Trust VIPCO to dig up a pristine print of this utterly worthless Italian zombie rip-off flick, shot on the cheap in the Philippines (what a surprise) and featuring mainly a cast of Filipino extras and US actors who had spent the previous five years shooting unknown Vietnam movies that the world mostly didn't get to see. Following on from previous movies in the (unconnected) series, these sees a group of hasbeens trapped in a hospital on a jungle island (not the one in ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS, surely?) and surrounded by malignant hordes of the living dead. However, the main inspiration here seems to be the EVIL DEAD films, as the zombies have that crusty deadite makeup look and spurt icky red/green blood from their mouths at every opportunity. The film was directed by master hack Claudio Fragasso with typical recklessness and the only good technical aspect is the music (credited to Al Festa); there's a snappy rhythmic synthesiser score to keep you bopping as the action unfolds.
The film is actually pretty colourful, if extraordinarily cheap, and begins well as an extra from DEMONS goes around ripping faces off in some splendidly gory shots. Soon after we descend to the usual zombie level, with a group of survivors being picked off one by one as they do increasingly stupid things. There are plenty of non-sequiters to keep fans of this kind of rubbish entertained and some usual bad dubbing. The gore is plentiful and concentrates on mutilating the head, with eyeballs being pulled out, blood spurting, and plenty more stuff happening. The zombie makeup is literally caked on and, utilising a cheap costume budget, all the zombies wear black ninja-style costumes that usually cover most of their faces.
The cast – including that Vietnam veteran, Jim Gaines, and plenty more others you didn't hear of – is headed by none other than Jeff Stryker, a German gay porn star who shows off his pecs but hasn't a spark of genuine acting ability. Stuntman Massimo Vanni shares the limelight as a heroic soldier but the female leads are particularly hopeless here. The zombies are fast-moving and there are some good fight scenes, including Stryker basing a head into a tree and a guy performing a neck-break on a dead man. The outrageous downbeat finale makes little sense and has a hilarious shot of a zombie puncturing Stryker's oiled chest with its hand, then repeatedly pushing it in and out, ad nauseam. You certainly won't be seeing that anywhere else in the flicks!
The film is actually pretty colourful, if extraordinarily cheap, and begins well as an extra from DEMONS goes around ripping faces off in some splendidly gory shots. Soon after we descend to the usual zombie level, with a group of survivors being picked off one by one as they do increasingly stupid things. There are plenty of non-sequiters to keep fans of this kind of rubbish entertained and some usual bad dubbing. The gore is plentiful and concentrates on mutilating the head, with eyeballs being pulled out, blood spurting, and plenty more stuff happening. The zombie makeup is literally caked on and, utilising a cheap costume budget, all the zombies wear black ninja-style costumes that usually cover most of their faces.
The cast – including that Vietnam veteran, Jim Gaines, and plenty more others you didn't hear of – is headed by none other than Jeff Stryker, a German gay porn star who shows off his pecs but hasn't a spark of genuine acting ability. Stuntman Massimo Vanni shares the limelight as a heroic soldier but the female leads are particularly hopeless here. The zombies are fast-moving and there are some good fight scenes, including Stryker basing a head into a tree and a guy performing a neck-break on a dead man. The outrageous downbeat finale makes little sense and has a hilarious shot of a zombie puncturing Stryker's oiled chest with its hand, then repeatedly pushing it in and out, ad nauseam. You certainly won't be seeing that anywhere else in the flicks!