Mar 18 2005
Movie: “Redneck Zombies” (1987)
“Redneck Zombies” (1987) Directed by Pericles Lewnes.
Starring: Lisa M. DeHaven, Tyrone Taylor, Bucky Santini, Martin J. Wolfman and James H. Housely.
(MF Title: “Kentucky, we have a problem….”)
Zombie Film Rating: 
Overview: This film is an epic zombie masterpiece, combining insightful social comentary about the decline of rural life with a witty upbeat style that makes the subject matter palatable by fans of any genre. I feel certain that in years to come students of film will, without reservation, turn time and again to this undertaking as the pinnacle of b-movie film making, trying to capture a hint of the imaginative genious represented here.
Um, yeah….but seriously.
This film is is about the loss, by the army, of a barrel of toxic waste and the subsequent use of this barrel by hillbillies in making moonshine. Naturally the local population become “redneck zombies” and an unfortunate group of campers make themselves conveniently available as zombie fodder. Despite the campers best efforts they are consumed one by one in their attempts to escape the backwoods undead.
Summary: The film opens with;
In late 1986, a 55 gallon drum of highly toxic experimental chemical nuclear waste was rumored to be missing from a high security warehouse facility a Fort Henry Dicker, Maryland. After many denials, it was finally admitted by top pentagon officials that indeed one drum of the biohazard was unaccounted for.
Fort Dicker Spokesperson Brigadier General John Gillis maintains that this barrel poses no human health threat. Retired Fort Dicker scientist Dr. Roger Soriano when asked to comment, replied that this one particular barrel could mean the end of life as we know it on this planet.
“World Inquisitor”, 1987
An army transport (read as single soldier in a jeep with a barrel stuck in the back) is travelling along county roads when the barrel “falls” out of the jeep. The soldier races after it, but encounters a gun toting redneck who orders him off his land, deciding that discretion is the better part of valour the soldier retreats.
Redneck A then turns the barrel over to Rednecks B - E (inclusive) to replace their still, which had been destroyed by Redneck A’s accidental concentrated gunfire. Rednecks B - E then dump the toxic contents of the barrel, spilling some into their mash, and happily begin making radioactive chemical moonshine.
Meanwhile campers 1 - 7 have lost their way and are happily winding their way towards total disaster, certain death and a possible end to their acting careers.
Rednecks B - E have meanwhile brewed their batch of shine for delivery through the immediate area to Hicks A - Z, and to celebrate Rednecks B - D toast their new still while Redneck E starts on those deliveries. Not suprisingly everyone (mothers, fathers, babys, flora and fauna drink moonshine in this neighborhood) who consumes the strange new brew becomes a canibalistic mutant zombie in search of a nice light human snack.
This brings us back to Campers 1 - 7, who are whittled away one at a time (some more bloodily than others), until only one is left to escape after discovering her inner strength in movie cliche #322. She is of course institutionalized immediately.
We’re never clear as to what sort of response the authorities had to a sudden zombie uprising in the middle of nowhere, or if indeed they had noticed at all.
Critique: Now I have been a fan of Troma since I tripped across Surf Nazis must die! and The Toxic Avenger as a kid, so I really wasn’t expecting a “zombie hall of fame” entry in this flick, but I was expecting some b-movie hilarity.
What I got was a tremendous low budget pseudo gore flick, with paper thin characters and numerous examples of bad acting and repititious slow-mo effects that I found quite irritating. Getting off my “zombie” high horse the film is not bad as far as b-movies go, but as a zombie-flick it’s tremendously disppointing.
Give it a look if there’s nothing else at the rental shop, or if your a zombie film completionist. Otherwise you’re well advised to give this one a miss and go for one of the more popular Troma films.
This movie looks like it was filmed by high school students with a shoulder camera. No one in their right mind should waste their time on this movie. It’s garbage. Whatever cleverness was there, was lost on me. I agree with the webmaster’s critique, but think it should have been more negative. This is a truly AWFUL “movie.”