BURYING THE EX

2014 / Director. Joe Dante.
Review by Jarret Gahan.

On the day Max (Anton Yelchin) intends to break-up with his clingy and over-controlling girlfriend Evelyn (Ashley Greene), she dies before his eyes in a sudden traffic accident. Before taking her last breath, Max vows they "will always be together", a promise he soon regrets once she rises from the grave mere weeks after passing. Unfortunately for Evelyn, Max has already taken up with new girl Olivia (Alexandra Daddario) but she's prepared to fight for her man even if it means having to devour a person or two along the way.

Despite a noticeably lower budget than filmmaker Joe Dante's previous films (with exception to THE HOLE), BURYING THE EX doesn't cheap out on the things that genuinely matter, a hilariously tight screenplay by first-time feature screenwriter Alan Trezza, solid though traditional Dante fashioned animated performances by the leads particularly Greene, impressive special effects make-up and proficient direction by the maestro himself. BURYING THE EX has Dante stamped all over it with references both subtle and blatant to genre luminaries and their landmarks (such as Val Lewton, George A. Romero, Boris Karloff and even Joseph Green), the unmistakable balance of morbidity and amusement, an exaggerated reality not too dissimilar to a modern fairy-tale, a richly layered score by Joseph LoDuca (The Evil Dead trilogy) and the welcomed obligatory cameo by legendary character actor Dick Miller (Gremlins, The Terminator, The Howling).

Admittedly the concept of Dante helming a zom-rom-com wasn't initially appealing but the reality of Dante directing anything trumps everything and what Dante manages to do with BURYING THE EX is prove that there's still life left in this bizarre sub-genre yet.

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