Fido (2006) User Reviews

Wanton homicide, zombies, slavery, bullying: yet it all makes for zany light comedy here

[roland-104 · 8/10 · 5 February 2007]

Set in a middle class neighborhood in the imaginary town of Willard in the 1950s, this dark comedy with a light touch toys with such American obsessions as gun mania and violence, materialism and keeping up with the Joneses, fear of others, slavery, golf, and the disposing of the dead. Yes, it all sounds a bit heavy, but trust me on this, it's nearly as light as a feather.

Zombies are featured prominently among the characters. Crucial questions arise, such as: who will become a zombie (90% of the Willard folks choose this final path, while only 10% prefer a traditional funeral)? Who owns how many Zombies to do their bidding like robots (they've become a mark of social status)? And, what is the range of possible relationships that can be worked out between the living and the sort of reincarnated dead?

Somehow, director Andrew Currie, who also co-wrote the lively screenplay (with Robert Chomiak and Dennis Heaton), keeps this improbable material percolating along for an hour and a half without once faltering for want of a good laugh. A super cast helps: Carrie-Anne Moss, Billy Connolly, Dylan Baker, Henry Czerny, Tim Blake Nelson, Mary Black and Sonja Bennett are the principals, aided by young K'Sun Ray as Timmy, the innocent kid with a good heart who acts as fair witness to all the lunacy of the grownups. (Having seen her only in "Memento" and "The Matrix," I had no idea that Ms. Moss had such fine comedienne chops.)

The production design and music are exquisitely 50s, to a tee. Maybe this one isn't for everybody. It surely will be a hard film to beat for my annual Bizarro Award. But intelligent comedies that stay funny from start to finish are among the hardest won achievements in movie-making. For me anyway, "Fido" is a hoot! My grades: 8.5/10 (A-) (Seen on 01/30/07)

I won' judge horror movie by it's cover again

[atinder · 8/10 · 6 June 2010]

I have pass on this movie so many times because of the cover , when i looked at reviews on here and i had to see this movie.

When i was reading plot, i thinking it dose not sound that good, i so sat thinking, i don't think i would like this movie and i was think i was going waste hour and half of my life.

Soon as put on i was total shocked how different this zombie is, i thought this movie was fantastic, i could not believe not seen it before, the whole story was great idea and this movie did have some nice gory scenes however this movie more about boy being friend with zombie building connections with Fido the boy named the zombie Fido.

Great fun movie 8 out of 10

Douglas Sirk meets George Romero!

[preppy-3 · 8/10 · 7 July 2007]

This film takes place in the 1950s. According to this the dead (called zombies) have arisen to eat the living. However a company has developed a collar that, when put around the zombies neck, makes them docile and perfect servants. The Robinsons mom Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss), dad Bill (Dylan Baker) and son Timmy (K'Sun Ray) hire a zombie because everyone on their block already has one. Tim names the zombie Fido (Billy Connolly) and becomes friends with him. But his dad hates him and Timmy looses control of Fido and things go wrong.

As you can see this is--among many other things--a takeoff on the "Lassie" series with Fido being a stand in for Lassie. Timmy was named that for a reason! Every single of the famous Lassie episodes are spun here. My favorite is when Timmy sends Fido off to get help before the zombies eat him! Also it's a satire of those 1950s Douglas Sirk films where everything is bright and colorful--but dark secrets are tearing people apart. The characters wear VERY bright 1950s clothes (Moss is always in a dress)--the furnishings, settings and cars especially are all 1950s in hyper bright colors. Even when the script becomes repetitious there's always something to look at. The script is good--but there are only so many Lassie jokes you can make. The melodramatics are kind of silly but the cast pulls it off. Everyone here is excellent and right on target. Even Connolly as an emotionless zombie does a good job. Moss is the best--playing each line for all its worth---but never going overboard.

This isn't for everybody (of course). The satire may be lost on most people and the gore is pretty tame. The gore is done so casually and with happy music playing over it it's hard to take it seriously. So, for some people, this will really work. I give it an 8.

