New Horror Releases: Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies (2018) Reviewed


Resident horror critic, Tash Danzig takes a stab at the latest zombie flick. 

The title makes you hope it is a comedy, at least if you are not dissuaded by the umpteenth attempt at the same old tired horror sub-genre of – zombies.

The film’s IMDB lists it as a horror, but the only horror about this film is the fact that the creators did not bother to do a single original thing. Why do so many filmmakers still follow the done-to-death scenario of some infection turning people into rabid undead cannibals?

In this case, there were countless opportunities to turn it into something unique, but quite the opposite is at play here. I decided, out of courtesy, to view this as a tongue-in-cheek horror. It was the only way to make it bearable.

Helicopters are stupid anyways. 

Not in years of pushing my way through endless, unoriginal zombie films had I seen this many clichés in one place. The movie feels as if the creators literally made a really bad pizza, using ingredients from every single mainstream zombie film ever made. Yes, your assumptions are correct! ALL of those!

The first half hour consists of what proper films deliver in the way of character establishment. However, in this case, each scene that is supposed to introduce us to the people involved, jumps from one to the other too quickly, leaving the viewer rushed and uncertain as to who is who and where they fit in.

Forced stereotypes in the name of political correctness portrayed by sub-par acting made me cringe throughout the film and unrealistic scenarios are a dime a dozen. Unnecessary romantic endeavors (except for the two bikers at the end…you’ll see) make for clumsy flow to establish character depth.
Badly constructed attempts at subplots only make it worse while you wait for the actual carnage to erupt and even then, it is so predictable that you can set your watch by it. Certain scenes had me laughing out loud, but not in the comedic sense.

Some characters are almost interesting (the mayor), but it is not enough to save this film from looking like it copied Creepshow’s homework and still failed the test. The camera work is decent, the budget was used pretty well by way of make-up and effects, but the film just comes across as desperate and cliché without a single reason to remember it after you’ve seen it.

Now, I have to go and wash my eyes out with a Hammer film.

Score

-Tash Danzig