Yummy – Fantasia Review (3/5)

YUMMY is a new zombie movie from Belgium but most dialogue is in English. The movie is screening at Fantasia 2020 and is out on Shudder. A very accomplished horror-comedy so do check it out. Read our full Yummy review here!

YUMMY is a new zombie movie from Belgium. Most of the story takes place at a dodgy hospital in Eastern Europe. Due to the various nationality of the characters, English is the primary language.

With a runtime at 90 minutes, it’s a very accomplished horror-comedy that works like magic at times. It does feel a tad bit too long and there are some irritating moments towards the end. The ending itself, however, is pretty damn ballsy in the best of ways!

We watched the movie as part of the Fantasia Festival 2020 but it’s also out on Shudder. Continue reading our full Yummy review below.

Lots of body horror – and comedy!

It’s almost a given that a zombie horror-comedy will feature even more blood and body horror than a creepy and dark zombie horror movie. Also, the comedy element often involves various body parts and Yummy is no exception.

The story plays out at an Eastern European hospital specializing in plastic surgery, so it’s all about the body, to begin with. Honestly, placing the story at this location is pure genius. Both in terms of characters, body issues, and the overall plot.

One of my favorite scenes in Yummy involves a man who recently had a penis enlargement. However, since the zombie apocalypse seems to be upon the hospital, he wants to try out his newly augmented Johnson. And no, a sex scene is not the horror-comedy element. Instead, it comes after (and a bit before, I suppose).

Faces you’ll recognize from Netflix series

You might not know many Belgian actors, but if you’ve watched some of the amazing Belgian series on Netflix, then you should. For starters, the main character in Yummy is Alison and she’s portrayed by Maaike Neuville. In relation to Netflix, she starred in the thriller series The Twelve which is certainly worth checking out.

Recommended reading: Our Season 1 review of The Twelve here >

Also in the cast of Yummy is Tom Audenaert who you should recognize from The Break. A truly brilliant Netflix crime series from Belgium that has had two seasons so far. Both worth watching and both have Tom Audenaert in the cast.

You might like: Our review of The Break season 2 >

Finally, I have to mention the fact that before Yummy is over, most of the characters will have done something to make them unlikable. Some in small ways, other in character-defining ways. In fact, only two characters (one man and one woman, who don’t know each other) manage not to do something stupid to make them unlikable.

On one hand, it irritated me a bit while I also realized that maybe it’s just realistic. A bunch of strangers encountering zombies in a dodgy hospital in a foreign country probably would think about themselves first. I mean, even more so than if they were at home in familiar surroundings and spoke the same language.

Check out Yummy when you get the chance!

Yummy is the feature film debut of director and co-writer Lars Damoiseaux. The previous writer-director production from Lars Damoiseaux was a short titled Patient Zero (2016) so he’s clearly a genre filmmaker.

For both that short film and Yummy, Eveline Hagenbeek is the co-writer. Both also worked as writers on the Netflix series Undercover which is a Belgian and Dutch production. 

If you like zombie horror-comedies and enjoy it when things get deliciously crude, then you should definitely enjoy watching Yummy. Basically, you should make sure that you check out this little gem as soon as you can.

Yummy is screening at Fantasia 2020, and it is available on Shudder. Also, it will be out on VOD, Digital HD, DVD and Blu-ray on October 6, 2020.

Details

Director: Lars Damoiseaux
Writers: Lars Damoiseaux, Eveline Hagenbeek
Stars: Maaike Neuville, Bart Hollanders, Benjamin Ramon, Clara Cleymans, Tom Audenaert, Taeke Nicolai, Eric Godon