Horror Movie Review: Death Metal Zombies (1995)
Death Metal Zombies is a super-low budget horror that combines heavy metal & the walking dead resulting in one of the worst things to ever get an actual release. That it has some form of cult following (enough to get an updated 10 year anniversary edition) is mind-boggling. It’s utter trash with a nonsensical (although certainly original) story, embarrassingly bad acting & terrible make-up.
The suggestion that it’s low budget nature means it’s deserving of some sort of accolade for trying is stupid. Had this been a short movie then maybe it could be forgiven but it’s 90 minutes long & filled with lengthy scenes that are effectively music videos for the bands featured.
Is it the worst thing committed to film? Of course not. It’s admirable in its approach to a new idea in a very tired genre & its unashamed in its support of the death metal scene. However, a bad horror film is still a bad horror film.
The ‘story’ goes something like this…
Death Metal fan, Brad Masters enters a radio competition to win an album by his favourite band, Living Corpse. He doesn’t have much confidence but his friends go to great lengths (in many painful to watch scenes) to get him to believe he can and unsurprisingly he does!
When the tape arrives Brad can hardly wait to play it & is over-joyed to hear it has got a bonus track on it, just for him. The song is called Zombified & it turns Brad & some of this pals into actual zombies. They are now under the control of Shengar, the lead singer of Living Dead. It’s up to Angel, Brad’s girlfriend, to save them & stop Shengar’s evil plan.
Large sections of Death Metal Zombies are so forgettable that by time you reach the end you’ll think you blacked out. There’s so many pointless scenes that don’t build characters. They are just used as ways to play the music of the death metal bands involved. For example, Brad has a dream that he was on stage with Living Corpse. This is just an excuse to show a couple of minutes of live footage.
Is it decent music? Of course! It’s raw & visceral but doesn’t make for an entertaining horror movie watch. The effects are average at best & the zombie makeup, terrible. They look exactly the same but with black rings around their eyes!
As a huge zombie movie fan I’ll forgive a lot of things but Death Metal Zombies is getting no forgiveness. It’s a bad movie & the score below is mainly because of the metal that plays throughout.
Author
Death Metal Zombies
-
The Final Score - 3/10
3/10
