FIDO: He’s not a dog~he’s a Zombie

Ok, so I am pretty convinced that Bob the Enzyte guy is the guy who plays the dad on FIDO. I'm too lazy to look it up on Google so if anyone out there in cyberspace could confirm or deny this for me accurately, please do so as it is starting to drive me insane in my obsessive ponderings..... he's probably not, but I'm convinced he is.

Anyway, FIDO is a Canadian Zombie comedy directed by Andrew Currie, a more or less unknown director outside of his immediate family. I must confess though, that I am very glad he introduced himself.

Cause & Effect

Years ago the Earth passed through a cloud of space dust which resulted in the reanimation of the dead. The also developed an insatiable desire for human flesh. Thus the Zombie War began, with the living struggling for survival against the dead. In the aftermath, a corporation known as ZomCon was born.

ZomCon is a revolutionary corporation who defeated legions of undead in the Zombie War, and ultimately engineered their domestication, making them a productive asset to society as industrial workers and domestic servants. The key to Zombie domestication is a snazzy collar that renders the zombie subservient and complacent - as long as the collar doesn't malfunction, that is.

The movie focuses on the little town of 1950's Willard, and Timmy Robinson, an 11 year old who gets picked on at school, ignored by his father, and pretty much has no friends.

Timmy's family is about the only one in Willard who doesn't have a zombie as a servant and when ZomCon's head of security moves in next door, Timmy's mother feels pressured to "fit in" and brings home a zombie servant, much to Timmy's fathers disapproval.

Result

When the Robinson's new zombie servant saves Timmy from the bullies at school, Timmy finds he has a new best friend and names him FIDO (Lassie would have been more fitting, but being as Lassie was a girl, I'm thinking FIDO works fine.) Unfortunately however when Fido's collar malfuncions, he proceeds to eat a cranky old wench, and Timmy has to deal with the bloody remains.

Not wanting to have this unfortunate event cause FIDO to have to go back to ZomCon, Timmy cleans him up and hides the "evidence" by severing the victims head and burying the body in the park's flowerbed. Sadly though, the clean up comes too late as a snowball effect of people turned zombie becomes harder and harder to hide.

Conclusion

FIDO is a satirical spin on modern day zombie movies, but it also offers us a movie with heart and hope. Hope that zombies can exist in modern day society as a part of the family, and hope that family values, although somewhat slightly askew, still exist in a world gone mad.

Recommendation

FIDO is definitely worth watching. In my case, it will probably end up in my drawer of go-to movies but thats mostly because I really dig flicks not of the norm.

It's rare to find a movie that can mix zombies, nostalgia, and kids with guns, and leave you feeling happy you watched it. That's what FIDO did for me. It even brought a tear or two to my eyes. And for me, that makes for a movie definitely worth the cheese.