Bong of the Dead: Just Another Pipe Dream?
One of the very best things about extremely-indie film Bong of the Dead is the gratitude director Thomas Newman expresses to all those who supported his making of the movie, particularly his apparently ever-patient wife (“Thank you to all the people who said yes and then helped me make my dreams come true by contributing in someway [sic] to the making of this film…Last and most importantly...a very big thank you to all the people who ever said no to me and tried everything they could to stop this film from being made by placing obstacles in my way or by constantly telling me ‘It's not possible.’ I made this film specialy [sic] for all of you. Looks like it is possible...”). Newman further endears himself to his audience by proudly (yet briefly) explaining how he did so many of the required filmmaking tasks himself, giving credit to tutorials and software where appropriate.
The premise of Bong of the Dead is that two stoners (Mark Wynn and Jy Harris) somehow survived a zombie apocalypse (we don’t know how, they just did), and discovered that rehydrated, desiccated zombie brains make a super-fertilizer for their small marijuana crop, not only speeding up the growth of the plants but also making the weed super-potent. The two end up “guests” of Leah (Simone Bailly), a very attractive survivor who has more brains in her fingernail clippings than the two stoners put together.
Welding together a Cheech-and-Chong vibe with a Sean of the Dead sensibility and a number of visual references to other films, Bong of the Dead is ninety minutes of pure silliness. Consistency is not its strong point, but the inconsistencies add to the fun, and it would be very disappointing to learn that the cast and crew were not having fun while making this film.
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