Burying the Ex - 1/31 Days of Halloween

Hello again!  I am participating in the 31 Days of Halloween Challenge, except I'm making it extra hard on myself by abiding by two additional rules.

#1 I'm only watching horror films I have never seen before
#2 I'm reviewing all of them here.

I'm aware this is absolutely nuts.  But last night I kicked it off by watching the camp horror-comedy Burying the Ex!

The movie has a simple but ridiculous premise: a dude's controlling girlfriend dies before he has a chance to break up with her, and when he finally starts to move on she zombies back into his life.  I have a few issues with the way they chose to portray the controlling girlfriend.  She's a yuppie vegan who works for a Green Life Blog and bullies him into making his life more sustainable.  Not all of her claims are unreasonable (ex: stop letting your brother use your living room for weird sex parties when I'm staying over at your place... it makes me really uncomfortable). but the way she communicates is vicious, manipulative and ultimately abusive.

After a horrifying display of jealous outrage from his girlfriend, our main character decides to break up with her.  Except she dies first.  This leads to a lot of feelings of guilt from our main character.  This is the film at it's most poignant.  How do you react to your abusive partner, who you did love, dying?

Eventually, he starts to move on, with a more laid-back girl who shares all of his interests.  She's a little on the manic pixie dream girl side, but I also kind of love her.  Also, wherever it is in Hollywood these characters live, I want to go there.  Because it their community supports not only a year-round horror store, but a horror-themed ice creamery.  Best neighborhood ever!

Right as our main character starts to move on, his never-quite-became-ex comes back from the dead, rotting and zombified and ready to be together FOREVER.  This is a great allegory.  What do you do when you escape a bad relationship and then your abuser suddenly shows back up at your house?  When time and space have made them repulsive to you, but you're still too terrified to resist their advances?  When (due to size or strength or crazy zombie powers) you know they could kill you if you don't do exactly what they want?

What I love most about this film is that becoming a zombie isn't what makes our antagonist horrifying.  She was horrifying before.  Now she just has super strength and has become physically repulsive to the hero (which is a common feeling for some survivors).  I really wasn't expecting this movie to mirror abuse in relationships as much as it did, and the more I think about it the more I really respect that about the film.

So what does our lead do?  How does he deal with the abuser who used to be so enticing now that the spell is broken (or cast, in this case)?  What do you do when "letting someone down easy" is both impossible and a genuine risk to your physical safety?  When you are finally aware that there's better relationships out there but getting involved with someone involves risking both of your lives because your ex is murderously jealous?

Well, in real life it works a little differently than in the movies.  But this one is worth seeing.  It's campy, has some fanservice bra scenes, and relies on a cast of lily-white California hotties, so it's not super exciting in that way.  But look a little deeper and for a camp horror comedy there's surprising depth. 

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Entertaining 4/5        Intelligent 2.5/5        Unsettling 1/5
 
Scary 2/5        Gory 2/5        Funny 4/5         Artistic 2/5
  

Representation of Minorities 0/5        Representation of Women 2/5
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