Review: Witness Infection

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Witness Infection
Directed by Andy Palmer
Mob Goo Productions; Petri Entertainment
82 minutes, 2021
https://www.facebook.com/witnessinfection

One way to look at this is as a comic mish-mash of “The Sopranos” (1999-2007) and Mob Boss (1990) meet “The Walking Dead” (2010-), with a touch of Street Trash (1987). The characters from Saturday Night Fever (1976) are also a good baseline for those presented. I can’t speak for anyone else, but that sounds like a fun combination, under the right helm.

We are introduced to two rival mob families from Jersey, who went into the witness protection program, and by an FBI mistake, both get sent to the same small city of Temecula, California, a real place, 85 miles driving distance south from Los Angeles (Hwy 10 to 71, then 15), known for its wine and resorts; it was also filmed in Lake Elsinore, 35 minutes away (up Hwy 15). But I digress… Needless to say, there are a lot of bowling shirts and jumpsuits. It all reminds me of growing up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, where the mob was omnipresent (my story is HERE). 

Vince DonVito, Jill-Michelle Melean, Robert Belushi

Rather than go to war and kill each other, they pull a Dark Ages type deal between them, where Carlo (Robert Belushi – Jim’s son) – who runs a pet grooming shop – and rival gang daughter Patricia (Erinn Hayes) have one week to get married, and then produce a kid. Neither is happy about this arrangement, especially Carlo’s co-groomer, Gina (ex-“MadTV” Jill-Michele Melean), who loves him. If you have already figured out where this goes, it will not matter in the long run.

To make matters even worse, Patricia is the girlfriend of Carlo’s goombah brother, Domonic (Bret Ernst). Shades of A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Rounding it off at this point is Patricia’s bestie and Carlo’s sister (I think), Filomena (Tara Strong, known mostly as a voice actor in some major roles, such as Harley Quinn/Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in various “Batman” cartoons such as “The Killing Joke,” and for the Bronies, she is Twilight Sparkle in “My Little Pony”), and along for the ride is Carlo’s older letch and cinephile cousin and (further) comic relief Vince (Vince DonVito), who has the best line in the film.

Tara Strong, Erinn Hayes

Anyways, there’s a popular street meat food truck selling sausage sangwiches that is having a disastrous effect on people, turning them into zombies, but while stumbling around can also be fast, and definitely with a George A. Romero-style hunger. Oh, and their skin starts to boil and melt, which is where the Street Trash comes in.

While the humor is mostly verbal and pretty consistent, it is worth paying attention because there are a lot of throw-away lines that are easy to miss, and are too good to ignore (even the groaners). Part of the fun is the many other film references, from the verbal mentioning of a few films from The Godfather (1972) to Blazing Saddles (1974), to the more subtle ones like two hit men (Joseph D. Reitman and another voice actor, Gary Anthony Williams) who seem to be right out of Pulp Fiction (1994), down to the suits, the ponytail, the silencers, and especially the nonsensical conversation. Then there’s Rose (Monique Coleman, from 2006’s High School Musical), presenting a fine Pam Grier/Coffy-like (1973) pose, right down to the shotgun, huge afro, hoop earrings, and cleavage; her meta-commentary on blacks in genre films is a hoot. It’s almost like you can make a drinking game out of “Name That Reference.” It is all part of the fun.

Monique Coleman

The first two acts, which are totally worth watching, is mostly comedy, but then the bloodbath starts in earnest in the third act. There is a huge body count, and copious amounts of blood, guns, gore, and guts. The gunshot blood spray looks to be pretty obvious CGI, though most of it is practical SFX, and looks spectacular.

Usually in a film like this, the tendency is to play the characters broadly – usually too much so – but director Palmer manages to squeeze out some really nice performances, even though a bit over the top in stereotypes. This is a good thing. It is not surprising to me, though, because the cast is well-seasons with large amounts of credits on IMDB. Coming out best are the leads, Melean and Belushi, with DonVito close behind. The whole cast is great, but these three stand out.

There is one rather large hole in the story, though: if the plan was to meld the two families with this arranged marriage, why couldn’t Patricia just marry Dom? It would certainly solve the problem. Oh, yeah, that would ruin the tension between the two opposing groups. That being said, this is one of the better zombie films I have seen in a while, especially in the comic vein (pun not intended).

Be sure to watch the end because there are a couple of epilogues and a question I had answered, which I will not give away. Heck, some of the credits are fun as well, especially toward the end. Chomp at the bit, and view away.