Juan of the Dead Zombie Cuban Comedy 5 Stars Worthy Movie Review

Juan of the Dead Zombie Cuban Comedy 5 Stars Worthy Movie Review

Juan of the Dead  or Juan de lost Muertos is the Cuban answer to Shaun of the Dead. Like that comedy, it is the tale of an average Joe's fight against the zombies. The tale begins with Juan and his friend fishing. Juan is the narrator of the story. He describes how he is a survivor. He survived two wars, the special period and what followed. For those that do not know, the Special period was a time when the food in Cuba was seriously rationed.





Through the movie, he talks about how he is a survivor. He says that all he needs is a chance to get ahead. Anyhow, that day this boat gets attacked by an escaped prisoner. His friend Lazaro harpoons the guy. It turns out that the convict was actually a zombie. However, they have never dealt with a zombie. Thus, they thought they had murdered someone. They left the dead zombie thing sink to the bottom of the ocean.

The second zombie they encountered it in an old lady's house. She called them because her husband was dead. When they arrived, the old man was walking. She thought it was a miracle because he had not walked in a long time. He started attacking Juan and then Lozero harpooned the guy. The harpoon went through the old man's belly and accidentally struck the old lady. She died on the spot.

The scene that followed was hilarious. Naturally, the zombie did not die from being harpooned in the belly. They thought that the old guy was possessed by the devil. They tried to exorcise him. When it did not work, they tried a wooden stake. Eventually, striking the head worked. Days later, more zombies attacks were reported on TV. However, the Castro government called the zombies dissidents. They said that such cannibalism attacks was a plot of the U.S. to destroy Cuba.

The next night Juan and Lorenzo got together with La China and his cousin. Together, they started discussing about the cannibalism of the dissidents. That very night the a head member of the C.D.R. ( one of the bureaucratic communist heads) got attacked by a zombie. They were marveled at the strength of the dissidents. They wondered what the Americans were feeding them.

Eventually, the entire city got full of zombies. However, to Juan the place still looked the same. Long story short, Juan decides to take advantage of the situation. He starts a zombie or dissident killing business with his friends. The ending of the movie is pretty cool. Overall, this movie is a metaphor to what is happening in Cuba. Food is still badly ration. Its gotten to a point that most Cubans only have their neighbors for food.

The whole "We kill your Loved Ones" slogan of Juan's zombie business is another metaphor. In Cuba, most youngsters are hoping that their parents die to inherit their things. Death is the only way for Cubans to advance in the bureaucratic dictatorship they live in.

Anyhow, my favorite part was when Juan and his crew was saved by a gringo. The American was an expert at killing zombies. Using his car, he decapitated an army of them. The problem was that Juan had forgotten most of the English he had learned at school. What was funny was the way the gringo spoke. He said he wanted to help them with their zombie problems because God told him to.

The most hilarious part of the movie was when Juan's crew visited a hotel. The Italian tourists and the women they had hired had become zombies. The owner had contacted Juan to clean up the place. When they came down they got surrounded. Juan said," How can this get any worse?" In that moment, there was a blackout. They were forced to fight the army of zombies in utter darkness. Like you all know, Cuba has a lot of roaring blackouts. That scene reminded the viewers of that sad  fact.

Another interesting scene was the seaside zombie battle. Jaun saw that the Cuban waters were full of zombies of those who had tried to leave Cuba. It was a very creepy sight. For being a zombie comedy, it touched a lot of political subjects. I recommend it to all zombie movie fans. The zombie goriness and the effects are pretty cool. The parodied fighting styles were also great. Truly, Juan of the Dead or Juan de los Muertos deserves 5 stars rating.