Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies

"What we have is a problem with the damn climate. Every year it's getting warmer. So we can soon forget about skiing, you know. It's like the Arabs losing their oil. "

Frankly, the film title was the only reason why I wanted to see this movie. Admit it. Such a film title appeals to the imagination. You know up front you can expect an über-ridiculous horror full of kitsch and cheap horror effects. Eventually I was expecting a similar result as in a Bavarian porn from years ago. These were satirical soft porn films where you could admire a shapely bosom from a lusty Bavarian farmer's daughter occasionally. But otherwise it was merely suggestive. Even the movie titles were more exciting and more titillating than the content of the film itself. The same goes for "Attack of the lederhosen zombies" . It's obviously a satire on the zombie genre and focuses more on the comedy part than on the horror section.

I was pleasantly surprised by the opening scene with a wide view over the Austrian Alps. Unfortunately, this panoramic view looks slicker than the gore, bloody zombie scenes at a later stage. The makers of this Austrian zombie satire don't like wasting time though. So you don't have to wait half an hour before the first infected victims appear. This time it isn't a uncontrolled virus that's the cause of the epidemic, but a chemical substance which has been brewed by the local ski-lift owner to produce artificial snow. Who invents such stuff? When an interested investor attends a demonstration, this goes awfully wrong causing him to swallow the chemical crap. Well, and this is the beginning of a lot of trouble.

A piece of advice. Don't take it all too seriously. But then again, which zombie movie should you really take seriously? To be honest, this is the first time I thought the combination of humor and horror wasn't that bad. It's obvious that the emphasis is more on creating comic situations than making the film scary. It isn't really creepy or exciting at all. And stating that this is a real thigh-slapper (which is customary with those lederhosen ) is also a bit exaggerated. There are some chuckle moments (that zombie with those ski poles getting stuck in a stairwell) and some sly tongue-in-cheek jokes ("It's all downhill from here"). But don't expect more.

The only acting performance I could appreciate was that of Margarete Tiesel as the voluptuous Rita. The protagonists are clearly not recruited because of their acting skills, but rather because they know how to snowboard, I guess. The most irritating piece was the dance-scene with Steve (Laurie Calvert) and Branka (Gabriela Marcinkova) demonstrating their best dance moves. Kind of funny but the fragment was a little too lengthy. In terms of makeup used on the creatures, this obviously couldn't match the zombie movies with a significantly higher budget. The gore scenes, however, were gross enough with a multitude of spraying blood, decapitations and winding intestines (although they looked plastic). Unfortunately, however, the zombie deer looked like the work of a taxidermist. "Attack of the zombies lederhosen" is not a sickening zombie-movie, but tries to be unique in the current stream of zombie movies we have to swallow the last few years. It's not the type of film one would say "It's so bad, it turns out to be good". But it's a close call.

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OK, maybe I am a little biased, because I am from Austria (hello Rainhard Fendrich...), but I don't get the negative reviews. So I would like to raise the attention to an overlooked point.

This is a horror comedy and I fear that either the dubbed version lost a lot of the funny moments or maybe the sense of this typical Austrians humor wasn't broad enough.

E.g. the drinking scene with the Russian investor: If you know a little bit about the country's history AND the actual consumption of alcohol it is perfectly set up.

So if you don't get the laughs it leaves you with a very simple story and solid handmade SFXs.

For me it's the perfect mix of humor, gore, fun and nice ideas.

I hope for more genre movies (action, thrillers, horror) made in Austria.

What would you get if you took elements from "The Thing", "Shaun of the Dead", "Cabin Fever" and "Night of the Living Dead" and mixed it all together? Well, I would say that you'd end up with something like "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies".

This is a zombie comedy that takes place in the Alps. Here you have two snowboarders and one of their girlfriends stuck at a mountainside tavern, unable to reach the bottom of the mountain and thus not being able to get to transportation, as night falls upon the mountain. However, an experiment to create fake snow has unleashed a deadly infection which turns people into a ravaging zombies, and the night has just begun...

Right, this is a fairly straight forward, albeit a bit too generic storyline. Sure, it was entertaining, especially because of its originality. But it just didn't really bring anything new or exciting to the zombie genre, and that was sort of a hindrance to the movie.

The acting in "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" was quite alright. They had a group of fairly diverse talents on the cast list, so there is bound to be something for just about everyone here.

As for the special effects, which are all-important to a zombie movie. I will say that the special effects team behind "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" stepped up to their task and delivered quite well. The effects were good, and the zombies looked good. And there was just enough gore here as well to keep most gorehounds happy as well.

"Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" did suffer from being a quite generic zombie movie. And by that I mean that you will not see anything here that you haven't seen in other zombie movies already. On that account, the movie lacked creative thinking, and that permeated into all layers of the movie. However, don't get me wrong here, "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" is still an enjoyable and watchable movie, it just didn't stand out in the genre.

I really enjoyed the zombie deer, they were hilarious, and they looked quite cool as well. I think it was a real shame that they didn't opt to utilize them more and incorporate them more into the movie and give them more screen time.

"Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" scores a mediocre five out of ten stars rating, because of its generic nature. It was a shame that they failed to bring anything new and refreshing to the zombie genre, because "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" really had a bigger potential.

Horror/comedy fans can rest easy knowing that Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies director Dominik Hartl pulled off an incredible feat: delicately walking the line between horror and comedy. The humor in this film is truly humorous (slapstick is not the name of the game here, thankfully, but there is a little thrown in for good measure). Likewise, the horror is truly horrendous in the best possible way—dramatic character deaths, gory zombie dismemberment, and painful moral decisions see to that. As the film is foreign, it also possesses a unique trait that further distinguishes it from less inspired contemporary films: the humor is intellectually funny. It is evident that actual thought went into not only the jokes themselves, but also their timing and story integration. It is entirely possible to laugh out loud without even looking at the screen; listening to the words is often simply enough. Lederhosen Zombies earns the "comedy" in its horror/comedy genre label; if you like other cerebral horror comedies (like Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead or Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness) this film deserves a spot on your list.

Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies is an exhilarating, fast paced gore-fest that plays with the troupes of a classic genre and elevates them to delightful, satirical bliss. The classic set up all horror fans love are here! The director playfully twists them into an entertaining, high wire act of comedy-horror that real horror film fans will surely appreciate.

The film is about a cocky ski star who must step up to do what's right when a zombie outbreak begins in the Austrian Alps (no thanks to a well meaning Austrian scientist) and simultaneously tries to win his strong willed girlfriend back. Director Dominik Hartl wisely takes advantage of his snowy locations with the assistance of his cinematographer, using anamorphic lenses to add gorgeous scope to his setting with care that aspiring cinematographers will surely take copious notes of. The actors have A-game with their willingness to take every situation their characters experience with levity and appreciated focus. This film has some surprising delights that range from classical music appreciating dancing zombies (reminiscent of Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers) to the chic and sleek snowboarding of Steve (Laurie Calvert) that will having you cheering for the heroes and excited for the winter olympics!

I thought this was a great addition to my ever expanding film collection. Any REAL fans of cult and retro horror films looking for something new and fresh with incredible visuals, hilarious fast paced action, and of course, hungry Austrian zombies should definitely check this one out. It's killer!