Zombie Honeymoon (2004) User Reviews

Not your average zombie movie

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 7 October 2007]

And now it is time for something completely different. Writer/Director David Gebroe has managed to give us an old fashioned zombie movie with a twist that is unique.

We see Denise and Danny rushing from the church to enjoy a honeymoon. They are the happiest of couples. They are lying on the beach and something happens to shake their world. Soon, Denise will have to remember that line she said in church earlier that day - in sickness and in health.

Graham Sibley and Tracey Coogan give us very interesting performances as a couple with a special problem. Lots of zombie gore in an interesting twist to the genre.

Bizarre and Gore Love Story

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 31 August 2006]

After getting married, Danny (Graham Sibley) and Denise (Tracy Coogan) travel for a honeymoon of one month long in a cottage of her uncle nearby the beach. Danny and Denise are in deep love, and while they are resting on the beach, Danny is attacked by a stumbled zombie that comes out of the sea and vomits into his mouth. Danny dies for ten minutes, and when the doctor declares him dead, he miraculously revives. Danny stays in observation in the hospital along the night, and on the next morning, they leave the place and he convinces Denise to travel to Portugal. However, the former vegetarian Danny, having an uncontrollable hunger for human flesh, attacks many people, while Denise cleans his bloody mess trying to help her beloved husband.

"Zombie Honeymoon" is a bizarre and gore love story, but unfortunately the confused screenplay fails, once mixes romance, drama, dark comedy and horror but in very wrong doses and the genre of the story is not well situated. This low budget movie is visually too heavy and gore for a romance, shallow for a drama, silly for a comedy and most of the tension of the horror scenes are broken by the dramatic love story of Denise and Danny. The make-up and effects are great for this type of B-movie, and with improvements in the screenplay it would certainly be a cult-movie since it has a great potential. I believe "Zombie Honeymoon" deserves to be watched with a few expectations, and maybe the viewer may be favorably surprised. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Lua-de-Mel Assombrada" ("Haunted Honeymoon")

Remarkably good for its low budget

[MrGKB · 6/10 · 18 April 2006]

I was as surprised by the quality of this indie outing as I was by finding it in my public library in the first place. None of the principals involved seem to have gone much of anywhere in the past few years, but that's no slur on the integrity of this admirable little piece of cult film-making.

I suspect many of the negative commentaries posted here are from people who expected something more directly related to the Romero/Argento zombie mythos. That's not what this very personal story is concerned with, and more power to it. Instead, what we get is what we might expect given the title: a romantic tale of true love between a blushing new bride and her unfortunately zombified groom. Well actually, the groom doesn't do the undead two-step until after they're married, but who's to quibble? Well written and shot with only a few naff scenes, "Zombie Honeymoon" features very respectable performances from a cast of unknowns, especially Tracy Coogan as the young woman who has no trouble getting her husband to eat leftovers, particularly if they're human. Graham Sibley as the hubby turns in a good showing as well, although at times he seemed a bit too fey. The rest of the cast achieves various levels of believability, but overall the ensemble is far superior to that of, say, "Undead." I won't say this is as clever or engaging as "Shaun of the Dead," which plants itself firmly in Romeroland, but it's definitely worth a cheap rental or a lucky borrow at the library. I had to give it a "6" just for the quality that ended up on the screen.

Put it this way: with a little bit of script-tweaking and a higher production budget, along with the casting of marketable names, "Zombie Honeymoon" could have been a true classic. As it is, it's still a very watchable film and I hope that Mr. Gebroe is able to find further work in the industry. His talent and passion are more than evident. I also hope Ms. Coogan pops up again somewhere down the line, because she's not only a cutie, she's got some acting chops that aren't typically seen in indie films like this one. I'd say her greatest weakness is that she looks like too many other young actresses without having her own distinctive edge. Still, she's young, and with a little luck may well earn herself a worthy career. She has my best wishes, that's for sure.

