Zombie Review: Fido

Fido (2006) is a zombie film, but do to the concept behind the film Fido actually works better as a satire of 1950s America; albeit a solid film with good charming aesthetic appeal, than it does as a hardcore zombie film. It does explore interesting concepts, including zombie consciousness, but lacks the visual, gore flourish required of a hardcore zombie film. The makeup is respectable, but the gore was lacking and there were few artistic splatters framed for maximum effect.

The zombies in the film are of the traditional, slower moving model and while hungry for brains are not very menacing. In fact, you pity them more than fear them. You find yourself rooting for the zombies to uproot the staid, stifling culture the characters inhabit has almost immediately. And that desire is not even born out of a desire to see gore (although a little more would not have taken away from the comedic aspect they were going for). It is possible to have major gore and comedy, see Brain Dead aka Dead Alive. That was actually Peter Jackson’s first film and it is spectacularly gory and wacky.

I cannot see Fido existing without the superior zombie comedy film, Shaun of the Dead; however, Fido is still worth checking out just for the cinematography and the way the film captures the asethetics of the 1950s middle class. It is also nice to see probable McCarthyites get theirs.