Zombie Honeymoon

Plot synopsis:
Open: Sounds of eating, drinking, sucking. A sound of a kiss. We see a sign for St. Peters Episcopal Church and the writing under the sign states: Denise & Danny Til Death Do Them Part. Bride and Groom exit the church. The bride is wearing a red dress with a red veil. They drive away in a car with the license plate CFO-52T. JUST MARRIED is written on the rear hatch window. The couple begin to kiss. The bride gives the groom a BJ in the car. She throws her veil out of the window. Denise Zanders <Tracy Coogan> carries Danny Zanders <Graham Sibley> over the threshold of the house owned by Uncle Barry. The house has a video game, a swimming pool and a swing set. Denise and Danny start to swing. They mention Portugal. A man is running down the street coughing. The newlyweds make love on the lawn to teach the jogger something. Denise looks for veggies in the refrig and chases Danny around the kitchen with raw ground beef. Down at the beach Danny is surfing as Denise cheers him on. They hold hands on the beach when Danny is done surfing. Seagulls are on the beach. Denise takes out her sketch book and starts to draw the ocean with Danny surfing. She has drawn some kind of black winged thing. An Ocean Zombie man <Mitch Goldberg> is coming toward the shore. Denise tells Danny to wake up. The Ocean Zombie falls on top of Danny. The zombie throws some black stuff up in Dannys mouth then dies. Danny is in the hospital. The doctor <John Sobestanovich> is trying to restart Dannys heart but fails. The doctor tells Denise that Danny is not responding. All of a sudden Dannys eyes open. Denise runs to him. The man next to Danny tells the doctor to let them hug for Christs sake. Danny was dead for 10 minutes. The Doc says Danny has to rest. Denise kisses Danny. Denise and Danny leave the hospital. Denis pulls out her sketch book. Danny appears and Denise hugs him. They are lying in bed when Denise asks Danny if he is hungry. He says not really. Denise will cook him dinner tomorrow night with candles. A candle-light dinner. They begin making love when Denise sees some of his chest skin peeling off. Breast action. The next day Denise is looking at a photo album with scraps of this and that in it. They discuss him being dead. They talk about having a child a girl. Blah, Blah, couples talk. Danny picks up the phone and resigns from his job 2 week notice. Denise then resigns from her job. She is a childrens book illustrator. Danny then calls Marty and gives up their apartment. Cut to a palm reader. She tries to read her customers hand with no luck. She then goes to the tarot cards. The man gets up and goes. He says she is ripping him off. Denise calls her palm reader friend and says they are going to Portugal. They couple laugh and kiss. The doorbell rings. It is Officer Frank Carp and he asks for Danny. He has Dannys surf board. His parents got him the board for his 15th birthday. Officer Carp asks about Jack Birch <Phil Catalano> Dannys roommate in the hospital who has disappeared. Denise goes shopping for their dinner. A jogger comes down the street clutching his chest. Denise passes a marina. Denise pulls into an Acme Supermarket. She bought 4 bottles of wine. Denise goes to the bathroom, she hears something and pulls the shower curtain open. She sees Danny eating a mans guts. Danny has blood all over his face. She runs out of the house but Danny says he needs her. He says he is sorry and she tells him not to touch her. Danny was eating Jack. Denise goes out onto the deck and smokes a cigarette. She remembers her vows to Danny. She had quit smoking for 7 ½ months, she throws the cig away. Blah, blah, not a bad person etc. They scramble to clean up the houseNikki < Tonya Cornelisse> and Buddy <David M. Wallace>are coming over. Denise takes a finger out of the tub drain. Enter Nikki and Buddy. They are drinking wine out of plastic cups. Buddy asks Denise if she is going to write a comic book now what Danny is one of the living dead. Nikki doesnt like this. Buddy makes fun and plays a zombie asking for brains. They go out for dinner and Danny plays with his food at dinner and is tired of vegetables. Danny scarfs down a steak really fast ravenous like. Denise goes to the bar has a drink then asks for another two drinks NOW. Nikki asks for seltzer NOW. Buddy says their waitress looks like the girl he used to bang in center - Tammy. Danny doesnt remember he dated Tammy for 2 years. Nikki consoles Denise. The next day Danny is throwing up in the locked bathroom. Denise breaks down the door. Blood is all over the toilet. Danny is crying and says that vegetarians dont make good cannibals. Denise and Danny in the car and he asks her to put on track 4 of the CD. They go to a travel agent Phyllis <Maria Iadonisi>. She offers them coffee and a bagel. They book a one way trip to Portugal. They depart 10:15AM. Arriving in Lisbon at 10:15PM. Danny starts eating her arm then tears out her throat. Denise is trying to get him out of the store. She freaks out. Danny runs into the woods. We now see a Video Library store where the owner <Dustin Smither> is wearing a T-shirt that says We are going to eat you! with a face of a zombie. The customer puts $10.00 on the counter and walks out grousing. Danny attacks the irate video store customer <Nate Meyer>. Denise goes home and Officer Carp rings the doorbell. Denise offers the officer a drink. He starts to look at her photo album. She says she has grapefruit juice. He asks her about Jack Birch again. Carp tells her when he has loose ends he cant sleep and he says thats a pain in the ass. He gives her his card and he says they found blood in the bathroom. Danny comes home bloody. Danny says he is trying to kill as few people as he can before they leave for Portugal. He mentions Portugal zombie doctors. Denise says its an affliction which has cures. Danny asks Denise not to leave him. She says in sickness and in health. The doorbell rings again and Buddy falls in the door and Nikki walks in. He is holding a Rubix Cube. Buddy says Danny looks like shit. Danny asks Nikki to read his palm which is gray looking. Nikki says they will have one kid. Nikki then sees the longest and deep life line she has ever seen. Then she sees his face as a zombie. Danny attacks Buddy and tears out his throat. Nikki and Denise run out of the house. Denise cant leave Danny and goes back into the house. Danny is playing a video game. Ugly face Danny. Nikki took Denises car. Denise is getting the candle-light dinner ready. Danny is growling. Nikki is going to the police department. We see a sign for Birch Drive and a sign that says Dead End. Denise puts one long-stem rose into a vase. Nikki sees a Police sign. At the house Danny makes a toast to Portugal. Denise is drawing Danny in her sketch pad. The police are coming to the house. Danny is crying. A piece of Dannys face falls into the soup. Danny gets ready to bite Denises neck. The police shoot Danny. Denise screams and Danny gets up and bites off Carps nose. Danny eats the other policeman. Danny goes after Nikki, puts two fingers in her neck and starts eating her. Denise runs, puts her hair up and puts on her red wedding dress. She listens as Danny eats. She turns on the television and flips channels as Danny throws up. She is laying on the bed and you see a severed arm on one of the pillows. Denise hides in a closet then falls out to find a severed head at her feet. Dannys face is all grey and rotten. Danny is hocking up black stuff. Denise runs downstairs and uses Dannys surf board to block him from getting to her. Danny comes toward Denise and remembers them on the swing. He throws her to the floor and turns his head and spits zombie stuff on the floor. He says he is sorry and falls on Denise. She cries while Danny is laying on her. The next morning we see Denise holding a dead Danny in her lap. She drags his body out by the pool. She rolls him into the pool. Denise goes to the beach with her red pail and scooper. She runs into the surf and has a vision of Danny as he once was. She is holding her stomach like she is pregnant. She unfolds her ticket to Portugal. A Tammy Wynette song plays. Stand by your Man. The End.

Tags: tragedy, romantic

Review:
Unfortunately, although I think the initial concept could have made a very good romantic/psychological drama movie even with no budget, the uninspired writing, the conventional directing and most of the acting (except the wife) just didn't cut it.
"Zombie Honeymoon", said the director, "is probably the first zombie-movie ever to be based on personal experience".The audience was ready to laugh, but there was nothing funny about that: the plot is an effort to handle the untimely demise of the director's brother-in-law, who died in a surfing accident shortly after getting married.
The premise of the movie, therefor, is telling the story of two people trying to remain together against all possible odds.The film's protagonist, Danny, is a surfer as well - but what gets him (temporarily) killed is not an accident: like a rotting pal of Venus Anadiomene, a zombie walks out from the sea to directly attack the poor guy and vomit black goo straight into his mouth.
Problem is, after coming back home he finds himself desperately hungry for human flesh - which understandably proves a shock to his young wife Denise.While presenting the film, Gebroe introduced it as a cross between a John Cassavetes piece and "Night of the Living Dead" - which is a fitting description for "Zombie Honeymoon".