Some nice shots, but ultimately one of the strangest movies I've seen

[jdollak · 3/10 · 11 March 2008]

I still don't know what sort of movie I just saw. There are an absurd number of positive reviews here, and they all praise the movie for being 'different' or for having some deep theme. There are a lot of other movies about couples fighting to stay together through a wide variety of adversity. This movie wants to do the same, but stumbles in several key areas. First, it's hard to care about the characters at all. The only exception to this is that the female lead draws, which makes her a little bit more of a character. The male lead surfs, and if you find that to be an endearing trait, more power to you. Second, the script is bizarre. The tone of scenes shifts unexpectedly, and the direction is very strange. There's a long scene where a cop comes to visit. After ringing the doorbell, he is invited in, straightens a picture, then sits down at the kitchen counter. He discusses grapefruit juice with the female lead. Only then does he finally reveal why he's stopped by. Aside from the lack of realism in this scene, (such as, regardless of genre, it's appropriate to have a cop act like a cop) the scene goes on about 4 or 5 times longer than it should. I understood the reason for the scene, but it would have been much more effective as a short scene, involving a cop who acted like one, and without the irrelevant chatter about juice.

Other directorial choices are puzzling. Near the end, the quality of the film changes to what looks like a shot-on-video day-for-night approach. I noticed a specific shot where the characters were all swept to the lower corner of the shot, and remained that way.

That said, there are some nice looking shots. I don't know if I could specify many of them, but they are there.

On a larger level, zombie films are about the larger event. Similar to Cloverfield, they're about a meta-event, with the film focusing on a smaller group's reaction to the event. In this case, there is no outside event.

I had been looking forward to seeing this movie ever since I read about it in the Asbury Park Press. I really did want to like it.

Still looking for the great zombie romance

[Quebec_Dragon · 5/10 · 28 March 2011]

I was immediately attracted to the concept of the film even though I suspected it was very low-budget. I think there is great potential in a gripping and profoundly touching zombie-human romance, provided it avoids most of the camp. Zombie Honeymoon doesn't succeed although it does have good points. It's played realistically, it takes time to establish that the 2 protagonists are passionately in love and it mostly avoids camp (but not totally). The newlywed husband gets attacked on the beach by a sick man coming out of the water. After a certain fright, the husband seems normal but gradual hints (and the trailer) tell us he might be slowly becoming a zombie.

Actually, the whole premise of the film hinges on the wife's reaction at the first discovery she cannot deny. The main actress was very good but the whole scene didn't seem quite right to me. Don't know if it was the writing or the male lead. However, one could go beyond that if other scenes later on didn't take us out of the story by their ridiculousness or unbelievability especially whenever the husband was in public. Some of the scenes seemed to drag on for no good reason such as the wife's car ride or the (boring) policeman's interrogation. On the other hand, the finale, starting with the candlelight diner had a few memorable moments such as the husband going about his "business" while the wife is locked in her room watching TV. Quite unnerving.

I know their financial means were likely quite limited but the constantly bloody face of the husband was more distracting than horrifying. The eventually blue-gray "zombie" makeup was pretty lacking in its different stages. I think the friends would have freaked out more during the palm reading session as the face of the husband had so badly deteriorated compared to earlier. The film does have bloody moments but nothing particularly gruesome. The camera doesn't linger and/or it's too dark. Unfortunately, although I think the initial concept could have made a very good romantic/psychological drama movie even with no budget, the uninspired writing, the conventional directing and most of the acting (except the wife) just didn't cut it.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10 (Poor with some highlights)

(2014 Edit: Since that review, I saw Warm Bodies that is the closest thing I've seen to the great zombie romance. Not quite there, but recommended. I've also reviewed it.

Rates amongst the worst films ever made

[watchfuleye · 1/10 · 25 October 2005]

Absolutely atrocious - terrible acting from everyone concerned in this movie, only redeeming factor was the leading lady and why she ever agreed to appear in this nasty scriptless concoction is beyond me - she must have needed the money. Its a testament to her acting skills that she managed to muster enough emotion to feel anything for her witless husband who spent the whole film moaning and groaning and contributing very little else. There was very little story line, why did the Zombie come from the sea in the first place? This film should be shown to prospective Directors and all the worst aspects pointed out to them so that they don't make the same mistakes and bore us all to death.

