After watching the latest installment of Romero’s dead series, Survival of the Dead, I began to wonder if maybe the zombie movie had lost its appeal to me. Just to see if I had lost my love for all things zombie, I decided to check out a zombie movie entitled Zombies of Mass Destruction, also known as ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction. I can now firmly say that yes Survival of the Dead was as bad as I thought it was, and that Zombies of Mass Destruction is the perfect film to cleanse the rancid taste of dwindling excellence from one’s pallet.

Zombies of Mass Destruction is a politically incorrect flick that takes its cues more from Dead-Alive than anything else. Its zombie universe is populated with slow-moving shamblers who are hungry for the residents of smalltown America. A group of wrongly stereotyped American citizens must fight back against both the zombie menace and the ignorant living masses who want to blame all of their problems on a gay couple and an Iranian-American girl who everyone insists is an Iraqi terrorist. The satire in the film is low-brow and in your face, but always done tongue in cheek, which makes it easy to stomach.

Director Kevin Hamedani has outdone himself with this hilarious zombie romp. As an independent flick, Zombies of Mass Destruction is a nice triumph and it definitely has fun pushing boundaries as far as humor goes. But even better than that, Hamedani actually appears to know his shit as far as zombie movies go. The film appeals to zombie fans and definitely borrows the tone of such classic camp zombie flicks as Dead-Alive and Return of the Living Dead. While the cast of characters is at times annoying, and they reach the point of overkill near the end of the film, it’s a minor gripe at best. When you boil the film down to its basic parts, it’s a fun time full of laughs and the ever-present specter of zombie carnage, which Hamedani never shies away from.

The cast of the movie is somewhat low-budget, and while you’ve probably never heard of any of these people, you may in the future, as they all seem like they would make great supporting actors. Janette Armand is solid in her film debut as Frida Abbas, that Iranian girl I mentioned earlier. Armand carries herself well, and while she isn’t given many of the funny lines, she does do a good job of kicking the occasional zombie ass and coming off as a likeable character. First-timers Doug Fahl and Cooper Hopkins are a laugh riot as the gay couple Tom and Lance. The two journey through a smalltown environment cracking gay jokes and being hilarious throughout the film. It’ll be offensive to actual gay people, but if you’re not sensitive to that stuff, there’s a lot to laugh about here.

Special effects-wise, there are some great practical effects going on here. There are a boatload of zombies, and Zombies of Mass Destruction never feels small. There are plenty of kills to go around, as well as some righteous zombie maiming. In short, it’s what every zombie fan wants to see.

Zombies of Mass Destruction is just the thing to cure those of you that are sick of lame zombie comedies that don’t bring the gore. It packs a nice punch, delivers some laughs, and even does a nice job of pointing out the bigotries and ignorance prevalent in smalltown America, albeit in a satirical way that never gets too serious. There’s nothing subtle about the film, and even the lowest common denominator can sit down and get some enjoyment out of this film.

Final Synopsis: Zombies of Mass Destruction is a good watch. If you’re a diehard zombie fan, you might just want to buy the thing. If you’re a run-of-the-mill horror fan, give it a rent first and decide on it later. Personally, I’ll be buying a copy of it as soon as it comes out.

Points Lost: -1 for being a little too over-the-top with the smalltown commentary, -1 for some kills that aren’t as effective as they could have been, -1 for trying a little too hard with the humor at times

Lesson Learned: Would a weed whacker actually do any real damage to a hungry zombie?

Burning Question: How long would it take you to figure out and believe that zombies were actually attacking in real life?

Zombies of Mass Destruction
7/10

ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction (2009) - DVD Movie Reviews4.5102

Tags: 2009, after dark horrorfest, after dark horrorfest 2010, after dark horrorfest 4, after dark horrorfest four, brutality, cooper hopkins, doug fahl, horror, janette armand, kevin hamedani, latest movie reviews, ultra-violence, zombie, zombie movie, zombies