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Film Review: 'Housewife Alien vs. Gay Zombie'

Who knew a movie with such an outlandish title could be so painfully dull and lifeless?

By Trevor WellsPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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In an average town, two people have unwittingly invited supernatural terror to invade their lives and wreak havoc on the community at large. After moving into a new house with his husband Ken (Hector Lopez), news reporter Rob (Andreas Samuelson) ends up summoning a demon that terrorizes Ken as his relationship with Rob begins to deteriorate. Meanwhile, the grief-stricken Catherine Lacey (Sanna Wallin) is approached by unembodied alien Barboura (Elin Hallberg) with a tempting offer. In exchange for procuring her a new body, the demon will help Catherine resurrect her dead sister Ruth (Anna Walman).

At the same time Ruth is brought back to life as a psychotically murderous "housewife," the forest demon takes control of Ken and turns him into a ravenous zombie. With Ken and Ruth both on the warpath, it's up to Detectives Sheridan and Reeves (Anna Modén and Erik Nilsson) to crack the case and put a stop to the carnage.

Yeah, you read that title and synopsis right; you really can't make this stuff up. Going into the movie, I was expecting something akin to a SyFy "Creature vs. Creature" feature, with the housewife alien and gay zombie duking it out on top of killing and spreading chaos. Sadly, that's not the case, as Ruth and Ken never interact during their respective rampages. As is, HAGZ (as the film has been amusingly nicknamed) is instead meant to be a wacky sendup of cheesy sci-fi horror B-movies with a splash of LGBTQ+ rep thrown in for spice. In addition to the over-the-top characters and cheap special effects, there's plenty of movie references to be found. Hell, one of the major plot points has Little Shop of Horrors written all over it. The bizarre cold open and first scene of Ken and Rob moving into their new house and unleashing the demon should prepare you well for the kind of movie you're in for. But if you're looking for something in the same vein as the better films in SyFy's campy collection, prepare to be disappointed. Unlike the best examples of horror movie ham, HAGZ doesn't stick the landing when trying to jump from "just plain bad" to "hilariously bad."

Plot and acting are the areas where HAGZ fails the most, as they're the botched aspects that cost the film its opportunity to be a corny good time. It takes half an hour for the titular creatures to begin posing a threat, and until then, we're left with a plot that bounces from one lame comedy sketch to another. This problem persists even after Ken and Ruth make their monstrous transformations and begin causing terror. The only difference is that a pattern is established: we flash to some random person or group of people who, after some "comedic" beat, end up getting slaughtered by one of the bloodthirsty creatures. The schtick gets old real quick and is only made worse by the painfully unfunny humor present throughout HAGZ. Bits that are halfway worth a giggle are sparse, with the rest either being dead on arrival, going on longer than they should've, or getting smothered by the stale acting. While bad acting would be on par for a sci-fi horror B-movie spoof, the performances for HAGZ aren't entertaining or humorous in their awfulness. Instead, almost everyone from the main cast to the bit performers is just stilted, flat, and (in many cases) irritatingly overexaggerated.

(An easy way to explain why HAGZ doesn't succeed in being a So Bad It's Good flick is to compare it to fellow So Bad It's Good movie Sharknado. Part of the Sharknado series' charm is that while the series itself is aware of its own ridiculousness, most of the lead actors play it relatively straight--leading to effective comedy. The cast of HAGZ, meanwhile, is annoyingly bad in their attempts to play up the laughable story for camp value, rendering it a thoroughly unpleasant watch)

What makes this all the more frustrating is how HAGZ had a chance to at least try to redeem itself. In addition to opening the floodgates for a plethora of groan-worthy jokes and gags, the constantly pinballing plot denies the main players of the movie the chance to develop into true comedic protagonists. In addition to the titular monsters, there's Detectives Sheridan and Reeves, Catherine, Barboura, and the random teens who end up pulled into the action by random circumstance. With a better script and more comedically abled cast, these characters could've been fun to watch in action taking center stage. Of the cast, Anna Walman and Gabriella Carlsson would've had the best chances for improvement under stronger direction, being the ones most responsible for HAGZ's better moments of humor. Walman brings some quality histrionics as psychotic housewife Ruth while Carlsson feels the most natural of the cast (at least comparatively) as snarky teen Brenda. But with such an unfocused story, no one in HAGZ is given the time needed to grow into a truly compelling character. They're all left to either be boring, stupid, aggravating or some combination of the three.

(Also, if you're looking for a movie with good LGBTQ+ representation to watch over Pride Month, I'd look elsewhere. Pretty much every prominent gay character in HAGZ is a one-note stereotype, and the plot point about straight people being turned into gay zombies by Ken and his undead army is sure to rub some the wrong way)

Surprisingly, despite its super low budget, HAGZ isn't too bad on a strictly aesthetic level. The old-timey projection reel static overlay is a cool nod to the B-movie theme and the gore effects (for the most part) aren't half bad for something made on a shoestring. But once you go beyond the surface, HAGZ flops hard in trying to replicate horror movie camp. The acting is too poor to make the over-the-top characters and their mannerisms funny, the comedy is more likely to make you gag than laugh, and the plot zigzags so much it'll make you dizzy. While the title and poster may promise a zany adventure, all that you get is a cobbled-together mess as dead as the victims Ken and Ruth leave in their wake.

Score: 1 out of 10 hair dryer guns.

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About the Creator

Trevor Wells

Aspiring writer and film lover: Lifetime, Hallmark, indie, and anything else that strikes my interest. He/him.

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Twitter: @TrevorWells98

Instagram: @trevorwells_16

Email: [email protected]

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