Love means never having to say you're rotting

[albertofarina · 7/10 · 12 January 2006]

I saw this at the Torino Film Festival a couple of months ago.

The director introduced the movie before the screening. He's a nice New Jersey guy, who almost could not believe he had been invited to Torino with his second feature film (the first one's title is called "The Homeboy" and it is briefly seen here in a funnily self-deprecating scene at a video-rental (a furious client returns it to the clerk and yells his money back - but he has to pay for returning it late). "Zombie Honeymoon", said the director, "is probably the first zombie-movie ever to be based on personal experience".

The audience was ready to laugh, but there was nothing funny about that: the plot is an effort to handle the untimely demise of the director's brother-in-law, who died in a surfing accident shortly after getting married. The premise of the movie, therefor, is telling the story of two people trying to remain together against all possible odds.

The film's protagonist, Danny, is a surfer as well - but what gets him (temporarily) killed is not an accident: like a rotting pal of Venus Anadiomene, a zombie walks out from the sea to directly attack the poor guy and vomit black goo straight into his mouth. Then he falls dead over him. Rushed unconscious to the hospital, our hero also dies, only to come back to life a few minutes later. Problem is, after coming back home he finds himself desperately hungry for human flesh - which understandably proves a shock to his young wife Denise.

While presenting the film, Gebroe introduced it as a cross between a John Cassavetes piece and "Night of the Living Dead" - which is a fitting description for "Zombie Honeymoon". Although the photography does leave a lot to be desired (the film is all shot on digital video, and the choice of a hand-held camera style proves somewhat a bit annoying instead of contributing to the realistic effect ), the dialog and the interaction between the two unfortunate newlyweds are all absolutely believable - and even moving at times. Graham Sibley (Danny) is OK, but the selling point to the film is Tracy Coogan's Denise - not only she's beautiful: she is also great in totally selling the story.

Maybe the film does lose some steam halfway through, when the gruesome suppers of Danny start becoming a little repetitive. However, the final 20 minutes are genuinely poignant - starting with a great scene where Danny, after eating some of his victims, spends a long time in the dark of his and Denise's home playing with one of those arcade games from the 80s, while Denise, devastated, comes close to him and watches him play the game without uttering a single word.

I won't spoil the ending of the best zombie romance since the underrated "Return of the Living Dead III", but any Blues Brothers fan should love the way Gebroe uses the song "Sometimes is Hard to be a Woman" - we sure kept humming it for the rest of the evening, while discussing if death couldn't be seen as the ultimate handicap. Do check this film out, it's worth your while.

Rotting love is in the air

[Coventry · 5/10 · 13 March 2006]

On the first day of the romantic honeymoon at the beach, a random zombie that comes stumbling out of the ocean infects Danny with an incurable virus. After being dead for a full ten minutes, he miraculously awakes and even continues planning his emigration to Portugal with his beloved bride Denise. But Danny really isn't the same anymore, as his insatiable hunger for human flesh drives him to forcefully attack people while Denise – loving wife as she is – helps him get rid of the leftover corpses. For only his second film as a writer slash director, Dave Gebroe had the bizarre ambition to blend gross horror with genuine romantic drama and even to throw in bits of comedy. The idea is admirable but, as you can imagine, the result is an often lacking and pathetic film. You can't really expect a story to emotionally affect you while you're watching at a slowly rotting zombie that takes large bites of flesh out of people, right? Luckily for me, I saw this film at a national festival where Gebroe himself came to enlighten the audience about his motivations and influences to make it. Believe it or not, but that actually helped me appreciating the effort slightly more! The whole dramatic aspect of the story is apparently based on a real event, as the director's brother-in-law tragically died in a surfing accident, which left his young wife behind with an emotional trauma. Re-working bits and pieces of this real-life drama into a horror film served as some sort of therapy for Gebroe, who was really fond of his brother-in-law as well. However, even with bearing Gebroe's introduction in mind, "Zombie Honeymoon" can't possibly pass for a good film. The sentimental moments are painfully tedious whereas the zombie action is quite gore and explicit. These sudden changes in tone are difficult to process and especially the tongue-in-cheek gags entirely miss their effect. The make-up effects are rather convincing considering the fairly low budget and the acting performances are spirited. The music selection and exterior filming locations; both a homage to the deceased Danny as well, are winning elements too.

