Splatterday

Graveyard Alive: A Zombie Nurse in Love (2003)

Well, that was cute. Another very short (78 minutes or so) Canadian zombie flick bites the dust. This one, however, was actually worth a look. It wasn't great, don't get me wrong, but the writer/director, Elza Kephart (the only woman filmmaker on the list), was actually able to frame her shots, use dramatic lighting, and generally make the film look a lot more expensive than it probably was.

She also stuck to black and white film, which was a seriously good idea. Not only did it allow for easier multiple use of redressed sets to save money, they were able to get away with cheaper effects.

This is the story of a lonely, nerdy nurse who falls in love with a sick woodsman. The woodsman has a strange disease that causes him to decay, stink, and really want to get laid. He caught it by being bitten by some small creature he found inside a tree he'd cut down. We never see the creature, but it sounded cute.

Anyway, the janitor of the hospital knows all about zombies, so he takes care of zombie woodsman; but not before he nips Nurse Patsy's finger. Then, as you may have guessed, Nurse Patsy goes from nerdy to sexy. Well, nerdy-sexy, I guess. All the guys want her, but she has her unbeating heart set on the engaged Doctor Dox. Romantic troubles ensue, along with flesh-eating troubles.

This really wasn't bad for a very low-budget film. I mean, the performances weren't great, and the script was pretty simple and avoided a lot of dialogue. There were quite a few parts of this that felt like a silent film. But then someone would say something silly, awkwardly, and the spell would be broken. But it looked very good.

And it kicked the crap out of Enter... Zombie King, that's for sure. Somehow. I'm still kind of confused about how a Zombie Nurse in Love beats out Mexican Wrestlers Fighting Zombies. It's a world gone all topsy-turvy.