brutal relax [2010]

mr oliveras is told by his doctor that he needs to delaminate, de-stress, relax, go on vacation like a normal person would do, and above all, do not get agitated.

thus starts this terrific spanish short. mr oliveras goes to the beach and does relax. the usual crowd of beachcombers are also present: families sunning themselves, young men and women preening, picnics and a general air of holiday. mr oliveras is doing good too. a little odd because he shows up in his underwear instead of a bathing suit and promptly sits in a mud puddle and smears himself with mud.

he's good because he's got his tunes playing on a walkman and he's on vacation dammit! all's well until. . .a horde of green zombies rise from the sea and kills everyone in their path. mr oliveras blithely does not notice the carnage happening around him as long as his tunes are playing. but when his walkman gets a hiccup mr oliveras blames the zombies and cleans up the beach.

this short is a hilarious take on the zombie sub-genre. if the filmmakers tip their hand too much to peter jackson's 2nd feature comedy splatter-fest, dead-alive [1992], oh well. this spanish piece is almost as fun to watch. the gore is heavy but very cartoonish. it's played for laughs as most of the props look like props and i think is intended to be that way.

there is something great happening in world horror cinema right now. sweden, norway, france and spain, for instance, are all countries not known, until the past 10 years or so, for horror movies, are presently creating fantastic films. these countries are making up for lost ground. u.s. horror is sort of in the doldrums. but why matter, when there are still good movies being made. besides we are in the era of globalization. are we not all citizens of the world.

it's almost summer. time to hit the beach, glop on the sunblock, get the bbq going and watch a very tense man blow off a bit of steam by taking back the beach from a band of feral zombies. if you are in the mood to watch this short just click the link at the top of this review. relax and remind yourself, it's only a movie. . .it's only a movie. . .it's only a movie. . .