Connely brilliant as the pet zombie

[chrichtonsworld · 6/10 · 27 September 2007]

"Fido" is a movie you have to be in a certain mood to watch! If you are up for it the experience will be enjoyable! If not than the movie will be quite boring! It is a nice comedy with a special take on the zombie genre! "Fido" doesn't take it self serious,so the acting is light and acceptable! As a parody it works quite well! But it does require some knowledge about zombie movies made by George A. Romero or similar productions and "Lassie" movies! Otherwise it will be hard to understand the humor used in this movie! There is little gore and no suspense at all! So in essence there is nothing extra to be experienced! Billy Connolly as Fido is perfect! He doesn't say much and only growls at times! But even then you understand what he is trying to say (What do you mean a parody on "Lassie"?)! "Fido" is pretty entertaining even when the pace is slow at times! At least it is not a waste of time!

Quirky Zom-Com

[birdie15 · 7/10 · 10 September 2007]

Fidois a very odd film. And in many ways, a very good one.

My first thought after viewing, was how the hell are they going to market this thing? If Shaun of the Dead is a romantic comedy with zombies, Fido is a boy and his dog story blended with fifties nostalgia comedy with zombies. Doesn't exactly trip off the tongue.

Fido has little of Shaun's carnage, gore & belly laughs. It is a different beast altogether (forgive the pun).

Fido kicks off with a black & white information film that explains the back story - humans have won a war against zombies by developing a control collar that subdues the flesh-eaters into dumb servants.

At first I thought we we were in for a fifties cold war paranoia parody a la Matinée, but we are soon hurled into a world of bright primary colours and fifties middle-class nostalgia.

Young Timmy Robinon is a lonely kid who doesn't fit in at school. His mom is would-be social climber,and his dad is nervy and detached.

Seeking to keep up with the Joneses, mom (Carry-Anne Moss) has acquired a zombie. Jimmy is disinterested at first, but 'Fido' (Billy Conelley) soon proves a great buddy for Jimmy. Until his collar goes on the blink...

Fido is NOT a horror film, but my problem with the movie is figuring out exactly what it IS.

Much of the humour is of the light family variety, and sometimes the plot line is too heavily reliant on the boy and his dog/family moments.

Yet the film is shot through with wonderfully dark, truly funny moments, which while welcome, will ensure an R rating for what is, for extended periods, a family comedy.

The film looks gorgeous, and is wonderfully performed by all involved.

Despite its difficult tonal problems, I hope this movie finds a niche, as it's quite a little gem in this year's deluge of cinematic crap.

A brilliant concept that never pans out

[charchuk · 6/10 · 6 January 2008]

I dunno. It's got a brilliant concept, and it did make me laugh lots, and the screenplay is frequently pretty witty, but it never really clicked for me. Usually I'm a fan of the dry humour, but this was a little too dry, even for me. It was just.... awkward at times. I mean, the parody works well, but it got to be a bit too much at times. It also wasn't helped by bland characters - not the mockingly plain characters of stuff like The Truman Show or Pleasantville, but just terribly uninteresting - or some pretty bad acting - especially the kid - and the third act turns incredibly corny. The laughs, when they happen, are pretty impressive, and it's got some brilliant ideas, but it never really pans out. Still, it could be worse.

Endearing if not entirely satisfying zombie effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 26 October 2015]

After surviving the zombie apocalypse, a small family in the suburbs receives a zombie helper who begins bonding with their troubled son and forces them to question their commitment to it when a series of deaths are blamed on the creature.

Overall this one was quite a fine if troubling effort. One of the few good points here is the film's overall premise, which is one of the most creative and original ideas used here to contain zombies and their fate here, making an ingenious nature. Managing to turn the creatures into domesticated slaves and treated much like a household pet, forced into doing chores and treated like members of the family is really unique and logical way of dealing with the creatures. Not only that, there's plenty of enjoyable about the manner of treatment brought to ensure this with some rather well-thought-out explanations used to keep that a cohesive part of the story and really grounds this one quite nicely. The action here isn't all that bad either as the fact that the zombies are still threats makes the rampaging zombie through the neighborhood taking out the different townsfolk and the later scene of the team taking out the reanimated creatures in the park and the encounter with the bullies out in the wilderness come off nicely, through the big swarming battle at the compound here makes for some fun times as there's a lot of the action with the swarming creatures getting free, the panic of the workers and the rather great gore here to make for a great time. These here are enough to hold this up against the one true flaw with this one. The main flaw here is the fact that for nearly two-thirds of the running time there's no horror here, with the domestication taking nearly everything scary away from zombies by design being the biggest hurdle here as instead this is replaced with the drama about the kid growing up being bulled and bonding in a friendly manner, the father overcoming his fear of the zombies and the slight romance that occurs between the two which doesn't come close to providing this with any kinds of scares and keeps this one as a drama throughout this. Though it's enjoyable, there's little of this that becomes centered around horror scenes which is really the only thing wrong here even though it's a pretty big issue.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and children-in-jeopardy.

