Zombiez

Color, NR (mature themes, violence, gore, language, nudity), 91 min, DVD $19.98, VHS rental

DVD: music video

Street: May 17, Prebook: April 19

First Run: Video premiere

Cast: Jenicia Garcia (Vampiyaz), Jakeem Sellers, Randy Clark (Vampiyaz), Raymond Spencer

LIONS GATE

A young woman (Garcia) on a demolition crew finds herself in the midst of a massive zombie attack at the building her crew plans to demolish. For a bit of intestine-chomping fun with a hip-hop twist, Zombiez certainly fits the bill. Just don't expect it all to make sense. Not interested in wasting time on set up, Zombiez claims its first victim less than five minutes in. This gore-a-thon has the kind of fake guts scenarios and campy moments that would make Roger Corman proud, but it also contains a few truly chilling situations. As a mash-up of the urban and horror genre, the movie is clever from a marketing perspective, targeting two bases that often feed off of one another. And it takes an alternative, Deliverance-like turn in having most of its zombie thrills occur in broad daylight. The movie mixes sexuality and violence (including a couple of female victims either clad scantily or not clad at all) in a way that should appeal to a certain cross-section of B-movie enthusiasts. Unfortunately, however, there's not a very good explanation of how these thuggy zombiez come to be, and the final scene feels too easily resolved. Nonetheless, with both horror and urban titles as popular as ever right now, Zombiez's undead subjects should have a nice shelf life.

BACK TO TOP