Angriff der Lederhosenzombies (Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies)

Angriff der Lederhosenzombies (Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies) is an Austrian-made comedy by Dominik Hartl. The vampire craze that gained its popularity with TV shows like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries or, more notoriously, films like the Twilight series, seems to have come to its end, only to be substituted with a fondness for the walking undead. Zombies are the “IT” thing nowadays and mainly in an amalgamated format, of which the comedy genre seems predominant.

Angriff der Lederhosenzombies is a film like that, but fails massively in its attempts. It wants to convey the grandiosity of Shaun of the Dead, but the so-called “rom-com-zom” perfection of that movie is not achieved here. It is merely a disappointing aprés-ski.

The premise is simple: Steve, Josh and Branka (Laurie Calvert, Oscar Dyekjær Giese and Gabriela Marcinková) are snowboarding fanatics who are besieged by a zombie apocalypse when, yes, a science experiment goes wrong. There is also trouble in paradise between lovers Steve and Branka, but it is a known truth that when two people are forced to combat zombies, their love is strengthened again.

The performances are, likewise, not exemplary. Only Margarete Tiesel as Rita is memorable, the rest are stilted and unconvincing, and despite the German-language title, the film is entirely spoken in intolerably fake-sounding English. If the desire is to create an English-language movie, do it with a cast that is capable of such a feat, or go with German.

Aesthetically, Angriff der Lederhosenzombies is nice, though the effects are cartoonishly gory, but in a zombie feature that is acceptable – the brains look adequate enough. What is fun, however, is the addition of the traditional Austrian Ländler dance. Although completely random, like Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen in the aforementioned Edgar Wright film, it was amusing and it totally worked.

Sadly this is no Shaun of the Dead or Warm Bodies. It is Boy Eats Girl-mediocre (but admittedly better than that movie).

Kim Varod

Angriff der Lederhosenzombies is released in selected cinemas on 28^th October 2016.

Watch the trailer for Angriff der Lederhosenzombies here: