Burying the Ex

 

Title: Burying the Ex
Director: Joe Dante
Writer: Alan Trezza
Cast: Anton Yelichin, Ashley Greene, Alexandra Daddario, Oliver Cooper
Year: 2014 (released 2015)
Min: 89 

Max (Anton Yelichin), a horror fan, is dating and living with the absolutely beautiful but incredibly bitchy Evelyn (Ashley Greene). When her behavior gets too much for him, he decides it's time to end it. He tells her to meet to her on at the park, where he will dump her ass. But, unfortunately she gets hit by bus. He is totally bummed out by her passing, but at the behest of his half-brother (Oliver Cooper), he goes, by himself, to catch a Val Lewton classic horror flick double-feature. There he runs into the gorgeous Olivia (Alexandra Daddario), whom he earlier met at an ice cream store, where Evelyn berated her. They soon find themselves attracted to each other. But, due to the fact that he and Evelyn earlier had made a wish to love each other forever, unknowingly, using a Satan genie statue, she comes back to life. And, if she was hard to deal with alive imagine her as a zombie...

When Joe (The Howling, Gremlins 1 & 2) Dante is on, he is one of the best directors at mixing humor and horror in the highest possible manner. Thankfully he does just this with this immensely fun and funny flick. First off, as with many of his other works, his love for horror is ever present, and this comes off as a cute and loving love letter to our genre. In jokes and tributes abound, and they are fun to catch. The script by Alan Trezza is fun and has more than it's share of good laughs.

The cast is really good. I liked Anton Yelichin. He is suitably likable enough to carry the film, as our hero. Alexandra Daddario remains a sight to behold and worship. She truly has one of the most perfect bodies in the entire world. She doesn't get nude (you'll have to stick to True Detective season one for that), but she does appear in a bra in a scene that made my eyeballs pop-out, nonetheless. She also remains a solid and very likable actress. She is great at playing the nice girl next door and as such, is simply a delight here. Ashley Greene is the real star here, though, as she is amazingly fun to watch. I get the feeling she had a blast playing Evelyn, and you will love seeing her in the role. She goes between being likable but bitchy to being horrid and bitchy with ease, and always with an underlying amount of unbridled sexiness. Even when she isn't trying to be hot, she remains as such. So I ask you, is it weird that I would totally have sex with her as a zombie?

The FX handled by Ronald Blancaflor are excellent. Evelyn looks like a perfect mixture of decay and beauty. There is also some suitable amounts of gore and gross-out that perfectly add to the horror/ comedy charm of the film. A moment of flesh-eating will keep this one away from most of Greene's Twilight fans.

I thoroughly loved Burying the Ex. This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year, and I am glad that it delivered the goods. Sadly, I have heard and seen some bad reviews for this. Don't listen to them and, instead, check this one out. Really my only complaint is what ultimately happens to Evelyn. No spoilers here, but I was not happy with that. We can discuss this further in the comments section, just mention that you are giving spoilers. I'll let you know there what I had a problem with then and there. That all being said, I fully understand why it happened. Regardless see it. It's on NetFlix, so no excuse to not. I blind bought it on Blu-ray (exclusive to Best Buy). Said Blu-ray looks and sounds excellent but, sadly, has no extra features. It did however cost me 10 measly bucks, so I can't really complain, now can I?


***1/2 out of ****