BA_Harrison At a late-night diner on a remote highway, serial killer Ken (Joshua Grote) wastes waitress Rose (Maria Olsen) and kills cook Fred (Jorge Montalvo), then waits for more victims to enter the establishment. Soon enough, a bickering married couple stop for a break (Liesel Kopp and Parker Quinn), but before Ken can murdlerise his customers, local cop Duke (Larry Purtell) also calls in for a coffee. Then, as Ken tries to figure out what to do next, his previous victims suddenly come back to life as flesh eating zombies!The fact that 'Die-ner (Get It?)' feels the need to draw attention to its pathetic titular pun suggests that the makers of this film have zero confidence in their work. And who can blame them? Released on DVD in the UK under the equally terrible title of 'Kentucky Fried Zombies', this horror comedy is poorly written, clumsily directed, laugh-free and scare-less bottom-of-the-barrel zombie tosh that really drags. I feel sorry for Joshua Grote, who actually puts in a reasonable performance as serial killer Ken: he gives it his best shot, but never stands a chance amidst the dull undead nonsense that unfolds.The one thing that can often save a low-to-zero budget zombie flick—the blood and guts—is in short supply, leaving this particular viewer thinking that the 25p I paid for the DVD was 25p too much.

Sammy_Sam_Sam I'll start my short review by mentioning that the copy I got had the title 'KFZ: Kentucky Fried Zombie' - not massively important, but I thought I'd mention it. I picked this up from a pound shop, so frankly I had low expectations. However, much to my surprise I actually found the movie to be quite enjoyable; it just goes to prove that you shouldn't judge a DVD by it's box (or price!). It's amazing how a small budget can go such a long way when the people involved in the project are so eager to put in a good performance, and this is certainly the case here. In particular, I have to praise Joshua Grote in the role of Ken. He seems to me a cross between James Van Der Beek and Edward Norton and brings plenty of humour to the movie, appearing more than comfortable in front of the camera. I predict he will have a strong career in future if he gets the break he needs and I'd certainly like to see him in more movies. Everyone else in the film does pretty well too and for the most part, the direction is more than adequate, occasionally being quite stylish in it's presentation. The script deserves praise and the music is also really good (the special effects aren't too bad either - I've seen much worse!). So overall, I think it's worthy of a 6 out of 10. It's no masterpiece by any means, but I've sat through enough big budget drivel and visited IMDb to find a rating well above that. This movie was entertaining enough to hold my attention from start to finish, it made me laugh for all the right reasons and the makers deserve credit for putting together a decent little movie on such a small budget.

Slowblivion Our story starts with Ken sitting casually in a rural diner chatting with his waitress, Rose. This conversation is tongue in cheek and results in the death of both Rose and the only other person in the diner, the cook. Of course, this is because Ken is a serial killer. While hiding the bodies, Ken is interrupted by Rob and Kathy who bicker about her want for a divorce not moments before entering the diner. Tending to them (with the intent of killing them, Ken is again interrupted by Sheriff Duke who strolls in for a coffee. Mysteriously, the two dead bodies hidden in the freezer reanimate and end up biting Duke in the neck. Rob and Kathy realize Ken is a killer and are essentially held hostage by him as he plays around carelessly for much of the film. Eventually Rob is eaten by a zombie in a truck outside the diner and Kathy is shot by a incompetent deputy sheriff and eaten by zombies. Ken gets his by being eaten by a group of zombies. Oh, and a very important denouement of a zombie getting into a truck. The plot is disappointing. Too much rides on Ken talking mostly to himself as other characters whine and wince uncomfortably. This of course is probably important as the whole film occurs on happenstance so to fill the void from one event to the next, needless chatter is placed. The story itself is too small for the roughly 80 minute runtime. Characters don't progress in any arch and the end result is everyone dies leaving me as a viewer to wonder...what was the point? Am I supposed to feel scared? Am I suppose to laugh? is there a subtext which I clearly don't pick up on? Was I supposed to side with Ken and his 2 cent serial killer philosophies which seem regurgitated from many other films or the whiney do nothing couple who have no respect for each other? I simply don't know. As this is a zombie film, gore has to me mentioned. It's not a lot... In fact, there's really only one decent zombie bite which is pretty tame and standard. Gore is nothing special. Continuity suffers a bit as boom shadows can be seen several times as well as blinds being open then closed at various times as well as general prop placement. Also story continuity is lacking, They're supposed to be somewhere in rural Idaho where it's "the loneliest place on the loneliest highway" yet at the end there are 20-30 zombies pouring into the diner... why? where'd these people come from? Acting conveyed little for me as the characters are so unlikeable to begin with it's hard to say that had they been done better the story and film would have been different. Music is repetitive and generic. Camera work is basically fine minus the fact that in many shots actors are framed awkwardly and focus at times is poor. (I say this is basically fine because you can't pick too much on such things given budget and what the film apparently was) Overall, just not very good. I give credit to Josh Grote (Ken) who I think did pretty well overall. And yes he does look and at times sound very much like Edward Norton. Honestly, if you take Paul Rudd and Ed Norton you have Josh Grote. I can't recommend this film based on the idea that I truly don't believe it's entertaining. It's not funny, not scary, not mock worthy, not gory, not original, not shot well, not set well, doesn't offer any real message...etc. This film has little going for it other than being produced in 8 days and for $500,000. (that's not impressive but it shows me that things were probably rushed and corners had to be cut) 2 out of 10.

tobe_whooper Ken is a personable, talkative serial killer who has just dispatched the late-night skeleton crew at an out-of-the-way diner. When a bickering young couple and a local cop turn up and start to smell a rat, Ken is ready to add to the body count. But the bodies in the freezer aren't content to stay dead, and things quickly get out of control.When you approach a movie with a title like this one, you don't tend to expect subtlety. But Die-ner's grim opening sequence (in a series of close-ups showing Ken cleaning up the traces of his work) tips you off that this is a horror movie before it's anything else. The low-key comedy proceeds mostly from the well-drawn characters' reactions to the situation. The young couple is faced with a double threat: they can't flee the zombies because of the psycho killer holding them hostage. Josh Grote (in his first film performance) does a great job as Ken, who is less terrified than utterly fascinated by the zombie rising. As a connoisseur of death, he's intrigued by the idea of un-death. "I kill people all the time," he says, "but they've never come back before." Louisiana actor Larry Purtell is hilarious as the tired, ineffectual sheriff, who gets taken out of the game pretty quickly and spends most of the movie groaning on the floor.The film is fairly light on the gore, but there is one well-done zombie bite and a bit of hand trauma. That aside, it's a clever take on the zombie and serial killer genres, informed by lots of older movies but never beholden to them. They even manage to pull off the "kill me if I become one of them" exchange without embarrassing themselves. I think if more people see this, it has the potential to generate some buzz. If a DVD were available (hopefully with a different title), I might be interested in seeing it again.P.S. Lead actor Josh Grote appears to be in no way related to Edward Norton, despite looking and sounding exactly like him.