Dance of the Dead is a low-budget comedy horror gem playing at this year's Cannes. Already a hit at America's SXSW festival, the film takes the simple equation that 'zombies plus prom equals laughs', and runs with it for 90 minutes of pure, unadulterated fun.

The plot is as ridiculous as horror plots get, revolving around discharge from a power plant bring the residents of a local cemetery back to life. It also happens to be prom time, with the pupils of Cosa High School holding their Hawaiian Hula Dance, and when the zombiesmunch their way through much of the town and eventually reach the school, all hell, quite literally, breaks loose.

Every zombie film owe a debt to the godfather of gore, George Romero, and Dance is no different, referencing Night of the Living Dead in the opening passages, andslipping in a knowing Dawn of the Dead gag when the zombies hit a supermarket.



And yet it's very much its own beast, featuring wildly original ideas that take the genre in new and refreshing directions, from zombie frogs causing classroom carnage to zombie kids moshing at a zombie gig. Indeed, some of the scenes are truly inspired; a zombie love scenes a particular standout, and the vision of the undead leaping out of their graves on of the best of the fest thus far.

The young cast attack their roles with great enthusiasm, appearing to be the typical high school archetypes before actually turning into kids you care about. And director Greg Bishop shoots with such vim and vigour that you can't help but be carried away by the marvellous momentum of it all. The result perfect Friday night fodder; a zombie film that's a blast from start to finish, and one that should inject new life into a genre that looked to be dead on its feet.