Cute comedy

[khamsun · 9/10 · 10 September 2007]

Fido is a cute comedy that deserves wider recognition, especially considering the mainstream crap that is supposed to entertain us these days.

As has already been pointed out, this is hardly a real zombie film, but rather a sweet satire that employs the undead to point fingers. While there are necessarily some bloody scenes, there is almost no gore and the way this movie is presented (feel-good 50s style), I can't imagine anyone being actually scared or turned off by Fido & his fellow sufferers.

While the cast is generally good, I felt that Moss and Nelson stood out. The humor is not in-your-face, but rather subdued; there's a lot of attention to detail and I caught myself smiling benignly several throughout the movie. This is certainly no masterpiece of cinema, but it doesn't strive to be - instead, Currie succeeds in delivering a heart-warming black comedy.

"Zombieland" Meets "Pleasantville"

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 27 February 2022]

This was like a long episode of "Leave it to Beaver" with zombies. The concept was funny and unique, and I was excited to see where the movie went with it. The movie was set in the revisionistically idyllic and puritanical time of 1950's America. Take every 50's T. V. trope you can think of and it probably appeared in "Fido."

Earlier in the century space dust settled on the country and reanimated the dead. There was a great zombie war that resulted which the living won with the aid of Dr. Geiger (Andy Parkin). He figured out that head shots killed the zombies. He also developed a special collar which domesticated the dead. From that point a company called Zomcon dealt with all things zombie related and zombies became big business. They did everything from delivering milk, delivering newspapers, gardening, and being house servants.

I think the movie became what it set out to mock. It was funny at first then got kind of stale. The main character's name was Timmy (Kesun Loder), which was very typical. Timmy had the typical 50's parents, Bill (Dylan Baker) and Tammy Robinson (Carrie-Ann Moss). Bill worked while Tammy was a homemaker.

Tammy, without her husband's consent, purchased a zombie for the family because "the neighbor has six." It was an "I Love Lucy" moment of a bygone era. Bill was miffed by the purchase, Timmy was ambivalent. Eventually, Timmy became good friends with the zombie and named him Fido (Billy Connolly).

Fido became a source of problems when his collar was disabled and he partially ate Mrs. Henderson (Mary Black). It was treated as a standard sitcom "oops" event. That set off a chain of events which coincided with a chain of lessons for Timmy and a mini zombie outbreak.

"Pleasantville" this was not. I felt they fell short of truly capturing the era in the most satirical fashion they could have. At times you could see the parody and the satire, but it became a lame sitcom about a boy and his zombie. Fido was supposed to be akin to the family dog, very analogous to Lassie. At one point Timmy was in trouble and told Fido to "go get help boy!" Fido in this case was a necrotized corpse who loved and protected Timmy, and had feelings for Tammy!? Yes, strange. Stranger still, Tammy also had feelings for Fido!? She even said, "I wish I'd met you before you died" as she lovingly caressed his face. It was a weird idea to begin with, but it crossed over to some very uncomfortable fetishy territory. It was bad enough that their neighbor, Mr. Theopolis (Tim Blake Nelson) had a serious case of necrophilia with his zombie, Tammy (Sonja Bennett).

I just thought the Timmy story went from a funny lampoon and settled into a rather boring sitcom that I would never spend time watching. Instead of going very absurd with it to parody 50's television, they stayed faithful to 50's television with a subtler message. There was an attempt, but as I'm seeing more and more, movies aren't delivering on the back end.

Free on Tubi.

doesn't work for me

[pepekwa · 4/10 · 13 December 2007]

I love a good zombie film, dawn of the dead, night of the living dead, day of the dead etc. These movies are great because they're horror films and you are scared of seeing the Zombies eating people and running amok. Shaun of the Dead worked great as well as even though it was part-comedy, you could at least identify with the realism in it and there was some genuine humor amongst all the deaths. Fido is a great idea and to some people, I can see why they think its a great film but this just didn't cut it for me. You do see zombies eating people but its all sanitised and done so quaintly in the 50's setting that its hard to really know what sort of film you're watching. I realise this was the directors intention to throw in the whole clean living, keeping up with the Jones's post war 1950's boom era but for me its completely the wrong place to put a zombie film in. Its like watching "harry and the hendersons", its certainly not horror and its not comedy either. Its interesting to see a civilised society where zombies can live with humans as their slaves/pets/workers but its not enough to make a 90 minute film out of it. Kudos to the director and writer for trying something novel and certainly very different but for me personally, the movie falls flat on its face.

