NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS

Philip, Wurst, and Konrad are three very unpopular high school students. Philip, a shy and reserved boy, has a crush on Uschi, the most popular girl in school, and hopes to invite her to the school dance. After being heavily rejected and humiliated in front of everyone, Philip decides to participate with his two friends in a voodoo ritual hoping that black magic can make young Uschi fall in love with him, but the ritual does not yield the desired results. On their way back home, the three friends are involved in a car accident and, upon waking up, they find themselves on the morgue slab. The three boys realize that, thanks to the voodoo ritual, they have become zombies and suddenly gain all the virtues they never had: strength and popularity. For the boys, it seems like a dream come true, but when their flesh starts to rot, the desire to return to being human is very strong. No, It's Not Another Stupid American Comedy (to quote the title of the raunchy comedy directed by Joel Gallen), but rather a stupid German comedy. Although it is now evident that the comedy-horror genre (even if in this case horror remains far away) is currently receiving a lot of attention (it all started with the release of the beautiful "Shaun of the Dead" by Edgar Wright), it is not every day to see a certain type of films coming from Germany. This was the golden opportunity for the Germans to prove that they too are capable of making films of this caliber, but, alas, they only confirm the thesis regarding their "poor ability" to act in the comedy field, since this "Maial Zombie - Even the Dead Do It" appears to be a very poor raunchy comedy that vainly tries to imitate the style of American humor. A first small but necessary criticism must be directed at the embarrassing Italian title (but this is certainly not a fault to be attributed to the film) that tries to mimic mediocre successful comedies like "Maial College" but, in the end, turns out to be only an out-of-place title capable of diverting the viewer's attention and interest elsewhere (because let's face it, the Italian title certainly does not entice viewing); undoubtedly, a more appropriate and functional title would have been the one adopted in the new continent, "Night of the Living Dorks," which would be translatable as "The Night of the Living Dorks" (but a very similar title had already been used, always in Italian distribution, by the Spanish film "Una de Zombis" which in Italy became "The Night of the Demented Dead"). But after this brief, but essential, criticism of the titles adopted by Italian distributors, let's move on to the actual analysis of the film. We are dealing with a very poor product that completely fails in its main intent: to entertain the viewer. So much so that, if we want to find the most serious flaw in the film, it is detectable precisely in the poor and pathetic sense of humor: no gag manages to elicit even a minimal smile thanks to weak, extremely stupid, banal, and predictably dull jokes. They do not do justice to the film; rather, they only worsen the situation, the numerous scenes with a high degree of raunchiness that openly descend into the most blatant and obscene trash (see the sad rugby match or the scene where Philip deals with his rotting genitals). But the comedy component, which miserably fails to entertain on any occasion, is not even compensated by a good horror counterpart that is completely absent: the three zombie protagonists (more comparable to the dumb kids of "American Pie" than to real living dead) behave as zombies only sporadically (when has it ever been seen that, by becoming zombies, physical prowess increases?) and the murders (just a couple) are completely devoid of bloody or "strong" scenes. Poor is the direction by Mathias Dinter (who makes a very small appearance, so small as to not be credited, as an actor in the role of a corpse) while the cast is only partially up to par: most of the performances are highly disappointing, including those of the two leads Tino Mewes (Philip) and Manuel Cortez (Wurst), while the only ones capable of delivering sufficient interpretations are the young Collien Fernandes (in the role of the zombie expert, Rebecca) and Thomas Schmieder (in the role of Konrad). The only positive aspect that the film offers are the cute references to "Day of the Dead" by George A. Romero (in addition to being the film that serves as a manual on zombies for the three boys, there is also an obvious reference to the famous Bub, the intelligent zombie kept chained) and to the music video "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. In conclusion, "Maial Zombie - Even the Dead Do It" is a very poor film that is highly negligible, does not entertain, and does not scare (even if this was predictable); it can be watched but nothing more.