Buck Wild

Director - Tyler Glodt (The Eves)
Starring - Matthew Albrecht (Bunnyman), Isaac Harrison (A Cannibal's Handshake), and Jarrod Pistilli (Kicking the Dog)
Release Date - 2013
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline(s) - "Best. Trip, Ever" "Friends don't let friends turn zombie" and "The hilariously horrifying zombie comedy everyone is dying to see"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     The zombie film is at the height of it's popularity and we have the television show The Walking Dead to thank for that.  The show premiered in 2010 and it has changed the horror game for the time being.  Before TWD I had a slight obsession with the zombie sub-genre but now I am rather sick of it.  I'm not sick of zombies in general.   I am, however, sick of the lack of originality among the zombie films we have seen as of late.  They all seem to try and copy TWD only to fail.  However, one zombie film I have been excited to see is the zombie comedy Buck Wild.  In the summer of 2013 I went to the Fright Night Film Fest in Kentucky where I saw several posters for the film Buck Wild which was screening there.  I was unable to make the screening but early in 2014 I was able to find the film at Wal-Mart where I quickly grabbed it.

     The film follows four men as they head out to the Buck Wild hunting camp for a weekend hunting trip.  They arrive at a small town where they meet some of the locals and a flamboyant man wearing a feather boa named Billy Ray who is a self-proclaimed bad ass.  Billy Ray's goons and the four men almost have an altercation when a forest ranger intervenes.  The four men then continue their trip to the Buck Wild where they meet the owner who is a little under the weather but shows them around the place where one of the young men meets his daughter and lusts over her a bit.  He then leaves with his daughter and the young men set up a fire before heading to bed.  During the night the one young man sneaks out to meet the owner's daughter but when he gets there she is not well just like her father and attacks him.  The next morning they all awake and discover he is missing so they decide to head out to hunt assuming he is doing the same.  However, once in the blind they accidentally shoot the owner of Buck Wild. When they rush over to check on him the find blood smeared all over his mouth and he is still alive.  Jerry (Pistilli) shoots him in the head because he knows he is a zombie.  They then head back to their room to pack when they decide they need to go find their friend.  They split up and one of them finds him in a barn and he has already been turned into a member of the undead.  The other man stumbles on Billy Ray's property and they strip him down to his underwear and paddle him but Jerry tracks him down and helps him escape as zombie invade his home.  The three men make it back to their room only to be forced inside and fight for their lives as the undead relentlessly attacks.  
     I have seen so many zombie movies in recent years attempt to be like TWD but it is just not the same.  However, this zombie comedy sets itself apart from the current trend and delivers a quality zombie film with lots of laughs.  The acting in this film is outstanding by any standards. The entire cast was superb but the character and actor that stuck out was Jarrod Pistilli who played Jerry.  This character was just as funny as he was bad ass.  If, big if, this film is able to land a sequel it really needs to follow Jerry.  The story for this one is a bit of a different take on the zombie sub-genre.  We have seen zombie films where the zombie outbreak has began from falling debris from space, toxic waste, chemicals, rat monkey, but we have never had one start with a bite from a chupacabra.  This was a bit of a unique spin on the outbreak scenario that definitely caught me off guard.  From that point on the film does feel like a typical zombie film but ones that are pre-Walking Dead.  This showed that the zombie sub-genre is not a lost cause.  Finally, the film has a some decent zombie kills but nothing that bloody.  With that being said, the special effects are great.  The zombie bites and zombies themselves looking fucking fantastic.  The special effects are great and we finally get zombies that look like fucking zombies.  Overall, Buck Wild is a zombie film for the fans of Shaun of the Dead.  If you want a break from The Walking Dead and add a little humor to your zombies then this film is for you.  Check it out!