To start, I would like to express my gratitude toward the Co-writer, Actor, and Director David Zuckerman for providing me with early access to an online screening of his feature length horror comedy, “President’s Day” (which should not be mistaken for Chris LaMartina’s slasher film with the same title). In President’s Day, a group of doomed teenagers goes on an excursion to a woodside cabin to celebrate the holiday. Soon after they arrive, outsider Max (Chelsea Taylor Leech) reads out loud from an old journal, which summons a zombie version of President’s Day. For the group’s survival, they need to summon the demon spirit of John Wilkes Booth (Michael Minto). The film includes stars Monica Ricketts, David Zuckerman, Brittany RosOff, Jud Zumwalt, Benjamin Goodwin, Dax Hill, and Mike Ostroski. Zuckerman (who looks like fellow actor Ben Feldman) has been in the film industry for five years, but this is my first exposure to his work. At the moment in horror, zombies are the current trend.
While I write this review, I can only assume that everyone is still trying to process the latest episode of The Walking Dead. Zombies are not only a popular topic of discussion in a TV subgenre, but zombies also seem to frequently feature in Horror/Comedy. I wouldn’t consider myself a huge lover zombie zombie-related content, but I still try and experience as much of it as I can.
The screenplay of the movie began with a book, Yes, A Book written by none other than the actors of the movie Goodwin, Zuckerman, and Zumwalt. The device that brings the apocalypse is an old journal, close enough to a book and I’m sure they take a few notes from Sam Raimi’s cult classic “Evil Dead”. I’m sure the film was not the first to use a cabin in the woods as a setting, but I am sure all of us have a mental picture of a horror movie with a secluded cabin, so we can not help but draw that comparison. The opening credits are personally my favorite, they are so much more captivating and informative than others I have seen, portraying character motion in black the background is the US flag. The cabin serves as lovely location, especially since the sightings mid change in the shoot (snow still about). To top it off, the frames were beautifully crafted most of the internal shots were taken in what I can only imagine were small rooms. Some of the choices are pretty diverse, the car clip was captured so perfectly, and not to mention the color grading that is pleasant and easy on the eyes.
Almost every piece of dialogue has some level of consistency, which felt pleasant, including the ADR. I also liked the piano ballad during the touchy moment between Lilly (Ricketts) and Jake (Zuckerman).
Our group of high-schoolers is formed by your average assortment of horror movie cliches or stereotypes. There’s a tutor plus a straight A student in a single package. And then there’s her film snob “boyfriend” (Dax Hill), who I say “maybe” because it’s never entirely clear and she does not show any affection toward him either. Then there’s the blockhead jock, Brett (played by very funny Jud Zumwalt) with his bimbo cheerleader girlfriend Ashley (Brittany Rosoff) and tagalong, ‘the loner’ sister, Max (Leech). Completing the set is cool and the motorcycle riding Jake, a nerd’s king Ruttigger (played by Benjamin Goodwin), who is Brett’s key to exiting high school and therefore the poor world. The performances are decent to good, but most of it is cringy. Campy is a kinder word, I guess. Monica and Brittany look stunning and here more realistic than any other actresses. It is fair to say that everyone does everything, and yet it is irrefutable that Jud Zumwalt is the best thing about President’s Day. Unlike other actors, this man was destined for comedy and I don’t at all find it strange that he was a Co-Writer in this film. His take on Brett was freaking hilarious.
His dialogue is delivered in the style of Cartman from South Park, mixed with Ted Logan from Bill & Ted’s and the over the top action sequences he performs are reminiscent of what you see in Adam McKay’s Step Brothers. It’s a lot of fun, both intentionally and unintentionally. In fact, during one scene where he runs naked, David is so good at breaking character that he nearly laughs (this is a fun easter egg).
Zuckerman’s film has some excellent comedic wordplays. From the start, Brett’s antics has you scratching your head and asking, “Why am I laughing at this?” Irrespective of the reason, the good thing is that you are (haha). His line, “She’s got an oral exam but I promise she’s coming,” is one of many humdingers in the film. The best part of Brett’s banter is with Ruttigger, who has a hideous hairdo resembling a dead skunk along with Molly Ringwald’s ”Sixteen Candles” do. As far as humor reaches its strongest is here. There’s also some funny riffs toward the end talking about the logic of running away in horror movies. Two characters are trying to get away from zombie Abraham Lincoln (Jordan Leach) and they’re like, “Why didn’t we stop going towards the edge. Why did we take it to the edge? We could have just turned” (haha). While there are a handful of decent practical effects in President’s Day, the more commendable attribute of the film is that it leans toward comedy instead of violence. The highlight was in impressive axe “kills” with the bloody aftermath.
