Housewife Alien vs Gay Zombie or HAGZ for short deserves a WTF? Award just for the title. Writer/director Andreas Samuels’ film, shot in Stockholm Sweden in English but with no money is just as bizarre as its title. Taking the same approach as films like Bloodsucka Jones vs The Creeping Death he keeps up a virtually non-stop stream of gags about anything and everything and hopes you find most of it funny.
Ken (Hector Lopez) and his partner Rob (Andreas Samuelson) have just moved into a new home. The previous owner disappeared under mysterious circumstances. But that doesn’t stop them from messing around with a strange old book he left behind. Ken learns the hard way how bad an idea that is when he becomes a zombie.
Across town Catherine (Sanna Wallin) keeps a red-eyed head (Elin Hallberg) alive in her suitcase. It, in return, helps her resurrect Ruth (Anna Walman), her dead sister, by using alien DNA. While this should make her a housewife zombie, it makes her a housewife alien instead.
And, as if this wasn’t enough, a ruthless cop Detective Sheridan (Anna Modén) and her partner Detective Reeves (Erik Nilsson) have to contend with the costumed vigilante Zebraman as they try to deal with the dead bodies the creatures leave in their wake.
I was very inspired by John Waters, both his earlier work and cult movies like “Serial Mom”. Low-budget horror studio Troma was also an inspiration as well as the humour from “Airplane” and “Naked Gun”.
Andreas Samuelson
Filled with intentionally campy performances and dialogue like “Murder? I don’t even jaywalk” Housewife Alien vs Gay Zombie had me laughing a lot more than I thought I would. Samuels makes film references as varied as The Evil Dead’s lecherous vines, Hard Ticket to Hawaii’s lethal frisbee and the title character from The Brain that Wouldn’t Die. The horny repairman from every porn film ever made makes an appearance. The victim of alien impregnation is named Judy Geeson after the star of Insemnoid aka Horror Planet.
Her character is actually one of several named after genre actors and actresses. However instead of the usual, obvious choices like Savini, Romero, etc. Samuels salted Housewife Alien vs Gay Zombie with names more dedicated fans would get. For example, Detective Reeves references Michael Reeves, director of Witchfinder General and The Sorcerers. His partner got her name from Margaret Sheridan, the only female in The Thing from Another World.
As if that isn’t enough there’s a police captain who communicates in grunts, a gunfight with flintlocks and send-ups of every LGBTQ stereotype you can imagine. The gags are literally non-stop and done in the best possible bad taste.
I tend to prefer my comedy a bit more focused and with a bit more plot. As much as I laughed, I also found a lot of the gags didn’t work for me. Some I totally missed the point of. But that’s to be expected with a film like this. The more chaotic you like your humour, the more of the jokes you’ll probably get. In which you should find Housewife Alien vs Gay Zombie funnier than I did.
Housewife Alien vs Gay Zombie is available to stream, you can check the film’s Facebook page for more information.