Burying the Ex

Everyone has that one psycho ex. Well... not everyone. But a lot of folks. I do, many do, enough do for there to be a whole lot of movies on the subject. Joe Dante's Burying The Ex takes that predicament one step farther, straight into the realm of the supernatural, as the director always does. We haven't had a Dante flick in a while (he's the genius behind Gremlins, Innerspace and Small Soldiers, for those who don't know), and it amazes me the lack of marketing which led to me taking my sweet time in seeing this. Glad I did, because it's a treat. Any headline that boasts Dante, Ashley Greene, Anton Yelchin and the luscious Alexandra Daddario in the same film is automatically a rental, before I've even read a synopsis. This one is a darkly comic zombie romantic comedy and subtle Hammer Studios homage, an irresistible flavour indeed. Yelchin is a lad who works at a halloween FX store, has an affinity for retro horror and all things macabre, and is dating prissy Ashley Greene, who couldn't be more different than him. She's an abrasive, vegan type A personality jealous manipulative control freak banshee who is sinking their relationship quicker than the Titanic. Enter Alexandra Daddario, a hip, horror movie themed ice cream parlor owner, and sparks fly between her and Yelchin. Those sparks are shot down by a dagger glare from Greene, and it's in that moment Yelchin realizes he has to dump her. Before he can do the deed, she's fatally hit by a bus, dies and essentially solves his problem. Or does she? Cue Gothic organ music. Before he can take Alexandra on one date, she rises from the grave, now a sex starved psycho zombie bitch hell bent on keeping him for her own, pretty much forever. Quite the situation eh? Dante is never one for metaphors and heady trickery (a refreshing trait), all of his premises are straight up, face value, 100% genre simplicity. She's dead, he needs to somehow kill her... again. It's charming and lighthearted, while still retaining the macabre, like Tim Burton by way of Stephen Sommers. Greene is disarmingly hilarious as everyone's worst nightmare of an ex, Yelchin is earnest and exasperated in equal doses, and Daddario is a babe and a half, always winning me over with them eyes. They all frolic in Dante's casually R rated inter zone where everything is purely rooted in movie-land, and nothing needs to be seriously thought out. The writing is sharp, heartfelt and riddled with easter eggs for fans of horror from back in a better day. Brilliant stuff.

BURYING THE EX is a disappointing outing for director Joe Dante, someone whose older films I enjoy very much indeed. This one's Dante on autopilot; it contains the usual in-jokes, references, old movies playing on television sets, Dick Miller cameos and the like, but the main material is cookie-cutter dumb and there's no real love for the material. It's another teen-style comedy that strives to make fun out of the whole zombie premise, and it simply isn't very successful. I can only blame the writer for creating such a cast of self-absorbed slackers, from Anton Yelchin's tiresome lead to Alexandra Daddario's airhead love interest and the guy playing the annoying half-brother. The less said about Ashley Greene's overacting the better; let's just say it grates after a few moments. Elsewhere, this is full of the usual dumb, unfunny jokes, gross-out humour and join-the-dots plotting. Dante deserves better.

Everyone has that one psycho ex. Well... not everyone. But a lot of folks. I do, many do, enough do for there to be a whole lot of movies on the subject. Joe Dante's Burying The Ex takes that predicament one step farther, straight into the realm of the supernatural, as the director always does. We haven't had a Dante flick in a while (he's the genius behind Gremlins, Innerspace and Small Soldiers, for those who don't know), and it amazes me the lack of marketing which led to me taking my sweet time in seeing this. Glad I did, because it's a treat. Any headline that boasts Dante, Ashley Greene, Anton Yelchin and the luscious Alexandra Daddario in the same film is automatically a rental, before I've even read a synopsis. This one is a darkly comic zombie romantic comedy and subtle Hammer Studios homage, an irresistible flavour indeed. Yelchin is a lad who works at a halloween FX store, has an affinity for retro horror and all things macabre, and is dating prissy Ashley Greene, who couldn't be more different than him. She's an abrasive, vegan type A personality jealous manipulative control freak banshee who is sinking their relationship quicker than the Titanic. Enter Alexandra Daddario, a hip, horror movie themed ice cream parlor owner, and sparks fly between her and Yelchin. Those sparks are shot down by a dagger glare from Greene, and it's in that moment Yelchin realizes he has to dump her. Before he can do the deed, she's fatally hit by a bus, dies and essentially solves his problem. Or does she? Cue Gothic organ music. Before he can take Alexandra on one date, she rises from the grave, now a sex starved psycho zombie bitch hell bent on keeping him for her own, pretty much forever. Quite the situation eh? Dante is never one for metaphors and heady trickery (a refreshing trait), all of his premises are straight up, face value, 100% genre simplicity. She's dead, he needs to somehow kill her... again. It's charming and lighthearted, while still retaining the macabre, like Tim Burton by way of Stephen Sommers. Greene is disarmingly hilarious as everyone's worst nightmare of an ex, Yelchin is earnest and exasperated in equal doses, and Daddario is a babe and a half, always winning me over with them eyes. They all frolic in Dante's casually R rated inter zone where everything is purely rooted in movie-land, and nothing needs to be seriously thought out. The writing is sharp, heartfelt and riddled with easter eggs for fans of horror from back in a better day. Brilliant stuff.

