Zombie Death House

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable B movie silliness
Review: I wish Amazon would give reviewers the ability to give half stars--Zombie Death House ranks a solid 3 1/2: nothing groundbreaking, but worth it for zombie completists and horror fans with some free time on their hands.

Zombie Death House was originally a 1988 release directed by and co-starring John Saxon (Enter the Dragon, Nightmare on Elm Street, Cannibal Apocalypse). Now it can be yours on a no-frills DVD that offers very little in the way of extras other than an original trailer for the film. Not a bad little movie though, just don't expect the level of blood n' guts featured in the Romero or Fulci zombiefests.

The movie starts out with Vietnam vet Derek Keelor (Dennis Cole) taking a job as a chauffeur for Mob boss Vic Moretti (Anthony Franciosa). He gets involved with Moretti's girlfriend, so the Mafioso gets revenge by killing the girlfriend and framing Derek for the crime. This earns Derek a ticket to death row in the Townsend State Penitentiary. Prison guard: "Don't worry warden, if he gives us any problems, we'll just tear him a new a**hole!"

Prior to this point, the movie is filled with B-movie Mafia cliches like characters who say "fuhgettaboutit." The prison setting brings about all the usual stereotypes: Moretti's brother Franco, a mafioso with an effeminate prison b**** girlfriend; a Mexican gang who all wear red headbands; and a wise dreadlocked Rastafarian named Adams who occupies the cell across from Derek. Adams has some good lines, like "Got no bananas here, monkey a**." (said of course in heavy Jamaican accent).

It turns out the prisoners are having some strange experiments conducted upon them, under the guidance of Col. Gordon Burgess (Saxon) who works for the CIA. They involve a genetically altered version of a virus called HV8B. When administered, HV8B causes "personality modification through viral intervention." Col. Burgess is still in contact with the person who developed this virus, blonde bombshell Tanya Kerrington (Tane McClure), who affectionately goes by the nickname TK. She opposes the Colonel's use of prisoners as guinea pigs, and seeing as she's now an investigative reporter, she goes to the prison to get the scoop, cameraman in tow.

Up to this point, the prisoners were volunteering for the experiment and given doses of the virus to drink, which apparently made them more "stupid." Col. Burgess steps the project up a notch by injecting two convicts against their will with a stronger version of the virus, one being the Jamaican prisoner Adams. When it comes time for Adams to die in the electric chair, the experiment backfires as Adams bursts his restraints and terrorizes the prison as a disfigured zombie. Amidst the confusion, Derek manages to get a hold of a guard's keys and releases the other prisoners, becoming the leader of a full-scale prison riot. The convicts take the warden and his family hostage, who are visiting the prison in honor of the Christmas season.

The rules governing the zombies in Zombie Death House are quite different than in most other films of this type. They're on the slow side, but have no problem using simple weapons. They also go down quite easily compared to other zombies: no bullet to the brain is necessary, bullets to the body will kill them as easily as normal humans. At first the zombies simply kill their victims; by the end of the film they have developed a taste for human flesh, which is never really explained.

This was an entertaining, cheesy movie that moved along at a good pace. My main complaint was that the zombie/horror aspects of the movie are overshadowed by the prison riot/Mafia elements of the plot. It's more of a prison movie than a horror movie until the last 20-30 minutes or so. There also could have been a little more gore and flesh eating, but there was enough blood to keep me from getting bored. Fans of blaxploitation icon Ron O'Neal (Superfly) will be disappointed: he is high billed but has a couple brief scenes that don't add up to much more than a cameo appearance. I did like the fact that the end credits featured the song "Chemical Warfare" by the Dead Kennedys, haha nice touch. If you're a fan of low budget horror and don't expect anything earth-shattering, Zombie Death House just might be a pleasant surprise.