by Shane Lange:
After the zombie apocalypse bites your ass and you’ve pigged out on brains like it’s zombie Thanksgiving, you’re going to want to do what every self-respecting corpse does as your soft tissues slowly liquefy after a hard day’s lurch – veg out and watch a movie. Fortunately, Canadian director Elza Kephart’s Graveyard Alive: A Zombie Nurse in Love is quality entertainment for the zombie in you.
A cinematic version of General Hospital reimagined for the living dead, Graveyard Alive is populated by classic stock characters – horny doctors, vindictive nurses, a weird janitor – as well as our hero, nurse Patsy Powers. Mousy, awkward, and too timid to confess that she carries a torch for her high school sweetheart Dr. Dox, Powers is dogged by her rival Nurse Goodie Tueschuze for the position of Head Nurse – and for Dr. Dox’s affection. When Powers’ doomed relationship with a patient ends in his death just after he bites her, dramatic changes in her behaviour draw everyone’s attention. The new Nurse Powers possesses the confidence to pursue her old flame and disarm the competition but she also craves human flesh to eat, even as her own body begins to rot.
A few elements detract from the steady pace of the story from scene to scene. Shot in black and white, the film suffers from a uniform approach to lighting and, while the nostalgic, retro-Hollywood feel is reinforced through overdubbing, the viewer is acutely aware of the “fourth wall” throughout, particularly in scenes with long, static shots, sparse dialogue, and the aforementioned sameness of lighting. Fortunately some excellent acting – particularly Samantha Slan’s performance as the disdainful Goodie Tueschuze – and an obvious appreciation of camp more than make up for the technical challenges.
Graveyard Alive takes the now-familiar zombie premise and adds a rare tweak to the formula by sexualizing the undead. The squick factor is bearable, as we are spared the sight of gratuitous rotting-zombie nudity and matters of mortal hygiene are experienced by sight only (although several characters wrinkle their noses throughout to remind us of the pungent scents we’re missing.) Even ten years after its release the film marks a high point within the genre for the quasi-necrophilic treatment of its female protagonist (let’s see George Romero tackle that one!)
There is perhaps faint hope that the closing allusion to a sequel – Graveyard Alive II: A Zombie Nurse in Paradise – will ever pan out, but if it does, I’ll be voting for this track as its theme song.
80 mins
Trailer:
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