HoopTober 8: Mosquito Takes Mandragon

Movie 8
2nd of 12 countries: UK

I was going to say that most folks probably dismissed this as a cheap imitation of Shaun of the Dead, but then I realised that not enough people would have heard of this to dismiss it. Clearly, when you name your zombie film Harold's Going Stiff, you're aiming for laughs, but in truth this movie is far more interested in being a heartwarming dramedy than pushing the comedy very hard.

Might be a good thing, because what comedy there is tends to fall a bit flat. Actually, I think the film has a little bit of an identity crisis, because it's heart really isn't in the comedy side of things. Most of the laughs are supposed to come from the small group of inept "protectors" - three losers from the small northern English town where this is set who take it upon themselves to take out these "zombies", but they're more annoying than funny - especially as they are effectively painted to be rather contemptuous. Oh, and there is a lot of people saying "Ooh, you are going stiff" which is a little bit Carry On and gets a little stale after the first couple of attempts.

The concept here is an interesting one. An epidemic of something called "Onset Rigors Disease" is hitting the males of northern England. First they find their limbs going stiff, and eventually they become ravening zombies. What's really strange though is that this is presented as an epidemic, to the point where the police are happy to allow these vigilante groups to hunt down and kill sufferers of the disease (because they are dangerous). But in the special centre for housing these zombies, there only seem to be about six of them, which hardly justifies the sudden institutional tolerance of widespread murder.

The narrative centres around Harold, a lonely senior citizen who was the first to contract the disease. But he is still in the early stages and quite normal (as the disease seems to progress much more slowly for him, for unknown reasons). He is appointed a home nurse to come and try to massage his joints, which seems to work. The nurse, Penny, is lonely herself, and these two become good friends. Unfortunately, Harold is known as the source of the disease, and the protectors have a weird desire to take him out, and it's up to Penny to try and protect him.

It's all a bit tonally all over the place, logically inconsistent and, despite some real charisma in the performances from Stan Rowe and Sarah Spencer as Harold and Penny, their relationship seems a little contrived and unearned. Still, this film is very earnest with some interesting ideas, and it does still manage to carry a fair bit of charm, for all its amateurishness. It looks like it was filmed incredibly cheaply, and given the circumstances it's not a bad effort from director Keith Wright.