Fido

Plot synopsis:
The film takes place in a 1950s-esque alternate universe where radiation from space has turned the dead into zombies. This resulted in the "Zombie Wars", where humanity battled zombies to prevent a zombie apocalypse, with humanity the ultimate victor. The radiation still plagues humanity, as all those who die after the original contamination turn into the undead, unless the dead body is disposed of by decapitation or cremation. In order to continue living normal lives, communities are fenced with the help of a governing corporation named ZomCon. ZomCon provides collars with accompanying remote controls to control the zombies' hunger for flesh so as to use them as slaves or servants.
In the town of Willard housewife Helen Robinson (Carrie-Anne Moss) buys a zombie in spite of her husband Bill's (Dylan Baker) zombie phobia, as Bill has had bad experiences with zombies having been a veteran of the Zombie Wars. Their son, Timmy (K'Sun Ray), befriends the zombie, naming him "Fido" (his true name is never revealed, and little is revealed of his "pre-zombie" life, except that he died of myocardial infarction, and at one point Helen wishes she had met him before she got married and when he was still alive). One day, Fido's collar malfunctions and he kills their next door neighbor, who turns into a zombie. Timmy "kills" the zombified neighbor later, but not before she kills and infects another person, causing a small outbreak. ZomCon security forces quell the situation and then investigate what caused the outbreak.
When a pair of local bullies are blamed for the missing neighbor, they capture Fido and Timmy. Fido escapes and runs to find Helen, who comes and rescues Timmy from the bullies (who, through misadventure and Fido's hunger for human flesh, are now zombies), and they try to forget about the whole thing. Several days later, the neighbor's body is found and the murder is traced back to Fido, who is taken away to ZomCon where the public is told he will be destroyed. Timmy learns through Cindy Bottoms (Alexia Fast), daughter of Jonathan Bottoms (Henry Czerny), ZomCon's abusive security chief, that Fido is simply working in a factory at ZomCon. Timmy sets out to rescue him with the help of Mr. Theopolis (Tim Blake Nelson), previous security chief of ZomCon who was forced into early retirement when it was discovered he was found guilty of fraternization with his female zombie, whom he has remarkably preserved well to retard her decaying process, thus giving her a relatively attractive appearance.
Meanwhile, Timmy locates Fido, but is captured by Mr. Bottoms, who attempts to throw Timmy into the zombie-infested "wild zone" that exists outside of the fenced communities. Bill comes to the rescue and is killed by Mr. Bottoms, who in turn is killed by Fido. Timmy is set free and the news media propagandizes that the ZomCon security breach was the fault of rednecks who venture out into the wild zone to hunt zombies for fun. Helen finally learns not to belittle Bill's bad experiences from the Zombie Wars by paying for a headless funeral in order to prevent his zombification. The film ends with Fido as a surrogate father and husband, Timmy, Helen and Helen's newborn baby by Bill as a new family. They, along with a few neighbors happily enjoy their new domestic lives together, including the zombified Jonathan Bottoms who is now more attentive to his daughter.

Tags: comedy, cruelty, murder, cult, violence, clever, satire

Review:
Fido is a cute comedy that deserves wider recognition, especially considering the mainstream crap that is supposed to entertain us these days.As has already been pointed out, this is hardly a real zombie film, but rather a sweet satire that employs the undead to point fingers.
While there are necessarily some bloody scenes, there is almost no gore and the way this movie is presented (feel-good 50s style), I can't imagine anyone being actually scared or turned off by Fido & his fellow sufferers.While the cast is generally good, I felt that Moss and Nelson stood out.
And to what extent you agree with that last statement may be a good preliminary gauge of whether 'Fido' will appeal to you.In a way the comedy picks up where 'Shaun' left off, except we're back in the original 1950s Living Dead-era stereotypical middle-American small town.
Themes you might expect from a more mainstream kitsch comedy come through - the veneer of good clean living, keeping up appearances, repressed emotion, muddled parental values, social decorum and the plight of the alienated individual.It's a story told with happy heart and wide appeal that is brought to life vividly by the film's all-round strong cast.
A super cast helps: Carrie-Anne Moss, Billy Connolly, Dylan Baker, Henry Czerny, Tim Blake Nelson, Mary Black and Sonja Bennett are the principals, aided by young K'Sun Ray as Timmy, the innocent kid with a good heart who acts as fair witness to all the lunacy of the grownups.
(Seriously, that's what the press book in Toronto called it.) Though not as violent, dry, or British as Shaun of the Dead, Fido remains true to its roots: a devotion to old 50s black and white television including both Lassie and the infamous sci-fi pulp that was being pumped out during the period.Fido's talented headliners (Carrie Anne Moss, Billy Connelly, Dylan Baker, and Tim Blake Nelson) stand as a testament to the brilliance of the script.
