X Factor).

• Irish Comedienne Deidre O'Kane, who plays Nathan's Mother Grace, was the wife of the director.

• Filming was completed in just six weeks.

• Father Cornelius's church was actually an old chapel, located in the grounds of St Mary's Hospital in Phoenix park Dublin. The church crypt was an entirely separate location, the basement of Kilmainham Gaol.

Cast & Crew.

Buy the UK DVD

Notes on affiliate sites.

Other recommendations.

Reviews A-Z.

Reviews index. Home. Menu.