Witness Infection is a horror comedy that has been making the rounds at film festivals and delighting audiences. Directed by Andy Palmer, Witness Infection is a mash-up of genres. It’s a mobster movie meets horror movie meets charming romantic comedy. Carlos Alazraqui and Jill-Michele Melean are the screenwriters behind this quirky and super gross film. Witness Infection is a fun film that is both revolting and somehow cute at the same time.
Mafia troubles from Sicily follow two warring families who have somehow both been relocated to Lake Elsinore, California through the witness protection program. The only way to establish peace between the families is to have Carlo, a dog groomer who wants nothing to do with the family business, marry Patricia, the daughter of the opposing family. It really doesn’t make any sense why this is a solution, but that’s really not important. Carlo is clearly in love with Gina, a fellow dog groomer. Carlo has a lot on his plate, but luckily some tainted sausage leads to a zombie outbreak throwing all plans to chaos.
The story is over the top and there might be too much going at times, but this plays into the chaos of the story. A lot of the mobster antics are a bit cliche and really play off the stereotypes of gold chains and track suits, but there’s a very enjoyable aspect to this. The film could easily rely on this for laughs, but it doesn’t. Alazraqui and Melean’s screenwriting is clever and the jokes are funny. Witness Infection plays with the tropes of mobster movies adding to the comedic element. In addition to this, there are plenty of homages to the mobster genre as well as the horror genre.
Witness Infection has a number of great characters. Our main heroes Carlo (Robert Belushi), Gina (Melean), and Vince (Vince Donvito) are unwittingly tasked with the job of zombie slaying. The trio have great chemistry and play off each other very well. They also encounter Rose, a bartender with a shotgun and a killer aim. Rose has changed her name to Miss Vengeance and refuses to become the stereotypical victim in the movie.
Witness Infection has some great effects. There is plenty of bloodshed, oozing wounds, and a particularly gruesome decapitation scene. Witness infection is gross out fun, but it also has a lot of heart.
Witness Infection will be available for rent March 30th.
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