ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE
1986, New World Video

DIRECTOR & PRODUCER:  Jack Bravman  

STARRING:  Adam West,   Jon-Mikl Thor,  Tia Carrere,   Manuska,  Frank Dietz,  Linda Singer

Let me start off by saying that, despite the fact that ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE was written by John Faasano and stars Thor!, it is NOT on the same "trashy treasure" level as ROCK 'N' ROLL NIGHTMARE.   In fact, it doesn't share any of the brilliance of RNRN, which is maybe why Fasano ended his connection with this flick after he wrote it.

The movie begins with a nice neighborhood scene in the 50's or so, where a coach is batting fielding practice to his team.   He is being watched by his adoring wife and young son, Tony, who obviously idolizes his daddy.   Also watching is a young African American woman, and this seems to be a problem for a couple of beer-swilling young toughs.   As the young woman walks away, one thug says to the other:   "Let's go have some fun."   Obviously, they mean some racially-motivated harm (oi!) to the young woman.  As the two thugs are attempting rape upon the young woman, her screams are heard by the coach, who is walking home with his young family.   He stops the rape, but the thugs stab him dead and get away.

In the next scene we see the young boy, Tony, all grown up into Thor! and he's playing softball.    He wins the game for his team which he joyfully announces to his mother when he reaches home.    She tells him this is nice, but he forgot the groceries, so off he goes to the store.   Meanwhile we see a group of five juvenile delinquents boozing it up at a club, until they are tossed out for being both rowdy AND underage!

While all this is happening, Tony foils a would-be robbery at the grocery store (gee, he's a hero like his daddy!) and is on his way home when he is accidentally run down and killed by the boozed-up teens leaving the club.  Some nice onlookers (who happen to know Tony's mom) take the body to his home, and his tearful mother asks one of the men to go get the local voodoo woman, because they "won't do this to her again." At Molly (the friendly neighborhood voodoo lady)'s request, they calmly take Tony's body to the local graveyard. There Molly reanimates Tony into a murderious zombie who immediately begins stalking the kids who ran him over, bent on bloody revenge!   Strangely, with each kill, the zombie loses more of his long hair.   Hmm, this wouldn't be a thinly-veiled Sampson reference, would it?

Anyway, that's basically the jist of the movie, except that there is another side plot involving the local police force, which cleverly (yeah, right!) ties in with the opening of the movie at the end of the movie.   Be on the look out!

RATING:   

This movie is crap, plain and simple.   The only redeeming factors are Thor! (and he really isn't in it for long), and the soundtrack (Motorhead!  Girlschool!)   Otherwise, the kill scenes are lackluster, the acting is bad, and the plot is thin and confusing.    Plus, there are a lot of long, drawn-out scenes that add NOTHING to the movie.

Zero nudity.

SCENES THAT MAKE ME GO "HMMM...,":

1. As the coach runs up to foil the attempted rape, the two thugs approach him and the young woman is sitting up, perfectly fine.    However, when the camera pans back to her, she is prone on the ground.   Wonder if there was an invisible third attacker?

2. Tony comes home, is reminded he forgot the groceries, and turns to go back to the store without putting down his gym bag and bat.   Hmmm, he must've thought he would need them on the way to the store!

3. After Tony foils the robbery at the nice Italian man's store, he throws the would-be robbers to the curb yelling: "And don't come back!"   Gee, it wouldn't have been a good idea to call the cops or anything, would it?   I mean, chances are those guys wouldn't try such a thing ever again, right?

4. What IS the problem with these people when it comes to calling the cops?   Not only do they NOT call the police when Tony gets run down, but they also act as if it's the most normal thing in the world to go get the local voodoo woman and transport Tony's body to the graveyard, instead of to the morgue!  

DID YOU KNOW...,:

 -   Jesse D'Angelo, the boy who plays who plays the young Tony, and Frank Dietz, the detective in ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE, also appeared in Fasano's BLACK ROSES and ROCK 'N' ROLL NIGHTMARE.

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