I saw this film as part of the Imagine film festival (SF/fantasy/horror) Amsterdam 2012. The title of this film may need some explanation (this is not a spoiler). It refers to the name Juan invented for his service offering "Juan of the dead. We kill your beloved ones. How can I help you?", this being the spoken announcement when answering the phone. In your mind you hear the text "(and earn money)" hidden behind this message.
I suspect many things in this film to be intentionally satirical. For instance, TV news often accuses dissidents, paid by US, to covertly causing the reported troubles. On the other hand, I observe several halfway missed opportunities to expose the army (a helicopter crashes on town hall dome), and ditto ridicule the police (a policeman assigned to collect sane people for evacuation, defeats the very purpose by including one visibly affected person). Can it be that satire on civil servants is frowned upon in Cuba?
More on this subject is that we see elevators fail, expired medicine, civilization generally looking outdated, and more such things that may be intentional satire (or not). And finally, we don't see anyone busy with useful work. Instead, we see a lot of alcohol and people doing absolutely nothing.
In case you are not interested in an inside view in Cuba as of today, nor making fun of Cuban society as it is nowadays, you better be on the lookout for a different zombie movie. I don't think that zombies were meant to be the main course on the menu, only a side issue to have some sort of story line. Anyway, Juan can be of help when you want to get rid of an member of the family, be it because seemingly infected with zombie blood, or can better be eased out of the way for other reasons.
All in all, the humor and the satire (intended or not) make this film to what it is, not the zombies nor the special effects. Far from perfect, but it makes us aware of a film industry presence in Cuba that we neglected until today. This film ranked 7th for the audience award, with an average score of 8.25/10.
I suspect many things in this film to be intentionally satirical. For instance, TV news often accuses dissidents, paid by US, to covertly causing the reported troubles. On the other hand, I observe several halfway missed opportunities to expose the army (a helicopter crashes on town hall dome), and ditto ridicule the police (a policeman assigned to collect sane people for evacuation, defeats the very purpose by including one visibly affected person). Can it be that satire on civil servants is frowned upon in Cuba?
More on this subject is that we see elevators fail, expired medicine, civilization generally looking outdated, and more such things that may be intentional satire (or not). And finally, we don't see anyone busy with useful work. Instead, we see a lot of alcohol and people doing absolutely nothing.
In case you are not interested in an inside view in Cuba as of today, nor making fun of Cuban society as it is nowadays, you better be on the lookout for a different zombie movie. I don't think that zombies were meant to be the main course on the menu, only a side issue to have some sort of story line. Anyway, Juan can be of help when you want to get rid of an member of the family, be it because seemingly infected with zombie blood, or can better be eased out of the way for other reasons.
All in all, the humor and the satire (intended or not) make this film to what it is, not the zombies nor the special effects. Far from perfect, but it makes us aware of a film industry presence in Cuba that we neglected until today. This film ranked 7th for the audience award, with an average score of 8.25/10.