Close, but no cigar

[tmk1 · 6/10 · 14 October 2005]

I just saw this last night. Although it has some really strong points--the lead actress especially--it was ultimately disappointing. The problem is that the director didn't settle on a single genre. It could have been a solid quirky comedy like SHAUN OF THE DEAD--there are some very funny scenes. But there are also really intense scenes that don't mesh with the comedy.

If the decision had been made to make a totally serious emotional film--what do you do when your new husband turns into a flesh-eating zombie?--but the comic scenes undercut that intensity.

Or it could have been a great mindless gore film--and there's plenty of great gore here. This film has plenty of good elements, but it just doesn't hold together.

I will definitely check out whatever this director does next.

Meh....

[jennifer-25-965231 · 28 July 2011]

I loved the storyline, but I'm not sure if I liked the movie. Maybe it was too emotional for me, maybe it was too serious, maybe it had too much drama and too little horror, I don't know what it was but I do know I was bored throughout most of it.

The movie starts off with an overly obnoxious couple who were way too giddy for me not to be annoyed. Ya, I get it, you just got married but they more acted like a ten year old who just got his first transformer, then an adult couple. Another thing that bothered me about this movie was in order to make the audience "get the picture" they would have scenes where nothing was going on, no sounds, no movement, just sad faces for what seemed like an eternity.

If you are looking for a sweet "love" story that more fits a horror movie rather then a drama with some blood I would recommended David Morlet's "Mutants" (2009). Now that was a good horror movie about a relationship trying to survive through the odds.

this movie is horrible

[mariolusoman · 1/10 · 25 October 2005]

the previous post was too kind. This was one of the worst films I've even seen. I didn't pay to see it, but I still felt ripped off. It tries to do all genres, but fails at all of them. Avoid this. The acting is childish, the story shallow, the direction is all over the place. I would not even put this film in the same category as Shaun of the Dead. There's nothing worse then striving for a joke, and failing at it. This film proves that hands down. I won't mention the acting, since what do you expect from a zombie film? However, since this is obviously a low budget film (shot on video, and it looks it) I would at least expect a solid story. This is a misguided attempt.

Solid, Emotional, well Directed Genre flick

[keithbirkfeld · 9/10 · 31 January 2006]

In a genre so inundated with formulaic, excessively grotesque "can you top this" shock-gore, I found this movie to be a welcome addition to the Zombie annals. Really, if you think about this, no one has attempted to do what Gebroe has done--create a dramatic/romantic zombie film. There have been elements in others, but no one has shot this high before.

First of all, what made this movie work for me, was that I bought the love story. This is a credit to both Gebroe's writing and the actors. Not only do I not agree with the venomous accusation put forth by the immature hate-mongers that the characters/performances were "flat", I was truly surprised at how believable and charming the characters were. In the world of Indies, performances in movies with a Digital format have a nasty habit of looking transparent (maybe it's the loss of the beautiful illusion conjured by the depth and saturation of 35mm). In this movie, however, Graham and Tracy make the love real between Danny and Denise, with none of the affectations that could have prevented this from coming across. I even liked David Wallace's "Buddy" and Tonya Cornelisse's "Nikki". Sure, they're campy best-friend fixtures, but there's a refreshing likability about their performances.

The real treasure of this flick, and the most intriguing genre aspect is the progression of Danny's necrosis and how it is strikingly captured in both the direction, performance(s) and special effects. Graham Sibley's Danny is frighteningly accurate--rarely do we see an attempt to humanize someone undergoing this horrific metamorphosis. The apologetic tone in his voice when he's pleading with Denise to help him is absolutely sincere. And the scene around the toilet bowl is almost as emotionally painful as it is revolting. Tracy's (Denise's) reactions to Danny's downward spiral have the authentic desperation of someone who is manically trying to shield themselves from a hideous truth. It's like being married to a drug-addict or someone who is mentally ill--you love them so goddamn much, you can't bring yourself to admit the presence of their destructive pathos.

