MY CALL: Good and fun enough for a light recommendation to fans of gory zombedies or anyone seeking a one-off Christmas horror. The movie tries hard, it shows, and I appreciate its efforts more often than not even if it remains just good enough to be “good.” MORE MOVIES LIKE Black Friday: For more zombedies, I’d recommend Night of the Comet (1984), Re-Animator (1985), Return of the Living Dead (1985), Night of the Creeps (1986), Dead Heat (1988), Dead Alive (1992), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Dead Snow (2009), Zombieland (2009), Warm Bodies (2013), Dead Snow 2 (2014), Burying the Ex (2014), Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015), Cooties (2015), Zombeavers (2015), and Yummy (2019).
After a slimy gooey pulsating supergross alien organism crashes through the roof into a retail store, something infectious takes hold of the staff. Shortly thereafter, the We Love Toys staff face the rabid shoppers of Black Friday, and then rabid zombies.
The unlucky We Love Toys team includes Ken (Devon Sawa; Idle Hands, The Exorcism of Molly Hartley, Hunter Hunter, Final Destination), Archie (Michael Jai White; Skin Trade, Triple Threat), Jonathan (Bruce Campbell; Moontrap, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Escape from LA), Chris (Ryan Lee; Goosebumps), Marnie (Ivana Baquero; Pan’s Labyrinth, Rottweiler), Brian (Stephen Peck) and Emmett (Louie Kurtzman).
I’ll open on an unexpected positive note—the writing and dialogue are decent-ish from the outset as we get to know and come to like our main characters. Moreover, the stunts and grossout gore are festively chaotic. The zombies launch prehensile infectious tendrils from their mouth like regurgitated Spiderman web to kill and create more of their alien kind. These “zombies” appear to continue to evolve into something else and they seem to be building something as the movie progresses. The “final form” is a hilarious monstrous sight to behold.
This movie definitely isn’t great. At times it is very hokey—as often in good ways as kinda’ meh ways. Though, it’s certainly not bad either. I enjoyed it as a one-time watch. It’s a fun mid-budget zombedy with lots of blood and Ramen-ish guts and monstrous mutant zombie creature effects and, frankly, an unexpected surprise at the end.
The movie (and director Casey Tebo) tries hard, it shows, and I appreciate its efforts more often than not even if it remains just good enough to be “good.” I’d say this is for you if you enjoy goofy horror comedies or just want to watch a new-to-you holiday horror this Christmas season.