I love zombie movies. There's something inherently terrifying about the living dead on an emotional (Could YOU shoot grandma in the head?) and a physical level. The damn things DON'T STOP. They're instinct on legs. So Full Moon decided to take a break in between Puppet Master 76 and 77 to put out David Parker's zombie piece, and for the most part, it works.

The movie follows a production team of wacky caricatures...whoops! I mean "characters" as they set out to make an indie zombie movie. Seriously, these folks were pulled out of a hat. We've got the film-dork director, the overly zealous and equally dorky SFX guy, the pot-smoking black guy (don't forget the dreadlocks!) the bitchy primadonna actress, and the loveably dopey leading man who just wants to make it big. They're filming in an abandoned hospital where they discover a bad-ass prop for their movie! Yay! When they open it, out comes a Rob Zombie-ish looking corpse, and instead of calling the police like normal, well-balanced people, they decide to use the poor stiff in the movie! Double yay! Needless to say, there’s more to the coffin and the corpse than meets the eye, and Eibon (the corpse) comes back to life, with his zombie legions in tow, led by Maggot and Gaunt (Matthew McGrory, who played Tiny in House of 1000 Corpses). The bodies start piling up, as those wacky kids realize there’s no way out of the hospital, and Eibon wants nothing more than to kill them all.

Right off the bat, this movie is probably one of the most thorough tributes to Lucio Fulci I have ever seen, from the constant movie in-jokes ("You'll be the next David Warbeck!") to the ending torn right out of The Beyond. A lot of the enjoyment from the movie comes from being in on these little jokes and rib-nudges, but they tend to wear a bit thin after a while. The makeup effects in the movie are fantastic for a low-budget production, but are almost overshadowed by the laughably crappy visual effects. Special kudos to Andre "Doc" Newman for one of the best acting jobs I've seen from a character with absolutely NO dialogue. His portrayal of the muscle-bound Maggot was convincing and showed a genuine love for his work. Too bad he's done nothing since then.

The movie is presented to us as traditional straight-to-video full frame with stereo sound. Picture quality is clean throughout, with those colored lights Dave Parker loves so much shining nice and bright. A little print damage here and there, but nothing big. Audio is pretty clear, and dialogue is easy to understand. The big draw, however, are the bucketload of extras. We're given a running commentary from the cast and director, a behind-the-scenes featurette, still galleries, a trailer, an ad for Full Moon's merchandise line (including a silly commercial for the Puppet Master action figures) and other bits and pieces. The highlight of all this is the Penis Flytrap music video. Dave Parker did a micro-budget SOV clip for the band (Who did the movie's infectious theme song) and it's a fun little watch. It has more going on than just the song, so it's almost like "Thriller" gone horribly wrong. Great stuff.

So what's the count? Despite the unlikable characters (I'm happy they're zombie chow) the movie proved to be a fun little romp. Not a must-see movie, but definitely a pleasant watch for zombie lovers everywhere.