Dead Shack is available to stream on Shudder.
There is no shortage of zombie movies, with most playing with the imagery, ideas and themes born from Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead. Dead Shack is also keen to embrace a series of classic zombie movie cliches with its isolated house surrounded by woods and a family under siege. But what makes this slice of flesh-munching action so much fun is the dry Canadian wit that ripples through every scene.
Based on a classic cabin in the woods premise, Dead Shack laces its zombie gore with gloriously dark humour. Fourteen-year-old Jason (Matthew Nelson-Mahood) is about to escape his volatile home life for a weekend in the woods with best friend Colin (Gabriel LaBelle), his older sister Summer (Lizzie Boys), their dad Roger (Donavon Stinson) and his new girlfriend Lisa (Valerie Tian). The trip is about escape, their log cabin a sanctuary of relaxation, card games and teenage hormonal energy. However, not far up the road, a doting mother protects her unique family at all costs with their family mealtimes, a sinister game of cat and mouse.
Dead Shack gloriously unpicks the family unit, openly challenging the notion that adults know best by placing its teen leads in charge. Here its intelligent screenplay hums with brilliantly timed comedy while the blood and gore flow through creative, practical effects work. The result is a genuinely engaging and entertaining zombie horror full of dry humour and Canadian charm.
Canada | 1hr 25 mins | Director: Peter Ricq
DOUBLE BILL
VICIOUS FUN
Canada has a long history of great horror, from Scanners to Black Christmas. Canadian horrors have long challenged the boundaries of the horror genre and redefined what is and can be; Director Cody Calahan’s Vicious Fun continues this trend by mixing classic slasher horror with tongue-in-cheek 80s-inspired humour. The result is a film that delivers exactly what it promises – Vicious Fun. Taking themes last seen in Shudder’s underrated Monster Party, but lacing them with delicious humour, wrapped up neatly in a bloody bow of 80s nostalgia, Vicious Fun is a great late-night horror/comedy full of gore and charm.
