This ambitious little sci-fi homage from 1982 has been dusted off and given a complete overhaul. Music, sound design and special effects have been revamped while over thirty minutes have been excised. Never having seen the original version, comparisons between the two are moot. Indeed, given its background, very few people actually saw the original cut of “Zombie” save for those who caught it on USA’s Night Flight years ago. The convoluted plot follows two 1950’s FBI agents, Ace Evans (Larry Raspberry) and Rex Armstrong (James Raspberry) as they investigate a plane crash in Pleasantville. The plane was transporting the Brazzo Brothers, an infamous crime duo, who appear to have vanished from the scene. What the agents don’t know is that the plane was hit by an alien craft whose occupants have abducted the criminals and taken them to the nearby Health Cola plant. Some time later, the brothers turn up, ironically enough, at a different softdrink plant, this time the popular Uni Cola. They end up holding television reporter (and Evans’ fiancé) Penny (Christina Welford) hostage along with the secret Cola recipe. The brothers demand one million dollars in ransom money; which the FBI quickly supplies. Some swift action by the G-Men thwarts the brother’s plans and the two are sent away to prison. But the Uni Cola recipe remains lost. The president of the company, angered that the agents were unable to find the missing recipe (so secret only one copy exists!) he pressures the FBI to assign Evans and Armstrong to a different case. The two men-in-black are sent back to Pleasantville to investigate reports of widespread lethargy amongst the townspeople. The local doctor, who seems to be immune, believes the Health Cola plant might be behind the “zombification” of the locals. It isn’t long before the agents figure out that the missing Cola recipe and the zombie shenanigans are related - and just might have something to do with aliens. All roads lead back to the Cola plant where a floating energy orb, a stop-motion monster and a plot to “zombify” the world with carbonated beverages figure into the narrative. Added to this busy mix is a curious title that has little to do with the film itself. There is no zombie working directly (or indirectly) for the FBI. With such a loaded plot, filled with aliens, monsters and energy orbs, you’d think they could have easily fashioned a more interesting and appropriate title.

Originally “Zombie” was supposed to have been an “Airplane!” -styled spoof of ‘50’s sci-fi. At some point, this direction was wisely changed for a more straight-faced approach. This more honest realization of the material makes it a somewhat more successful endeavor than the more recent “Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.” Both films use a cheap visual aesthetic to their advantage, but “Cadavra” often loses its way in camp excess. While neither film is great, “Zombie” at least feels more authentic and achieves its satire through genuine homage as opposed to extended comedy riffs. Director/writer Marius Penczner does a clever job of mixing the 16mm b&w photography with stock footage from the 50’s. Though the blend isn’t seamless, it opens up the narrative and gives the low-budget production an air of authenticity. In fact, the main reason to watch “Zombie” is for the stylized production values. Some of which were created for this new, tricked out version. But snazzy new sound and optical effects aside, Penczner’s film is still rather slow and cumbersome. Even at the leaner running time, it feels too long. The narrative is also overly complicated, probably made more so by the half hour of deleted material. Chapter cards have been added to fill in the plot holes but this only seems to complicate matters.

The acting is uniformly amateurish, but fits perfectly in line with the kind of films “Zombie” is referencing. The poor acting and low production values are so right on, that the film often feels less like a ‘50’s sci-fi classic and much more like those Larry Buchannon TV movies of the late ‘60’s. Titles such as “Zontar, the Thing From Venus” and “Mars Needs Women” were micro-budgeted direct-to-TV programmers that were themselves remakes of 50’s sci-fi films. Got that? Leads Raspberry and Raspberry (evidently cousins) give underwhelming deadpan performances, but certainly service the material. Either actor would have been right at home in a Buchannon production. Tommy Kirk, anyone? Welford as ingénue Penny is equally mediocre. Her female in distress character really gets old by the third time she’s been captured and tied up. The best performance is given by an old-school stop-motion monster dubbed the “Z-Beast.” He’s a throw back to the great Ray Harryhausen creations and is a wonderful, if cheesy, special effect. His inclusion, however, is rather superfluous given the fact that the aliens have a groovy flying sphere that can start cars, morph through solid matter and hypnotize people.

This is a spiffy DVD package by Ryko. Its presentation is just as clever as “Zombie’s” visual aesthetic. The film itself is presented in a clean black and white transfer with few artifacts discernable. The image is so clear that it makes the cuts to the stock footage a bit too obvious (but it works in spite of this). The film is presented in 4:3 and appears accurate, though it might be missing some information being a 16mm production. The re-mixed sound is exceptional and, as one of the extra features illustrates, does a lot to help the meandering story along. There is a great commentary by director Penczner that goes deep into the production history and the re-editing process. The extras are all pretty short, but interesting nonetheless. “The Making of I Was a Zombie for the FBI” is a brief featurette shot during the actual filming in ’82; its focus is more on the low-budget mechanics behind the scenes. “Frame by Frame” offers a look at animator Bob Friedstand’s stop-motion monster process and “Bringing the Sound of Zombie to Life” looks at how the sound design was enhanced and re-mixed in 5.1 Dolby. There are also 4 deleted scenes that were deservedly cut from the film. Once again, it’s a great presentation of a mediocre movie.

From a purely visual standpoint, “Zombie” is a minor success and worth a look for fans of 50’s sci-fi (and the Larry Buchannon devoted).