Fido tackles all these possibilities in a sweet and surprisingly classy way, with much thanks to the work of Connelly (as one of said zombies) and young TV actor K'Sun Ray, who seems at times to be a better young Elijah Wood than the young Elijah Wood was.If you're expecting another Shaun of the Dead, don't waste your time.
Who would have thought?Carrie-Ann Moss, playing against-type, is terrific, as"Helen Robinson," the June Cleaver-like wife; Billy Connolly is great as the grunting good-hearted zombie "Fido;" Tim Blake Nelson ("Mr. Theopolis") is a hoot is the neighbor with the sexy zombie girlfriend "Tammy," and Henry Czerny and Dylan Baker as dads (check) are excellent, too K'Sun Ray as young "Timmy Robinson," shouldn't be overlooked, either.
But it's a great story and the cast was perfect and made this into just a really funny movie.In a 1950s alternate universe where radiation from space has turned the dead into zombies.
Timmy sets out to rescue him with the help from his neighbor with a zombie girlfriend in hopes to get Fido back.I really do highly recommend this movie if you get the chance to see it, it's so silly but a lot of fun.
Great work by Carrie Anne Moss, Dylan Baker, Tim Blake Nelson, Billy Connelly and up and comer, Alexia Fast.Weirdly, I found myself thinking about the movie for days after seeing it.Writers, Dennis Heaton, Robert Chomiak and Andrew Currie layered in a lot of political subtext - but didn't whack you over the head with it.The world they created had depth, and made sense.
Furthermore, it builds on the notion that zombies can be tamed or trained which George Romero first introduced in Day Of The Dead.K'Sun Ray plays a small town boy who's mother (Carrie-Ann Moss) longs for a zombie servant so she can be like all the other house wives on her block.
However, I must confess that I most enjoyed the delicious turn by Tim Blake Nelson as neighbour Mr. Theopolis, essentially playing a willing animated version of Victor Van Dort from the Corpse Bride (or, for those who've seen the film, wouldn't that read even better here as the Corpse Pride?) and, of course, Scotch actor Billy Connolly in his least animated, yet somehow deeply moving role as the titular character.
In an alternate 1950s, where an outbreak of the undead (caused by a mysterious 'space-dust') has been contained through the use of special electronic collars, a young loner, Timmy, finds a friend in Fido (Billy Connelly), his family's recently acquired domesticated zombie.Fido quickly becomes a surrogate father to Timmy, whose real dad is unable to adequately express his love for his son (or for his hot-to-trot wife, played by the gorgeous Carrie-Anne Moss) having been psychologically scarred as a child (when he was forced to shoot his own father, who tried to eat him!).Timmy runs into a spot of bother, however, when his putrid pal's collar goes on the blink, and he attacks and kills an elderly neighbour.
With the authorities on Fido's trail, trouble brewing with a pair of local bullies, and his mother forming a bond with their undead house-help, will Timmy be able to hold on to his new found friend?A refreshing take on the whole zombie schtick, Fido is a thoroughly entertaining, deliciously dark comedy that should appeal to anyone with a slightly twisted sense of humour.
Taking the Romero zombie-verse and transplanting it into 1950s small town America is a stroke of genius, and the result is simply one of the most original films to tackle the whole 'reanimated dead' theme that I have seen.Connelly's Fido is a cinematic zombie worthy of inclusion in the Undead Movie Hall of Fame, along with Day Of The Dead's Bub, and Return Of The Living Dead's Tarman; it is not often I feel empathy for a walking corpse, but The Big Yin's performance is so fine that I actually found myself rooting for the big blue bag of pus!
The rest of the cast also give commendable performances, with young K'Sun Ray (as Timmy) and Ms.Moss deserving special mentionsRay, because, for one so young, he puts in a particularly assured turn, and Moss because she is so bloody yummy!This is the third zombie film that I have watched this week (the others being the somewhat disappointing Planet Terror and the rather fun Flight Of The Living Dead), and, to my surprise, it is also the best.
I have pass on this movie so many times because of the cover , when i looked at reviews on here and i had to see this movie.When i was reading plot, i thinking it dose not sound that good, i so sat thinking, i don't think i would like this movie and i was think i was going waste hour and half of my life.Soon as put on i was total shocked how different this zombie is, i thought this movie was fantastic, i could not believe not seen it before, the whole story was great idea and this movie did have some nice gory scenes however this movie more about boy being friend with zombie building connections with Fido the boy named the zombie Fido.Great fun movie 8 out of 10.
