Burying the Ex

When Max said forever to the woman of his dreams Evelyn, he didn't really expect it to mean forever ever. So when she became a controlling, crazy, uber hip environmentally friendly type that redecorated his life, things had to change. Problem was soon to be ex has died in a horrific accident and he thought that was that, she was sent to her maker and he was free to date. When said dead girlfriend comes back to life and wants to rekindle the romance bad things are afoot. Typically Satan and his evil ways!

Joe Dante is for me one of the best 80s directors. He has a wit and style that sizzle from scene too scene and from film to film. See the Burbs, Innerspace or Gremlins and you will understand what I mean. It was like watching a geek that loved and understood great classic movies and film makers, then nodded constantly to them. Before Tarantino and his frat boys did this, Dante did it with vim and if you haven't seen Matinee, then go now and watch it. Now here however is the major problem of such a film maker (like Dante) and such a fan (like me). Dante has created with Burying, an in joke ladened (The night Evelyn came home...again!), mid level, dull, moderately funny film. This is horrid for me to say from a man of his talents. It looks like a Disney kids television series and rarely raises above this type of quality....

Now don't get me wrong! It isn't awful in every single sense of the word or film. Ashley Greene is brilliant and beautiful in a way that she would make a wonderful scream queen. Her performance has great comic phases and she plays it at the right level. She moves from slapstick to black humour with ease and skillful execution. Yelchin and Cooper are fun together but don't share enough time onscreen and as such Yelchin becomes annoying and Cooper a pervert. Dante throws in clear horror in jokes, that I appreciated and I suspect many of his and the genres fans will like but they are to bang on and as I said CLEAR! The Romero one is wonderful as it is the only well disguised one. Sadly these things do not make it salvageable or worthy of the great Dante seal of production. It could have been an awesome and clever nod to the great Italian masters, Hammer horror films and even some American classic. Instead it is a masters misfortune and misfire... When this is buried it will stay so.....