I Was a Zombie for the F.B.I.

What else could you ask for in a early eighties low budget masterpiece? You've got overacting that would make William Shatner jealous, and some amazing shots that most ode to classic sci/fi film makers seem to be lacking.10 tentacles up for this wonderfully atmospheric trip back to the films of the fifties!

Out with the old n with the new...

I like this movie because of its rare style similar to the lost skeleton of cadavra.

Great no name cast.

an speaking of names

I thought the raspberry brothers should have used their real names.

though I have read a few reviews that hated this DVD because of the

changes what not in the film or score, but I think the f.b.i had something to do with this, so its the politics of DVD they should be upset with.

a classic si fi treat.

I rented this movie with intentions of seeing a very cheesy piece of film, but ended up seeing a well-intended, but ultimately average independent movie. My disappointment of not seeing full-out zombies being hired to take care of guerrilla terrorists in South America was only slightly put aside by a few decent special effects, and a stop-motion monster. My knowledge that this was a film portraying the 1950's wasn't very assured until I read the previous review of this movie on this website half way through, and realized that something didn't quite seem right in the movie. The flying globe and some of the stop-motion effects were the only saving factor of this decent independent film, because the acting was minimal and story was tired and dragging.

Maybe if this movie was titled differently, and not leading to imply it is a schlock-fest, I might have treated it differently, but I really wanted to see a crappy movie. Instead I got a black and white attempt at atmosphere and story. How embarrassing.

Final Judgement: Mistitled and slightly enjoyable, but shows promise

This movie used to show up a lot on Night Flight in the mid-to-late 80s, and I gave it a go since a lot of their stuff was avant garde or at least interesting. This was just space filler, however, not cheezy enough to be fun, not bad enough to be funny, not funny enough to be memorable, not anything enough to be anything. It gets some honorable mention points from me for a low-budget indie film attempting to be a period piece, but the story is utterly incoherent, the acting is entirely forgettable, and really, aside from them irritatingly running this on Night Flight 8 or 9 times a season when they couldn't find anything better to put on, I doubt anyone would remember it at all.

The world wasn't quite campy enough for that tagline when this film premiered. Too bad for the world, says I. I Was A Zombie For the FBI is an ahead-of-its-time, Southern-fried, zomboid romp through retro-B-movie territory, Memphis style.

My vote is intended to split the difference between interested and disinterested fans and original versus DVD versions. I lived in Memphis for 30 years. I am, as they say in those parts, partial to this movie for many reasons. All biases aside, the longer, older, grainier, slower version of Zombie is just plain funnier and more interesting than the recent anniversary DVD release. Most importantly, it's far more faithful to the sort of movie Zombie originally set out to parody; some of the new supers/effects on the new DVD seem intrusive and counter to the style of the original work.

I don't know why this film hasn't garnered a wider cult audience, given its long run on USA's Night Flight in the 80s alongside the likes of Forbidden Zone. Watch it now--especially if you love zombie movies and remember the "cola wars" of the 80s.