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Vector image for zombie movie Night of the Living Dorks
The ‘Horror Comedy’ genre is not a particular favourite of mine, I suspect because I find plenty of comedy in the terrible over-the-top blood & gore special effects that are present in the majority of genuine horror films from my collection. Heck, I even laughed at the head explosions of the Burmese villagers in the latest Rambo film, (and was the only person in the whole cinema to do so I might add). I think my sense of humour is being warped due to the deluge of guts and gore images that I pour into it on a near daily basis.
Although Horror Comedies themselves do not usually float my boat (Scary Movie i’m talking to you) the actual ‘Zombie Horror Comedy’ genre does contain some gems. Obviously ‘Shaun of the Dead’ is at the top of the pile and embarrassingly I did enjoy ‘Dead Heat’ as well as ‘Night Of The Creeps’ despite neither having much to do with actual Zombie ideas. I imagine this is probably down to my juvenile sense of humour.
With this point of view in mind I embarked into the previously unexplored world of German Comedy Horror with ‘Night Of The Living Dorks’, and was pleasantly surprised. Sure, the Zombies look more like a bunch of kids who have just stayed awake for 5 days playing World of Warcraft as opposed to being members of the Undead and there is very little gore at all, but it was good to know that the Germans do have a sense of humour, although they do seem to be about 20 years behind the rest of the world and based very much on the Dick and Fart Joke school of comedy.
The plot involves 3 nerdy kids accidentally becoming Zombies and trying to find a cure while fending off the Jocks using their new zombie strength, stapling back any body part that comes loose, and trying to stop one of their number from going on a cannibalistic rampage against all those who bullied him in the past. Not forgetting trying to get laid by the hottest girl in school (who I felt had a rather horse like face, but perhaps that is what the Germans are into. Still, at least she got to show off her cracking norks). Oh yes, this is typical 80’s teen-comedy fare but with a zombie subplot, and while no Night of the Creeps it does still have it’s charms.
It is without doubt the finest German comedy film I have seen, although due to my lack of exposure to the genre it is consequently also the worst. Particular enjoyment came from spending the first 15 minutes flipping between English Dubbing, German language with subtitles and combinations of the two. It was at its funniest in English with English subtitles though, as it produced some amusing script alternatives.
“If we had that attitude at Stalingrad we’d never have won the war!”
Apparently a Hollywood remake is in the pipeline which might be interesting. I wonder if that will have so many naked guy butts and detachable testicles?
Gore Score D
Norks Score C
Overall Score C
Devouring the Zombie Films of the Living 