Horror Movie Review: Re-Elected (2020)

Deep in the woods on the 4th of July, siblings Nate and Angela must face off against the zombies of American presidents, and their worst nightmare – spending an entire evening together.

That synopsis there screams entertainment. A silly, rip-roaring and funny zombie horror that takes some pointed political jabs. Unfortunately, Re-Elected fails to live up to the promise and ends up being nothing more than a mildly amusing and forgettable movie.

Directed by Max Radbill who also wrote the story alongside Eric Looney, Re-Elected stars Cameron Gilliam, Chloe Mikala, Matthew DeHoff, Kayvon Kaliush, Natasha Mercado and Rebecca Clendaniel.

These guys are all looking forward to a weekend of partying in a cabin in the woods. A weekend of drinking and celebrating the 4th of July. Which Nate (Gilliam) just happens to think is the holiest of holy days.

It all goes wrong when Nate finds and reads a copy of the Declaration of Independence. A cursed copy, it unleashes several zombified presidents. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson don’t just want to eat the party guests though; they want to take back over the country.

Will the partygoers survive the presidential assault and will they will able to ensure these zombie relics stay in the ground?

The running joke throughout the movie is that Nate loves America with all his heart but doesn’t actually know anything about it. However, this is as far as the political commentary and comedy goes which is a bit of a shame.

The rest of the comedy centres around spoofing horror movies, tropes and clichés. Highly unimaginative but also very hit and miss. It tries hard and the cast throw their all into delivering the comedy lines but many jokes will just get nothing more than a derisory snort.

Does it make up for the lack of consistently good comedy with great horror, blood and guts? Unfortunately, this aspect of the movie is also very hit and miss. There are some good practical effects, particularly near the end of the movie but the one thing it should have got right, the make-up on the zombie presidents, it doesn’t. Having them turn more and more human as the film goes on might have got around budget limitations but it’s not exactly fun.

If you’re after something throwaway, something that is silly, something that takes some small jabs at Americana but doesn’t land any hard blows, you could do worse. It’s not a great comedy, it’s not a great horror, it’s not a great combination of both but it does have some entertainment value.