Thursday, November 18, 2010

Review: Parade of the Dead

Dir. Richard Coburn, 2010, Golden Era

In 2010 a virus spread throughout the world population, killing millions and resurrecting the dead as flesh-hungry zombies. Around the same time, Adelaide-based hip-hop group Hilltop Hoods were due to shoot a DVD to promote their new album, State of the Art. Civilisation collapsed. People died in the streets. And the 'Hoods went ahead and made their DVD anyway...

Parade of the Dead is an unusual addition to the ranks of zombie cinema: part music-video, part zombie flick, part spoof, it doesn't include quite enough material on any of these three fronts to be labelled as one or the other, or to fully satisfy on that basis. That said, there's a great deal to like about Parade of the Dead; some great songs and energetic gig footage for fans of the 'Hoods; gore and zombie mayhem for the deadheads, not to mention some interesting and dark world-building; even much of the (admittedly fairly broad) comedy content - evident mostly during the faux-interview scenes supposedly being shot for the promotional DVD - works surprisingly well, with the 'Hoods amusingly casting themselves as amiable, if self-obsessed, morons.

All in all, Parade of the Dead is certainly worth viewing. Buy it for the music, enjoy the zombie content as an added bonus.

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