Title: WITNESS INFECTION
Director: Andy Palmer
Starring: Robert Belushi, Jill-Michele Melean, Vince Donvito
Movie length: 1 hours 21 minutes
Anyone that knows me also knows I have a deep love for the horror genre, I especially enjoy anything and everything zombie related. I am always out to see a new zombie film and this one was actually pretty unique as far as the genre goes. Written by Carlos Alazraqui (Rocko’s Modern Life, The Fairly OddParents) and Jill-Michele Meleán (MADtv, Reno 911), it makes zombies part of the mafioso family. The film opens pretty slow, but makes a habit of showing close ups of people in town purchasing and eating italian sausages from a small truck vendor. As it turns out these sausages are somehow infected and begin to make them all sick and of course turn them into undead flesh-eating zombies.
The story follows Carlo played by Robert Belushi (Ballers, The Off Season), the son of a big time mob boss that is forcing him into a family arranged marriage. Carlo doesn’t want to be part of the marriage or the mob, he just wants a normal life working in his dog grooming business with the woman he is actually in love with. There aren’t too many twists and turns in this film, I think it is meant to lean in the direction of SHAUN OF THE DEAD as far as zombies being an unexpected yet comedic part of actual life.
I think some of the best parts are with Carlo’s cousin Vincent played by Vince Donvito a wannabe director that makes tons of different pop culture movie references throughout the film. The music was pretty well done, but a lot of the dialogue was super cheesy and the one-liners were somewhat dry at times. They used CGI in places where I felt that practical effects would have looked and felt a lot better for the audience. I am a big fan of Maurice LaMarche (Pinky and the Brain, The Real Ghostbusters) who play the mob boss Mr. Miola but I felt he wasn’t great in the role. On the other hand Tara Strong (The Powerpuff Girls, The New Batman Adventures), actually nails her role in this as the snooty rich mother of Carlo.
This film was pretty entertaining and fun to watch. As far as zombie films go, over all I would give it a solid 7 out of 10. It was no SHAUN OF THE DEAD however it also wasn’t as terrible as a film like MOVIE 43. I would recommend a watch if you enjoy zombie movies or silly comedies. After seeing this film though you may take a second look before partaking of any Italian sausages.
WITNESS INFECTION is now available via VOD services including Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and more.
Do you plan to see the movie? Have you already? Let me know in the comments!
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