Zombie Prom (2007)
Director: Vince Marcello
Writer: Vince Marcello
Synopsis: Set in the 1950s, this is the tale of a sweet teenage girl named, TOFFEE (a Gidget-type) and her "rebel without a cause" boyfriend, JONNY. The two meet at Enrico Fermi High School and fall in love, but the principal, MISS DELILAH STRICT intervenes, persuading the indecisive young Toffee to break up with Jonny. Tortured by the betrayal, Jonny drives his motorcycle to the nearby Francis Gary Powers Nuclear Power Plant and flings himself into a nuclear cooling tower!
Guilt ridden and alone, Toffee mourns the loss of her love, until one day when Jonny returns, risen from the dead - AS A TEENAGE NUCLEAR ZOMBIE! The mass of decomposing flesh professes his love and tells Toffee that he wants her back. He plans to clean up his act, finish school and take her to the senior prom - if she'll have him. Toffee is racked with indecision, but worst of all Miss Strict refuses to allow "zombie scum" in her fine institution. She clearly states that "The satanic walking dead are strictly prohibited at Enrico Fermi High." She even threatens to cancel the senior prom if anyone is caught supporting the "cadaver's cause."
At the same time, word of this conflict reaches EDDIE FLAGRANTE, a slick sensationalist TV show host, who loves a lost cause. Eddie arrives at the school with his film crew to cover the story and make a "cause celebre" out of Jonny - "This sounds like a clear-cut case of Zombie Civil Rights!" But once he arrives, we see that he and Miss Strict share a past, shrouded in an elusive mystery.
As crisis takes hold of the school, the following questions are raised - Will Toffee take Jonny back? Will Miss Strict let Jonny come back and finish school, or will she cancel Senior Prom, ruining the most important night in the lives of the students of Enrico Fermi High!?
Guilt ridden and alone, Toffee mourns the loss of her love, until one day when Jonny returns, risen from the dead - AS A TEENAGE NUCLEAR ZOMBIE! The mass of decomposing flesh professes his love and tells Toffee that he wants her back. He plans to clean up his act, finish school and take her to the senior prom - if she'll have him. Toffee is racked with indecision, but worst of all Miss Strict refuses to allow "zombie scum" in her fine institution. She clearly states that "The satanic walking dead are strictly prohibited at Enrico Fermi High." She even threatens to cancel the senior prom if anyone is caught supporting the "cadaver's cause."
At the same time, word of this conflict reaches EDDIE FLAGRANTE, a slick sensationalist TV show host, who loves a lost cause. Eddie arrives at the school with his film crew to cover the story and make a "cause celebre" out of Jonny - "This sounds like a clear-cut case of Zombie Civil Rights!" But once he arrives, we see that he and Miss Strict share a past, shrouded in an elusive mystery.
As crisis takes hold of the school, the following questions are raised - Will Toffee take Jonny back? Will Miss Strict let Jonny come back and finish school, or will she cancel Senior Prom, ruining the most important night in the lives of the students of Enrico Fermi High!?
'Grease' + zombies = Zombie Prom!!
1) ACTING: The acting was great! The leads were excellent in their roles and nobody seemed miscast. The actors all seemed very comfortable with each other, and obviously has fun making this, because it definitely shows!
2) PRODUCTION: The production values were excellent! The costumes, the make up, the sets, for an indie film to recreate the look and the feel of the 1950's, everything was excellent. The way the scenes changed was ingenious! It obviously helped with the budget and added to the 1950's campy feel! The musical score was great as well!
3) ZOMBIES: Well, only one zombie in this one, and that would be Jonny, our undead male lead! He is a zombie only in the sense that he was dead, and returned to life, albeit a little worse for wear. His make up consisted of greenish hands and a greenish face with discolorations and some facial applications. Jonny never killed or ate anyone, either. He was strictly, back from the dead.
4) THE CAUSE: Nuclear power.
5) NUDITY: None.
FINAL: This is another wonderful little gem that will probably be passed over by many viewers looking for an everyday, bloody, terror filled zombie movie. This is a fun, energetic little movie that I could easily see joining the ranks of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' on the midnight movie circuit. It is vibrant and full of life (pun intended). The songs, the dancing, all excellent! This will be one of those movies like 'Rocky Horror,' 'Little Shop of Horrors,' and 'Zombie Love' that you will either love or hate. And that's okay. Not everyone has to like every movie, that's why there are so many different genres out there! I can't recommend this fun little movie enough!
RATING: 5 out of 5
SPECIAL NOTE OF INTEREST: This film is based on the stage musical of the same name. It was first performed at the Red Barn Theater in Key West, Florida in 1993 and opened off-Broadway at the Variety Arts Theater in 1996.
In its stage version, Zombie Prom was a full-length musical with roughly 22 songs. For the film, a great deal of dialogue and and music were dropped (although the plot is still roughly the same), giving the film a runtime of a slightly over 30 minutes. Among the songs that were dropped are "Rules, Regulations, and Respect" - a song in which Miss Strict teaches the students the principles of discipline, "That's the Beat For Me" - a song in which Eddie Flagrante proclaims his love for his job as a tabloid news reporter, "The Voice in the Ocean" - a duet for Jonny and Toffee in which Jonny explains how and why he came back from the dead (he had been buried at sea in a lead-lined coffin in the stage version), "Case Closed" - a trio for Eddie, Miss Strict, and Jonny in which all three argue about whether or not Jonny should be allowed to re-enroll at Fermi High, "Exposé" - a duet for Miss Strict and Eddie in which they relive their passionate past, and "Forbidden Love" - a duet for Jonny and Toffee in which they reaffirm their love for one another. Plus, there were several other musical moments that were turned into (much shorter) dialogue in the film.
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