Nathan Maguire (David Leon) is having a very bad day. The boneheaded bully at school has it in for him. Jessica (Samantha Mumba), the girl he loves, doesn’t show up for their meeting where he was finally going to declare his feelings, and then he sees her in the car of one of the local studs. Plus he gets soaked in the rain. And just to cap things off, he is accidentally hanged, and his distraught mother performs a voodoo ritual to bring him back from the dead, only the manual was missing a page and he returns as an infectious zombie. Oops.
Thank you, Shaun of the Dead, for turning the zombie comedy into a veritable cottage industry. Boy Eats Girl certainly doesn’t have the brilliance of the former film or the likes of Fido. The characters are pretty generic (the Nice Girl, the Losers, the Jocks, the Slut, etc.) as well. But the film is efficiently paced (a mere 80 minutes), and the performances are engaging. We may have gone down these teen comedy paths before, but the conviction of the cast and script makes it all seem fresher than it should be. There are some very funny moments (as Nathan starts exhibiting superhuman strength and an alarming lack of pulse, for instance), and the gore, which is remarkably restrained for most of the film, explodes with would-be Dead/Alive enthusiasm at the climax.
Audio
Plenty loud, that’s for sure, whether we’re talking rock score, zombie moans or squelching. The music might do with a somewhat richer mix, but it is still perfectly adequate. The environmental effects are quite nicely done, too, even when the effect is something as simple as the sounds of a forest in between all fussin’ and a fightin’.
Video
Very nice picture, with minimal grain, excellent colours and contrasts, and very strong blacks. The image is nicely sharp, and edge enhancement isn’t a problem. The red of the blood is most effective, but the red of the opening credits is a little less so, as they are frequently very hard to read. That aside, a fine-looking disc.
Special Features
Some trailers and a run-of-the-mill making-of featurette are the only offerings here.
Closing Thoughts
Nothing terribly original here, but much that is very likeable.