From a Direction standpoint, the movie is remarkably sharp. It starts slowly, but builds such a palpable amount of tension, you find yourself short of breath at certain points. The last 45 minutes are as thrilling as anything I've seen in the last year. The scene where he's standing there, playing R.B.I. baseball with those soul-less, impassive eyes...it's unnerving watching someone's life force slowly being drained from them. The textured, psychological use of the mirrors in the Bedroom during the tense climax scene. The subtlety used in conveying Danny's increasingly conflicted view of Denise--helplessly trying to maintain the last vestige of his old self and the love they shared while trying to silence the demoniacal sublime satisfaction offered by devouring her flesh.

Admittedly, I am a big fan of contemporary genre revision, so I am not surprised why I liked this movie so much. Whether it's Altman with McCabe and Mrs. Miller or Polanski with Chinatown, the prospect of working within a familiar genre blueprint and still managing to transcend those narrow constraints usually makes for compelling cinema. Zombie Honeymoon observes this revisionist recipe quite well. And while it may not be (or pretend to be) either of those films mentioned above and Mr. Gebroe may not be on the level of Polanski and Altman yet, there is certainly an abundance of talent evident in this film and a bright future for those involved.

And, yes, in agreement with previous postings, I believe that "fofamreturns" and "rise4289" (the negative responses to this film) are one in the same person. The mis-spelling of "waist" and the dual use of the "12-year old analogy" clearly give that away...empty negative rhetoric from malicious people is nothing new in IMDb, but it is still just as infuriating and unnecessary.

It's a zombie movie, and a fairly good one at that...

[ih8g8s · 7/10 · 12 January 2006]

If you're looking for a camp comedy, look elsewhere. If you're looking for some good gore wrapped around a good story, then Zombie Honeymoon may be for you.

In the end, this is the story of a girl who essentially loses her husband on their honeymoon, and she has trouble letting go. Instead of using "dead-husband-as-ghost" as the vehicle, it uses "dead-husband-as-zombie" as the vehicle.

Emotionally, the girl pulls it off. Her loss and suffering are absolutely believable, made tangible by Tracy Coogan's acting, which I would agree is the best acting in the movie. All the emotion culminates in a very emotionally intense bedroom scene with her rapidly deteriorating zombie husband. I was extremely impressed with that scene -- it really stands out from the rest of the movie.

I really think watching this movie is about letting yourself believe in the girl and believe in her pain. Once you do, you'll see that the director has taken a truly touching story, and woven it very ably into a zombie picture.

And let's not forget -- this *is* a low budget indie film. I would have loved to see it as a bigger budget movie, but as with many low-budget films, you have to look past the proverbial medium to the message.

Just go in with the right attitude, and chances are you'll enjoy this flick.

Not worth watching.

[tsujigiri00 · 2/10 · 22 April 2011]

(No real "spoilers": the film's description pretty much says that he turns into a flesh-eating zombie)

Possibly a decent film if scored according to budget. But, on it's own, it falls way short. The two lead actors provide solid performances. The male lead stumbles a few times, particularly when quickly swapping back-and-forth between cannibalistic zombie and horrified human; but I suspect poor editing shares the responsibility. The female lead provides a superior, consistent performance.

The cinematographer is the real star of the show in the film. He captures some breathtaking sequences. My favorite is the sequence (1:09:00 to 1:10:50) of the lead actress nervously applying makeup while we hear her husband munching flesh down the hall, cut to a stunning, dim shot of her smoothing her dress while she sits on the edge of the bed, cut to her head in her hands, a long lit hallway behind, and her vertebrae arching beautifully. Absolutely sublime!

