Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies is Mindless Fun: A Film Review

*full disclosure: an online screener of this film was provided by Level 33 Entertainment.

Director: Dominik Hartl.

Writers: Armin Prediger and Dominik Hartl.

Cast: Laurie Calvert, Gabriela Marcinková and Oscar Dyekjær Giese.

Few horror films emerge from the cold climes of Austria. There has been Dead in 3 Days (2006), but there has never been a zombie film, until now! In Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies, Domink Hartl has looked to films from the past, including Dead Alive (1992) and Shaun of the Dead (2004), to create a comedic outing. Attack of the Lederhosen, which could have been easily named Snowboarders vs. Zombies, pits several sports enthusiasts against a growing zombie horde. The blood and comedy skits fly about. Some of the material sticks, while a bit more misses its mark. The film, at seventy-two minutes, was originally set to be a student film, but it has been extended here. The film comes across as slightly long, even with the short run time. Still, Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies will get audiences members laughing at a few of the scenes.

The focus of the film is on the make-up effects. Limbs fly off bodies. Prosthetic hands lie in the snow. The effects team, including Désirée Delic and Nicolay Mayer, have utilized litres and litres of blood. The gore bleeds beautifully in the snow. And, there are a number of murder scenes, which will make some viewers wince. Is it murder to kill a zombie? Snowboards are often the tool of death. They dismember, eviscerate and decapitate zombies, by the dozens. All of the effects look well done and sometimes overdone. A brain in the snow, with blinking eyes, looks particularly silly. Still, everything is gorifying as a zombie film should be.

These zombies look particularly nasty.

It is the story that was not fleshed out. The plot begins with a substance, named Solanium, which seeps into the body of others. It is supposed to be able to make snow, for a snow bare ski hill. But, once ingested, this liquid turns a Russian oligarch into a blood hungry marionette. It can no longer make choices, other than to feed. Quickly, he infects other, with his bite. An entire ski lodge is inhabited by undead, hungry zombies. They dance about here and infect others there. Meanwhile, very little investment is poured into the characters. They are mostly just meals for the vicious monsters on the screen.

There are a number of comedic skits, within Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies. Some of them work, while others do not. This critic will mention a couple of the funnier bits. In an early scene, a snowboarder wants to impress an audience, at the bottom of a hill. So, the protagonist snowboards in the buff, in order to impress the spectators. Unfortunately, one of the viewers is a wheelchair bound, young girl. Awkward! This embarrassing scene made one viewer laugh. Another scene, shot in the ski lodge, involves a group of zombie dancers. They lurch about as the music plays on. Steve (Laurie Calvert) and Branka (Gabriela Marcinkova) dance in the middle of the mayhem, creating a surreal moment. These two scenes and a couple of others worked for this reviewer. However, there are many more which just came across as flat. A machine-gun spraying scene comes to mind. There are a few laughs to be had in this latest zombie outing, but just a few.

The main criticism this viewer has revolves around the film's run time. It comes across as a bit long. As stated above, the film began as a student film project, but it has obviously been extended. For instance, the two main characters (Steve and Branka) go through great hardship to escape the zombie cordon. They reach the bottom of the ski hill, only to ascend once again, via a ski lift. If one has found safety, at great expense, why would they charge head-first back into the undead hordes? The answer is simple: to extend the run time. It would have been more beneficial to utilize a flashback or two, to develop the primary characters. Instead, more zombie killing mayhem is thrown into the mix, to keep eyeballs zoomed in. The film's story would have best crunched into a short film. As a feature, there is not a lot of story material here.

Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies is slated for a home entertainment release, in early January. The filmmakers hope you will let it chomp into your neck. Some of the many silly scenarios will create a laugh or two. But, many of the skits can be eye-rolling. Much of the budget was put into make-up and gore; body parts litter the screen. So, the film does blend horror and comedy, well. The pacing is also consistent and there is always something happening onscreen. It is the script and the characters which needed a bit more attention. It is difficult to root for characters, who are just as equally interesting as the snowboarding tricks. It is mostly flash with a bit of bang as Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies struggles to fill a feature film runtime.

Overall: 6.5 out of 10.

A trailer for the film is here: An Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies Trailer


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Posted in: 2016,austria,comedy,film,foreign film,horror,horror movie review,movie,movie review,preview,review,zombie apocalypse,zombie movie review,zombies