BloodlustZombies

Bloodlust Zombies (2011)

A weapons manufacturing company is working on a new chemical weapon for the military that is being developed to turn the enemy against themselves. The workers are celebrating a successful test after working late, but an accident causes some of them to become infected and the building goes into lockdown. The rest of the movie follows the survivors trying to keep from being killed or becoming homicidal maniacs (the effects of the chemical). We follow the ever-decreasing group as they are picked off one by one.

Ah the low budget zombie movie. Or actually in spite of calling them zombies again and again and the title this is more of an infected movie (if you shoot them you can put them down!). So many low budget filmmakers try and make this kind of movie, I suppose because it is currently the popular thing to do. Honestly most of them fail miserably. But here the director/writer, Dan Lantz, is onto something. We have a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously and at times is pretty funny. So we have the most rare of movies here, the low budget horror comedy that is entertaining.

Sure I know that I sound sort of grouchy, but I’ve sat thru so many attempts at doing this kind of movie and most of the time it is miserable. You get one dumb in-joke after another and the performances are terrible. But that isn’t the case with Bloodlust Zombies. We do have some familiar characters like the perv that keeps imagining all the women naked, the geeky butt kicking girl (trust me they always try this in this kind of movie… must be a fan boy thing), the bimbo, and the coward that finally “mans” up. But the way that the characters are written makes them more then just one-note jokes. I found the characters interesting and that just makes the laughs all the better.

But it isn’t just the script that makes these characters work. They are portrayed by decent actors who are able to deliver their lines and not stumble over each other. Trust me if you don’t watch a lot of independent horror movies then you wont’ realize how rare this is. And it isn’t just that they aren’t bad. There is some chemistry and good comedic timing among members of the cast. Since parts of this movie are played for laughs this is key. I don’t know where Dan Lantz got these actors, but well-done brother.

Lets talk gore. If I were to point out one aspect of the movie that does betray it’s low budget it would have to be with the kills and gore. We do get a stylized and well executed beheading, but for the most part the effects are tame. You get some typical neck ripping and spraying blood (obviously just blood tubes). That is about it. The infected are also just actors with some messed up hair and blood splatter on them. Then again this is more of a comedy then it is a straight horror movie so I’m okay with that. Just don’t expect a lot of gore.

Before I finish I wanted to make one more thing clear. I keep saying that the movie is being played for laughs. It is important to note that the humor comes from the craziness of the situations and in one case the tendencies of the character (yeah she is dead but BOOBIES…). Unlike so many attempts at a horror comedy I never got the feeling that Bloodlust Zombies was making fun of the genre or we as fans of it. That is an important thing that I wanted to note. And it makes me like the movie even more. If you get the chance rent or better yet buy yourself a copy.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer