Fido (2006)

Fido (2006) Written by Robert Chomiak & Andrew Currie Directed by Andrew Currie I thought I knew what Fido was about, a boy and his zombie, in a world where zombies are treated as pets in a faux-50's alternate reality. Well, I wasn't wrong, but this movie pleasantly surprised me by being rather different than what I expected, even rivaling Shaun of the Dead as the best zombie comedy around. Fido takes place after the great "Zombie Wars", which in this alternate reality, has replaced World War II as the war of wars, and the heroes of the Zombie Wars, like Mr. Bottoms (Henry Czerny), are rewarded greatly and highly revered. During and after the wars, a corporation called Zomcon developed and implemented many inventions to aid in the control of the newly undead, such as the zombie collar, which quells the hunger of flesh in a zombie when the collar is on and working. The reason for zombification is that Earth passed through a cloud of space dust that had a certain type of radiation that brings the dead back to life. These facts have become a part of natural life, death is no big deal, even to children, who are taught to shoot and kill zombies, even if they are there own parents. This is where the faux-50's lifestyle is really inventive, at the same time the movie is superficial on the surface with Mrs. Robinson (Carrie-Ann Moss), the stereotypically caring mom, while her marriage to Mr. Robinson (Dylan Baker) is rotting from the inside itself. She tries to keep up appearances, and buys a zombie to do their housework, like all the other people on the block. But Mr. Robinson complains, he barely has the money to pay for funeral insurance, because he is terrified of zombies, and can think of nothing worse than being one. Mrs. Robinson, and their son Timmy (K'Sun Ray) both decide they would rather be zombies after they die, they think it would be fun. So Mrs. Robinson purchases a zombie (Billy Connelly) and he quickly takes a liking to Timmy and vice versa. Timmy quickly names him Fido and he begins to fill the void left by the emotionally unstable Mr. Robinson, who has his own issues after being forced to kill his own father while he was a child. From here revealing any more would be spoiling too much, but Fido causes some problems, and Timmy does everything he can to retain his friendship with the zombie. At the same time, the film is undercut by the blackest of humor, with some good gore, and the general atmosphere of the film is highly entertaining, with a lot of the usual routes not taken in the way you would expect. 8.9/10