It is a performances centric movie

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Havana is infected by zombies! A group of unlikely heroes fights back. JUAN OF THE DEAD is a zombie flick with a distinctly Cuban twist, making fun of stereotypes surrounding the attitude of the country's people, as well as the political situation.The Cuban aspect is, to me, what makes this movie stand out from many other zombie comedies. Unfortunately, I have a problem with sluggish and lazy heroes... because they usually make for slow plots that just trod along without an inherent goal or a sense of conflict. Moreover, if your heroes don't seem to feel fear, then the audience doesn't usually feel it either. The movie's demise is its lack of purpose, with a story that only cares about creating opportunities for jokes.Lovers of the Z genre will like some of the depictions of the devastated streets, which are pretty darn cool. The gore factor is moderate with some CGI, as well some practical effects. A few deaths are hilarious but other than that the movie focuses on jokes and its (relatively lovable) characters. This movie has a heart, but it's bogged down by its lack of a good script and a genuine sense of suspense.

Totally worth a watch.Just watched Juan of the dead and enjoyed this zombie-com with its tongue in cheek. the laughs are original in the fact this isn't trying to spoof other films to shows but the genre itself.From Juan setting up the business with a tag line "we kill your loved ones" or the muscle man who feints at the sight of blood or the army "rescue" that's fails on every level.So much better than walking with the dead.Also this film has one of the best mass zombie slaying scenes I've ever seen, reminds me of the mirror ball scene in from dusk til dawn.Watch and enjoy this little Cuban gem.

It is rare that a film combines, satire, parody, thrills, scary zombies, and deadpan humor. Such is the film Juan of the Dead.Plot is simple. Zombies try to take over Cuba. But the government says they are "dissidents" created by the Americans to undermine Cuba. In a very clever film, the director, Alejandro Bruques, takes us on a fantasy ride of zombie threats and humor with many political points along the way.Several island residents form a motley crew of a trans gurl, a muscle bound dude, a hot babe and a guy named "California", is just the beginning of zombie mayhem.They even open a business, "we kill your loved one" to earn a few extra bucks off the zombies...Cuban style.The budget is not mentioned in the film overview, but I bet they really made a very low budge stretch quite a bit. From the beginning to end credits it is a delight. Every film student should see this movie to see what you can do with imagination and not the fancy cameras profiled in American media.Their first kill has a harpoon go through a zombie to kill an old lady standing right behind the zombie. Ooops! A wooden oar weapon is so decrepit that we would never use it as an oar. There is also the famous car/boat that many refuges use to flee Cuba used to escape the onslaught of zombies. In one scene, an attack by numerous zombies is thwarted by a single harpoon and a "rally around the flag pole". Heh, heh.A slow motion arrow is an tick toward Matrix.The film introduces a stereo type American and since the crew does not speak English, Juan introduces himself by saying "My name is Juan". Get it. It beginning Spanish class the first thing you learn is "Yo me llamo Juan". Very funny.They spoof Bruce Lee with a freeze frame at the end. Ending credits are terrific. There are subtitles so get ready and just read them.The ending credits are really inventive as is the entire film. I have never seen it in a bargain bin, so I will try and make my own copy from a TV showing. I recommend this highly as a very funny, highly inventive, well shot film about the zombie Apocalypse.

No major spoilers here. It's a friggin' zombie film!This refreshing Cuban-Spanish zombie comedy will definitely annoy every McDonalds-munching day-dreaming couch-potato Western-Marxist hypocrite, for it does not glorify the mankind-loathing decadence of rabid Communism or its psychopathic coffee-mug iconic perpetrators – as 95% of all movies with a political message do. In fact, JOTD is an obvious bashing of Castro's Cuba and its 60 year-long downward spiral, marked by poverty, misery and brainwashing. Speaking of which, brainwashed liberals/avatards and nerdy left-wing film-students, so spoiled by decades of watching only their political views being represented in movies, will be quite surprised to know that the image of Che Guevara – for once – isn't used on the big-screen to symbolize freedom.Havana is in the midst of a zombapocalypse, and the tyrannical regime is incompetent to deal with it. What they are marginally successful in is launching a media campaign whose objective is to portray and label the zombies as "imperialist dissidents", part of a US ploy to destroy the country. Hence the word "zombie" is used only once, by the Bible-hugging foreigner; instead, the living dead are referred to jokingly by the survivors as "dissidents". "Forget America, this time we have a real enemy."Unlike what you'd normally expect from a horror comedy, nearly all of the funny moments are dialog-related. As a result, JOTD has most of its highlights in the first half-hour, much of which isn't dominated by zombies. The second half-hour sees a quality-drop of sorts, since that is when most of the cartoon violence takes place; after all, there are only so many ways in which you can kill a zombie, and the majority of those we've already seen in many other such movies. Although, to be fair, JOTD does provide moments of zombie-slashing/physical originality as well, with some rather fun gore, and can outshine nearly every zombie comedy with ease. The last half-hour is a marked improvement over the middle, with a lot more dialog again, hence more of those wonderful quips by the two male leads.The characters, even though just part of a silly zombie flick, appear more real than most characters in your typical American dramas. They are not morally perfect; in fact, they have many flaws, and aside from Juan's daughter all of them are a bit dodgy, to put it mildly. This too is a refreshing approach, steering well from the American/British clichés of the morally squeaky-clean (hence absurd/unreal) hero.Speaking of what's real and what isn't, JOTD has another essential thing going for it: it does NOT look like a modern Western horror film at all. What I mean by this is that JOTD doesn't have that computer-software-ruined mono-colour filtered/plastic downbeat/depressing look that we've been cursed with in the past decade or so when it comes to American, British and French horror films. (Kudos to the rare exceptions.) JOTD looks very refreshingly real, the colours are stark, vivid, vibrant, and most importantly - they are all there: it's not just green or blue or yellow. That way, the movie serves as a nostalgic reminder of what Western horror films (more-or-less) used to look like once upon a time back in the 70s and early 80s, at a time when a movie's look wasn't decided on some idiot's laptop, but by the quality of the cinematographer and the director.If anyone is worried that a Cuban movie might be a little lacking in the special-effects department, have no fear: the effects are great, as are the distant shots of Havana burning.The fact that the female cast is both beautiful and sexy (Andrea Duro and Blanca Rosa Blanco) is just the icing on the cake.Forget "Shaun of the Dead", this is the one to watch.