Although the photography does leave a lot to be desired (the film is all shot on digital video, and the choice of a hand-held camera style proves somewhat a bit annoying instead of contributing to the realistic effect ), the dialog and the interaction between the two unfortunate newlyweds are all absolutely believable - and even moving at times.
Graham Sibley (Danny) is OK, but the selling point to the film is Tracy Coogan's Denise - not only she's beautiful: she is also great in totally selling the story.Maybe the film does lose some steam halfway through, when the gruesome suppers of Danny start becoming a little repetitive.
However, the final 20 minutes are genuinely poignant - starting with a great scene where Danny, after eating some of his victims, spends a long time in the dark of his and Denise's home playing with one of those arcade games from the 80s, while Denise, devastated, comes close to him and watches him play the game without uttering a single word.I won't spoil the ending of the best zombie romance since the underrated "Return of the Living Dead III", but any Blues Brothers fan should love the way Gebroe uses the song "Sometimes is Hard to be a Woman" - we sure kept humming it for the rest of the evening, while discussing if death couldn't be seen as the ultimate handicap.
In this movie, however, Graham and Tracy make the love real between Danny and Denise, with none of the affectations that could have prevented this from coming across.
Writer/Director David Gebroe has managed to give us an old fashioned zombie movie with a twist that is unique.We see Denise and Danny rushing from the church to enjoy a honeymoon.
None of the principals involved seem to have gone much of anywhere in the past few years, but that's no slur on the integrity of this admirable little piece of cult film-making.I suspect many of the negative commentaries posted here are from people who expected something more directly related to the Romero/Argento zombie mythos.
Well written and shot with only a few naff scenes, "Zombie Honeymoon" features very respectable performances from a cast of unknowns, especially Tracy Coogan as the young woman who has no trouble getting her husband to eat leftovers, particularly if they're human.
I had to give it a "6" just for the quality that ended up on the screen.Put it this way: with a little bit of script-tweaking and a higher production budget, along with the casting of marketable names, "Zombie Honeymoon" could have been a true classic.
There's no reason a horror film cannot tick all the boxes of what we've come to expect in the genre, still frighten and disturb us, and not have something to say AND have fleshed-out characters populating it.Dave Gebroe was smart and jumped on this deficit in the horror genre..aside from Larry Fessenden and maybe Brad Anderson and Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, horror films and 'emotional' rarely end up in the same sentence.
If John Cassavetes was hired to do a zombie film it might be something like this, although the director pours the energy of youth into this film and his leads.Using an intentionally lurid yet appropriate title to lure us in, the film covers the once vibrant and now deteriorating marriage of Danny and Denise, two psychobilly-crazed, frenetic and all-out happy lovers who are rushing from the altar, newly wed.
This euphoric approach, followed by a hilarious scene where they get to their new house, drop everything and start planning to live abroad, sweep us up in the giddy rush of starting a new life with the one who makes your heart sing.Naturally, because he remembers it's a horror film, things go wrong ten minutes later.A decaying surfer stumbles out of the ocean and 'infects' Danny who seemingly dies on the operation table an hour later.
Danny and Denise are in deep love, and while they are resting on the beach, Danny is attacked by a stumbled zombie that comes out of the sea and vomits into his mouth.
However, the former vegetarian Danny, having an uncontrollable hunger for human flesh, attacks many people, while Denise cleans his bloody mess trying to help her beloved husband."Zombie Honeymoon" is a bizarre and gore love story, but unfortunately the confused screenplay fails, once mixes romance, drama, dark comedy and horror but in very wrong doses and the genre of the story is not well situated.
This low budget movie is visually too heavy and gore for a romance, shallow for a drama, silly for a comedy and most of the tension of the horror scenes are broken by the dramatic love story of Denise and Danny.
The story follows newlyweds Denise and Danny (cathartically based on Gebroe's real-life sister and late brother-in-law) as their honeymoon is interrupted by an attack by a zombie.
And suddenly there is a host of new logistical problems that Danny and Denise must face as a new married couple trying to stay together, plan for the future, and keep Danny from killing and eating too many people.This isn't the first Zombeo-and-Juliet movie, but it may be the best yet.
Zombie Honeymoon is more Zombie-Romantic-Tragedy than Zom-Rom-Com, but still delivers its share of laughs and even uplifting moments.A quick word about the leads: Graham Sibley and Tracy Coogan bring great realism to their roles as the newlyweds.
