10 Canadian Horrors Far More Original Than Those From America
8. Fido
In the years since 28 Days Later, the Dawn Of The Dead remake and Shaun Of The Dead there has been such an influx of zombie pictures that we have reached an oversaturation of the living dead. In that context it is increasingly difficult for filmmakers to produce an original take on zombie characters and stories, but Andrew Currie (whose short Night Of Living equates alcoholism and zombie-ism) manages something novel with his genre mash-up Fido. Billy Connolly stars as the eponymous domesticated zombie, a creation somewhat akin to Shaun's best friend Ed in the conclusion Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's rom-zom-com hit spun out to a whole movie, kept as a sort of servant/slave in the home of housewife Helen (Canadian star Carrie-Ann Moss). Like Day Of The Dead's Bub, Connolly manages to imbue the shambling corpse with a degree of personality that is more likeable than many of the human cast. Fido's real strength in setting itself apart from Shaun and its many imitators, though, is in choosing a different genre to mash-up with its undead parody. Writer Dennis Heaton, who has gone on to a certain amount of success on Canadian TV, cut his teeth as on children's TV, penning episodes of cheery kids' space animation Atomic Betty. This interest in retro styling and family sitcoms gives Fido a distinctive style that separates it from the pack. Attaching the classic B-picture concept for atomic accident zombies that provoked a "Zombie War" and the domestic iconography of the same era, all pastel shades and perfect housewives in big polka dot skirts, creates something a little different. The film is almost more of a pastiche of the suburban repressions of a Douglas Sirk melodrama (Helen's husband's post Zombie War shell shock echoes the many in the 50s struggling to readjust to a post-war world) as it is a zombie picture, it's living dead as much Imitation Of Life as an imitation of life, and that's what makes Fido not just your run of the mill undead story.
