Being a fan of horror-comedy films, or "splatstick," can be tough; it's been years since Peter Jackson left the genre to go on a walkabout with a bunch of blinged-out midgets, and the void has never truly been filled. The annoyingly overrated "Shaun of the Dead" from 2004 and the countless "Scary Movie" sequels have failed to quench my thirst for a gore-and-guffaws cocktail. Perhaps much like its influential predecessors, the Grand Guignol Theater and Vaudeville, slapstick was dead. Just as I was ready to pull the plug on this genre of horror, a package arrived in my mailbox from the land of schnitzels, and splatstick found itself a most unlikely savior…the Germans.
While it's only February, "Night of the Living Dorks" or "Die Nacht der Lebenden Loser" as it is known in its native Germany, is the most fun I've had watching a movie this year. Philip (Tino Mewes) and his best friends, uber-nerd Konrad (Thomas Schmeider) and pot-head Weener (Manuel Cortez), are the three biggest losers at Friedrich Nietzsche High School. I doubt this was a real school, but how cool would it have been to attend Nietzsche high? After making fun of Goth classmate Rebecca's (Collien Fernandes) voodoo presentation, the guys agree to go to the cemetery and watch the Goths perform a resurrection ceremony in an effort to prove to the dorks that voodoo is real. Just like all high school Goths, they are only attracted to the imagery of the macabre offered at wholesale prices courtesy of Hot Topic, not the history behind it. In one of the film´s funniest scenes, the ill-prepared Bauhaus fans put together a ritual with a six-pointed star, a frozen chicken in place of an actual animal sacrifice, and other hilarious mistakes, culminating in the spreading of ashes of the undead…that they bought off EBay. After accidentally inhaling the Internet-obtained ashes, the trio of losers scoff at the Goth's unsuccessful attempt to prove the powers of Satan and pile into Weener's van and head off into the night. Little do they know of the dark origins of those ashes and how the Goths might have been more successful than the dorks thought.
Like most stoners, Weener spends a lot of his time crafting new implements to smoke pot out of, proving comedian Dennis Leary's popular opinion that "Smoking pot doesn't lead to other drugs; smoking pot leads to carpentry." Weener unveils his newest creation, the "Smokemaster 3000," while driving his "Mystery Machine" style van. During their drive home from the cemetery, the bong malfunctions, filling the van with smoke and causing them to crash. The boys wake up in the morgue, and after some hilarious scenes realize with glee that they have joined the undead. Instead of wallowing in self pity, the lads embrace their new powers, "Teen Wolf" style, and even though they're now indestructible zombies with an insatiable appetite for human flesh, they still have time for wild parties, a little gym class revenge, and maybe even love.
The problem with most splatstick films is the directors´ and actors´ inability to work on both sides of the genre. Films like "Shaun," "Scary Movie," and the miserable "Freak Out" telegraph every joke and skimp on the blood or scares. It's hard to dissect the success of "Dorks"; there's no real way to explain the achievement of writer/director Mathias Dinter's film other than to say he "gets it." "Dorks" never talks down to its audience, the cast is terrific, and the dialogue is on a par with the best teenage writers like John Hughes or Joss Whedon. Plus the movie´s got the nudity and gore angles covered. The only real hurdle this film has is the horrible English dub that haunts the disc. The English language track is unforgivably bad; it's so obnoxious and distracting that one could almost assume it was done on purpose. It's one of those hack jobs so awful in presentation that somebody would have had to work harder to make it this terrible. Thankfully, Anchor Bay was kind enough to include the original German audio track and some English subtitles; unfortunately, the average viewer will never know they exist. I believe most viewers will be so turned off by the out-of-sync dubbing that they'll never get through the first fifteen minutes of the film before they drop it back into the mailbox and patiently await a new arrival from their "queue." Perhaps I'm underestimating the public; after all, this is a movie where the main character is forced to use a staple gun to reattach his "bait and tackle."
While it's only February, "Night of the Living Dorks" or "Die Nacht der Lebenden Loser" as it is known in its native Germany, is the most fun I've had watching a movie this year. Philip (Tino Mewes) and his best friends, uber-nerd Konrad (Thomas Schmeider) and pot-head Weener (Manuel Cortez), are the three biggest losers at Friedrich Nietzsche High School. I doubt this was a real school, but how cool would it have been to attend Nietzsche high? After making fun of Goth classmate Rebecca's (Collien Fernandes) voodoo presentation, the guys agree to go to the cemetery and watch the Goths perform a resurrection ceremony in an effort to prove to the dorks that voodoo is real. Just like all high school Goths, they are only attracted to the imagery of the macabre offered at wholesale prices courtesy of Hot Topic, not the history behind it. In one of the film´s funniest scenes, the ill-prepared Bauhaus fans put together a ritual with a six-pointed star, a frozen chicken in place of an actual animal sacrifice, and other hilarious mistakes, culminating in the spreading of ashes of the undead…that they bought off EBay. After accidentally inhaling the Internet-obtained ashes, the trio of losers scoff at the Goth's unsuccessful attempt to prove the powers of Satan and pile into Weener's van and head off into the night. Little do they know of the dark origins of those ashes and how the Goths might have been more successful than the dorks thought.
