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‘Eat Brains Love’ Review: Dir. Rodman Flender [Frightfest 2019]

Eat Brains Love review: Rodman Flender takes us back to the hey day of teen movies with the rather charming tale of teen zombies on the run. 

Image Courtesy of Clout Communications

Jake (Jake Cannavale) is a high school stoner with no drive or ambition, other than to try and snag the hottest girl in school Amanda (Angelique Rivera). After a one night stand with a random girl, he isn’t feeling too good. It turns out that he’s becoming a zombie; in this world, the virus is an elaborate STD spread by unprotected sex. His turn coincides with Amanda’s and the pair end up on the run together as another teen, psychic Cass (Sarah Yarkin) and the organisation she works for, the NCD (Necrotic Control Department), hunt them down.

In 1999 director Rodman Flender made one of the greatest teen movies of the nineties, Idle Hands. The film starred nineties heartthrob Devon Sawa as a stoner whose hand became possessed by an evil spirit. Armed with help from his two dead best friends (Seth Green and Elden Henson), he does everything in his power to stop it before it massacres everyone at the high school dance, including his girl crush (played by a then-newcomer Jessica Alba). Since then, Flender has been steadily working in the world of television and has directed episodes of shows such as The Gilmore GirlsThe OC, and Scream. Now though he turns his attention back to film with the wonderfully warmhearted zombie teen romantic comedy, Eat Brains Love. 

Image Courtesy of Clout Communications

Told from the point of view of both zombies – or Necrotic as they are called here – Jake and psychic Cass, Eat Brains Love is a lighthearted and fun watch. Those expecting the Boyle or Romeo type of monster may find themselves disappointed. Instead, Flender taps into the same vein of the zombie as the likes of Warm Bodies, Zombieland and Santa Clarita Diet. It’s a welcome respite from all the gore heavy fright flicks, and it seems the only way to differentiate yourself in the zombie genre these days is to make them nice. Within the confines of the story it works, though I’m sure there will be some zombie purists unhappy with the shift.

Eat Brains Love is a true old school high school horror comedy with just the right balance of saccharine and venom. Fans of Idle Hands will find a lot of similarities between both films, the most obvious being that Jake and Anton could almost be the same person. Both films have awesome soundtracks, and both embrace their quirky natures beautifully. Eat Brains Love doesn’t quite recreate the magic of Idle Hands though, but it’s pretty hard to compete with twenty years of repeat viewings. It is a very close second.

Eat Brains Love was reviewed at Arrow Video Frightfest 2019.

Kat Hughes is a UK born film critic and interviewer who has a passion for horror films. An editor for THN, Kat is also a Rotten Tomatoes Approved Critic. She has bylines with Ghouls Magazine, Arrow Video, Film Stories, Certified Forgotten and FILMHOUNDS and has had essays published in home entertainment releases by Vinegar Syndrome and Second Sight. When not writing about horror, Kat hosts micro podcast Movies with Mummy along with her five-year-old daughter.

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