Another thing that bothered me about this movie was in order to make the audience "get the picture" they would have scenes where nothing was going on, no sounds, no movement, just sad faces for what seemed like an eternity.If you are looking for a sweet "love" story that more fits a horror movie rather then a drama with some blood I would recommended David Morlet's "Mutants" (2009).
The acting is of a high standard, particularly Tracy Coogans wife 'Denise', giving the film an emotional resonance lacking some zombie films.
The film has an excellent garage / surfer rock soundtrack (one of the credited roles was for 'Psychobilly Adviser'), and excellent sound design - it sounds like their having a lot of fun in the production of this element.Its main flaw, an unfortunately unavoidable one, is that it doesn't strictly adhere to the zombie rule book (handed down to us by the one they call Romero), making comprimises between the zombie and romance genres (a few more zombies wouldn't have gone amiss), and there are a few unanswered questions lingering on later viewing.
For only his second film as a writer slash director, Dave Gebroe had the bizarre ambition to blend gross horror with genuine romantic drama and even to throw in bits of comedy.
Re-working bits and pieces of this real-life drama into a horror film served as some sort of therapy for Gebroe, who was really fond of his brother-in-law as well.
However, even with bearing Gebroe's introduction in mind, "Zombie Honeymoon" can't possibly pass for a good film.
After an accident on their honeymoon, a woman begins to grow concerned about the change in her new husband's' behavior as it grows increasingly obvious he's become a zombie and tries to keep the behavior under control.This was a decidedly bland and quite uninspired effort that rarely feels like a horror film.
(Evil Dead Series including Army of Darkness) Someone gave the director a cam corder and said "Let make a really bad movie so we can feel like big shots.
Well, it's a cheap film but that's where my expectations and the actual film departed ways.A young couple are on their honeymoon when Danny is attacked by a zombie lurching out of the ocean.
His wife Denise, while freaked, stands by her man, all the while still grossed out by his actions.In the last few years we've had a few different types of zombie films.
Zombie Honeymoon, while not in the budgetary league of these films, is the first romantic drama film I've seen where a lead character happens to be a zombie.Danny and Denise were good couple, they were decent people.
This film is like no other Zombie movie I have ever seen and has to be among the top 3 I have ever seen.
You will get wrapped up in the plot if you give it a chance and the two main characters are developed to the point you will care for them like friends.The entire plot and spin on the zombie genre is brought back to life in this film.
However a little world filled with love and gore that will leave you saying this is a zombie movie like no other!Dawn of the Dead 2004 done an incredible job of making you care for the characters and this little film done just as good with the 2 main characters.
I think this is my new favorite movie...Tracy Coogan is so cute, and what better way to prove how much you really love someone than to clean up their bloody mess when they turn zombie on the honeymoon!
Troma films are dear to my heart.I rented this DVD expecting to see some good cheesy horror movie fun and zombie schlock.This film has none of that.
This film is totally unique and entertaining - you can see where the director is slightly influenced by some of the old horror classics (little subtle elements of the camera work, etc.).Also, once you know the true story inspiration behind this film, it makes it all the more interesting (it's a tragic real life story and a bit of the same in the movie).Definitely worth renting - and the director's comments are very interesting to watch too..
Most of the bad reviews and ratings are probably from kids and guys expecting a standard zombie movie involving an apocalypse and lots of gore and action.
This is none of those things, and it offers so much more for the discerning horror movie fan.It is the perfect blend of romance and horror, and deals with a single zombie: A newly married young guy and the hell that his loving wife must endure while trying to stick with her man who is slowly turning into a monster.
Coogan is happy when her husband miraculously recovers, but the couple faces a zombie challenge...Neatly written and directed by David Gebroe, "Zombie Honeymoon" is essentially a love story.
Lastly, near the end of the film, Coogan has a brief, dreamy vision of Sibley which shows a romanticism that should have been part of the story's opening.***** Zombie Honeymoon (10/23/2004) David Gebroe ~ Tracy Coogan, Graham Sibley, Tonya Cornelisse, David M.
I took the chance and purchased the DVD thinking that I might eventually get around to a Saturday afternoon sequester and by the time I got around to viewing, I was sorry I wasted previous week-ends with much inferior pieces of supposed horror.Zombie Honeymoon is one of those few zombie films that really works thanks to a smart script and acting by the two leads that is about as good as anything I have seen in small budget films of the genre.