Like most stoners, Weener spends a lot of his time crafting new implements to smoke pot out of, proving comedian Dennis Leary's popular opinion that "Smoking pot doesn't lead to other drugs; smoking pot leads to carpentry." Weener unveils his newest creation, the "Smokemaster 3000," while driving his "Mystery Machine" style van. During their drive home from the cemetery, the bong malfunctions, filling the van with smoke and causing them to crash. The boys wake up in the morgue, and after some hilarious scenes realize with glee that they have joined the undead. Instead of wallowing in self pity, the lads embrace their new powers, "Teen Wolf" style, and even though they're now indestructible zombies with an insatiable appetite for human flesh, they still have time for wild parties, a little gym class revenge, and maybe even love.
The problem with most splatstick films is the directors´ and actors´ inability to work on both sides of the genre. Films like "Shaun," "Scary Movie," and the miserable "Freak Out" telegraph every joke and skimp on the blood or scares. It's hard to dissect the success of "Dorks"; there's no real way to explain the achievement of writer/director Mathias Dinter's film other than to say he "gets it." "Dorks" never talks down to its audience, the cast is terrific, and the dialogue is on a par with the best teenage writers like John Hughes or Joss Whedon. Plus the movie´s got the nudity and gore angles covered. The only real hurdle this film has is the horrible English dub that haunts the disc. The English language track is unforgivably bad; it's so obnoxious and distracting that one could almost assume it was done on purpose. It's one of those hack jobs so awful in presentation that somebody would have had to work harder to make it this terrible. Thankfully, Anchor Bay was kind enough to include the original German audio track and some English subtitles; unfortunately, the average viewer will never know they exist. I believe most viewers will be so turned off by the out-of-sync dubbing that they'll never get through the first fifteen minutes of the film before they drop it back into the mailbox and patiently await a new arrival from their "queue." Perhaps I'm underestimating the public; after all, this is a movie where the main character is forced to use a staple gun to reattach his "bait and tackle."
Being a fan of horror-comedy films, or "splatstick," can be tough; it's been years since Peter Jackson left the genre to go on a walkabout with a bunch of blinged-out midgets, and the void has never truly been filled. The annoyingly overrated "Shaun of the Dead" from 2004 and the countless "Scary Movie" sequels have failed to quench my thirst for a gore-and-guffaws cocktail. Perhaps much like its influential predecessors, the Grand Guignol Theater and Vaudeville, slapstick was dead. Just as I was ready to pull the plug on this genre of horror, a package arrived in my mailbox from the land of schnitzels, and splatstick found itself a most unlikely savior…the Germans.
While it's only February, "Night of the Living Dorks" or "Die Nacht der Lebenden Loser" as it is known in its native Germany, is the most fun I've had watching a movie this year. Philip (Tino Mewes) and his best friends, uber-nerd Konrad (Thomas Schmeider) and pot-head Weener (Manuel Cortez), are the three biggest losers at Friedrich Nietzsche High School. I doubt this was a real school, but how cool would it have been to attend Nietzsche high? After making fun of Goth classmate Rebecca's (Collien Fernandes) voodoo presentation, the guys agree to go to the cemetery and watch the Goths perform a resurrection ceremony in an effort to prove to the dorks that voodoo is real. Just like all high school Goths, they are only attracted to the imagery of the macabre offered at wholesale prices courtesy of Hot Topic, not the history behind it. In one of the film´s funniest scenes, the ill-prepared Bauhaus fans put together a ritual with a six-pointed star, a frozen chicken in place of an actual animal sacrifice, and other hilarious mistakes, culminating in the spreading of ashes of the undead…that they bought off EBay. After accidentally inhaling the Internet-obtained ashes, the trio of losers scoff at the Goth's unsuccessful attempt to prove the powers of Satan and pile into Weener's van and head off into the night. Little do they know of the dark origins of those ashes and how the Goths might have been more successful than the dorks thought.
Like most stoners, Weener spends a lot of his time crafting new implements to smoke pot out of, proving comedian Dennis Leary's popular opinion that "Smoking pot doesn't lead to other drugs; smoking pot leads to carpentry." Weener unveils his newest creation, the "Smokemaster 3000," while driving his "Mystery Machine" style van. During their drive home from the cemetery, the bong malfunctions, filling the van with smoke and causing them to crash. The boys wake up in the morgue, and after some hilarious scenes realize with glee that they have joined the undead. Instead of wallowing in self pity, the lads embrace their new powers, "Teen Wolf" style, and even though they're now indestructible zombies with an insatiable appetite for human flesh, they still have time for wild parties, a little gym class revenge, and maybe even love.
