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Night of the Living Dorks Directed by Mathias Dinter Do you remember that scene in Weird Science when the hot chick walks in on the loveable loser while his friend is reattaching his penis with a staple-gun? Whoo-boy, does she get the wrong idea! Oh wait, that wasn't Weird Science , that was Night of the Living Dorks , a hilarious mock-horror film from Germany . Anchor Bay is to be praised for releasing the DVD of this gem. Originally an international theatrical release under the title Die Nacht der lebenden Loser , this movie is an unexpected good time. Unexpected because I cannot sit through a single installment of any of the Scary Movie films. The Scream films also wore out their welcome with their interminable sequels. I had given up on the horror/humor hybrid, with Shaun of the Dead as a notable exception. So I was surprised and delighted with Night of the Living Dorks , from its goofy characters to the ever-dubious use of the Necronomicon . I prefer a genre parody, such as Night of the Living Dorks to a film-specific parody like the Scary Movie franchise. The film can stand better on its own. For example, after ten years, who will remember all of the individual film references that Scary Movie makes fun of? To make it more fun and bizarre, the adults in Dorks have wildly inappropriate conversations with kids, the likes of which would not be seen in an American teen movie. For example, Wiener's teacher tells him flirtily, “I don't know if you're interested in a grade, or in my panties.” At the heart of the film are the titular dorks. We meet Wiener (whose name is Wurst in the German), the dork/stoner; Konrad, the bullied future art student/serial killer; and Philip, the horny Everydork. And of course Philip is after Uschi, the hot, mean blonde at school. Which is inexcusable given the adorable goth girl, Rebecca, who lives next door. But alas, where dorks and goths collide, there will be trouble. Rebecca and her friends have purchased a Haitian voodoo (sic) artifact via the dark magic of Ebay! When Philip learns that there is a spell to make Uschi long for him, he and the dorks tag along to the dubious graveyard ritual that the goths have planned. It's an old story. It's a sad story. Boys get zombie ashes on their clothes, boys crash their van because it's full of pot smoke, boys wake up in morgue as the living dead. They may be dorks, but they aren't quitters. They go to school despite their recent zombification. Discovering that zombies have superhuman strength, Philip accidentally beats up the preppy bully and gets Uschi's attention. Weiner decides that they MUST take advantage of their new cool status and have a party (luckily, Philip's parents are out of town – a requisite for any successful teen movie). Konrad goes down a decidedly darker path, using his new undead strength to destroy those who tormented him in the past. Which is commendable, but perhaps he takes it too far when he eats his sadistic gym teacher. The wackiness escalates when the dorks have their party. There is a party game where teenage boys try to knock down a bottle using a particularly male anatomical function. I'll leave that treat for you to discover for your selves, but let me just tell you that zombies have powers we never imagined. Luckily, when you're in supernatural trouble, there's always the cute goth girl with the Necronomicon to save the day, right? Maybe. Check out Night of the Living Dorks yourself. You'll never watch Scary Movie again. Two viewing tips: 1) Turn off the dubbing, which just sounds like bad acting, and go with the subtitles. 2) Animal sensitive viewers such as Mrs. Monster are cautioned that there is one scene of gratuitous spider smashing. by Jenni Monster |
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