The Revenant

This horror comedy begins with an American soldier, Private Bart Gregory (David Anders), being ambushed and killed on a routine patrol in Iraq. After his body is shipped home to Los Angeles and buried, Bart rises from the grave and searches for his slacker buddy, Joey (Chris Wylde), who opportunistically bedded Bart's grieving girlfriend, Janet (Louise Griffiths), right after the funeral. Stunned to see him on his doorstep, Joey bongs Bart with a baseball bat. “You look awful,” Joey notes, observing his friend's decaying corpse. Bart has become a “revenant,” an undead zombie/vampire hybrid with an insatiable thirst for blood. In the search for life-sustaining blood for Bart, the pair's first stop is the hospital blood-bank. “I can't indiscriminately dole out blood to every strung-out buffoon who wanders in off the streets,” protests the technician (Yvette Freeman), who thinks that Bart is a member of some weird, possibly satanic cult. So preying on the homeless is next, but after the pals happen to witness a convenience store robbery, they wind up killing the thief, providing both a public service and supplying Bart with the blood he needs. And this is how they become vigilante gunslingers—roaming the streets at night, stopping crimes, and wreaking revenge on offenders. Obviously influenced by Shaun of the Dead, writer-director D. Kerry Prior's flimsy fright farce is unfortunately too often lethargically paced, ultimately more walking dud than walking dead. Optional, at best. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (the first with director Kerry Prior; the second with costars David Anders, Chris Wylde, Louise Griffiths, and Jacy King), a “making-of” featurette (13 min.), deleted scenes (13 min.), a photo gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing film.] (S. Granger)