Filmmaker Joe Dante is responsible for some of the finest B-movie outings to emerge in the late 70s and early 80s. Pirahna, The Howling and Gremlins now exist as generous reminders of an era where monsters were rendered painstakingly with animatronics and puppetry. More recently, Dante’s devout approach saw him tackle kiddie-centric thriller The Hole, which is in this writer’s opinion vastly underrated. While he’s taken a breather from features to focus on TV (Splatter, Witches Of East End and Hawaii Five-O), the horror helmer returns to his origin genre for Burying The Ex.
In development for some time, the zombie rom-com was partially financed through crowdfunding, and the rest was secured (as Dante himself told The Playlist) by the appeal of its attractive leads. Following its worldwide premiere at the Venice Film Festival last year, word on the film’s distribution fell eerily silent. Apart from a one-off clip released in September, the fate of Dante’s zom-com was up in the air.
That being said, Voltage Pictures has now posted the first full-length trailer online. Dante’s spin of the somewhat exhausted genre of the undead stars Anton Yelchin (Odd Thomas) as Max and Ashley Greene (The Twilight Saga) as his girlfriend Evelyn. The young couple decide to move in together despite Max’s reservations about his girlfriend’s oppressive nature.
After his initial gut instinct is proven right, he decides to break up with her, only to find that she’s been killed in a freak accident. Cue a new girlfriend (Alexandra Daddario) and the return of his ex from beyond the grave to throw a spanner in the works.
The romantic zombie movie might have run its course with the likes of Warm Bodies and Life After Beth analyzing similar predicaments, but Dante’s effort looks to be a worthy addition to that sub-genre.
Check out the first trailer for Burying The Ex above and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Image Entertainment will release the film in the US on VOD and limited theatrical release on June 19, 2015.
Burying The Ex follows Max (Yelchin), an all-around nice guy, and his overbearing but incredibly beautiful girlfriend, Evelyn (Greene). Their relationship takes a nosedive after they decide to move in together and Evelyn turns out to be a controlling, manipulative nightmare. Max knows it’s time to call it quits, but there’s just one problem: he’s terrified of breaking up with her. Fate steps in when Evelyn is involved in a freak accident and dies, leaving Max single and ready to mingle. Max eventually meets Olivia (Daddario), a cute and spirited girl who just might be his soul mate, only to learn that Evelyn has risen from her grave and is determined to get her boyfriend back…even if that means turning him into one of the undead.