Review: Pat the Zombie

Pat the Zombie

Review by DeadVida

I am a fan of Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, gallows humor, and ridiculousness. That said, I find the current wave of zombie humor books rather revolting. They are tired and sad, and for the most part appeal to the pabulum tastes of non-horror fans. Also, as Dread Sockett so eloquently put it in his magnum opus to Nazi zombies in the last issue, “usually when genres are at the point of spoofing they’ve exhausted other means of expression.” Personally, I just want to kill this crap and get back to the scary shit and heady sub-text that zombies can, in fact, offer.

When I saw that yet another zombified classic was coming out, in this case Pat the Zombie (a spoof on the children’s classic Pat the Bunny) I groaned inwardly. It just seemed like the jump the shark moment zombies have been building toward the last couple of years.

A couple of weeks ago an unsolicited review copy of Pat the Zombie landed in my mailbox. Again, I love zombies, funny stuff, and am familiar with the source material. I opened the box with as much impartiality as I am ever likely to muster. It is from 10 Speed Press and the packaging is spot-on. The press release promised me, that as a mother, who hates the “saccharine sweetness” of children’s books, that I would find this a “guilty pleasure.” Let me disclose right here that I have watched Chasing Amy and Simon Says (staring Crispin Glover!) with my pre-schooler. You would think I would be their target market, right?

Wrong. This would have been funny as a panel in Cracked. As an actual book/gift product it is just stupid. The whole joke is on the cover. From there just becomes someone laughing at his own joke, but with a really grating laugh, and then over-explaining the joke.

My fear is that this means we are just a short step from the dreaded sexy, yet misunderstood, teen zombie. Gag me with a femur bone.