Product Description

It’s a few weeks before the Presidential election and an unpopular war still rages overseas. But when the Republican administration wishes that our dead troops could return to tell America how proud they were to serve their country, veterans begin to rise from their flag-draped coffins for the most horrific reason of all: to vote.Are they gloriously resurrected heroes or braindead zombie dissidents? And even if the administration can devise the proper spin in time to steal their re-election, will an army of men and women killed for a lie finally show our nation the true face of hell? Jon Tenney (THE CLOSER), Thea Gill (QUEER AS FOLK) and Robert Picardo (STAR TREK:VOYAGER) star in this provocative stunner from director Joe Dante (GREMLINS,THE HOWLING, PIRANHA) that The Village Voice calls "jaw-dropping…easily one of the most important political films of the era!"

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63460 in DVD
• Brand: STARZ/SPHE
• Released on: 2006-07-11
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 59 minutes

Amazon.com
Made for Showtime, the Masters of Horror series features films by renowned horror film directors, such as Homecoming by Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins). This satire about Bush's War On Terrorism is a one-liner, in which soldiers killed in Iraq rise from the dead to vote the president out of office as their last effort to end the war. Zombies fight for peace as the politicians concoct deadly schemes in this comedic film about the idiocy of our current government. Political consultants Jane Cleaver (Thea Gill) and David Murch (Jon Tenney) meet during a talk show panel, then watch in horror as the news begins to air footage of soldier zombies wandering the streets towards their local voting booths. Top political officials, unable to slay the undead, discover that the zombies die on their own after dropping their voting cards into the boxes. Zombies spark a small revolution by denouncing WMDs on television, urging citizens to follow suit. Though weak compared to Romero's great sarcastic zombie film, Dawn of the Dead, Homecoming features enough body parts squirting green blood to entertain. Over-the-top humor throughout recalls Re-Animator, yet the political message goes deeper. Dante's warped rendition of America’s recent history seems more relevant than ever. --Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews

My Jaw Dropped...
...in a bad way. This movie is astoundingly bad. The message it delivers is so ineptly handled with unfunny humor and bald-faced hatred that it fails as propaganda. It is not funny, so it fails as satire. And because it tries so desperately to be satire and propaganda, it fails as horror.

Clearly, the people involved in this sad project hate conservatives--which is fine. Many people do. But not many artists do to a degree that blinds their aesthetic judgments (Tim Robbins can churn out excellent parody, for example). The script seems like it was written by an angry co-ed. I came to this movie expecting to be entertained with some tongue-in-cheek horror. Instead, I was hectored by adolescents.

Masters of Hilarious Horror
I'm amused by the reviews here--from either political side--that take this as anything more than what it is. IT IS A HIGHLY ENTERTAINING SATIRE! I do not ascribe to the political beliefs put forth by this piece, that has never been a prerequisite to good entertainment. But is it funny?--oh, YES! Highly recommended as one of the finest Masters of Horror segments. Whether your Republican, Democrat, or completely uninterested in politics--this is an amusing poke at the political process taken to absurd proportions. I swear it won't corrupt or subvert you.

Come Again?
Written by the fellow who gave the world "Monkeybone" (Sam Hamm) and directed by the gentleman responsible for "Loony Tunes: Back in Action" (Joe Dante ... okay, okay, he also did "Gremlins"), "Homecoming" is yet another "Masters of Horror" misfire.

This time around, the story concerns a world where right-wing political pundits inadvertantly cause dead American soldiers to come back to life. David Murch (Jon Tenney) and Jane Cleaver (Thea Gill doing her best Anne Coulter imitation) offer up the typical Republican soundbites in defense of the (tactfully unnamed) President's ill-advised War in Iraq. One of those soundbites? "I wish those soldiers COULD come back, because I'm sure they'd tell America how proud they were to serve and give their life for this great country of ours." Or something to that effect. What do you know? The Republicans get their wish.

Of course, the zombie soldiers AREN'T glad that they're dead. And what is their idea of vengeance? They demand the right to vote against the President. That's right. As soon as their dissenting ballots are cast, they drop lifelessly to the floor, their point having been made.

This little vignette makes ITS point in the first seven minutes of filming, and then it just keeps on making it over and over again. Some have said that your enjoyment of the show will depend on your political bent, but I think any clear-headed individual can see that no matter your governmental ideologies, this is just one long, slow, poorly-written joke. There IS some dark humor here, but it's also unintelligent, hateful, and obvious.

Ah well. Propaganda isn't known for its tact. "Homecoming" has a vendetta, and that's all it has. I'm all for exposing corruption and deceit, but even if there are those who agree with this film's message (and many, many do), I fail to see how those same people can also agree with the film's self-righteous moralizing, its hate, its presumption.

After all, this little "screw you" to the current administration props up its high horse on the idea that the conservatives are only promoting their own selfish agendas by claiming to speak for America's fallen men and women. But "Homecoming" is guilty of the exact same offense. By the last frame, it's obvious that no one in the show is aware of the self-defeating irony of their proselytizing, which is really the only horrific thing about this turkey.