People were so naive back then that it's frightening and the idea that those clean cut folks would find it normal to have zombies as pets actually works here.Kudos to this Canadian production, the colorful crisp cinematography and the excellent cast, including Carrie Anne Moss, Billy Connolly, Henry Czerny and the kid.It's a shame this film wasn't a bigger hit.
It is a different beast altogether (forgive the pun).Fido kicks off with a black & white information film that explains the back story - humans have won a war against zombies by developing a control collar that subdues the flesh-eaters into dumb servants.At first I thought we we were in for a fifties cold war paranoia parody a la Matinée, but we are soon hurled into a world of bright primary colours and fifties middle-class nostalgia.Young Timmy Robinon is a lonely kid who doesn't fit in at school.
Until his collar goes on the blink...Fido is NOT a horror film, but my problem with the movie is figuring out exactly what it IS.Much of the humour is of the light family variety, and sometimes the plot line is too heavily reliant on the boy and his dog/family moments.Yet the film is shot through with wonderfully dark, truly funny moments, which while welcome, will ensure an R rating for what is, for extended periods, a family comedy.The film looks gorgeous, and is wonderfully performed by all involved.Despite its difficult tonal problems, I hope this movie finds a niche, as it's quite a little gem in this year's deluge of cinematic crap..
These movies are great because they're horror films and you are scared of seeing the Zombies eating people and running amok.
Here the Zombie's are the good guys & cooperate villain Zomcon, is the bad guys.As "Fido" unfolds, it's a funny & touching comedy that has brains to spare, not for eating, but for thinking.
All of this has been made possible by Zomcom, a big-brother-type organization that has found a way to render the zombies (who were originally brought to "life" by radiation from outer space) manageable and docile - at least most of the time.This twisted, modern-day spin on the TV series "Lassie" - it might easily have been entitled "A Boy and His Zombie" - takes slyly satirical swipes at such pre-'60s concerns as obsessive social conformity (here keeping-up-with-the-Joneses means having more zombie servants than the folks next door), the sterility of suburban life, the corporate control of civic affairs, small town corruption and nuclear family values - all played out in a beautifully designed setting of parti-colored houses and immaculately manicured lawns.
Despite some playfully graphic violence, the movie stays true to the spirit of innocence we generally associate with both the 1950's itself and the cheesy, low-budget horror movies that were so much a part of the pop culture scene of that decade.K'Sun Ray, Carrie-Ann Moss and Dylan Baker are amiable and appealing as the wide-eyed Timmy and his Cleaver-esquire parents (with slightly sinister undertones), while Billy Connolly accomplishes the well nigh impossible task of bringing a great deal of humanity and depth to the role of a resurrected corpse.This is what "Lassie" might have been had Timmy's best friend been afflicted rabies..
Being a big fan of the old zombie flick, I was pleasantly surprised with Fido.The film has almost a Tim Burton - Edward Scissorhands kind of feel and must be set in the same demented time/space continuum where everything seems perfect.
Was totally taken in with this one - some good belly laughs and just had me grinning like an idiot all the way through!Don't quite see the reasoning for an R rating on this one as the zombie flesh eating scenes are not that bad and have seen a lot worse in some M movies..
The only real postal-type acting that was good in this movie was by Henry Czerny, who plays Mr. Bottoms the Security Manager of ZomCom. There was great acting by Billy Connolly, who plays Fido and Carrie-Anne Moss, who plays Helen Robinson.
Aside from some okay acting and a radiantly crafted satire piece, this movie was a great "horror" move for anybody who loves zombie comedy movies like Shaun of the Dead.
Yet another bad movie featuring zombies.But its got a new twist----it's boring and slow.The makers of this film have managed to make a movie with zombies that is about as exciting as watching paint dry.I didn't think that was possible.Just imagine a 1950's as portrayed in "Happy Days" or "Leave it to Beaver" but instead of Mr.C. mowing the lawn or washing the car they have zombies doing those menial chores instead.Sometime before some sort of space dust had hit the Earth and brought all the dead back to life.The hordes of walking dead were brought under control in the Great Zombie Wars and now zombies are controlled by a collar that keeps them under control so they can be made to do chores.One kid ,Timmy, and his zombie ,Fido, form a special bond and havoc ensues.A company called Zomcon makes the collars and fences that surround the towns and keep them safe from roaming zombies-yeah there is supposed to be some hidden message about corporate corruption or greed or whatever.Who cares.Now I know this isn't supposed to be a straight zombie movie,it's supposed to be funny .The only problem is it ain't funny.The storyline is slow and boring and the plot doesn't make any sense.Wouldn't it be better just to wash your own car as to take the chance that a collar will malfunction and a zombie will flip out and kill someone like sometimes happens in the movie?
