Zombie Nightmare

This is among the great MST3K episodes, in my opinion! Terrible movie, hilarious riffing, and funny host segments and skits.

The movie itself is pretty poor quality (low budget, dark in a lot of scenes) so that may be a turn-off for some viewers, however, it DOES have some recognizable actors and I have to admit that I actually do like the music in the film.

The riffing is top notch here--this was during the Mike-Servo-Beaulieu Crow era, which to me was the best overall combination of personalities (although I do love everyone). I loved all of the Batman jokes they made since Adam West is in this movie. I also love that they rip on him and the film, but they actually do seem to genuinely like Adam West and he seemed to like them and embraced the entire MST3K treatment and experience by hosting MST3K Turkey Day in 1994.

One reason I love this episode so much is because all of the host segments and skits are hilarious and adorable! The skits and segments have always been hit-and-miss for me and there are hardly any episodes where I actually like the skits and jokes all the way through but this episode is one of those that I do love. The hot tub, the hit-and-run, the Batman play, the letters they write to Adam West--it's all super cute and funny.

I highly recommend this episode to MST fans and to newcomers. This is not a bad episode to use to introduce people to the show. :)

Zombie Nightmare can only be described as the most bland, boring and unsatisfying horror movie ever. It's lack of suspense, dialogue, acting talent and decent camera work makes it the perfect target for MST3K. Starring Adam West from the original Batman, and Tia Carrere from Wayne's World, you might have thought that this movie may have had a fighting chance. Yet, sadly, no, this movie is one of the worst zombie movies ever made. For a zombie movie, it has an awfully big lack of zombies on screen. The funny segments include Secret Service agents Crow and Tom Servo protect Mike, the Mads use voodoo to inflict inexpensive evil on the world. The crew does some good voodoo, Servo runs over Crow with a car, the crew chills in a hot tub, Mike and Servo are Robin and Batman and the 'bots write to Adam West. Frank turns Dr. Forrester into a zombie. There are plenty of witty and hilarious jokes, quotes, one-liners and prods at the movies - ("And son, cover the nipples! The neighbours are complaining!") - and especially the fact about Adam West betraying Batman, and that he should go back to being Batman, etc. There is a thorough jostle at everything through the movie; the opening credits, the soundtrack - ("What, is this Deathmask featuring Olivia Newton John!") the bad acting, the poor lighting, the crazy sets ("Wow, this really IS a big garage!") Now, this is not one of the BEST mystery science theatre 3000 episode, but it's certainly entertaining and silly. And watch out for the voodoo lady who talks like a sheep!

"Zombie Nightmare" is appallingly bad. I've seen plenty of low-budget productions and few compare with the complete misuse of resources here. There's one scene where a zombie chases a girl through a recreational facility with embarrassing cuts back and forth between the girl who is 'leisurely jogging' as the MST3k bots put it and the slowest and least menacing zombie in the history of film.

This is one of few movies which is actually just about unbearable without either teaming up with a bunch of people to rip it apart or watching the MST3k version (which is hilarious, by the way, one of the best). The only things remotely entertaining about the movie are the laughably bad sexual innuendo and the obvious: Adam West. Let's face it, Adam West is just entertaining in any setting. Other than the sexual innuendo which really is laughable, there's not much here to enjoy even on a 'so bad it's good' level- it's just BAD.

The film boasts one of the funniest and weirdest title sequences I've ever seen, and one which leads to a hilarious conversation about "Ace of Spades" in the MST3k version.

Watching the non-MST3k version just results in seeing more of the sexual violence and hilariously bad gore cut out of the MST3k version. I can't see why anyone that isn't obsessive like myself would want to watch the original version of this film. It's torture.

1/10 (10/10 MST3k)