Six friends (Ever Carradine, Sisto, Palladino, Perkins, Philips and Lawson) on their way to wedding get lost in the creepy town of Lovelock. They stay in a B&B run by the Zen Mr Wise (David Carradine) and his grumpy French chef (Bader), both of whom die during the night. So the gang is held for questioning by the sheriff (Morgan). But it has nothing to do with them; an evil spirit has been unleashed, and unless a drifter (Fraser) can get it under control, everyone's going to be a zombie by tomorrow.

The plot isn't bad, and Leutwyler goes for broke with the gore, clearly enjoying himself with all the blood-spurting mayhem. There's a camp vibe to the film that makes it fairly enjoyable as well, although it starts to grate the more we see of hick crooner Randall (Selwyn), who sings along with all of the action. He's so awful that we just want him to die--although in a movie about zombies ("They're not zombies!"), that's not quite enough. Soon the undead are prancing along to his songs like the extras from Thriller.

Leutwyler certainly knows his horror films, because he packs this movie with references. At one point someone even shouts, "This is like a bad horror movie!" It's awash in creepy characters, annoying rednecks, dead phone lines, deep dark secrets, eerie ceremonies, silly slapstick, glaring music and buckets of blood. And the solid cast has a great time, especially Ever Carradine (as the tough chick) and Palladino (as the womaniser). So it's a pity that Leutwyler's direction isn't as inventive as his script. He just about manages to keep a grip on the chaos, but it's extremely clunky and often misjudged (the carton-frame transitions are amateurish and distracting). Although it's also often such good fun that we hope he doesn't give up just yet.

themes, violence, gore, language

5.May.05