Review: The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever by Jeff Strand

Strand is known for his humorous horror books. My favorites are A Bad Day for Voodoo and Wolf Hunt (the last is very much not YA). His loyal readers might come into this one expecting a teenage zombie movie getting taken over by real zombies. And they will be disappointed (but he says so at the beginning).

This book is not a Strand zombie book, it’s an ode to the long time legacy of movie making, the heroic independent filmmaker spirit, and the modern technology that lets anyone be an artist. Strand might lace this story with jokes and comedic timing, but in the end he’s telling the sad tale of three kids who are trying desperately to still believe in movie magic, the Santa-Bunny idea that if you try hard enough you can become rich and famous on the silver screen with a hand held camera, some photo shop and Youtube.

As a reader, you know this is going to be a disaster. Justin, the director is full of hubris. His best friends are not sure how serious they are about all this, but many times they lean heavily toward “hobbyist” rather than “True Believer”. Uncle Clyde, their special effects man is a mess, and a danger to them all to boot. By the end of the book you feel bad laughing at Justin’s misery, and yet I’m sure you can think of some ill-conceived plan from your own childhood that worked out as well (I tried to make spy gadgets like M from the Bond films, with no understanding at all of engineering.)

Readers looking for tales of magic or monsters gone wrong won’t find what they want in this book. But readers looking for guilty laughs and a very determined lead will find some fun here.