Graham Sibley and Tracy Coogan do such a believable job with a difficult topic that you actually feel for these two characters and you root for their cause of trying to find a happy medium between dead and undead (It reminded me of what Fido (2006) wanted to conjour).For those of you that prefer gore to story, there are enough scenes of flesh munching to keep you interested, but let's face the fact that this is small budget and we have seen zombie's eating people for years without really seeing anything 'new' with the culture.I can't say that I will follow David Gebroe's odyssey going further, but if this film is just a stepping stone, he could be one of those rare talents that puts together scares, spooks, horror and humor with smart dialogue spoken by believable characters.
With a zombie.The movie opens as newlyweds Danny and Denise (Tracy Coogan and Graham Sibley) race from the church to set off on their honeymoon: a month relaxing in a beach-front property.
However, the young couple's wedded bliss is short lived when Danny is attacked by a strange man who emerges from the sea, pukes black gunk into the poor guy's mouth, and then promptly dies.Danny is rushed to hospital, where he flatlines for ten minutes before suddenly coming back to life (to the surprise of the medical staff, who have already pronounced him dead).
Seems like the love of her life is turning into a flesh-eating member of the undead!After the first five minutes of Zombie Honeymoon, I really had my doubts about how much I would enjoy this low-budget effort: the director appeared to be trying too hard to be 'wacky', and the leading characters seemed to be rather annoying.
After half an hour or so, however, I realised how wrong I was: Danny and Denise turn out to be a very likable coupletheir love for each other is totally convincing and very touching thanks to great performances from Coogan and Sibley and director David Gebroe proves that he knows what he is doing, handling his material thoughtfully and with a great sense of pacing.Denise's confusion and despair seems all to real as, before her eyes, the man she has just married slowly becomes a monster.
It's heart wrenching stuff watching the poor woman first go into shock, and then entering a stage of denial (in one scene, Denise turns up the volume on her TV so she can block out the nauseating sound of her husband slurping down a couple of his victims).Zombie Honeymoon is a film that will catch many off-guard: those expecting a zany bloodbath might very well be disappointed by what is essentially a rather depressing love story (which could explain some of the more negative comments here on IMDb).
Some other major turn-offs are the minimal gore (for this genre) and smashing every zombie rule possible.This one actually deserves 1/10 on my scale, but as mentioned, the acting, camera work - and also sound - are good enough to bring the score up by 1 point each.Don't watch this unless you really have to..
But, if a zombie movie is actually good, I will still like it.
It's not often that a new horror film takes me by surprise, so I don't want to say too many bad things about Zombie Honeymoon.
Bad acting and worse dialog I'll put up with for a horror flick, but throw in 'love' scenes that would make a real zombie cringe, bad camera work and a soundtrack that is so stupid you actually notice it, well, let's just say your time is better spent watching a zombie movie you've already seen once, and liked a little bit.There were not even any bright spots that jumped out and lent themselves to a "well at least -BLANK- wasn't too bad", sorry.
Nice to see some good acting and directing for a change.Evidently I need 10 lines of text for some reason?Awesome movie!Great film!Loved every minute of it!Seen it twice since!Look forward to seeing the next movie from this director!Big Horror Fan Chris Gough, Manchester, UK..
Now it's true there are some parts in the movie that will have you chuckling or cringing, but the competent cast all give relatively good performances, especially Tracy Coogan as the young woman married to a zombie.
While Zombie Honeymoon is shot on a low budget (at times this is evident.) It refreshes an otherwise stale genre and has a nice little tale about love and its boundaries at its centre.
Zombie Honeymoon is fantastic!Every aspect of this film has given me new hope for the future of this genre we call horror.
(One of the adorable things about Tracy is how her native Irish accent sometimes breaks through the general American one she's assumed for her character.) Tracy has, I think, the best scene in the film: Toward the end, when her zombie husband Danny (Graham Sibley) has killed all the cops and their friends and is looking around the house for her, Denise is seen cleaning off her makeup and putting on a nice, red dress -- a clear reference to something that happened during an earlier scene in a restaurant.
Newly married couple, Denise(Tracy Coogan)& Danny(Graham Sibley)face a major unusual crisis that will certainly test their love for one another..he is infected with blood he consumed when a zombie, who emerged mysteriously from the sea as they were laying on the beach, vomits in his mouth.
I found it entertaining though and hope that Tracy finds new roles as her acting was good and I look forward to more movies from David Gebroe.