ZOMBIE TOWN: 2 ½ STARS. “pitched toward the YA scares of ‘Goosebumps.’”
Sometimes called the “Stephen King of children’s literature,” R.L. Stine has inspired bad dreams for decades. The author of hundreds of horror fiction novels for youngsters, including the classic “Goosebumps” series, returns to the big screen this week with “Zombie Town,” a teen horror comedy based on his 2012 novel of the same name.
The action takes place on one eventful night in Carverville, a small town named after legendary b-movie horror director Len Carver (Dan Aykroyd). “This whole town is just a bunch of zombie following idiots,” grumbles Mike (Marlon Kazadi), the only guy in town who doesn’t like zombie movies.
It’s the eve of the premier of Carver’s latest “flesh drenched extravaganza,” his first film in decades. “You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll kiss your five bucks goodbye!” screams the film’s trailer. Everyone in town is excited except for Mike, who works at the theatre, and will have to watch the film whether he likes it or not.
When Carver takes ill before the show, the screening is cancelled, but Mike’s friend Amy (Madi Monroe) convinces him to give her a private screening. As white light bounces off the blank screen, strange things begin happening. Mike and Amy protect themselves from the weird glow with film cannister lids embossed with an ancient symbol.
The symbol’s mystical power protects them from the film’s magical spell, but outside the theatre, all over town, the good folks of Carverville have been transformed into the living dead. “You have to get over your fear of zombies,” Amy says. “It is just us and them now.”
Mike and Amy realize that if they are to save themselves and their town, they must track down Carver and put an end to his film’s zombie curse.
The zombies in “Zombie Town” may amble around with George A. Romero style menace, but this is no “Night of the Living Dead.” Thrills and chills are few and far between, pitched toward the younger end of the YA scares of “Goosebumps.”
Director Peter Lepeniotis aims for an Amblin PG-13 feel, that mix of plucky young people and the supernatural, but falls just short because the film has no real menace. Sure, the town has been zombified, but the peril and the frights are kept to a minimum. Raising the stakes and ramping up the horror may have given the movie more edge, without risking the alienation of the core audience.
It’s a bit of fun to see Aykroyd ham it up as the tormented filmmaker in “Zombie Town,” and cameos from Chevy Chase, Henry Czerny and “Kids in the Hall” alums Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulloch add some texture, but overall it doesn’t bring quite enough life to the undead.