Unfortunately, the story has been done many times before, the script is bad, the dialogue is horrible, and thus the movie is crap. I blame the director -- who is also the writer! The poor cinematographer might have turned this into a beautiful (largely speechless) short film. Instead the director crafted something not fit for late-night TV.

An excellent example of the poor writing is how clumsily vegetarianism is shoehorned in -- out of the blue. And the theme is carried on poorly, such as with the shot of the television cook skinning an onion while the lead actress hears munching outside. Eliminate the awkward vegetarian element and that would suddenly become a much more chilling metaphor: piercing the delicate membrane of the onion's skin would evoke the fragility of our own skin. Instead, the onion shot recalls the horribly written vegetarian dinner scene and I assume is intended to remind us how much the flesh-eating zombie has changed from the person he once was. But he's become a flesh-eating zombie FFS. We don't need a standard of comparison. He could have previously eaten only rare steak three meals a day and becoming a flesh-eating zombie would still be just as glaring a loss of humanity. It's cliché student filmmaking: trying to squeeze in (cheesy and overused) philosophical layers with no regard for how it negatively affects the story.

The movie itself is not, in my opinion, worth watching unless you are a film student looking to learn from its mistakes. I suggest, as a standard of comparison, the film Let Me In (remake of Let the Right One In) which addresses many of the same themes (enabling darkness out of love) with more depth, emotion, and chills.

worst movie ever.....

[jeffandre1978 · 1/10 · 17 February 2006]

Well....that was 83 minuets of my life i will never get back....what is wrong with you people that actually liked this movie?? there's only two movies that i've just stopped watching, coyote ugly and fast and the furious....the only reason i watched this movie all the way through, is because i was just hoping that at some point it would pick up the pace. it was just was waste of a DVD, if i wasn't drunk while watching it, i would have quite possibly gone back to Block Buster and demand my money back. no plot, awful acting, horrible "death scenes" (if you can even call them that). the filming was bad, what else more can i say to show how much this movie disgusted me. the only redeeming part of the movie was the brief seen where you get to see that girls boobs, which was another reason why i finished the movie....in hopes that we might get to have another look at them...... so in conclusion....in the immortal words of "the comic book guy"...."worst movie ever"

Waste of time!!!!!

[tgraham_99 · 1/10 · 24 November 2008]

Beware!! Crappy movie ahead. 83 min of your life you will never get back! Would rather sit through Date Movie.....again!!

You know the movie is headed in the wrong direction when the opening sequence has the newly weds getting and receiving oral.

Comedy and Horror should never be mixed. Only person who can pull it off is Sam Rami. (Evil Dead Series including Army of Darkness)

Someone gave the director a cam corder and said "Let make a really bad movie so we can feel like big shots. Hell we might as well drag an audience down with us!"

I have seen better acting in a Junior College film class or high school stage production. The dialogue is terrible, and the zombie groom is obviously gay because his flamboyantness is constantly coming through on screen. The chemistry between the husband and wife is awkward. It looks like a student film that should only be shown on youtube.

Please for the love of your eyes, ears, and brain function do not see this crap!!

A zombie movie with a Tammy Wynette song!!!???

[reptilicus · 1/10 · 18 November 2006]

The movie opens with Danny and Denise, a very happy couple, getting married. The next 5 minutes is nothing but them being just so very very happy and planning their lives together that you just know something awful has to happen to them very soon. Sadly it does not happen too soon. Danny (Graham Sibley) and Denise (Tracy Coogan) ditch their jobs, give up their apartment, plan on moving to Portugal and go surfing. While they are relaxing in the sand a zombie, yes a zombie!, comes out of the water and drools a black slime into Danny's mouth Now see if you can guess what happens next.

Danny wakes up in the hospital after being clinically dead for ten minutes. He seems to have no side effects from his experience. Well okay maybe one side effect: He now has an insatiable appetite for human flesh! A morbidly obese jogger is the first to go and when Denise finds Danny in the bathroom chowing down he looks up at her and says "It's not what you think." Hoo boy! Well Danny tries to appease himself with rare steaks but he soon learns there ain't nothing like the real thing, baby. That's when the body count starts to rise.