The problem with most splatstick films is the directors´ and actors´ inability to work on both sides of the genre. Films like "Shaun," "Scary Movie," and the miserable "Freak Out" telegraph every joke and skimp on the blood or scares. It's hard to dissect the success of "Dorks"; there's no real way to explain the achievement of writer/director Mathias Dinter's film other than to say he "gets it." "Dorks" never talks down to its audience, the cast is terrific, and the dialogue is on a par with the best teenage writers like John Hughes or Joss Whedon. Plus the movie´s got the nudity and gore angles covered. The only real hurdle this film has is the horrible English dub that haunts the disc. The English language track is unforgivably bad; it's so obnoxious and distracting that one could almost assume it was done on purpose. It's one of those hack jobs so awful in presentation that somebody would have had to work harder to make it this terrible. Thankfully, Anchor Bay was kind enough to include the original German audio track and some English subtitles; unfortunately, the average viewer will never know they exist. I believe most viewers will be so turned off by the out-of-sync dubbing that they'll never get through the first fifteen minutes of the film before they drop it back into the mailbox and patiently await a new arrival from their "queue." Perhaps I'm underestimating the public; after all, this is a movie where the main character is forced to use a staple gun to reattach his "bait and tackle."
While it's only February, "Night of the Living Dorks" or "Die Nacht der Lebenden Loser" as it is known in its native Germany, is the most fun I've had watching a movie this year. Philip (Tino Mewes) and his best friends, uber-nerd Konrad (Thomas Schmeider) and pot-head Weener (Manuel Cortez), are the three biggest losers at Friedrich Nietzsche High School. I doubt this was a real school, but how cool would it have been to attend Nietzsche high? After making fun of Goth classmate Rebecca's (Collien Fernandes) voodoo presentation, the guys agree to go to the cemetery and watch the Goths perform a resurrection ceremony in an effort to prove to the dorks that voodoo is real. Just like all high school Goths, they are only attracted to the imagery of the macabre offered at wholesale prices courtesy of Hot Topic, not the history behind it. In one of the film´s funniest scenes, the ill-prepared Bauhaus fans put together a ritual with a six-pointed star, a frozen chicken in place of an actual animal sacrifice, and other hilarious mistakes, culminating in the spreading of ashes of the undead…that they bought off EBay. After accidentally inhaling the Internet-obtained ashes, the trio of losers scoff at the Goth's unsuccessful attempt to prove the powers of Satan and pile into Weener's van and head off into the night. Little do they know of the dark origins of those ashes and how the Goths might have been more successful than the dorks thought.
Like most stoners, Weener spends a lot of his time crafting new implements to smoke pot out of, proving comedian Dennis Leary's popular opinion that "Smoking pot doesn't lead to other drugs; smoking pot leads to carpentry." Weener unveils his newest creation, the "Smokemaster 3000," while driving his "Mystery Machine" style van. During their drive home from the cemetery, the bong malfunctions, filling the van with smoke and causing them to crash. The boys wake up in the morgue, and after some hilarious scenes realize with glee that they have joined the undead. Instead of wallowing in self pity, the lads embrace their new powers, "Teen Wolf" style, and even though they're now indestructible zombies with an insatiable appetite for human flesh, they still have time for wild parties, a little gym class revenge, and maybe even love.
The problem with most splatstick films is the directors´ and actors´ inability to work on both sides of the genre. Films like "Shaun," "Scary Movie," and the miserable "Freak Out" telegraph every joke and skimp on the blood or scares. It's hard to dissect the success of "Dorks"; there's no real way to explain the achievement of writer/director Mathias Dinter's film other than to say he "gets it." "Dorks" never talks down to its audience, the cast is terrific, and the dialogue is on a par with the best teenage writers like John Hughes or Joss Whedon. Plus the movie´s got the nudity and gore angles covered. The only real hurdle this film has is the horrible English dub that haunts the disc. The English language track is unforgivably bad; it's so obnoxious and distracting that one could almost assume it was done on purpose. It's one of those hack jobs so awful in presentation that somebody would have had to work harder to make it this terrible. Thankfully, Anchor Bay was kind enough to include the original German audio track and some English subtitles; unfortunately, the average viewer will never know they exist. I believe most viewers will be so turned off by the out-of-sync dubbing that they'll never get through the first fifteen minutes of the film before they drop it back into the mailbox and patiently await a new arrival from their "queue." Perhaps I'm underestimating the public; after all, this is a movie where the main character is forced to use a staple gun to reattach his "bait and tackle."
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