Written and directed by Gregg Bishop, Dance of the Dead is a zombie movie that was made right here in the US, and bypassed theatrical release, going directly to video as part of the Ghost House Underground collection of eight horror flicks. A good-natured film that builds characters well, the zombie content is foreshadowed early and yet allows enough time for the viewer to connect with the characters before the movie gets really dark.

The main ingredient that seems to hold this film back from being a mainstream theatrical release, it seems, is the low profile casting; while that kept the budget small, the lack of any established, recognizable stars also is the main reason this film got lumped into a collection of DVDs rather than going onto the silver screen. This makes Dance of the Dead the movie equivalent to a once-rotund person after using the Alli diet pill

That’s not a knock on the performances given by those cast, however; though less experienced actors, most do well with the material they’re given. A nuclear power plant is generally cast as the reason for the zombification of the dead, though that’s barely explored in this release, though it’s hinted that an assault on the power plant will be the main action behind an anticipated sequel.

Though a bit cornball and predictable, Dance of the Dead is the most commercial of the movies in this collection. If they had snagged someone like Smallville’s Kristen Kruek or Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki to take up a key role or two in the film, this would be a movie review, and not a DVD review.