Canadian picnics are weird, that’s what I took from this movie. They concern pouring Molson on your lover, having your sibling watch you get it on and having a seance in the middle of a graveyard, which is a bad idea. That’s because the best part of this, the first few minutes, have a body being brought back from the dead. And you know, once you see that, it’s like Chekov’s Zombie. It must show up again and it must kill.

This was directed by Donald R. Passmore and Klaus Vetter and written by Lawrence Zazelenchuk, who raised the money — well, $36,000, which seems like an inflated amount — by working in a mine and owning Sudbury’s 69 Drive-In. He was also a teenager. He also did the effects here, which may or may not be special, depending on your definition of the word.

Zazelenchuk wanted John Carradine to be in this and couldn’t afford it. Let’s think about what that means. That’s insane, that’s what that is.

He got paid $5,000 for it and eventually closed his drive-in, moving to Florida and drinking himself to death. Some say that’s because the movie disappeared, sold as a tax write-off. If only he’d held on, as it was eventually released with a lot missing as a lost movie.

If you liked Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things but wish it was inept, good news!

I kid. I kind of love this goofy movie. I love it for what it could be, as the early promise is there. Also, I will probably never go to a Canadian picnic, but if I did, I would bring a bag of All Dressed Yum Yum chips and some back bacon, because all of Canada is SCTV to me. Thank you.