All that could compete with it was a terrible body double and a painfully obvious wig, both of which were poorly fitted on the actor. In another part where someone shot a gun at close range, visible squibs were used, but I still appreciate the effort considering it’s a low-budget film. Both that and the props which were poorly fabricated, if you can call them that, give a level of charm to this little indie flick, at least in my mind.
A young man appears to be frantically writing in a journal. The voiceover at the beginning of the film is a bit too loud when compared to the background noise. Certain musical tells are utilized basically to shock the audience in a way, which even though are overly loud, given how the film isn’t supposed to be suspenseful, works largely. Personally, I feel the majority of the scores is extremely lackluster and is meant to serve as backtrack to avoid too much of deafening silence dialogue. The most significant disappointment of President’s Day is how its loaded with shallow CG, blood and gore, unceremonious deaths, and zombies. It goes without saying that this is an independent film, I certainly do not expect to see everything I want on screen, but come on, it’s zombies. Quite a few of the kills take place off screen, and even the few pieces of repercussions that are shown are few and far between. Sprays of virtual blood are one of the worst looking things in film, especially when they can easily be achieved through practical effects.
It is common to want the separate VFX elements, such as gunfire, to be blended in with the CG blood so that there is continuity within the scene. Trust me when I say that the bulk of fans prefer practical blood effects. If we get that, we can overlook mediocre effects. There is one small dialogue teaching tutorial clip I managed to pick up. In fact, I managed to pick up one minor slip up in the dialogue delivery of a single actor, Dax Hill. This is not such a big deal as it is quite common from actors who have little to no experience.
Some parts of the acting are not so great and other parts are a bit too flashy for my taste, but it is really personal preference. Goodwin’s voice started to irritate me after some time, especially when, as they say, ‘the shit hits the fan’ and Ruttigger’s frantic manner cranks up a notch. Rososs has a spontaneous duel with one of the group toward the end of the film and some of the delivery there feels a little overdone too. He only has one sole role, that of the tollbooth operator, but he completely misses the mark on his parody of characters for Tom Bower and Tracey Walter. The only reason the entire scene isn’t a complete bust is due to Zumwalt’s ability to rescue the scene with even more of Brett’s absurd backchat. In truth, the only Jud scene that overstayed its welcome was the protracted shout to his sister for a beer. Besides a couple of amusing lines featuring James K. Polk (Ostroski) who is exasperated with the people who don’t know who he is, the presidential stuff was dull.
Much of the second part of the film is filled with different zombie presidents making jokes at each other’s expenses and that feels like filler because it is not funny at all. Again, there seems to be even more of a lull when Booth (Minto) decides to show his face, doing his utmost to save the film, but at this point, it is already too late. Not that I have any complaints towards Z-list actors masquerading as presidents because they did their best but in reality, the fun had disappeared by that point.
“President’s Day” by David Zuckerman is an intriguing, yet peculiar, combination of zombie-themed parody and horror. David appears to understand very well what is required to produce something of high value; from the intro credits to the adorable cabin and its surroundings, which looks stunning. The camera techniques and shot choices are made competently, and most of the audio is pleasing to hear. The hackneyed and flat characters are a blatant decoy, with Brett the dickhead being above the rest in “watchability” Brett does so much that his performance is greater than the character intended and in the first half of the movie, there’s more than enough funny banter (which I would assume Jud helped write). I appreciate the effort put into the practical effects used, but was just left wishing for more. The costume and makeup effects were better than Jud’s, but the score was missing. The film didn’t have a distinct score like Star Wars or Harry Potter, and there was a volume problem with some of the sound and cues (very easily adjusted). The acting dips every now and then, but the first 50 minutes are extremely engaging. Unfortunately, everything after that goes sort of downhill.
The interactions involving all the presidents get a bit tiresome and the last twenty minutes feels very dragged because of the absence of bloodshed on-screen (at least for me). There is no question that this trio of writers are talented and I am curious if they will try to step into the realm of horror and comedy again. In fact, I would have liked to see Zumwalt’s additions into Jim Hosking’s “The Greasy Strangler” script. Well, to cut to the chase, I think I prefer LaMartina’s version of “President’s Day”, but if you appreciate the holiday and happens to be inclined that way, keep an eye out for this one, because Zombie fans may appreciate it more than I did.
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To watch more movies like PRESIDENT’S DAY (2010) visit hurawatch.