Pleasantville meets Night of the Living Dead

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 9/10 · 15 April 2009]

OK, I didn't know what to expect when I saw the cover to Fido, honestly when I came across it in the video store I was tempted to rent this movie, but nothing about it really grabbed my attention. But when I was looking around in Netflix, they were advertising this like crazy if I liked "goofy" scary movies, so I figured to just give it a shot. I'm so glad that I did watch it, this was just a great movie, it was absolutely hilarious and so charming to watch. Like I said, it's Pleasantville meets Night of the Living Dead, it's just a great concept, what does happen after a mega zombie attack? As we see in another zombie comedy, Shaun of the Dead, they have fun by making the zombies left over as "handy" citizens. This is a very overlooked horror/comedy movie, I think a lot of people were just so blown away with Shaun of the Dead that this got the boot. But it's a great story and the cast was perfect and made this into just a really funny movie.

In a 1950s alternate universe where radiation from space has turned the dead into zombies. This radiation still plagues humanity, as all those who die after the original contamination turn into the undead. In order to continue living normal lives, communities are fenced with the help of a governing corporation named Zomcon. Zomcon provides collars with accompanying remote controls to control the zombies' hunger for flesh so as to use them as slaves or servants. In the town of Willard, a housewife ,Helen, buys a zombie in spite of her husband Bill's zombie phobia. Their son, Timmy, befriends the zombie, naming him "Fido". One day Fido's collar malfunctions and he kills their next door neighbor, who turns into a zombie. Timmy "kills" the zombified neighbor. When a pair of local bullies are blamed for the missing neighbor, they capture Fido and Timmy. Helen comes and rescues Timmy and Fido from the bullies and they try to forget about the whole thing. Several days later, the neighbor's body is found and the murder is traced back to Fido, who is taken away to Zomcon where the public is told he will be destroyed. Timmy learns through a friend that Fido is simply working in a factory at Zomcon. Timmy sets out to rescue him with the help from his neighbor with a zombie girlfriend in hopes to get Fido back.

I really do highly recommend this movie if you get the chance to see it, it's so silly but a lot of fun. Billy Connelly did a great job as Fido and really brought, no pun intended, a lot of life into the character. I think the scene that made me laugh the most was when Timmy has to burry the old lady that Fido attacked and killed, his last words to her were so funny, "you weren't really nice, but you liked flowers, so…" and he buries her in the garden. Not to mention the neighbor with the zombie girlfriend, sick, disturbing, wrong, but classic laughs. I still love how even though this is like the Leave It To Beaver-esquire type of world, there still is a lot of gore in the movie. So if you do have a chance to see Fido, take it, I promise some good laughs.

9/10

A Boy And His Zombie...

[azathothpwiggins · 13 February 2022]

In FIDO, the zombie wars have ended. The world has been saved through zombie containment, and now everyone can own one.

The idea of a utopian 1950's society is detonated by adding enslaved flesh-eaters to Pleasantville. The Robinsons (Carrie-Anne Moss, Dylan Baker, and Kesun Loder) are the perfect family unit. The only status symbol they lack is a zombie servant.

Enter the titular terror (Billy Connolly) to make their lives complete. Alas, accidents do happen, and soon enough there's trouble in Dreamland, USA.

Connolly is so bloody good in this black comedy / parody / social satire! Comfortable suburbia has never been skewered quite like this...

