Zombie Rampage (1989)

 

Director: Todd Sheets

Screenplay: Erin Kehr & Todd Sheets

Cast: Dave Byerly as Tommy / Mime, Erin Kehr as Dave, Stanna Bippus as Sheila, Beth Belanti as Sherry, Brian Everad as Pusshead, Deric Bernier as Hammerspike, Lisa Cottoner as Fox, Laura Young as Tracy, Larry Hodges as Piggy, Danon Park as George, Jason Ayers as Roger, John Welch as Jason, Ed Dill as Brian

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies)

 

Kicking off with a metal cover of Norman Greenbaum's Spirit in the Sky as rival gangs of punks, one in a suit, beat each other up, it is for Todd Sheet's feature length debut, after a series of shorts, a good opening to a career which lasted for decades. Whether the original cut or the Director's Cut I had watched, I do think however, with sincerely, even he might view this as a mess. As a veteran micro budget director who visually showed improvements over time from this first film, even if it has the perfect (and goofy) opening to a career, it is an acquired taste to witness despite the fact this actually has some higher production value, and at least locations in use, than some of the films he made later on. It is an erratic film to say the least.

Premise wise a gang leader, looking like a white collar middle manager in a tie and grey suit, but with a prominent left ear ring, acquired a book to be able to resurrect a recently slain member from the graveyard, even if it cost the group their beer money. The other gang they were against, with another copy of the book, make the mistake instead to use the text, this accidently causing an undead epidemic. Even though this is set up, Zombie Rampage does not properly established the undead hordes appearing until abruptly into itself part of the way through, and does feel like huge chunks of the plot are missing. My younger self would have called this one of the worst films ever made, and even now able to appreciate this and micro budget cinema in its flaws, this one definitely requires a patience to be able to appreciate this as it feels like a mass of ideas and fragments placed together.  Clearly, Sheets had some production value it hand with this, with extensive scenes in a variety of buildings and streets, unlike ones in the few years after confined to one location, but it also feels like a stream of consciousness. The loose nature of micro budget cinema, when allowed to drift, is felt at an extreme here when even the zombie outbreak central to the film is abruptly introduced, instead focusing on a side character we will never see again go on a deranged tangent about his dog named Butthead.

I will be more sympathetic to Sheets’ debut than most, unlike the first time I saw this, as much because I have seen him over his career climb in terms of craft with these films, and also because, with no expectations, there is a joy I can now have watching a film like this which is literally a collage of pieces which jut and stick out from each other. This feels like it had to be improvised over weekends, and was a mad editing nightmare, with audibly noticeable voice over added for dialogue and harsh edits which feel, even in a battered VHS copy, as if the tape was failing. The cool Italian horror inspired synth in the score notwithstanding, it feels like a half remembered film, half dreamt, in ways I have to honestly say in the negative if I am still going to say positively I still enjoyed this. A lot of this is because, despite the zombies being the centre of the film, this feels like a disconnected take on its own premise, even in mind that zombies are an easy premise for any low budget film to work with. It was ambitious beyond its means, and thus becomes a barely cohesive form, where it will be a struggle for those who would appreciate later Todd Sheets work like Moonchild (1994) where the technical quality and pacing, still with the homemade quality, are noticeably improved. This debut’s ambition goes as far as even taking advantage of the public domains status of Night of the Living Dead (1968) to borrow its radio announcer, but in wanting to recreate the ending of Return of the Living Dead (1985) without access to stock explosion footage, you also see the flaws when you have the most abrupt conclusion possible too.

A random serial killer of women is among the cast, random figures will talk about their arguments with family about inheritance whilst in fear of their lives from zombies in a basement, and grandpa will be talked of having chewed on grandma, all whilst this begins Todd Sheets’ use of organ meat from butchers, combined with the fake blood to the point here it would permanently stain wash denim bloody red. Random abrupt nudity, when an older female patron offers herself to a bar keep to pay the tap, who has no interest, and Todd Sheets gets to rock out his metal hair as a rival gang leader despite his gang disappearing from the film entirely. There is one moment which is pretty striking, in which a mother with her baby in a pram are got by zombies, which is pretty extreme even for this type of cinema, but tonally the rest of Zombie Rampage is goofier, intentionally and not, for its length. There are also plenty of things which are pretty random, such as the mime faced guy in a baseball cap, possible based on the baseball furies from The Warriors (1979), which just emphasises the chaotic mix of the resulting product. Zombie Rampage is not a film I would recommended unless you were used to Todd Sheets’ work, as I am, and prepared for its messy nature. Sheets would return to this theme of zombies in other films, so he was able to rework this as his skills would improve. This is just a curiosity which proves that everyone begins somewhere, and your first attempt can sometimes show this.