Zombie Movie Review (14) Halloween Edition: Flesh Eater: Revenge of the Living Dead

Hello Again and welcome to my Zombie Movie Review Halloween Edition. I know I already did one today and it was Halloween themed but I wanted to do something special: Flesh Eater: Revenge of the Living Dead.

This is a Romero Universe tangent film. It is either a prequel to Night of the Living Dead or a sequel the retcons Dawn and Day. However, both of these theories fall short. First of all it is clearly the 80’s with the amount of sex and drinking the teens do not to mention all the girls are wearing jeans. And if it is a sequel, why doesn’t anyone remember the zombie attack that happened first? This movie could work as a prequel/sequel. If you take Night to take place in 1978. Re-watching the original trilogy yesterday, I have concluded that the series cannot take place before 1975 because there is technology in the mall (the video game arcade, the type of TV’s, record players, etc).

The movie was written, directed, and starred Bill Hinzman who played the first zombie in Night of the Living Dead. In this universe, the zombies are magical rather than infection or radiation. Hinzman seemed faster and stronger at the beginning of Night because they filmed that part last and Romero said, “Fuck it, you’re fast”. He is not that fast but faster and stronger than any of the others and is one of the few zombies in Night to use tools (i.e. a rock). Magic zombies are a different breed than your typical virus zombie. They can be slightly faster to much faster, supernatural strength; can have a level of intelligence, etc.

They movie uses a spooky “Pagan” quote and it seems that the Pagans were saving everyone and the quote is more of a warning than a curse. At first I was going with it’s a sequel but it makes more sense as a prequel. Pagans found Bill and locked him away. However, a farmer digs it up and thus the carnage begins.

The group of teens gets whittled down slowly until only two are left, the effects are pretty 80’s in that they aren’t entirely convincing but at the same time are very surprising and gruesome. This is also clearly a sexploitation film. Don’t know what that means? Well it is exploitation but focused on sex. As in lots of gratuitous breasts.

The acting in this movie is terrible all around except for Bill and he plays a zombie. However, the movie does kill a little girl (played by Bill’s daughter) so it does redeem itself. Speaking of this girl, a member of her family is never identified. Originally, it was supposed to be an older daughter but the original actor could not make it so they got an older one and changed her to the house maid. The only problem is they did not change the script around her. They only changed one line of dialogue to explain she was not related to the family. I do not know about you but I would not let the maid take a shower unless she lived in the house.

The movie does end with a very classic cliché Romero ironic ending. If you can ignore the bad acting( a few times you can’t like with the police receptionist), it is actually overall, a fantastic film. The only reason it sucks is that Hinzman had a smaller budget than Romero did for Night. The plot though is great. I guess I love it so much because the first time I saw it I was so excited because I found out it was Bill Hinzman, and for the first time in a very long time, I found a proper horror zombie movie, not a spoof, not a satire, but a true horror. Granted it is of B-movie quality but that is to be expected with the amount of money they had to make it. The movie is slightly camp but it was unintentional. Although it is not an official tangent of Night of the Living Dead, it is still done in the Romero style and so I have to give as much understanding as I did for Night of the Living Dead. Therefore, I give Flesh Eater: Revenge of the Living Dead a generous but deserved for keeping the genre alive, 3 out of 5 stars.