Great idea, so-so results

[zetes · 7/10 · 23 December 2007]

In a 1950's style America, humanity has survived the zombie apocalypse, which happened much as it did in Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and is now living safe inside fenced-in safe zones. There is an invention, a collar of some sort, that is able to quell the zombies' hunger for human flesh. Now they are used as servants, or, in some cases, pets. Fido is the Lassie of zombies. He even belongs to a boy named Timmy. Unfortunately, as tame as the zombies are, the collars don't always work so well. Timmy and Fido get into trouble when the collar gets turned off, and zombie mayhem begins. The concept is gold, but I don't think co-writer/director Andrew Currie produces anything that interesting. His film-making is often sloppy. It sometimes feels like he spent all his budget on some vintage autos and an unnecessary helicopter shot. The zombie makeup looks terrible, which is always distracting. And the zombie actors are generally awful, probably on account of Currie's direction. They all seem too expressive in their faces and eyes. There are a lot of interesting aspects of this post-apocalyptic society, but the world and its rules are never adequately explained. To boot, it's difficult to understand some of the backstories, especially that of the father (played by Dylan Baker). I'd still give a slight recommendation, just because the idea is so fantastic. And it's an amusing picture, even if it disappoints.

You should watch this because you'll see nothing else like it.

[Jacques98 · 4/10 · 3 September 2008]

This movie gets both a 6/10 rating from me, as well as a 9/10. Here is why: As a standard horror movie for the standard horror crowd, where action and gore and scares are taken into consideration, this movie WILL bore you. It's basically a family drama similar to what you'd see on the Lifetime channel, but put in a horror universe. The story and formula are age-old, retreaded hundreds of times. If you're looking for any originality in the plot structure or the minimal conflicts, you'll be disappointed. Take away the zombies and you'll have something just as melodramatic as A Beautiful Mind, tripping on cheese. This is the 6/10.

However, the basic synopsis and idea is pretty original and over-the-top. It's literally something you and your friends would joke about when you're half-drunk . . . but that joke actually got a theatrical release. The idea gets a 9/10 from me. The only reason it isn't perfect is because they could have taken it even further, but they didn't.

The mix of both is mixed. I thought it was funny, but as with most all comedies, it wasn't THAT funny. I had my mom and little sister watch it with me and the jokes we made about it were funnier than the jokes scripted. There were moments of utter genius, but there were also moments of pure boredom.

I sincerely hope that other movies take this kind of over-the-top risk and original ideas. I just can't say it was perfect, or even near it, because of the lack of originality to the plot.

A GREAT family movie. A great movie to watch with a bunch of guys (or girls). A great movie to watch with anyone . . . but if you watch it alone, it will be a bit boring. Other people always make this kind of movie funnier and richer.

4/10

"I knew you wouldn't eat me, boy!"

[Backlash007 · 23 December 2007]

~Spoiler~

I remember being shocked with Joe Dante's first Masters of Horror entry entitled Homecoming. It was a zombie movie with a very political slant and unlike the fun, lighthearted films Dante is usually associated with. Fido is the zombie movie I thought Joe Dante would make. It's a cheery romp that mixes Dante's Matinée and The Burbs with Romero's zombie lore. Writer/director Andrew Currie has captured that Dante/Spielbergian feel in Fido. He also manages to breathe new life in a sub-genre that has seen tireless repetition. I have to admit, I thought a film about a boy and his pet zombie was going to be a one-trick pony. It was a nice concept, but I didn't feel it lent itself to a feature length film. I'm glad I was wrong. Fido takes place in an alternate version of the 1950's where a zombie war was fought and won thanks in part to a special collar that allows the zombies to be domesticated. That is the world we're introduced to in a fantastic educational video indicative of those famous "duck and cover" programs. Zombies are a modern-day convenience equivalent to a microwave or dishwasher. In order to keep up with the Jones', you must have a zombie. I don't really want to say anymore about the story itself because the fun is in the details. I will say that the cast is outstanding. Carrie-Anne Moss, Tim Blake Nelson, and Henry Czerny are good and Dylan Baker just plain looks like he stepped out of a 1950's movie. But the stars of the show are K'Sun Ray and Billy Connelly as the boy and his zombie. With these two, you are seeing a veteran at the top of his game and a child actor who is pitch-perfect. If you are tired of watching talentless hacks tackle the zombie film and fail, give Fido a chance. Sometimes different is good.

Flawed but Delightfully Bizarre

[MichaelMargetis · 6/10 · 28 December 2007]

Bill Robinson: Now, I know you're not supposed to have a hand gun until you're twelve... but it can come in real handy.

I think I love the concept of 'Fido' far more than the actual movie. How original is it to have an alternate reality set in 1950s Leave it To Beaver Era in a perfect little neighborhood where all of the inhabitants are devastated after the great zombie wars of the 1930s. That's right, instead of WWII this reality faced a military conflict with flesh-hungry corpses revived from the dead. Now everything is quarantined, and a company called 'Zomcom' controls basically everything. 'Zomcom' is a company known for converting and brain-washing zombies with electronic collars to become servants.