Joe Dante, the director, the man who gave us The Howling (1981) an instant classic. From there on he gave us horror with a comedy taste. Just look at Gremlins (1984) or for some Piranha (1978). This here I can classify under a horror again with a comedy feeling. The story is rather simple and can even be called dull but somehow it do works. Stepping into a new relation, Max (Anton Yelchin) wants to make it out with his girlfriend Evelyn (Ashley Greene). When the moment is there Evelyn dies and Max moves over to Olivia (Alexandra Daddario). After the funeral suddenly Evelyn rises from the grave. from there on you will have those awkward situations. Not that I had a great time laughing it out but the clips shown of old classic horrors and the brain eating towards the end makes it worth picking up. An ideal flick to watch with your friends. Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 1/5

This movie was much better than I expected. The right mix of a romantic comedy, and zombie flicks. Alexandra Daddario was awesome and smokin' hot as Max's love interest. Max works at a Halloween store ans has a snobby girlfriend named Evelyn. Evelyn comes into the shop one day and sees a Genie idle that looks like the devil. She wishes that she and Max will stay together forever. Soon after, she's hit by a bus and appears to be dead. Some time goes by and Max hangs out with Olivia. Evelyn comes out of the grave and lives life as if nothing has changed. Max tries to get rid of her and hide her away from Olivia. If you like quirky comedies and zombies, you'll love BURYING THE EX!!!

To label Joe Dante as one of the greatest horror/cult directors of all times would be too much honor, but admittedly he has been around for a good four decades now and inconsistently delivered a handful of mature B-movie classics as well as a batch of juvenile popcorn flicks. "Piranha", "The Howling", "Matinee" and both his "Masters of Horror" contributions are genre favorites that I personally consider as genuine classics, whereas various other titles (like "Small Soldiers", "Explorers", "The 'Burbs" and "Trapped Ashes") are categorized as interesting misfires in my book. I'm afraid that "Burying the Ex" also homes in this latter category, and the ratings as well as various other critics' reviews establish that Dante's latest movie comeback didn't result in a real hit. For starters, and this isn't entirely Dante's fault of course, is "Burying the Ex" yet another entry in the exhausted and slowly irritable sub-genre of zombie comedies. Between 2003 (since "Shaun of the Dead") and 2014 (release year of this film) there came out far too many zombie comedies to even list, and the painful truth is that the vast majority of them aren't funny, nor horrific. I gave up on watching these, and I know for a fact that many other horror fans did the same. Heck, I probably never would have bothered to check out "Burying the Ex" if it didn't have Joe Dante's name attached to it. Secondly, and this is a completely personal objection, it's another script that makes the dreadful mistake of depicting zombies as intelligent characters, capable to communicate and function normally. Their flesh is rotting, and yet they cheerfully continue to talk, think and remember their previous lives; I hate that! Zombies are essentially brain dead, emotionless and silent killing machines. Every time a zombie opens his/her mouth to speak, the almighty George A. Romero rolls over in his grave. The plot is ultra-thin and quite stupid, by the way. A geeky horror shop clerk's exaggeratedly environmentalist girlfriend gets hit by a bus and dies, moments before a meeting that he arranged to break up with her. Due to a previously spoken vow in the presence of a gimmicky satanic device, however, she returns from the grave and remains determined to spend the rest of eternity by his side. Bummer, since he just found new and true love in the shape of a gothic, ice-cream-scooping princess. It's probably linked to the fact that I find the screenplay utterly worthless, but suddenly all of Joe Dante's usually pleasing trademarks come across as pathetic and meaningless now. The lead characters are B-movie geeks, there are numerous references, quotes and even footage of classic horror titles throughout the entire film, but everything seem irrelevant and without any added value. Even the appearance of Dante regular and living cult monument Dick Miller feels misplaced and pitiable. At age 86, Miller shouldn't be making cameos as a police officer. There aren't really good zombie gags worth mentioning, while the make-up effects are poor and kept to a minimum. Anton Yelchin, who sadly passed away far too young, should be remembered for his role in "Green Room" instead, and even the mediocre "Fright Night" remake was better than this. I have a tremendous fondness for the ravishing actress Alexandra Daddario, but I'll gladly re-watch "Texas Chainsaw 3D", "Bereavement" or - if absolutely necessary - "Baywatch" instead of this.

