RG
Roberto Giacomelli
•Savage West. Elmer Winslow is a former soldier who happens to stumble upon a small town where the first case of corpse resurrection has just occurred, the result of a curse that Geronimo cast upon the white man before being killed. Elmer gets involved in a brawl with Luke, a heartbroken cowboy; the two are arrested by the sheriff and placed near the cell where Kermit, a zombie who has just massacred his family, is locked up. Elmer and Luke manage to escape and flee the town, pursued by the sheriff, his deputy, and a group of mercenaries who, in the meantime, have become zombies due to the contagion started by Kermit.
When in 2004 Edgar Wright surprised everyone with that gem "Shaun of the Dead" (I can't bring myself to call it "The Dawn of the Demented Dead"), he did a lot of damage to the horror film industry because, just like "Scream" in 1996 with teen-slasher films, it generated a slew of horror-comedies that, unfortunately, don't come close to the prototype. As is known, so much manure helps to make flowers grow and so, among so many failed attempts that tell us about living hamburgers ("The Mad") and adolescent zombies whose testicles fall off ("Maial Zombie"), comes this "Undead or Alive", which somewhat lifts the fortunes of an otherwise indefensible genre.
The film, directed in 2007 by debutant Glasgow Phillips, has the great merit of avoiding any vulgarity and any sexually suggestive jokes, which is generally the most crude and easy way to make the audience of these films laugh, also reducing to a minimum the degree of demence. Therefore, no parody of the famous zombie films, no scenes with scatological content, only a lot of irony placed at the right moment that does not trigger the loud laughter, but keeps a smile on the spectator's lips from beginning to end. Surely to be remembered is the gag of the macho spit and Luke's amusing shooting range trial. Moreover, "Undead or Alive" manages to merge with functionality three genres that are rarely found together and that is horror, comedy, and western, the latter a true rarity in such explicit use. Already because fundamentally "Undead or Alive" is a western film, not only for setting, but also for themes addressed: encounter-clash with consequent virile friendship between the two protagonists; the abuse of the law; racial discrimination towards Native Americans; the last embers of the Civil War. Naturally, all of this serves as a condiment to the story of zombies, returning due to a curse that presents itself as punishment to the white man for the abuses towards Native Americans. The lighthearted but never heavy or demented tone also allows for good character development. If the "bad guys" seem to have come out of a "Cocco Bill" comic and roughly represent the stereotype of the bad guys from westerns, the best work has been done on the three positive protagonists. Elmer (James Denton) is the classic lone rider, the nameless and past-less stranger who opens many post-Leone westerns: he arrives resolute and dusty on his steed and as the first stop there is the saloon, where he meets prostitutes and troublemakers. Playing always with the stereotypes of the genre, Glasgow Phillips, also the screenplay writer, develops his characters by delving into what is usually left aside in inspiration films; and so Elmer will be, little by little, provided with a past and skeletons in the closet and his two adventure companions will be endowed with "original" personalities. Luke (Chris Kattan) is the comic side, the cowboy with a tender heart who plays tough; Sue (Navi Rawat) is Geronimo's granddaughter, a sexy hunter who turns out to be very cultured and intelligent. In short, the game is to deny appearances and the game works quite well, especially in function of an original and well-built ending.
Very good the makeup of the zombies, cared for by the team of Robert Kurtzman, and pleasant some splatter effects; too bad for the use (fortunately not excessive) of computer graphics that appear decidedly crude.
In short, the genre to which "Undead or Alive" belongs is among the most suitable for the "easy joke", but fortunately Phillips has more tact than his colleagues and the result, although it does not escape from silliness and naivety scattered here and there, seems satisfying and surely above average.