This is one of those movies where characters incorporate the "F" word into every other sentence and there are long stretches of plot where nothing happens. Danny chows down on everyone in sight and casually wanders home clutching a severed arm. The smartest cop in town figures out something is really wrong with Danny but even he cannot guess the real truth . . . well not until the picture has less than 10 minutes to go anyway.

"Fangoria" magazine praised this film as a romantic horror/comedy but let's face it, Fango lost its journalistic credibility over a dozen years ago. What we have here is a role reverse rehash of the plot of RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD III with a man as the zombie and his devoted wife standing by him until the inevitable ending. Oh and that Tammy Wynette song? It plays over the end credits. If you are a country music fan you already know which song it is.

I found this movie in a 2for$20 bargain box. Even at that low price I felt cheated. You have been warned.

I liked this movie!

[marcos5777 · 7/10 · 15 April 2006]

I thought the lead character played by Tracy Coogan was excellent. The entire cast was very cute and charming. I liked the serious tone, taken by the movie. It took itself, very seriously, which added to the humor. A very good B movie, in my opinion. There were a few moments, that were very scary. The background music was good, and the song in the ending credits, was just right.

I wish Drive-in's were still around, this movie would be perfect for that. I have seen quite a few B movies recently and this was my favorite. With the romance, good looking characters, and dark humor, this is a minor classic. Mark

Absolutely terrible, even for a B movie

[misfitfiend-1 · 1/10 · 12 March 2006]

I love crappy movies. I like kitschy films. Troma films are dear to my heart.

I rented this DVD expecting to see some good cheesy horror movie fun and zombie schlock.

This film has none of that. When a film is this bad, it can still have some appeal if it has a knowing wink about how bad it is. But no, this film takes itself very seriously.

Everything about this movie was done poorly. There is no humor. There is no camp. There is no kitsch value. There's no "it's so bad it's good." It's a boring and nonsensical rambling plot about two characters who the audience doesn't care about.

I'm not going to be like the other posters who point out plot holes, because as a bad movie fan, I'm used to them. But let's just say this movie is full of things that make no sense.

Another thing that is irritating is that the female lead, Tracy Coogan, could not keep a consistent accent through the movie. It shifts between Californian, Canadian, Irish and English.

The bottom line: This movie holds no appeal for anyone, even bad movie, horror movie or zombie movie buffs.

not bad

[stephanlimanmorocco · 7/10 · 15 September 2005]

It's not totally riveting but I've seen much worse. The best thing about it is the lead actress - she really sells it and is a better actress than what you would expect from a "horror" movie. Really this is more of an indie flick than a true horror movie - it's more about setting a mood, and it is successful in that - with the music and the beach setting, you are transported to a different environment. Again, the female lead makes us watch because she looks like she believes the situation she's in and so we follow. However, her desire to stay with her boyfriend is a little strong. Girls leave guys cause they wear the wrong shoes, not even cannibalism is a deal-breaker for this chick! I guess there must be a shortage of guys around the beach town. Although this movie does not provide a character to root for really or a major conflict or a big set piece, it is definitely original and it is somewhat compelling.

Millions of people see bad movies, don't be one of them

[endtime2499 · 1/10 · 22 February 2006]

Equal parts poor acting, bad story telling. Childish cinematography and poor framing also bring the film down. It's no Shaun of the Dead, or for that matter your little brother's home made zombie video.Zombie Honeymoon is NOTHING the title claims it is, and more. Zombie Honeymoon never comes fully to life. There are too many long, overly monotonous scenes that wind up going nowhere; it seems that Gebroe may have been a little too close to, or in love with, his material. Definitely NOT worth a look for genre fans, or anyone else for that matter. Film fails as a comedy, fails as a horror film, fails as a drama. In other words, it does a little bit of everything, and fails at everything.

Inspired, touching character-based horror

[hauntedwoods · 9/10 · 12 January 2006]

Horror films have always had the 'notch above adult films' stigma, usually used due to an overabundance of splattery special effects and weak(er) acting, usually sacrificed in the service of the former. There's no reason a horror film cannot tick all the boxes of what we've come to expect in the genre, still frighten and disturb us, and not have something to say AND have fleshed-out characters populating it.