There's like a split second where this film might be an interesting look at the dynamics of what makes relationships work or don't (I thought the film was going to present Ashley Greene's Evelyn as sympathetic), but this is not that at all. It's just a lowest common denominator type-A domineering girlfriend trying to make a man-child grow up instead of just letting him be him. Except this time the twist is that she comes back as a zombie and he still doesn't have the fortitude to tell her the truth (he would rather kill her, again). Broad, with a few horror film fan touches, and nothing remotely approaching the level of a Joe Dante film and what that normally entails.

Some might say that this movie is a waste of time, or stuff like that... Well... F**k 'em! Buring the Ex is quite good fun, not classy stuff or all the intelligent... But simple and good laughs! Anton Yelchin is one of my big favorite actors, in multiple genres, and here, besides Oliver Cooper, who basically repeated his role as the clumsy Levon in Californication, gave us really enjoyable performances, that feels familiar, making the audience bond to their characters. The only thing to say about Alexandra Daddario's part, is that even being a key role to the history, it was very shallow both in writing and performance. Now Ashley Greene was the real deal of the movie, as the crazy zombie girlfriend... Hilarious, very well written and played character, Ashley Greene made me cheer for her the whole movie... The lack of substance in miss Daddario's part may have helped it a little... But Ashley Greene made me really enjoy the movie! The zombie make up is spectacular, award worth and very well crafted! I like the jokes in the movie, most of them at least... The writing is quite intelligent, even not showing it all the time, but is quite intelligent sometimes! The special effects are one point that made wonder really hard... It is just to be laughable or is just really low budget? If is the first case, my laughs were mere embarrassment... ONE POST SCRIPTUM REALLY REALLY UNNECESSARY... With some spoiler ahead! Evelyn is better than Olivia... IN SO MANY WAYS... That I really think that Olivia should be the one that end in the grave!

I love Joe Dante, I'm in love with Alexandra Daddario, and I liked Anton Yelchin in pretty much everything he did... But... What the hell is this movie? A script that goes nowhere, not the glimmer of a surprise in the story progression, no character development to speak of. Lots of stuff hinted at, but nothing getting fleshed-out... What's worse is Dante's direction... It looked like a TV movie for crying out loud! The "Mickey Mousing" music got on my nerve in the first five minutes... Poor Dick Miller had to get off the crapper to do his usual cameo in this crapper of a movie... Joe! What the hell, man? I was hoping for something of the same caliber of "Drag me to Hell", but I guess your style was never as broad as Raimi's... Your strength has always been nostalgia driven, and here it got lost in this bad script... I'll go watch "Gremlins" and "Matinee" a couple of time to wash the after taste of this dud.

Embracing the corny B-movie allure, Burying the Ex takes advantage of its modest yet mildly fun concept. It produces decent comedy with pop reference, fitting acting and smart script. The movie is still stuttering with odd plot development, but all things considered it's a fun popcorn flick worthy of a few giggles. Max (Anton Yelchin) has been bothered by his shifty relationship with Evelyn (Ashley Greene). Theire personalities almost always clash, not to mention Evelyn can be incredibly volatile. Things get worse as a shady curse of some sort bind them both forever, this includes afterlife. After a tragic accident Evelyn rises from the death to fulfill her eternal love. The premise is by all means average romcom, but it is delivered with adequate conviction and wit. Ashley Greene fully welcomes the quirky role. She's equally obnoxious as living eco-obsessed girlfriend and a creepy zombie lady. The change of tone and behavior is done realistic enough, despite the exaggerated set-up, to ensure their situation is oddly identifiable. The cast isn't large, only four main characters, and it keeps the pacing moving relatively well. The script is done with tongue-in-cheek approach. Dialogues are occasionally cringeworthy, though most of the times they contain enough modern pop references or silly puns, audience can't help but laughing at them. Plot can be shady and a bit forced, but if audience can overlook some of these obscurities, there's mild fun to be had here. Burying the Ex is a simple B-movie, yet it is presentably humorous in the scale it plays on.