Young Timmy (K'Sun Ray) is a lonely kid but luckily his sweet mom (Carrie-Ann Moss) purchases a lovable and friendly ghoul named Fido (Billy Connelly) until one day his collar malfunctions as he starts to munch down on a few folks causing a problem for the owners.
His mother, Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity from The Matrix) as always brings her A game as the beautiful and seductive "Mrs. Robinson." Tim Blake Nelson is over the top as the quirky neighbour with a zombie girlfriend.Fido is the kind of film that if you watch it again you will continue to catch new things and laughs that you missed the first time.
This 2006 zombie comedy is really one of a kind, and it is also the type of movie that you can watch again and again.The story in "Fido" is very enjoyable, and there are some very impressive names on the cast list, such as Billy Connolly and Carrie-Anne Moss, to pinpoint but two of these.The characters in "Fido" are very nicely fleshed out, pardon the pun, and they are characters that you take a liking to right away.For a zombie movie, then special effects and make-up is a thing that must be working on the screen.
FidoBeing responsible for a pet zombie is a good way for a couple to know if they're ready for a baby.Unfortunately, the couple in this horror-comedy had a little boy before their flesh-eater.Despite her husband's (Dylan Baker) unease around them, Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss) brings home a domesticated zombie, Fido (Billy Connolly), whose hunger for flesh is kept in check by a remote-controlled collar.When officials quarantine Fido on account of his feasting of neighbours, young Timmy (K'Sun Ray) sets out to retrieve his putrefied playmate with the help of a previous company employee (Tim Blake Nelson).But the head of the company (Henry Czerny) has other plans for Fido's saviors.Set in an alternate 1950s, this quirky Canadian contribution to the annuals of zombie cinema injects some much needed satire and humor into the undead genre.Incidentally, letting your pet zombie lick your face is a slippery slope.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca.
Timmy Robinson's best friend in the whole wide world is a six-foot tall rotting zombie named Fido.This film combines 1950s propaganda, zombies, the humor of "Shaun of the Dead" and a unique story to create a world that is both funny and fascinating.
Unlike satires like "How to Get Rid of the Others", "Idiocracy" or "Dr Stranglove" the message is too subtle to really have an impact on the viewer and many people probably won't even understand what message this film actually holds.Being too shallow for a satire and not goofy enough for a story a la "Monty Python", "Brain dead", "Shaun of the Dead" or "Hot Fuzz" the humor in Fido never really worked for me and considering this is supposed to be a funny movie that's a major drawback.So why does it still deserve a 6?
It even had a scene reminiscent of Lassie, where little Timmy (K'Sun Ray) was in danger and his zombie (Billy Connolly) went to fetch his mother (Carrie-Anne Moss).One could read into this film a criticism of 50s communist scares, or racial prejudice.
"Fido" is finally the first film again  since the aforementioned "Shaun of the Dead"  to successfully blend effective comedy and respectful horror elements into one surprisingly refreshing movie.
And, at the beginning of the film, we're treated to some brief (but very funny) black and white newsreel footage informing us that, ten years after the 'zombie wars,' we're now living in a safe society, happily using the undead as servants (courtesy of collars which control their flesh-eating impulses).It's almost an ideal world.
What follows is a tale of friendship between the family (or most of them) and their 'pet zombie' who little Timmy Robinson christens 'Fido.' Of course no relationship ever runs smoothly and it's never easy when one party has to wear a collar that prevents him from tearing innocent old ladies apart every time the collar fails.Basically, if you're a zombie fan, not only should you have watched 'Shaun of the Dead,' but you're also probably aware of George Romero's classic 'Dawn of the Dead.' Apart from the cool action sequences, a lot of people admired the social satire he wove in, commenting on a consumer society.
"Fido" is not as good zombie-comedy as "Shaun of the Dead" but it is a lively and funny story of the world where people don't die normally but transform into flesh-eating and menacing zombies.Luckily there is a corporation, Zomcom, what has managed a possibility to live with zombies in a normal society.
Fido (2006): Dir: Andrew Currie / Cast: Billy Connolly, Carrie-Anne Moss, Dylan Baker, Tim Blake Nelson, K'Sun Ray: Satire of living dead horror films that continues in the gross decaying delights of zombie fans.
Fido is one of those satire boy and his pet comedy that makes you wonder if the director writer Andrew Currie just watch an old Lassie episode, and just rewrote the part of the dog with the word 'zombie'.