Dave Gebroe was smart and jumped on this deficit in the horror genre..aside from Larry Fessenden and maybe Brad Anderson and Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, horror films and 'emotional' rarely end up in the same sentence. Dave takes a more dramatic approach to a scary movie. If John Cassavetes was hired to do a zombie film it might be something like this, although the director pours the energy of youth into this film and his leads.

Using an intentionally lurid yet appropriate title to lure us in, the film covers the once vibrant and now deteriorating marriage of Danny and Denise, two psychobilly-crazed, frenetic and all-out happy lovers who are rushing from the altar, newly wed. This euphoric approach, followed by a hilarious scene where they get to their new house, drop everything and start planning to live abroad, sweep us up in the giddy rush of starting a new life with the one who makes your heart sing.

Naturally, because he remembers it's a horror film, things go wrong ten minutes later.

A decaying surfer stumbles out of the ocean and 'infects' Danny who seemingly dies on the operation table an hour later. But a few minutes after that, he's up and feeling OK, if a bit pale. And hungry...

While we do get all the standard trappings we'd hope for (flesheating carnage), the real and welcome focus is on how Denise copes with her husband's deterioration into something else. An amped-up similarity to THE FLY aside, it's all about devotion to one's significant other. This one's worth checking out. Who knew horror movies knew how to be heartbreaking as well?

A surprising film

[stitch_groover · 7/10 · 25 September 2006]

Wow, this film was so much better than I expected. As a zombie film lover, I didn't have high expectations. I was expecting a cheap zombie murder by numbers film with characters you didn't care about. Well, it's a cheap film but that's where my expectations and the actual film departed ways.

A young couple are on their honeymoon when Danny is attacked by a zombie lurching out of the ocean. After being dead for 10 minutes, he miraculously returns to life. Unfortunately all is not quite right, and Danny becomes a zombie/cannibal. His wife Denise, while freaked, stands by her man, all the while still grossed out by his actions.

In the last few years we've had a few different types of zombie films. "Dawn of the dead" was a traditional zombie film. "28 days later" was a modern zombie film. "Shaun of the dead" was a zom-rom-com. Zombie Honeymoon, while not in the budgetary league of these films, is the first romantic drama film I've seen where a lead character happens to be a zombie.

Danny and Denise were good couple, they were decent people. And it's not difficult to feel empathy for Denise's plight.

Of course, the film is not without flaws. It seemed to me that a lot of the dialogue was dubbed in later, and was incomplete. For example, when Officer Carp was talking to Denise, you could see his mouth say words but there were no words.

All in all, a film which had an emotional effect that was as strong as the special effects.

this movie sucks

[Rachelshaberta · 1/10 · 28 December 2006]

a complete rip off of Shadows of the Dead, which had it's problems true, but you'd think ripping off one movie, you could improve the story, and this is actually worse. shame on the filmmakers. The characters were idiotic, the acting poor, shot like sh#t, and made campy. I rolled my eyes so many times watching this trash. do yourself a favor and just turn it off, cause the film gets worse by the minute. I'm so mad I waisted a free rental on this crap, god forbid I actually paid to see this movie. I won't comment on the score, or the dialogue.... I think everything that can go wrong in a movie, did in this film. it was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, as it derails, catches on fire, and all the victims run out in slow motion screaming bloody murder. what complete rubish this film is.

Lack of Action

[zinglebert_bembledack · 1/10 · 10 May 2006]

This film is low budget -- but that is no bad thing if you still get the action on e.g. bad taste,m but the film in question here weighs too heavily on the personal and psychological implications and ramifications of having a husband who likes to munch through most of the people he meets. Funny stuff you might think, but there's just too much dialogue and not nearly enough guns and flesh eating -- although this comment could be made about almost any film in my opinion. It all really depends what you're after from your zombie film, but for me it needed a little more action. A vote of 1 might be a little harsh though.