Writers: Armin Prediger, Dominik Hartl
Director: Dominik Hartl
With a name like Attack Of The Lederhosen Zombies you know that this isn’t going to be a serious film. It’s one of the many zomcoms that have been cropping up in recent years. Unlike many so-called comedies, this one is actually funny.
The film is Austrian, though filmed in Italy, and set on the summit of a snow covered mountain surrounded by forest. The main characters are a group of young snowboarders who become stranded at an inn. Meanwhile a couple of local entrepreneurs are working on their new snowmaking machine. The machine, of course, goes wrong and the chemical it releases (Solanum +10, which by my reckoning is some sort of mashed potato!) starts turning people into zombies.
The film looks great, with good use being made of the scenery. There are also some very impressive snowboarding shots; they’re not just visual filler, snowboarding is an important part of the film but not excessively so.
Storywise there’s not a lot of innovation, however the script is great. The style of humour is tongue-in-cheek rather than broad, though with some definite laugh out loud moments. There are also a number of nice meta-gags and references to other famous movies, including a very funny Blue Danube sequence.
And for some reason these zombies like to chill out when music comes on, leading to some amusing scenes. Anyone would think the film was an allegory of aprés-ski parties…
Hartl’s direction is professional and effective, supporting the mood and pace of the scenes. Acting is competent although the main characters are fairly bland. The show is stolen superbly by Margarate Tiesek as Rita the innkeeper.
The story clocks in at a running time of around 75 minutes which works well. It might be too light for some tastes; it doesn’t have characters or gags with either the depth or subtlety of Shaun Of The Dead (2004), but then what does?
Given the pile of crude “zombie comedy” dross I’ve sat through, Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies is a welcome breath of fresh air. It’s light-hearted, unpretentious zombie fun which I thoroughly enjoyed.