After the first five minutes of FIDO my hopes were set sky high but by the end I was sorely disappointed. 'Fido' is a good film and a great film in it's genre, but there is so much that could have been done with this groundbreaking and shockingly innovative plot that the final result is almost appalling.

The performances are are solid. Carrie Anne-Moss is excellently creepy as the mother, K'Sun Ray is great as little Timmy, Dylan Baker, best known for his outstanding and haunting portrayal of a conflicted pedophile serial-rapist in Todd Solondz's 'Happiness', is solid here in the stereotypical uptight white male role he is always type-casted in. The real stand-out is Billy Connolly, who with essentially no dialogue is side-split-tingly funny with his priceless facial expressions as the zombie we all cheer for, Fido. It's also nice to see the always reliable Tim Blake Nelson here as Mr. Theopolis, the neighborhood's Quagmire who uses his zombie as a sex slave. The writing is solid on the ideas scale, but the screenplay gets tedious and slow for a big chunk in the middle of the film. Andrew Currie's directing is solid for the most part, but nothing special.

All in all, I highly recommend Fido to any fan of the horror/comedy genre and only lightly recommend it to the rest of you. It's a good film, but it could have been so much better. Grade: B-

Kitsch hybrid that doesn't come off

[paulbakalite · 6/10 · 6 December 2007]

Fido is lovingly shot in glorious fake 50s Technicolour. The film is a vividly styled hybrid that could possibly acquire cult status. But it's a hybrid that doesn't quite gel together. Fido sits awkwardly between a story of suburban manners, a horror and a kitschy comedy. The end result doesn't have enough to tell you, isn't funny enough and isn't scary enough either. It's sinister and a little empty. Even the deliberately over-coloured 50s palette starts off delicious and ends up nauseating. This is a strange film, perhaps unintentionally disturbing in its depiction of living children, dead adults and guns. All dressed up in bandbox brights, Fido leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth. Potentially a classic misfire.

A boy and his zombie

[Buddy-51 · 7/10 · 10 September 2008]

Who says zombies can't be converted into useful members of the community? Certainly not the makers of "Fido," who take us to a never-never-land version of the 1950's where the undead have been turned into butlers and servants for the burgeoning middle class. Timmy Robinson is the all-American boy who becomes emotionally attached to the family's new full-time domestic - a recently resurrected zombie whom Timmy has affectionately dubbed Fido. All of this has been made possible by Zomcom, a big-brother-type organization that has found a way to render the zombies (who were originally brought to "life" by radiation from outer space) manageable and docile - at least most of the time.

This twisted, modern-day spin on the TV series "Lassie" - it might easily have been entitled "A Boy and His Zombie" - takes slyly satirical swipes at such pre-'60s concerns as obsessive social conformity (here keeping-up-with-the-Joneses means having more zombie servants than the folks next door), the sterility of suburban life, the corporate control of civic affairs, small town corruption and nuclear family values - all played out in a beautifully designed setting of parti-colored houses and immaculately manicured lawns. The movie doesn't hit the audience over the head with its message nor does it engage in endless hyperbole to generate laughs. Instead, this is a low-keyed, subtle little satire that elicits appreciative chuckles rather than full-bellied guffaws. Much of the humor derives from the incongruity between the placidness of the setting and the cavalier attitude towards death demonstrated by the fine citizens of the community (Life Magazine has been replaced with a periodical entitled Death Magazine). Despite some playfully graphic violence, the movie stays true to the spirit of innocence we generally associate with both the 1950's itself and the cheesy, low-budget horror movies that were so much a part of the pop culture scene of that decade.

K'Sun Ray, Carrie-Ann Moss and Dylan Baker are amiable and appealing as the wide-eyed Timmy and his Cleaver-esquire parents (with slightly sinister undertones), while Billy Connolly accomplishes the well nigh impossible task of bringing a great deal of humanity and depth to the role of a resurrected corpse.

This is what "Lassie" might have been had Timmy's best friend been afflicted rabies.

