REVIEW: ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction

Post 9/11 era America has been a boon time for the American horror community. The Horror genre has not had a defining moment in its time since the 80’s and the cold war and since 9/11, horror has had the ability to grasp something so far reaching and send a message to the viewing audience, and more often than not, it’s the zombie movie that has the most to say, and that I think is the strongest point in today’s review of Zombies of Mass Destruction (or ZMD for short).

Zombie of Mass Destruction comes to us from the 2009 edition of the 8 Films to Die For: After Dark Horror Fest. Normally this raises a red flag for me, I mean let’s face it, not a whole lot worth talking about has come from After Dark Horror Fest, but I respect what it does, but all that is for another review.

ZMD was written and directed by Kevin Hamedini. This is the only flick he’s done anything major for with the exception of being a boom mic operator on two other flicks that I have never heard of. From Kevin’s IMDB profile, he definitly looks like he is from a Middle Eastern descent which I believe plays largely into this film, especially since the events of 9-11. ZMD has a lot to say on prejudice and racial and sexual tolerance and racial profiling. This seems all the more timely since the recent law passed in Arizona giving police free reign for racial profiling, however this movie was made a good year before the law was passed.

Straight out of the gate the movie gives us something I have never seen before. Just thinking back on this scene makes me giggle and scratch my head… yes… we get a blind man mistaking a zombie for a beached whale… I’m going to let that sink in a bit……. A Little more….. Got it? Good, ill move on then. From here we are introduced to Port Gambill, a seemingly rather unpleasant little coastal fishing town. After the poor blind guy gets what is coming, we are introduced to our heroin, the very beautiful Freida, played wonderfully by Janette Armand, making her debut. Freida is a woman of Iranian descent returning home from college. Poor Freida gets mistaken for an Iraqi by the local redneck family and some awkward comedy ensues. WOW! Hamedini has something to say and he isn’t going to waist a single minute of the ensuing 90. It seems that Freida’s dad is none too happy with darling daughter that she decided to leave the town and not take over the family restaurant. A point to note here, I have not been exposed to many Iranians but I’m pretty damn sure the accent Freida’s father has is not Iranian. In fact I can’t identify it at all. Oh well. A minor gripe, and since he has only a few scenes, it’s not too noticeable.

Next up we get to meet Lance and Tom. Well these guys seem nice-looking friendly with each other…. Hmm…. Maybe too friendly…. OH!!! They’re gay. We get an Iranian mistaken for an Iraqi, and a Gay couple. The two lovers have come to sleepy Port Gambill so Tom can finally face the music with his mom and come out of the closet, after much goading from boyfriend Lance. This is the point where I engage with the film. As an out gay male, it’s nice to see a gay character and a couple at that, which are not poorly drawn caricatures of a gay man. These two are nice, well dressed and loving, not the flaming gay’s you see in the horror aimed at the younger audiences these days, and I have to say that it is refreshing. It is here that the film begins to really pick up its sense of humor, playing with Tom’s nervousness at coming out, while facing his soon to be zombified mother. After dealing with mother the two flick on the TV and see that there has been some kind of biological attack against Port Gambill by a terrorist group, and shows a video made the prior year claiming an imminent attack against a U.S. city is forthcoming.

From this point on the movie turns into your run of the mill zombie comedy, some good gore, some good jokes, and its business as usual. That is until Freida is rescued by the same redneck family that mistook her for an Iraqi in the beginning of the movie. This is where the movie begins to falter. I don’t want to give away too much, but the tone shifts to something very brutal and heavy when Redneck Daddy believes Freida is to blame for the attacks. These scenes are quite intense and well acted, but seem to not fit the tone that the movie has set itself up with. Along those same lines Tom and Lance seek refuge in the local church, where upon discovery of their sexual preference, the religious folk of the town attempt to purge the two of the gayness in a very ludicrous and comedic fashion. This time, however, the scene is played for laughs.

Zombies of Mass Destruction seems a bit confused on the tone of the film. At some points it seems like a very serious movie, especially the scenes with Freida and the neighbors, but then it turns into a kind of satire when we have scenes with the gay couple. It’s almost like the film was written by two different people who couldn’t come to terms with the tone, each one taking a different story arch that’s happening and making their own film, then put the two together without reconciling the tone the other wrote. However, this is a fairly good film. The special effects are quite good and goopy, very little CGI is used and when it is, it’s not to terribly intrusive. The funny scenes are fairly funny and the tense scenes are tense. The acting is quite good for having a lot of actors that haven’t done anything in the past, with only a few scene chewers in fairly small parts. The thing is, is that you believe these characters and each one is different enough to be recognizable. I didn’t get confused as to who is what character as I do in a lot of the crappy horror flicks that have come out in recent years.

All in all I really enjoyed this movie. Yes it is flawed, yes there are no surprises and yes this isn’t a genre busting film, but you know what, I had a damn good time watching it and not once did I check my clock and wonder when is this going to end.

So at the end of the day, I’m going to give this 3 1/2 flaming queers out of 5. But you don’t have to take my word for it, try it yourself!

Available at Amazon.