C.H.U.D. just unveiled the new poster for the U.S. release of Fido, and while it looks sort of cool, it comes off as a rather tranparent attempt to capitalize on Grindhouse fever. With the current trend of making every horror movie poster look like Saw — all dirty and scratchy — on the wane, it’s no surprise the Grindhouse bandwagon is getting rolled out. Expect a deluge of grindhouse-style posters and marketing for the next while.

Of course, you can’t blame Lionsgate for trying. Given the typically lukewarm reception Fido got in Canada, it makes sense they’d attack it from another angle for the U.S. release. While the Canadian marketing goes for “quirky comedy,” this one’s trying to play up the exploitation elements. Too bad it’s not that kind of film. At all.

And what’s with that quote at the top. “Those deaths are very entertaining…” is officially the lamest movie poster blurb ever. It’s almost as bad as that new tagline, “Good dead are hard to find.” Granted, the original “Laugh your head off” wasn’t much better.

The best tagline I’ve read thus far also happens to go with the best poster (showing the zombie and family in silhouette) and reads, “He’s not just a zombie, he’s part of the family.” There’s also a little seen teaser poster with the so-so tagline, “Even the dead need friends.”

Click on the thumbnails to compare the four different posters and taglines.

For the record, since Fido is goofing on the Lassie movies, I’d have gone with a retro vintage movie poster look and riffed on the tagline for Lassie Come Home (1943), with “A Thrilling Saga Of Zombie Courage And Loyalty!”