THE DEAD DON'T DIE ***

Jim Jarmusch claims he made "The Dead Don't Die" because he wanted to make an entertainment that the general public could relate to and simply have fun watching. Showing it at Cannes, of course, also suggests he had one eye on the critics too, though they have been less than enthusiastic, hoping perhaps he might emulate his vampire masterpiece "Only Lovers Left Alive" and yes, if you are expecting a retread of that you will be disappointed. However, if you go to "The Dead Don't Die" wanting nothing more than a good, gory and very funny slice of schlock-horror you will love it as much as I did.

Of course, Jarmusch being Jarmusch can't content himself with a simple send-up; he has to go down the post-modern route of referencing the fact that it's only a film and a Jim Jarmusch film at that, so we have characters talking about reading the script and that the much played title song is, indeed, the film's theme song but these are the weakest aspects of Jarmusch's comedy. Otherwise this is a full-frontal assault on the funny-bone..

You can ignore what passes for a plot, suffice to say "Night of the Living Dead" is a good jumping off point, and relish a cast of Jarmusch regulars, (Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits etc), having a ball. Driver and Swinton may have the best of it, showing that even in a pastiche like this they still have the acting chops to carry it off. It's not flawless; the build-up to this zombie apocalypse takes too long and a few of the gags are repeated long past their sell-by date but I still laughed longer and harder at this than at any other movie I've seen this year and if it's minor Jarmusch, it still shows that even minor Jarmusch is often so much better than many of his peers.