Duel Review: Juan of the Dead and World War Z Movie Trailers

We haven't had a duel/dual review in a while, so why not look at two zombie movies coming in 2012! First up is Juan of the Dead:



When I saw the title of this movie, I thought it was some cheap Shaun of the Dead rip-off. While it doesn't appear to have a massive Hollywood budget, it exhibits some charm and creative effort. I like the idea of a professional zombie killer who answers his own phone that isn't a cell phone. I'll bet he has an awesome answering machine message. Did that muscle car have a rocket on the side? The very end of the trailer might have been too far over the top, but I do love that kind of humor.

By contrast, the trailer for the movie adaptation of World War Z looks ultra-slick and wants to be the profound, thoughtful, and insightful zombie movie of our generation:



I loved the book, but this trailer does not look very promising to me. Sure the effects are great and the editing is top-notch. But those are par for the course in American films. The book builds up the story through a variety of different character portraits, which generally doesn't work in a two hour film. The filmmakers seem to be aiming at big questions rather than interesting people. At least that's what's in the trailer. Maybe they'll pull some comic relief out of the Dr. Strangelove-esque bunker but it sure didn't look like they intended to. Why visually reference it?

If I could only see one of these films, I would definitely go see Juan of the Dead. I'll have to hear some really great reviews of World War Z to convince me it's worth a look.

WINNER: The scrappy Cuban contender, Juan of the Dead!

h/t Frank Weathers at YIMCatholic