During the introduction to Creatures from the Pink Lagoon, director Chris Diani warned the audience that there "was no message" and that we weren't going to "learn" anything, because Pink Lagoon was just a good old-fashion "gay zombie movie." And it's lovely when a movie delivers exactly what it promises.

As with all zombie films, gay or straight - Pink Lagoon has the standard cast of characters: the naive good-hearted blond in a sweater, the dumb jock, the bimbo, the nerd, the bad boy boyfriend, the snide fellow who clearly made a wrong turn on his way to the birthday party in Boys in the Band, the ethic minority, and hideous flesh-eating monsters. Ok- so you might only find the bitchy Boys in the Band guy in a gay zombie movie, but otherwise all the old school zombie movie stereo types are there - and Pink Lagoon embraces them. It embraces a number of gay stereo types as well (never have I heard so many euphemisms for homosexuality bandied about in my life). Which is brave, considering the fact that everyone knows what embracing gets you in zombie movies: eaten by zombies. But not to worry - it's all in good fun.

And in the end, that's what Creatures from the Pink Lagoon is: good fun. It's a broadly painted, tongue in cheek revisiting of the old-school monster movies - down to being shot in glorious black and white. To give you an idea of the general tone of the film, someone at the post show Q & A asked the director and producer if they have considered promoting it with a Rocky Horror style audience participation, which both the director and producer seemed to seriously consider. And they should- this is the sort of movie that type of treatment would be perfect for. Will it frighten you? Not a chance. Will it make you laugh? If you don't take your zombie movies (or yourself) too seriously. Will it get the jingle for Rest Stop 5 stuck in your head? Very likely. (Will it make you wonder how many rest stops have their own jingle? Probably only if you're me, and you tend to over think things a bit.)

Prior to Pink Lagoon - the festival ran an Ed Wood-worthy sci-fi short entitled Mars Needs Bibles - wherein the Baptists try to win the space race to be the Christian sect to discover and make first contact with life on Mars - and then force their own beliefs and morality on them. The short was amusing, and a good pairing with Pink Lagoon - notable not only for its attention to detail in its pursuit of bargain basement, 50's era special effects - but also for the fact that I believe the ending credits (a gangster-rap style video for the "Love Theme to Mars Needs Bibles ") were probably as long as the short itself.