ZOMBIE CULT MASSACRE

Written and Directed by Jeff Dunn
Produced by Steve Losey and Jeff Dunn

Roach - Lonzo Jones
Marvin - Michael Botouchis
Sally – Lani Ford
Jeffery – Bob Elkins

This is one ambitious movie, on par with J.R. Bookwalter’s micro-budget zombie epic, THE DEAD NEXT DOOR, Despite the campy title, Jeff Dunn’s ZOMBIE CULT MASSACRE is pretty enjoyable.

This film was made in the wake of Waco and Ruby Ridge. Like George Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD, this film is also a satire on society. Where Romero said mindless consumers were equivalent to zombies, Dunn makes a similar comparison with cultism and religion. It’s easily apparent that both filmmakers are telling us that when you enter something so blindly that it becomes your only outlet for fulfillment and existence, you’re as good as dead.

That’s what I like about horror films, the best ones are usually metaphors for human dilemmas and experiences. Vampires films are about sexual repression, werewolves deal with anger and primal rage, and zombies deal with societal fulfillment.

That being said it’s ironic that when two people are trying to escape society, they run right into those craving it, literally. Suburbanites, Marvin and Sally are trying to get away and make it to Grandma’s house for the weekend when Sally smacks right Stephen Ki….er an innocent, undead bystander.

With Marvin bitten and infected, the two are saved by the Branch Dividian-like Zombie Cult and soon succumb to its lifestyle. The members live in a fence-enclosed compound stock piling guns, denying personal pleasure, and hanging on the words of a David Koresh, rock and roll wanna-be named Jeffrey. Of course it’s all in the name of that fun-loving guy, Satan.

There’s unrest in the Zombie Cult as some of the parishioners question their time in the compound. Is there more to life than defending the encampment from hordes of gut-dripping Zombies? Is it wrong to be forbidden to touch your spouse while Jeffrey has his way with the women? Why do we have to eat the same cafeteria slop we had in elementary school? Being fed up with his station in life, Marvin only has one question, what does he have to do to take over?

You can draw parallels between the walking dead and the brain dead all day, but the most interesting group doesn’t show up until the final third of the film. A legion of bikers, led by head bad-ass Roach, are essentially the hog-riding, gun-packing, hell-raising angles of the lord. What sets this band apart from the cultists and zombies is that they have a purpose and structure. They know why they are together, it’s not out need for interaction personal fulfillment, but survival. And they know also don’t the walking dead folks and it’s time for their own personal apocalypse.

Jeff Dunn went way over the top for this one. If you’re a fan of zombie movies, then this one is chunk-blowing gold. The effects, many of which were done by underground filmmaking legend Jim Vanbebber, are outstanding. There is nothing Hollywood about them, most are grim and gritty, especially the make-up work. There is a sequence where demented doctor tortures a caged zombie that was particularly disturbing and effective.

Jeff has made a film that I hope will one day stand along side the works of George Romero and Lucio Fulci as one of the great zombie classics. Check it out.

Available from the Official Zombie Cult Massacre Website.