Redneck Zombies (1998)
Maybe you’ve seen a bad horror film and thought, “I could do that.” Well, chances are, no matter how bad film was, you couldn’t. I mean, even the cheapest of films cost $30k for film stock, cameras, sound equipment, etc. And that’s assuming you get all your friends and staff to work for free.
Redneck Zombies, however, IS a film you could make. The two masterminds (?) behind this film saw a couple of horror films, and decided they would make a horror film. No camera? Screw it, they filmed it on video tape. Lloyd Kaufman says during the introduction that as far as he knows, this is the only film to be released that was filmed entirely on video tape. No special effects? Screw it, a little makeup from the local convenient store. For zombie makeup, the cast used honey, cornflakes, and meat from the local grocery store’s meat department.
The plot starts out like many zombie films. The government has lost a barrel of toxic material. A soldier sent to retreive the barrel looses it off the back of his jeep, and before he can recover it, a big fat redneck steals it from him. Damn rednecks. This is where it stops being like many other zombie films.
On the way home, three other Rednecks steal the barrel, thinking it’s a whiskey still. One they get it home, the barrel falls, cracks open, and leaks into their moonshine. The Rednecks drink the toxic juice, and the transformation is on. The zombies wander onto a group of teenagers out camping in the woods, and the rest is history. The first girl they run into gets her scalp eaten – and she’s one of the lucky ones.
The Rednecks leave their toxic juice out in the woods, and people keep walking by and drinking from them. Now I don’t know when the last time you were in the woods was, but if I was out in the woods and ran across some bottle of liquid just sitting out there, chances are pretty good that I’m not gonna just chug it. The rednecks also are apparently the only supplier of moonshine to the town, and pretty soon every man, woman, and child (yes, lots of children) are drinking the tainted stuff.
The hitchhikers, while trying to leave the woods, soon find Teresa (or, the bottom half of her) and realize the severity of the situation. Like all consciencious teenagers in horror films, they decide to bury Theresa (or, the bottom half of her) and waste valuable time in ESCAPING FROM THE DAMN WOODS WHILE THE SUN IS UP! Oops!
The group of teenagers eventually figure out that common hair spray melts the zombies. This is a little known fact. I have watched every episode of both Mr. Wizard’s World and Beakman’s World, as well as countless other zombie flicks, and I never knew this. This guy finds it out though. Note to self – while trying to kill a zombie, let go of their head.
More army people show up, more zombies appear, more hitchhikers get killed. In yet another plot switch from the “doesn’t anyone think about these things?” department, the campers decide they’d be safer down in a dark mineshaft. Don’t ask.
The rest of the flick is an excuse for some decent home-made special effects. Remember by “decent” I mean “funny or interesting”, not believable. There’s eye-popping, torso-splitting, and all other kinds of fun.
Again, what it all boils down to is, why are you watching these films. Plot? Skip it. Acting? Skip it. Cheesy gore, sillyness, and the privledge of bragging to your friends that you’ve seen Redneck Zombies and they haven’t? Definitely pick it up. Troma has succeeded again in releasing one of the most horrible films imaginable. If nothing else, this film might inspire you to make your own film. If while watching it, you comment, “*I* could make something better than this!” well, you’re probably right.