Zombie Bloodbath (1993)

Okay here is the story or at least what I think is the story.  A nuclear plant has a meltdown and the core goes into the Earth.  They plow the thing under, leaving several levels of it untouched and on the power grid.  Later some “teenagers” fall into a hole and climb out of it.  This somehow triggers an infestation of zombies to rise from the reactor ruins and start killing everyone one.  Then there are some female street gangs that toss some bodies into the hole and get attacked by zombies.  Then the kids from before figure out they need to blow the plant up and take a couple of sticks of dynamite to the hole.  They wander around running from zombies until they all eventually get killed.  The end.

I’ve heard several reviewers speak fondly of this movie and for the life of me I can’t figure out why.  The story is a terrible mess that has absolutely no cohesive story.  Random characters sort of wander in and either get killed or wander away for a while, only to return and get killed.  There are a couple of story lines that really don’t mesh together and I’m still not sure what the point of the girl gangs were since they do nothing other than fill up a few extra minutes of the movie.  Plus the majority of this movie is nothing more than several extended zombie chases where the characters are surrounded and manage to run thru hordes of zombies that I guess don’t like to actually bite anyone?  It also doesn’t help that the same zombies manage to pop up ahead of the characters again and again, even though there is no way possible for them to continually do so.  Oh and if I see one more door open to a horde of zombies or have them pop up from behind another wall I’m going to scream! 

The acting is about what you would expect from a low budget zombie “epic” like this.  Now if the story made more sense the acting could have been allowed to slide.  But adding this lack of skill with the terrible plot makes Zombie Bloodbath a chore to get thru.  I was bored after 5 minutes and it just never got any better.  The worst offender not only is a terrible actor, but also sports a mullet that would have been embarrassing even in 93!

The only reason to watch this movie is the special effects.  Now the zombie makeup is a joke and consists of some face paint that isn’t any better than what you can get at the costume stores around Halloween.  But the movie does a wonderful job getting rather gory and bloody during the death scenes.  Much blood and organs are spilled on the ground.  There are also a couple good melting gags that are pretty simple, but well executed.  I also rather enjoyed the demise of the previously mentioned mullet challenged actor with his intestines being removed rectally!

Bottom line is if you want to watch some well done low budget makeup effects then Zombie Bloodbath might interest you.  But as far as an actual movie with a narrative and plot it is a huge mess that I just can’t recommend. 

1 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2009 John Shatzer