Zombiethon

"Zombiethon" is basically a plotless compilation of much of the gore and nudity from various zombie movies. Clips are shown from "Zombie," "Astro-Zombies," "The Invisible Dead," "Zombie Lake," "Zombie 4: After Death," "Fear" (which actually does not contain zombies), and "Oasis of the Zombies." The clips for each of these movies vary in length. If the zombie sub-genre is a personal favorite, then this is truly a treat, but for most people this is not worthwhile.

The "plot" tells of a bunch of zombies in a movie theater watching zombie movies. This really just acts for linkage between the previously mentioned clips. From "Zombie," the shark scene, the infamous eye scene, and most of the rest of the zombie carnage are shown (along with the topless scuba diving and the scene in which Olga Karlatos takes a shower). From "Astro-Zombies," many pathetic looking scenes are shown, all of which lack gore and nudity. From "Zombie Lake," the scene in which a busload of girls go skinny dipping only to be fondled by the rising Nazi undead is shown. Clips from "Invisible Dead" bring many shots of nude women being fondled and undressed by an invisible force, and also give away the ending. The clips from the rest of the movies are in the same vein.

The few original scenes seem to have been well directed, there is no original script to judge, and acting varies based on what clips you are watching. The gore effects made specifically for this movie are campy and obviously fake, and, once again, gore effects taken from other movies vary (Zombie outshines everything else in this department).

"Zombiethon" is meant for those with a love for the zombie sub-genre. My rating: six out of ten.

Zombiethon (1986)

** (out of 4)

Charles Band and Wizard Video made three compilation movies beginning with THE BEST OF SEX AND VIOLENCE and followed by FILMGORE and finally this film, which takes a look at the zombie films in their library. It's easy to see why so many of these compilation videos were released during the VHS boom since it was an easy way for studios to put something out there and gain attention for movies that fans might enjoy. I mean, someone could rent this, enjoy the film clips and then want to rent or buy the movie, which just means more money into the pocket of the company. This documentary offers clips from ZOMBIE, ZOMBIE LAKE, OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES, FEAR, DR. ORLOFF'S INVISIBLE MONSTER, A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD and THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES. When viewed today, this documentary is mainly going to be for those who enjoy the throwback of watching something from the 80s. Outside of that this thing really doesn't offer too much because all of these films are now available in much better editions so if you want to see them there are better options. The quality of the clips are quite low and stuff like ZOMBIE are shown P&S, which is just a horrid way to see the clips. The funny thing is that the clips shows are all the 'big' scenes so if you hadn't seen the movie, watching the clips here would pretty much ruin the experience. It's also worth noting that Jess Franco's A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD, the best film of the group, isn't even a zombie movie but when Wizard released it they hired Jean Rollin to film new zombie scenes and add it into the film. So, needless to say, it would best to see the original version but at least the alternate scenes are here to view. ZOMBIETHON also features some new scenes of beautiful women being chased into the El Ray theater being chased by solo zombies.

This film is a horribly convoluted mish-mash of clips from various (mostly European) zombie films. That being said, if you enjoy any of the following three things, you may just love Zombiethon: 70s/80s zombie films, naked women, Family Guy style randomness.

Zombiethon combines the campiness of both the zombie films and softcore nudity of 70s and 80s cinema, and even has one segment which seems to be a horror buff's Jeffery Dahmer inspired take on Family Guy style cutaways.

Get a few friends, have some drinks and don't slack off on the smart-aleck comments, because this film is a riot!

How does one review "Zombiethon"? From executive producer Charles Band (of Full Moon), this is nothing but a series of clips from zombie films, mostly or completely European ones that may be hard to find (or were at the time).

I cannot say the gore is good, even though it is, because this film's creators did not make the gore, they just took clips of it. There is no plot, no acting. It is really just clip after clip of zombies attacking. If you love zombies, this might be something you want to check out... I could also see this being a good film to play in the background at a party or something.

There is a non-stop barrage of naked women frolicking (often with other naked women), which you might like, and there are some good scenes from Lucio Fulci's films -- some eye-gouging and the wonderful zombie versus shark scene. I guess since in 1986 you could not easily obtain the originals, this might have been a good idea, but now it just seems like another cheap Charlie Band maneuver (and you almost have to wonder if the people who own the rights to these films should not try to shut this picture down).

The film was once distributed by Wizard Video, though to the best of my knowledge they have been gone since the late 80s or early 90s. There is a rumor that Band has been re-issuing titles under the Wizard Video banner because of the popularity of the box art, but I know nothing about this. I saw "Zombiethon" on Netflix, and I think that may be its only existence.

One of serval direct-to-video tapes by exploitation king, Charles Band that showed gory highlights from films distributed by Wizard Video. The framing of this clip show centers around various women who are drawn for one reason or another to the El Rey theatre where an audience of zombies are watching clips from different zombie movies.

The warp-around segments featuring the women in trances and rubber masked zombies are goofy Halloween style fun. The clips are a spoiler reel of the highlights from grindhouse titles like Zombi 2, Zombie Lake and The Astro-Zombies. The clips themselves condense the films into a 5 to 10 minute highlight-reel of the gore and the nudity with very little plot points.

If you grew up a horror fan in the 1980's, this may have some nostalgia for this kind pre-internet "best of" film. And while some what entertaining, its serves nothing more than a interesting curio from the VHS-era.