Review: ‘Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies’ doesn’t remotely live up to its title

As soon as filmmakers come up with a title as fun as “Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies,” most of their work has been done — at least as far as the marketing. It takes more effort to whip up a movie as wacky as the name. And although Austrian writer/director Dominik Hartl has the right spirit for his alpine ghoul-fest, he ultimately lacks the material to generate more than mild amusement.

Hartl’s best decision is to aim for something halfway between “Return of the Living Dead” and ’80s ski comedies. Laurie Calvert stars as a hotshot, immature snowboarder who gets trapped by the undead at a mountaintop resort, alongside his grim girlfriend (Gabriela Marcinková) and the property’s stout, handy old owner (Margarete Tiesel). High jinks ensue.

Even at 78 minutes, “Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies” is thin. Hartl and his crew — including some outstanding makeup-effects artists — save most of the action for the final 10 minutes, when the hero uses his slope skills and sharp-edged boards to repel the monsters. Until then, the film mostly relies on broad jokes about how hard it is to tell the difference between ski-bums and brainless flesh-eaters.

Ultimately there’s just too much tedious inevitability. “Attack” feels like a movie that was made to create a funny trailer, not because anyone had any burning desire to tell a story about snow-zombies. It’s not great. It’s not terrible. It’s really not anything.

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‘Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies’

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 18 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills

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