Of How to Make the Undead Work

[Tweetienator · 7/10 · 20 July 2018]

I rewatched this fine little zombie-comedy gem lately and greatly enjoyed it again. What you get is a little flick with some good ideas, good acting, nice visuals a la 50s style and a pro production - Fido is for certain not the usual "zombie-comedy" which means you get a bunch of amateurs making something "funny" with zombies. If you did not watch Fido already, but you like a good undead comedy, watch.

Zomcom

[doctorgonzo71 · 9/10 · 4 June 2007]

At a risk of sounding slightly sacrilegious, on first viewing I'm kind of inclined to put this right up on a par with 'Shaun of the Dead'. Now, given I view Simon Pegg as an unquestionable comedy genius, I realise this is a rather big claim. And to what extent you agree with that last statement may be a good preliminary gauge of whether 'Fido' will appeal to you.

In a way the comedy picks up where 'Shaun' left off, except we're back in the original 1950s Living Dead-era stereotypical middle-American small town. The Zombie Wars are over and zombies themselves are becoming more well-adjusted, useful members of the community. This, so we're informed at the outset, is largely thanks to the scientific advances made by the good people at Zomcom - a nice play on romantic comedy perhaps?

The beauty of the film lies in its dead-pan depiction of a respectable neighbourhood maintaining core values while making a place for zombies and the special hazards they pose. The charm and balance with which it does this is near enough perfect. Themes you might expect from a more mainstream kitsch comedy come through - the veneer of good clean living, keeping up appearances, repressed emotion, muddled parental values, social decorum and the plight of the alienated individual.

It's a story told with happy heart and wide appeal that is brought to life vividly by the film's all-round strong cast. It's one of those works where it really shows through that everyone involved got a kick out of taking part. It's also fun imagining what Billy Connelly learning his script must have been like...

So in conclusion, it is probable you will appreciate the humour of this film unless your father tried to eat you.

Promising but just too nice in the end

[soomiz · 6/10 · 6 November 2020]

This is a passable comedy, with some good ideas. Nice 50's style, good casting, SNZ is always fun to listen too. But the beginning of the movie lead us to what looks like to a nice satire of the american society, especially regarding working class. But in the end, it's just a transposition of "Robbie" by Asimov, surfing on the zombie wave of the 2000's. Of course nobody would admit it in the writing credits.

Could have stayed dead

[hte-trasme · 3/10 · 25 December 2009]

There's been a vogue for the past few years for often-as-not ironic zombie-related films, as well as other media incarnations of the flesh- eating resurrected dead. "Fido" is a film that's either an attempt to cash in on that, simply a manifestation of it, or both -- and it falls squarely into the category of ironic zombies. The joke here is that we get to see the walking dead in the contrasting context of a broadly stereotyped, squeaky-clean, alternate-history (we are in the wake of a great Zombie War, and the creatures are now being domesticated as slaves) version of a 1950s suburb.

It's a moderately funny concept on its own, and enough perhaps for a five-minute comedy sketch, but it can't hold up a feature-film on its own. The joke that rotting corpses for servants are incongruous with this idealized version of a small town is repeated over and over again, and loses all effectiveness. The soundtrack relentlessly plays sunny tunes while zombies cannibalize bystanders. The word "zombie" is constantly inserted into an otherwise familiarly homey line for a cheap attempt at a laugh.

The very broadness and artificiality of the representation of "the nineteen fifties" here can't help but irritate me. It is so stylized, in it evidently "Pleasantville-"inspired way, that it is more apparent in waving markers of its 1950s-ness around than actually bearing any resemblance to anything that might have happened between 1950 and 1959. There is something obnoxiously sneering about it, as if the film is bragging emptily and thoughtlessly about how more open, down-to-Earth, and superior the 2000s are.

Because the characters are such broad representations of pop-culture 1950s "types," it's difficult to develop much emotional investment in them. Each has a few character traits thrown at him or her -- Helen is obsessed with appearances, and Bill loves golf and his haunted by having had to kill his father -- but they remain quite two-dimensional. Performances within the constraints of this bad writing are fine. The best is Billy Connolly as Fido the zombie, who in the tradition of Boris Karloff in "Frankenstein" actually imparts character and sympathy to a lumbering green monster who cannot speak.

There are little bits of unsubtle allegory thrown around -- to commodity fetishism, racism, classism, war paranoia, et cetera, but none of it really works on a comprehensive level, and the filmmakers don;t really stick with anything.

