Supelice
Dreadfully Boring
Billie Morin
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Cissy Évelyne
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
jessicacoco2005
A metaphor on the denigration of socialism in Cuba: You can't maintain socialism when government bureaucrats are incompetent and the population is predatory and out for themselves. Juan is a down and out loser. He hustles money here and there in whatever way possible. His daughter, Camilla is stopping over in Cuba before rejoining her mother in Miami. Her mother had taken her to Spain with her to start a new life after leaving her husband, Juan.All Juan thinks he wants is to desperately reconnect with his daughter, who looks down on him as a selfish, self-centered loser. However, an epidemic of Zombieism takes places and as all Hell breaks loose, Camilla is forced to stay. As Juan sees the island of socialism he lives in degenerate and collapse, he turns to capitalism for salvation and begins his new business: Juan of the Dead, "we kill your family for a price." Along with Lazaro, the local pervert, California the thief, La China, the transsexual along with her Big, buff boyfriend, they all try to make money in the chaos. Will Juan reconnect with his daughter? Will Juan and his compatriots realize that there are things more precious than money? Are the Zombies really dissenters? Does the government really have everything under-control.
Sorpse
the characters are good, the gore/kills are all good, they use different cool weapons but the movie is still missing that something it needs to become a good movie. I don't feel it was a waist of time or that it is a bad movie it just didn't quite do it for me. There is lots of tongue and cheek humour and a couple memorable moments but it never really made me laugh out loud or have anything over the top cool (the under water zombies were pretty cool though). It was kind of stupid humour but not quite crude enough for adults so it seems kind of lame. juan of the dead was OK and I could see if there are people out there who would enjoy it more than I did.
amesmonde
During a zombie apocalypse Juan, a hustling Cuban, sets up a business with a couple of unlikelies and charges Havana's local residents for cleaning up their undead problem which clashes with winning his daughters respect.Director Alejandro Brugués delivers a comedy injected zombie affair, which subtexts the political and social issues of Cuba and highlights the irony of the zombie mythos, including a stab, fast and slow walking dead films. It reminiscent in part of Rec (2007), Shaun of the Dead (2004) in tone and The Dead (for distinctive atmosphere).Alexis Díaz de Villegas is not your stereotype looking hero and plays the everyman Juan perfectly. Jorge Molina is Lazaro his overweight sidekick who steals some of the scenes. Notable is Andros Perugorría as the hero type who is also the love interest of Juan's zombie kicking daughter Camila(Andrea Duro). There are some homages thrown in to other virus flicks. The special make-up effects are excellent but the digital ones are a mixed bag, that said, the collapsing tower block and the helicopter crash are worthy of note.It captures the unscrupulous, non-sequential social issues - especially murders, this may turn some viewers off as the characters can be quite unsavory at times. Nevertheless Juan de los Muertos is a Spanish language film (and writer Alejandro Brugués even manages to jibe at the language differences in an amusing underground car park segment)which has it's own identity and atmosphere due to real locations captured wonderfully by cinematography Carles Gusi which gives it its own feel.Those looking for social commentary in the vein of Romero's dead films will be overloaded. If you're looking for plenty of blood, decapitations, head bashings and zombie comedy action this also ticks all the boxes.As a side note keep watching for the comic credits that finish off the narrative. Overall, Juan of the Dead will have you thinking about Cuba long after the credits roll.
JvH48
I saw this film as part of the Imagine film festival (SF/fantasy/horror) Amsterdam 2012. The title of this film may need some explanation (this is not a spoiler). It refers to the name Juan invented for his service offering "Juan of the dead. We kill your beloved ones. How can I help you?", this being the spoken announcement when answering the phone. In your mind you hear the text "(and earn money)" hidden behind this message.I suspect many things in this film to be intentionally satirical. For instance, TV news often accuses dissidents, paid by US, to covertly causing the reported troubles. On the other hand, I observe several halfway missed opportunities to expose the army (a helicopter crashes on town hall dome), and ditto ridicule the police (a policeman assigned to collect sane people for evacuation, defeats the very purpose by including one visibly affected person). Can it be that satire on civil servants is frowned upon in Cuba?More on this subject is that we see elevators fail, expired medicine, civilization generally looking outdated, and more such things that may be intentional satire (or not). And finally, we don't see anyone busy with useful work. Instead, we see a lot of alcohol and people doing absolutely nothing.In case you are not interested in an inside view in Cuba as of today, nor making fun of Cuban society as it is nowadays, you better be on the lookout for a different zombie movie. I don't think that zombies were meant to be the main course on the menu, only a side issue to have some sort of story line. Anyway, Juan can be of help when you want to get rid of an member of the family, be it because seemingly infected with zombie blood, or can better be eased out of the way for other reasons.All in all, the humor and the satire (intended or not) make this film to what it is, not the zombies nor the special effects. Far from perfect, but it makes us aware of a film industry presence in Cuba that we neglected until today. This film ranked 7th for the audience award, with an average score of 8.25/10.
