Inside My Head – Sunday Morning Sketch Cinema: Fido (2006)

Sunday Morning Sketch Cinema: Fido (2006)

After an overly-long holiday hiatus, it’s time once again to settle in for a soirée of sketchy goodness. January in New England means grey skies and a general feeling of discontent – perfect zombie weather. This week, my sketch-loving cohorts, I bring you Andrew Currie’s 2006 tale of a boy and his pet (zombie, that is), Fido.

K’Sun Ray stars in this nostalgic yarn as Timmy, the son of a death-obsessed father and a status-crazy mother, who is but a young boy trying to grow and survive in a post-war society. A society whose deceased have been turned into flesh-eating zombies thanks to a strange radiation from space. This radiation still exists in many areas and poses a constant threat to society, as all those who die after the original contamination turn into the undead. In order to survive in a normal fashion, the towns have been fenced in with the help of a governing corporation.

Zomcom is an all-empowering corporation which has developed the technology to not only keep the zombie population at bay, but even to domesticate the animated corpses – by using a collar which eliminates their natural instinct to consume human flesh. Zomcom is also the law, rounding up those who perform illegal funerals (“Head coffin, please”) and are in possession of unregistered zombies.

A jump-rope makes a great makeshift leash for your zombie.

When the new head of security for Zomcom moves in next door, complete with family and six domesticated zombies, Timmy’s mother decides it’s time for their family to get a zombie as well – despite father Bill’s utter hatred for the undead. Timmy forms a bond with his zombie, whom he’s lovingly named Fido, after much hesitation. After all, he was raised to despise zombies as well – but Fido easily wins him over after a run-in with the local bullies.

Timmy’s picture-perfect life soon turns sour, as a device malfunction causes Fido to temporarily revert to his flesh-eating ways. This doesn’t deter Timmy – oh, no – his bond with his undead friend is far too strong to let murder come in the way. Covering his friend’s tracks, they try to move on with their…lives?

Fido is set in a strange, 1950’s-era alternate universe, giving it a strange, Shaun of the Dead meets Pleasantville feeling. Hilary ensues as Timmy’s mother, clearly not receiving the tender loving attention she craves from her emotionless husband, seems to form a romantic bond with Fido. Who doesn’t want a little affection now and again, even if it’s from a corpse?

Proper funerals attract the crowds.

This sketchy bit of brilliance has been on my radar for some time now, and only now am I kicking myself for not partaking sooner. I laughed, I cried (well, mainly from laughing), and I truly enjoyed this heartwarming story of love and zombies. Oh, and did I mention that Fido is played by none other than Billy Connolly? Yeah. That’s right.

And now, kiddies, I leave you with this week’s Sunday Morning Sketch Cinema Quote of the Week:

Bill Robinson: “My father tried to eat me. I don’t remember trying to eat Timmy.”

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