Michael O'Keefe Black comedy or bad comedy? Quirky for sure. Gus Lawton(David Kemker) is a down on his luck, out of work comedy writer in a world of hurt. His wife Deborah(Shauna Black)makes good her threats of leaving her washed-up husband. Gus will pursue her all the way back to the old run down home of her childhood. The currently not so funny man is given the choice of losing his wife or living with her demands. Gus surprises her with plans and promises of fixing up the place and he starts with a stopped up septic tank. While taking a break in digging, Mr. Lawton in desperation wishes for some help...and he gets it. A zombie is dug up and is more than willing to do anything he is told. But when the living dead, named Quinto(David Sparrow), starts acting on his own desires...life rapidly becomes a struggle for one and all. Situational humor.Other players: Derek McGrath, Ron Lea, Wendy Jewell and John Jarvis.

zardoz-13 You won't dig up a worse horror comedy than this low-budget chiller. "Zombie Dearest" has a promising premise. Destitute comedy writer Gus Lawton hasn't made money in five years, six years according to his wife. He experiments drunkenly with some tasteless joke material that has him performing a penis joke for his wife's best friend while his wife witnesses this outrage. Gus slips a sock puppet over his penis, cracks the door, and sticks it out. Using a lewd voice, he invites anybody to come set on his face. Not surprisingly, Deborah (Shauna Black of "Urban Legends: Final Cut") accuses Gus of infidelity. She leaves him and drives off. She visits her father and learns about a farmhouse that could be profitable. Gus follows her out to the farmhouse and uses it as an excuse to prove his commitment to her. He agrees to fix the house up. While he is digging up his septic tank, he uncovers a zombie named Quinto (David Sparrow of "Four Brothers") in the process. Apparently, freshman writer & director David Kemker must have thought he could exploit an idea that Simon Pegg never took advantage of "Shaun of the Dead" when the hero's slacker roommate Ed (Nick Frost)turned into a zombie. He chained Ed up out in his back yard. Similarly, Gus confines Quinto in the backyard excavating the sewage tank. Meanwhile, Gus is having marriage problems with his wife There isn't anything either frightening or funny about his pedestrian farce. Kemker violates zombie rules initially because Quinto doesn't mindless attack Gus. Eventually, Quinto takes a bite out of Gus and our hero turns into a zombie. Bottom of the barrel material that should be buried under a septic tank.

Woodyanders Failed comic writer Gus Lawton (a fine and likable performance by David Kemker) and his fed-up wife Deborah (excellent work by Shauna Black) are having relationship problems. The troubled couple move to a new house in the remote country in an attempt to patch things up. Complications ensue when Gus unearth obedient zombie Quinto (a credible portrayal by David Sparrow) while digging up a septic tank in the backyard. Director Kemker, who also co-wrote the fresh and imaginative script with Mark Cananagh, firmly grounds the fantastic premise in a plausible workaday reality, makes neat use of harmonic country songs on the soundtrack, and ably mines an inspired line in amusing deadpan black humor (for example, Quinto proves to be an absolute pest who's impossible to get rid of). The sturdy acting by Kemker and Black holds the picture together; their pleasant and relaxed chemistry is both convincing and engaging. Moreover, there are sound supporting contributions from John Jarvis as Deborah's affable business partner Donny and Derek McGrath as cranky old coot Uncle Pete. This movie earns bonus points for being something different and out of the ordinary; it's genuinely eccentric without ever becoming forced or cutesy about it. Michel Bisson's sharp cinematography and the moody score by Kemker and Slater Jewell-Kemker are both up to speed. A fun flick.

Paul Andrews Zombie Dearest starts as failed comedy script writer Gus Lawton (writer & director David Kemker) & his wife Deborah (Shauna Black) are having marriage difficulties, they decide to live in a renovate Deborah's old childhood farmhouse left to her by her parents in an attempt to patch things up with a new start. Unfortunately Gus is lazy & wishes he had some help to dig up the septic tank out back & if by magic a zombie called Quinto (David Sparrow) pops up out of the ground, at first Gus is surprised & taken aback by this strange event but soon likes the idea after he realises Quinto will do anything he says including digging his septic tank up. However Deborah isn't that keen on having a rotten zombie around the farm & the tension begins to grow, will Quinto the zombie come between Gus & Deborah? Can they make it work? Why does Quinto attack people & how do they get rid of him?Written, directed & starring David Kemker who also gets a music credit too this zom rom com (zombie romantic comedy) has a decent enough idea behind it, it feels different & it's nice to watch a (light hearted) horror film with proper adult character's in the leads rather than irritating teens but a pedestrian pace, a lack of any real horror & an unfocused script that can't decide what it wants to be prevents it from being any good. Zombie Dearest could have been a effective & amusing little slice of horror themed satire about modern relationships but it takes half an hour before Quinto turns up, there's never any explanation as to what a dead body is doing buried in the yard anyway despite a seemingly random flashback showing two people burying it, far to much time is spent on the dull love triangle between Gus, his wife Deborah & her boss Donald & all the sub par soap opera melodramatics that go with it & the comedy side of things isn't much better with subtle one-liners & wringing comedy from the actual situation. Gus isn't funny & neither are his caveman jokes, I don't know about anyone else but watching someone who isn't funny telling unfunny jokes just isn't that much fun as far as I am concerned. The other major scripting issue here is the twist ending which is surely one of the worst ever & in ten seconds manages to undo & render the previous 85 minutes totally pointless, it's almost as if the makers didn't know how to finish their story off & thought lets just go right back to the beginning before it all happened so we don't have to come up with an ending. At the time of writing this comment there are no other's on the IMDb or any 'External Reviews' either so I am not sure how widely released Zombie Dearest is but let me tell you your not missing much.Another thing that really holds Zombie Dearest back is an almost total lack of horror, Quinto the zombie just sort of stands there digging a hole for the first hour or so & then just wanders around a bit at the end which to be fair does pick up a bit but not much. There's not much gore here, there's a bloodless neck bite & one brief scene of intestine eating at the end otherwise absolutely nothing & even the zombie make-up on Quinto is quite tame considering he's supposed to have been buried for years. There's supposed to be one sex scene with them using headlamps but no-one takes their clothes off & thus there is no nudity so it doesn't count as far as I am concerned.Apparently filmed in Ontario in Canada this actually looks quite nice with decent photography & real locations. The acting is alright to be fair especially the two leads & Shauna Black is quite cute actually.Zombie Dearest is part zombie horror film & part romantic comedy with an attempt at satire thrown in there too, to say it doesn't work is an understatement as, well, it doesn't. Not my sort of thing but if you can stay awake during it there's the basis of a good idea although it's all taken away by a terrible twist ending that robs the viewer of any satisfaction or closure.