Juan de los Muertos

aka Juan of the Dead

 

Director - Alejandro Brugues (Personal Belongings)

Starring - Alexis Diaz de Villegas (Hurricanes),   Jorge Molina (The Gaze), and Andrea Duro (Ghost Graduation)

Release Date - 2011

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "Hes Havana killer day" and "50 years after the Cuban revolution...a new one is about to start"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     I heard about this movie a few years back when I was a regular at upcominghorrormovies.com.   From just reading the title I knew it was going to be a comedy, or even a parody, in a similar fashion to Shaun of the Dead.  Though I waited patiently for this, in the pit of my stomach I was extremely worried that this movie was going to ride the coat tail of Shaun of the Dead and offer up a super shitty zombie comedy just as a way to cash in on the surge of Shaun clones.  In recent years zombies are notoriously popular among the everyday movie goer.  This is horrible for the horror fans who love the good zombie flicks.  Companies are making mass market shit flicks to cash in on the zombie craze and I was worried about that happening to this film.

     The film follows slackers Juan (Villegas), his best friend Lazaro (Molina), and Lazaro's son.  Juan refers to himself as a survivor of past Cuban conflicts but has no real drive in life besides drinking and finding scrap to sell.  He sees Cuba as a paradise where a man like him can live the life.  That is until Cuba is invaded by an undead horde.  Juan has a daughter that he never provided for until the undead take over.  He tries to be the father figure she missed out on but it is too late.  She is now an adult that can kill the undead unlike anyone else.  As a way to make money during the zombie invasion, Juan and crew set up a zombie removal service to rid families of their flesh hungry family members.  The bunch seem to be confused, often mistaking the zombies as dissidents.  When Cuba in completely engulfed, and most of their group dead, the remaining members devise a plan to leave Cuba and head for Miami.  They build an amphibious car that could float the 90 miles.  However, once they are ready to go Juan decides against it and stays behind due to his love for his country.

      I really liked this movie.  I read a lot of reviews online before I watched it and most people enjoyed it as well.  There was the select few that bitched about it because it was similar to Shaun of the Dead or it was not a serious zombie flick.  Both of those claims are correct.  The film is similar to Shaun of the Dead but any film that is a zombie comedy released after 2004  will often be compared to it.  Also, due to it being mostly a comedy, the film is not a serious zombie flick but should not criticized for that.  Comedy or not, this film is extremely entertaining.  The film had a lot political satire throughout it.  I tried to ignore it but it was blatantly obvious.  Cuba before the zombie outbreak and after are exactly the the same.  The film represants Cuba poorly and this is shocking.  Cuba is known for it's harsh government and it is hard to fathom a movie like this being released without any controversy.  It is possible the government let it be released as a way for other countries to see they are working to change.  Another possible reason is because of Juan's pride for his homeland.  Either way, it is weird to see a film like this released from Cuba.  Anyway, lets get to the likes and dislikes.  I really enjoyed this movie.  The acting is done very well, at least, it looked convincing.  It was hard to really tell anything else where the movie was in Spanish and I had to read subtitles.  The effects are very good as well.  They used a good mixture of CGI and practical effects which I highly believe is how it should be done in all films.  Movies that rely mostly on CGI just look bad and cheap.  The zombie kills are really what make the movie.  Some are stupid, but extremely funny, while others are different and extremely entertaining.  However, I did not like having subtitles.  If a scene has action and dialogue then you often miss out on the action because your reading to prevent from falling behind.  A shitty dubbed version would have been better than nothing.  Overall, this movie is one of those flicks that will gain a cult following and it definitely deserves that.  I will be honest with who ever is dumb enough to read my rambling and admit I watched it twice...back to back.  This is one of those films everyone needs to see and own.