Harold's Going Stiff

Harold (Stan Rowe) is an old age pensioner, suffering from O.R.D. or the onset of rigor disease. He can't get out and about as much and gets forgetful. Then there's the stiffness. He can't even touch his nose. What is the ultimate effects of O.R.D.? Well, it turns you... into a zombie. And it's affecting more and more UK males. Enter Penny, (Sarah Spencer) a cheerful, dedicated but lonely nurse, as his care helper. She'll engage in therapy with him, to delay the disease's effects. However, during the onset of the disease's later stages, loss of mental faculties and violent behaviour is inevitable. Already there have been reports of attacks, which prompts a trio of baseball bat wielding vigilantes to patrol the area, taking down any errant zombie they happen to find. Meanwhile, Harold is still getting by, and starting a tentative friendship with Penny. Will a cure be found? Or will Harold have to be taken out like so many before him?

I just caught this at the Edinburgh Dead By Dawn festival, and all I can say is... wow. Harold's Going Stiff is the most original zombie film I've personally seen, and I've seen quite a few. Shot in a realistic mockumentary style and not precisely a horror per se, it's a character driven cross section of genres, from horror, to (very funny) comedy, to sad bittersweet drama. It also highlights the very real horror of growing old, lonely and with a loss of dignity, with some poignant scenes.

I have always thought that having a very very low budget is no excuse to make a bad film. Harold's Going Stiff simply confirms this opinion for me.

A highly, highly recommended film, with some great performances, laugh- out-loud scenes, as well as some astutely observed poignancy, it should be sought out by anyone.

I really hope this film gets a DVD release as it thoroughly deserves one and director Keith Wright should hold his head up proud, as this is one of the best British "horrors" in the past three years, and a very welcome return to form for the UK.

9/10, brilliant film.

Yes, it's got an original theme and I'm open to any new ideas in the Zombie genre so of course I gave it a try and stuck with it to the very lackluster end. The name says it all, for what it's worth it was funny in the beginning that being the only part that got a serious laugh out of me, the rest of the film has bits of tongue in cheek comedy throughout. It wasn't exciting at all, as it had no "real" action or anything spooky or scary, also zero gore as the story leans more towards a "feel good" message. The plot is simple, a small distant village has a sudden epidemic of the town's men contracting this condition making their joints stiff & eventually making them dumb & violent(so of course they are dubbed zombies). The local police allow these "zombies" to be hunted down and murdered by anyone that feels the need(ridiculous). The bulk of the film is watching an old man & an overweight nurse spend time together forming a relationship while they cut back & forth with news of the current events & the trio of moronic "zombie" hunters bashing people in the head that they determined were in need of it. It was slow & pretty boring so I don't recommend paying to see it & I'm a die-hard zombie fan, but if you like the zom/com genre and have time to kill then I suppose it would be a decent choice. I give it a generous 5/10

I'm afraid I'm one of those old misery guts types who rarely feels compelled to write good reviews on this website but, when confronted with a stinker, am happy to bash out a 1-star slating!

Let me redress this for once by joining the other fans on here in recommending this film wholeheartedly - not just to horror fans but to film fans of all stripes.

What kills film after film for me is lousy writing - you can chuck all the money in the world at a film but a rotten script will sink it (yes, I'm looking at you Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!).

Harold's Going Stuff is a terrific story made on a budget that probably wouldn't cover half a days catering on the aforementioned turkey (Yes, I know - time to let it go!).

The acting here is tremendous too- keep an eye out in particular for Sarah Spencer who has charm in spades and is a star in the making.

Highly recommended.

Great to watch a British film which has been filmed entirely in Yorkshire. Makes a change from the usual Zombie gore fest and actually has a bit of a touching side to it. Watched it with some great laughs and saw the serious side towards the end. Found myself laughing at the main character to start with and felt immersed into the plot quite quickly. If you want Murder, Blood, Guts and complete gore, this probably isn't the film you're looking for. If you want something a little different, you should definitely give it a try. It's appealed to my Wife as well as I've always had difficulty in managing to get her to watch more than 20 minutes of a film without getting up or talking, she managed to sit quietly for the whole film.

there are two ways to make a zombie movie:

1. round up a bunch of people. cover them in oatmeal and red corn syrup. have them wear dirty clothes. . and tell them to go "UUUUUUUAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" over and over again. oh, and one last thing: throw away the story. it'll just get in the way of making an unoriginal, mediocre zombie flick that we've all seen a million times.

or

2. set out to make an original movie with compelling story telling that just happens to also have zombies thrown in the mix.

Harold's Going Stiff falls into option #2. this is by far one of THE most unique zombie movies ever made. there's strange bit of irony with most zombie movies. i'd say about 90% of all zombie movies are pretty much the same thing. it's like people don't really care about making a good and original movie. they do the same thing over and over again. tell the same story over and over again. use the same 'zombie' effects over and over again. over and over and over again. it never stops. the filmmakers become mindless zombies making a movie about zombies. over and over and over again.

but it's worth it. it's worth enduring the monotony of non-stop mediocre zombie movies to have something like this come along. the hordes of zombie movies that are out there are a reflection of how generic something can get when milked dry, and cashed in.

it seems to me, those involved in the making of this movie aren't doing it because it's a hip and easy way to make a movie. they're doing it because they appreciate the craft that goes into storytelling and put it to good use to make a great film.

calling this a 'zombie movie' is like saying Forrest Gump is a movie about some guy who's a little slow. this movie embraces storytelling. those involved with telling this story used their brains to do it in a creative, fresh manner. to put meaningful thought behind what they're doing. and not go for the usual(often typical) milling around and doing the same ol' thing using very little brain activity. as little as, say, zombies.