Have you ever had a weekend where you and some friends chugged a few too many Pabst Blue Ribbons, then decided to make a zombie movie? No? Good, director Pericles Lewnes and crew saved you the effort with 1987’s “Redneck Zombies”.
This film has it all. A group of unsuspecting young campers, ridiculously bad acting, above average special effects and most of all a fat guy named slim. You can’t go wrong when you have a combo such as that.
When a 55-gallon barrel of military radioactive waste is “found” by group of hillbilly moonshine makers, they quickly construct a new whiskey still and begin producing what becomes known as “Monster Mash”. The lime green concoction turns the surrounding community into a town of flesh craving zombies and their prey of course turns out to be the campers.
As the zombies pick off two of their female companions, the group decides to seek shelter in an abandoned mine, perhaps not the best choice, and finds the only thing that repel the flesh eaters is spray deodorant. You may laugh, but is that any sillier than repelling aliens with tap water? I didn’t think so, M. Night.
Of course there must be a final epic battle between the good guys and zombies and this film tries to oblige. It might not be epic, but you have some nice bloody moments, unfortunately you have to listen to Lisa Dubois (Lisa M. DeHaven) scream for that half hour of the film.
But just when you expect the flick to end with Lisa being eating by Slim himself, the movie moves into some dark territory as my first experience with zombie rape occurs. A little disconcerting, but it got my attention.
Flash forward to a pregnant Lisa in a mental hospital sitting motionless and staring blankly. The film ends with a baby crying as the credits roll.
This movie will quickly move up the ranks on your guilty pleasures list. There won’t be any checking of the watch or wishing you were somewhere else once Lewnes and writer Fester Smellman sink their hooks in you. You have to love a movie whose story is credited to Zoofeet and P. Floyd Piranha. If not, then the Schlock Vault isn’t the place for you.
Lewnes also makes an appearance in the film as well. He stars as Billy Bob, or as he likes to be referred to, Elly May. Once you see the movie, you’ll understand.
The film is one of the first movies shot on video and released straight to video. The quality of the film is what you’d expect, but the filmmaker uses some nice tricks to keep it interesting.
There’s enough stick and ick in this flick to have you reaching for the soap and pumice stone before you reach the halfway point.
Vault Verdict — A few of the prerequisites for inclusion into the land of Schlock is it has to be done on the cheap, it has look that way and it must revel in both those facts, and Redneck Zombies does that better than most. The filmmaker knows what type of film he’s making and does it with glee, that’s why the film is a definite must see. Plus, the “I love knockers” scene is pretty funny.
4.5 out of 5 Yaps