Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody Bill

First and foremost, I worked on the set of Death Valley, so I may be a bit biased. The cast was great to work with for the most part. (There was a primadonna or two, but I won't name names) Byron's got enough experience under his belt now that his camera work is really starting to take off. The editing was fantastic considering I saw the "raw" footage while on set. This was my first production and I now look at movies a totally different way. Richard Miranda (El Intermedio, Way of the Vampire, and Army of Darkness) was superb at bringing the blood and gore of a zombie town to life. The soundtrack was awesome and really brought out the mood of the film. The ending, which I didn't see shot as I was on another portion of the set, was a great surprise. All in all, for the indie horror film world, this was great.

My review for Death Valley: The Revenge Of Bloody Bill? I made it all the way through and it didn't stink. An unusual zombie concept (an old prospector seeking revenge from beyond the grave in a western ghost town) with an engaging score (for those who like death metal), the best thing that can be said is the movie kept me interested. Also, the acting wasn't horrible. But the script was amateurish, the dialogue was weak, the logic (that is, horror movie logic) was uneven and some of the camera shots were way too gimmicky (except for the flashbacks; those were cool). There are a lot of things that could have been done - simple things - to make it a much better movie: i.e, why is it one of the students trapped in the town knows the whole legend about Bloody Bill and yet none of the others, his friends, have even heard of it at all? Also, why does the little "population" count on the town sign keep ticking up after people are killed, but does not tick down for the zombies that have been destroyed? Niggling problems, but bothersome. Still, it was not the worst zombie movie I have ever seen - that distinction goes to House of the Dead, Flesheater, Children of the Living Dead, or Zombie Lake (take your pick).

I rented this from Blockbuster because I could get 3 films for 7 nights for £5. The other 2 were Dead End and Black Knight (I wanted to see some cheesy goldmines). Black Knight and Dead End are cheesy goldmines which made me laugh so I thought £5 well spent until I saw this steaming pile! Truly awful! I honestly believe the guy who did this could'nt direct traffic never mind a film. Please no more - you've had your chance. First of all the music was terrible and boring. The opening sequence my girlfriend fell asleep to. The zombies looked terrible. That Chelsea Jean girl was possibly the worst actress ever. The only decent part was watching the awful characters getting picked off. We cheered when they got it. I only gave it a 3 because of the fact it was on for little over an hour which meant I didn't have to suffer for much longer. I'm handing it back to Blockbuster tomorrow where I will complain that it should be them paying me to watch this tripe!

why are zombies running now? must we break all rules? anyway...this movie has a horrible script...period. Also the camera work and editing were wayyy off. the zombies looked OK but bill looked like he was wearing a Halloween mask. People are talking about good gore in this film. WRONG. Good gore can be found in the Living Dead series...this my friend is horrible gore. I did kind of like the eating of the hand part but it was shot in such a weird way. i give the writers and the director a little credit just because this is a rather knew idea. There really is only so far you can take a zombie flick but these guys managed to give it a different spin. Still...that can't save such a horrible film and a half crap horror film. Watch it for originality but don't buy it or spend any money on it. If you find some homeless dude asleep in the alley clutching a copy of death valley...it might be worth the steal...but i warned you.

A group of teens (on their way to a debating competition) are taken hostage by a drug dealer who is looking for his partner in crime. They are forced to drive to the dilapidated ghost-town of Sunset Valley. Here they are attacked by a load of zombies, led by the evil Bloody Bill, a Confederate soldier seeking revenge for the deaths of himself and his sister.

Byron Werner, the 'director' of this crap-fest, has definitely got ideas above his station. Instead of accepting that he's helming a low budget horror film, he goes all 'Tony Scott' on us and uses annoying directorial and editing techniques to excess: bleached out film stock, staccato editing, wobbly camera-work, coloured filters. This isn't art, Byron... neither is it a music video... it's schlock horror, so cut out the pretentious film-making and start off by learning how to tell a story!

The plot is a weak derivative mixture of elements from H.G. Lewis' 2000 Maniacs and Romero's Night of the Living Dead, without an ounce of the charm of either of these classics. The annoying teens are portrayed by a talentless bunch of nobodies and they deliver their lines as though reading off a board. The awful script is clichéd drivel, with dreadful dialogue and absolutely no logic. Hell, it even has the teens debating with each other whilst under attack from the living dead!

The 'special effects' are also lousy; the zombie makeup is extremely amateurish and the gore content is fairly low. Even the zombie extras are bad: they shuffle in a variety of unconvincing manners—some fast, some slow, and, I'm convinced, some with grins on their faces.

I'm a great fan of zombie films and usually cut even the worst efforts some slack if they deliver ample blood 'n' guts, but Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody Bill fails even with this simple task and receives the lowest possible rating from me.