Unfortunately, this film doesn't really get past sticking with the flimsy joke of "Look! Zombies in 'Leave it to Beaver!'" for a good hour- and-a-half.

I wish I didn't have to wait for this to come out in the US...

[muffingoddess38 · 9/10 · 5 November 2006]

I suppose the ultimate curse of attending the Toronto Film Festival is your release date time table get messed up. Quite frankly, I'm just happy Fido got picked up for US distribution. In any case...

Ever seen Shaun of the Dead? Good. How about Lassie? Able to reconcile the two? Well, if you can your name might be Andrew Currie, Canadian helmer of the first ever family themed zombie comedy, or zomedy. (Seriously, that's what the press book in Toronto called it.) Though not as violent, dry, or British as Shaun of the Dead, Fido remains true to its roots: a devotion to old 50s black and white television including both Lassie and the infamous sci-fi pulp that was being pumped out during the period.

Fido's talented headliners (Carrie Anne Moss, Billy Connelly, Dylan Baker, and Tim Blake Nelson) stand as a testament to the brilliance of the script. The film explores all the implications of its premise: a world where zombies have been converted to servants because of the sheer number of them due to a strange accident. What would you use your new undead servant for? A butler? Manual labor? A pet? Unspeakable acts? Fido tackles all these possibilities in a sweet and surprisingly classy way, with much thanks to the work of Connelly (as one of said zombies) and young TV actor K'Sun Ray, who seems at times to be a better young Elijah Wood than the young Elijah Wood was.

If you're expecting another Shaun of the Dead, don't waste your time. There's not nearly enough gore and pokes at the genre to satisfy you and you'll just leave the theater bitter and depressed. But if you're willing to take a look at what happens to Shaun of the Dead when it jumps across the lake, you're in for a treat. Think of Fido as the sensitive, more often beaten up little brother to Shaun of the Dead's rebellious loser, and you're starting to get the drift. If you like (or at least tolerate) zombies, small children, and loads of deadpan satire, Fido's the film for you. If that's not the case....well, you know the drill. Just hit 'em square between the eyes.

Quite Exceptional

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 18 July 2012]

Timmy Robinson's best friend in the whole wide world is a six-foot tall rotting zombie named Fido.

This film combines 1950s propaganda, zombies, the humor of "Shaun of the Dead" and a unique story to create a world that is both funny and fascinating. I did not have high expectations for the movie with its silly title and cover art, but it really grabbed hold of me and impressed me with its depth and character.

Is this a buddy film? A story of family values? A comedy? An allegory on class? It could be any number of those things. Heck, if there is a message to this film, it is one that is well-hidden yet decipherable, and different depending on what angle you choose to view it from. You get out of this movie what you bring to it.

Boring and plodding

[mrush · 3/10 · 5 April 2008]

Yet another bad movie featuring zombies.But its got a new twist----it's boring and slow.The makers of this film have managed to make a movie with zombies that is about as exciting as watching paint dry.I didn't think that was possible.

Just imagine a 1950's as portrayed in "Happy Days" or "Leave it to Beaver" but instead of Mr.C. mowing the lawn or washing the car they have zombies doing those menial chores instead.Sometime before some sort of space dust had hit the Earth and brought all the dead back to life.The hordes of walking dead were brought under control in the Great Zombie Wars and now zombies are controlled by a collar that keeps them under control so they can be made to do chores.One kid ,Timmy, and his zombie ,Fido, form a special bond and havoc ensues.A company called Zomcon makes the collars and fences that surround the towns and keep them safe from roaming zombies-yeah there is supposed to be some hidden message about corporate corruption or greed or whatever.Who cares.

Now I know this isn't supposed to be a straight zombie movie,it's supposed to be funny .The only problem is it ain't funny.The storyline is slow and boring and the plot doesn't make any sense.Wouldn't it be better just to wash your own car as to take the chance that a collar will malfunction and a zombie will flip out and kill someone like sometimes happens in the movie? Well I guess not.These 1950's dolts had rather take the chance of getting their throats torn out as to have to pick up their own newspaper from the front porch.

But really the terrible plot could have been over looked if the movie had been funny ,even a little.Or gory .Or anything.What it turned out to be was a few zombies with some gray face paint on milling around until we wound down to a totally predictable ending.

Minimal gore and no bare breasts make this zombie movie a complete waste of time.I wish I could put a stun collar on the untalented bunch who made this heap of crap.