Zombie Rampage (1989)

Absolutely Brilliant!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I can remember buying a VHS copy of this movie back in the 90s at a horror convention. The first time I watched it I was a bit shocked at how horrible the whole thing was. However, I recently saw this again in one of those 50-pack DVD deals. I found myself sadly nostalgic about ZR. I watched it, laughed, cringed and nearly cried. I have to say, Todd Sheets is no George Romero but he is one of the pioneers of the indie horror scene like it or not. He and his VHS movies have a place in Horror film history. I think only die hard indie horror film buffs who were born long enough ago to remember how hard it was to make a movie on VHS can appreciate Todd's work.Todd if you read this, don't go quietly into that dark night. Come back, and come back with a "Rampage!"

*** This review might contain some minor spoilers that in my opinion won't spoil you all the "fun" *** Zombie Rampage is a very low budget zombie flick with loads of gore, however ,its plot sucks. Morever, its acting is awful and so are the last scenes. It has loads of gore and violence and some nudity which make this film watchable, while its directing is horrible.I have seen Zombie Bloodbath 1 and 2, and I think that they are much better than Zombie Rampage. It seems to me that Zombie Rampage is Todd Sheets' first attempt to direct a solid zombie. I can certainly tell that this attempt has failed miserably.The thing that made me dislike this film was the lack of dominant zombies at its ending. The zombies actually lacked there. There were always "there", but I couldn't any of see them.In a nutshell, Zombie Rampage is a worthless film, I can only recommend it to die hard fans of zombiefests. However, a fan who has been in the field for a while will certainly agree with me on the fact that its ending lacks of zombies and pretty much everything that a good zombie film ought to include. 3/10

I'll start out by saying that I am a HUGE fan of gore movies, ESPECIALLY low budget gore movies. I prefer the rough, gritty atmosphere to anything big budget and stream-lined. With that said, this is possibly one of the worst movies I've ever had the displeasure of viewing. It borders on the fine line between "bad" and "absolutely, positively deserving of cancer". Also, I only watched approximately 30 minutes of this flick before turning it off - it's THAT bad.The storyline is almost non-existent. The leader of a gang (hilariously 80s-esque) is attempting to resurrect three slain members. The movie introduces some other characters and we are treated to a disorienting slur of images, mainly pointless. Anyone with a brain would assume that the gang leader's "resurrection book" (a book he purchased from some vendor) would be responsible for the zombie rampage, right? WRONG. The zombies exist before the book is even read, further contributing to the overall sloppiness of this movie. Anyway, the last part I saw consisted of several zombies trying to break into buildings, while the gang leader, his gang, and some random guys seek shelter in some warehouse.The acting is horrific. I'm not lying when I say that I, and almost every single person I know, could act better. There is usually no emotion delivered in the lines whatsoever. Even then, the dialogue is just plain stupid. Some of it is muffled and incoherent. To conserve space, I'll also throw in the fact that the music is completely sub-standard. Anyway, my favorite actor is the gang leader, mainly because he likes to throw around vulgarities a lot. Aside from him, every other actor is completely disposable and cardboard.The cinematography is vomit-inducing. This seems to be shot on VHS, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The choice of angles, however, is frequently bad. A lot of shots are shaky, making the movie seem even more amateur. The actual quality is VHS, through and through. Thin lines are blurred, lights bleed into large globs, and a thick level of grain hangs over everything. The image quality didn't bother me so much as the shoddy shot choice did. On that note, the editing is the real fault of this movie - shots jump around a lot. Particular shots are shown without reason, perhaps for effect (like steaming man holes, or an American flag flapping in the cool night air). Whatever perceived effect is quickly smothered by an abrupt jump, like a pillow over an elderly man's face. Shots of a scene will change constantly, with almost no style or common sense whatsoever. One minute, we're beside the actors - next, we're looking up at them - now a closeup. Ugh.Aside from all of that, the gore was above average for a low to no budget flick. I caught one zombie feasting scene, where a mother and her baby are devoured. Standard gore and guts. Used quite effectively, although the sound effects (cheesy squishing sounds) kinda detracted from it all. Maybe I'll get around to watching the rest, since this was the only redeemable quality of the movie.So, keeping all of that in mind, it was a pretty bad movie. I've probably turned off a single movie - if that - in the last six months. From the beginning of this movie, I was contemplating its demise.

The movie was a mess! Being a fan of Todd Sheets movies, I was a little disappointed. I guess I should've been since this was one of his early films. I couldn't hear a lot of what the actors were saying because the sound was horrible. And the zombies were already walking before the gang did their little "spell" to raise the dead. Also, the ending was abrupt. It left you with a disatisfied feeling. I guess I need to find the sequel to see where the first one left off. If it did that at all. I give it a 2 Very confusing. Also, POSSIBLE SPOILER here. And something else offended me about this movie. THEY HAD A BABY RIPPED IN HALF AND EATEN IN IT!!! That was horrible but I guess Todd Sheets wanted to push the envelope and he did. I guess get it if you're a fan of Todd Sheets.