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Title: Masters of Horror: Joe Dante - Homecoming (2006) |
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Review of Masters of Horror: Joe Dante - Homecoming
- A horror film with a political message HOMECOMING comes from director Joe Dante (GREMLINS THE HOWLING). With a war going on abroad and an election coming up the Republican party is anxious about getting enough votes to seal the deal. But when they wish for the soldiers who died in the war to come back to life and speak on their behalf they never expect it to actually happen. Rising from their graves the undead men and women set out to tell their own version of events and to get revenge.System Requirements:Running Time 59 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 013131446791 Manufacturer No: DV14465
Product Description
- Made for Showtime, the Masters of Horror series features films by renowned horror film directors, such as Homecoming by Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins). This satire about Bush's War On Terrorism is a one-liner, in which soldiers killed in Iraq rise from the dead to vote the president out of office as their last effort to end the war. Zombies fight for peace as the politicians concoct deadly schemes in this comedic film about the idiocy of our current government. Political consultants Jane Cleaver (Thea Gill) and David Murch (Jon Tenney) meet during a talk show panel, then watch in horror as the news begins to air footage of soldier zombies wandering the streets towards their local voting booths. Top political officials, unable to slay the undead, discover that the zombies die on their own after dropping their voting cards into the boxes. Zombies spark a small revolution by denouncing WMDs on television, urging citizens to follow suit. Though weak compared to Romero's great sarcastic zombie film, Dawn of the Dead, Homecoming features enough body parts squirting green blood to entertain. Over-the-top humor throughout recalls Re-Animator, yet the political message goes deeper. Dante's warped rendition of America’s recent history seems more relevant than ever. --Trinie Dalton
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Comments for Masters of Horror: Joe Dante - Homecoming
- Posted on 2008-05-30
Story is much better, but movie's pretty durned funny.
Masters of Horror: Homecoming (Joe Dante, 2005)
I had no idea, when I first found about about this Joe Dante short from the Masters of Horror series, that it was based on my favorite Dale Bailey story, else I'd have endeavored to track it down a lot sooner than I did. And while Dante has a much heavier hand with the social commentary than does Bailey, Homecoming is still more fun than two-- yes, two!-- barrels of monkeys.
David Murch (Jon Tenney) is a professional spin doctor working for the current government's administration, who have gotten involved in a very unpopular war. (Sound familiar?) One night, while on a talk show, confronting a woman whose son was killed in the hostilities, Murch wishes, aloud, that her son weren't dead. Unfortunately, the dead hear-- and it's not just the dead from this war. They're all rising, and they all have a goal. But what? (That is the major spoiler, and the punchline, and you'll just have to watch it.) While public opinion about the zombies is at first what one would expect, as the zombies start integrating themselves, the public begins to support their right to exist, and from there, everything starts getting really, really complicated.
Dante, whose career has been exceptionally low-key ever since 1989's The 'burbs (a fun film, but it bombed badly at the box office), has been quietly cranking out two kinds of movies for the past twenty years-- big-budget stinkers (Small Soldiers, Looney Tunes: Back in Action) and quiet, indie flicks that are actually worth your time (Matinee, The Second Civil War). His seeming growing fascination with sociopolitical commentary is increasingly obvious in his choice of projects, so Homecoming was a natural fit for him. He hasn't learned to do it subtly yet, but then anyone expecting subtlety from the guy who directed Gremlins is probably looking in the wrong direction. His signature blend of comedy and horror, however, is just as strong as it ever was, and he turns in an enjoyable Masters of Horror episode here. But do yourself a favor and read Bailey's much-superior story when you're done. ***
Score: 3
- Posted on 2008-04-06
Political zombies
During a contentious presidential campaign, a government mouthpiece (Jon Tenney) publicly wishes that the soldiers killed in Iraq could come back long enough to let the American people know how they feel about being called on to make the ultimate sacrifice in that cause. Dead soldiers begin to return as zombies who are less interested in eating brains than casting ballots--against the current administration. This puts the right wing spin machine into overdrive, providing director Joe Dante with ample opportunity to skewer neo-conservatives for hypocrisy and cynicism.
Your opinion of this episode is bound to be colored by your feelings about the war in Iraq, so I'll be up front with mine--I've been against it from the start. Yet this episode still doesn't sit well with me. Conservatives are criticized for claiming to speak for dead soldiers to make a political point, but isn't that what Dante and screenwriter Sam Hamm have done with their script? Does it make it right just because they are on the other side of the issue? The allegory is rather heavy-handed, but it has a pleasantly creepy atmosphere up until the zombie agenda is revealed, and Thea Gill is funny as a thinly veiled Ann Coulter castrating conservative babe. That's worth a few points in my book.
Score: 3 - Posted on 2007-12-24
My Jaw Dropped...
...in a bad way. This movie is astoundingly bad. The message it delivers is so ineptly handled with unfunny humor and bald-faced hatred that it fails as propaganda. It is not funny, so it fails as satire. And because it tries so desperately to be satire and propaganda, it fails as horror.
Clearly, the people involved in this sad project hate conservatives--which is fine. Many people do. But not many artists do to a degree that blinds their aesthetic judgments (Tim Robbins can churn out excellent parody, for example). The script seems like it was written by an angry co-ed. I came to this movie expecting to be entertained with some tongue-in-cheek horror. Instead, I was hectored by adolescents.
Score: 1
- Posted on 2007-11-25
One-Line Joke From the "Gremlins" Director
It's made-for-TV, so adjust your expectations accordingly: The effects are cheesy, and the acting even cheesier. The movie's nothing more than a one-liner, but it's a brilliant one-liner. "Homecoming" is bound to offend just about everyone, from Republicans to military families to anyone with any sense of decency...but if you're watching a zombie flick in the first place, you're not looking for good wholesome entertainment, right?
Score: 3 - Posted on 2007-11-11
Everybody should watch this movie!!!
I have no idea why the above reviewers would be against a current anti-war movie / horror film. If this is the only way to get people's attention and tell the truth behind the war, then so be it. Thank the writer for having the guts to take a chance that the republicans and spin doctors in the white house would even allow the american public to see it. It even had the presidents mocked voice in the background to make sure it hit home and the banned pictures of flags over the coffin that was silenced awhile ago.
I do recommend this movie!
Score: 5