Plaga zombie: Zona mutante

The people who send us "plaga zombie" are back with an extraordinary second chapter full of blood, gore and fun.This movie is totally awesome and enjoyable than the first. This is a good tribute to the platter genre and a milestone in the Argentinian movie story.

An enthusiastically splattery, low-budget comedy gore-fest from Argentina, Zombie Plague Mutant Zone sees three survivors of a zombie outbreak (caused by an alien virus) intercepted by the authorities and thrown straight back into the now quarantined town. The trio, an ex pro-wrestler named John West (Pablo Parés), medical student Bill (Pablo Parés), and a nerd called Max (Hernán Sáez), fend off the undead whilst trying to figure out a way to escape their predicament.

With a visual style very reminiscent of Peter Jackson's early horror classics, this ultra-bloody slice of cartoon-style splat-stick starts off very promisingly, featuring plenty of silly laughs and loads of cheap 'n' cheerful make-up and gore. Unfortunately, it soon becomes evident that silly laughs and loads of cheap 'n' cheerful make-up and gore is all the film does have to offer, and proceedings eventually become rather tiresome. There is zero plot development and the directors (stars Parés and Sáez) obviously don't know when to call it a day (even after the end credits have started rolling, they feel the need to throw in an unnecessary epilogue).

Still, if you don't mind the repetitiveness of the action (fight scene, followed by silly zombies, followed by fight scene, followed by silly zombies, followed by fight scene), there are definitely enough good moments to make staying for the duration worthwhile: an early three stooges style gag with a severed arm; a revolting bit in which a zombie clutches his lower bowel and releases a stream of feces into the hero's face; a kung fu fight using a torn, bloody appendage as a weapon; a climactic battle which includes some terrific and very inventive effects; and an enjoyably daft musical interlude (featuring the catchy John West theme tune).

If only the makers had added a bit more meat to the story, and shaved a little bit off the running time, then this one would've got a 7 out of 10 from me. As it stands, it gets a 6.

I am a big fan of zombie films and even own over 50 of them on DVD, but it's one of those genres like vampires where every one and their brother seems to be taking a camcorder and making one in their backyard. There are great zombie films and downright awful ones and this falls into the middle (putting it way ahead of some low budget garbage I've sat through). It's not as good as some indie zombies & aliens films like "Undead", but to be fair, that film had a one million dollar budget and this most obviously did not have the same level of resources to draw upon.

This production was plagued with problems and took 4 years to complete. It's not a bad film per se, just not one whose story particularly interests me. It's an achievement for those involved that they finished it at all and the technical aspects of it are better than many no-budget zombie films (often shot-on-video) being made these days -- films like "Stink of Flesh" or the simply atrocious "Dead Life", which aren't much worth watching unless you want a course in how NOT to make a film. Sequels in name only like "Day of the Dead 2: Contagium", "House of the Dead 2" and "Return of the Living Dead 4 & 5" also fit into said category, yet were made with bigger budgets thereby making their failures even more egregious. Plaga Zombie: Mutant Zone achieves its artistic goals far better than those films.

THE STORY: Here is where I had most of my problems with the film... Yes, some of the stuff is downright goofy, but that in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing. I REALLY don't care for pro-wrestling as a sport in general (be it American or of the Spanish or Mexican luchador variety which didn't endear me to the no-budget zombie film "Enter Zombie King"). I have zero interest in seeing two potentially gay fan boys fight over a luchador whose career is ended. I'd just as soon want to watch a film that wants me to feel sorry for a H.S. football captain who, after being the big shot at school, has gone on to work selling tires or working a gas station, his glory days behind him and then watch a fan boy following him around like he's still a big deal and then add zombies to the equation. Obviously, the film never connected me to this major character and as a result I had difficulty connecting to the film itself, though others may really enjoy it. But I will have to say the set decoration for John West's trophy room was well done. I loved the idea of a single floppy disk holding pertinent info necessary to the characters' survival and which takes 12 hours to 'decode' itself (I'm obviously being sarcastic on that point, I hate when films do senseless things with computers). This was obviously one of those IDIOT PLOT POINTS to kill time and have characters run in circles to get them where the writer wanted them. I didn't enjoy the plot enough to be really looking forward to a 3rd film to finish the trilogy.

The Camera-work and FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY are both pretty good for a no-budget shot-on-video production. They seem to have a better idea what they are doing than most no budget zombie films.

MAKEUP: facial makeup (latex) is obviously low budget but an improvement over the face paint of the 1st film. The gore shots are decent for no budget and there are some entertaining effects shots.

DE-ANIMATION METHODS: not quite sure how to kill a zombie in this film, there seems to be lots of decapitation though.

This isn't a bad film and you may like it better than I did, I just wasn't big on the story. It's much better than lots of ultra low budget zombie films coming out in the past decade and it does have its technical merits which make me think the filmmakers could go on to better things if they keep at it.

.. of the horror-comedy genre.. easily.. don't know how it escaped me this long, but i picked it up last weekend because it looked like it'd give me some laughs, and i was coming off of my grandmother's funeral and laughs were going to be hard to come by..

well, laugh i did..

from one of the earliest scenes with the (what really has to be considered) immortal line 'on the count of three.. let's get out of here', i knew i was in for something special..

the references go deeper than just peter jackson and romero.. i saw some WONDERFUL references to 'big trouble in little china' that had me nearly in tears..

i'm not going to spoil it for anyone by telling a lot about it.. i watched it without any prior knowledge of it and i have to believe that's the best way with this movie.. if you're EXPECTING to see what they give you it may not be as effective..

all i can really say is when he pulls out the 45... oh man..

and i ain't talking' about a gun, either..

truly.. a hero and champion..

To say that this is a good film would be a lie, but to say that it is an entertaining film is an acceptable statement.

The budget in non existing, so is the acting, the story, the makeup, the script, the photography, the editing the directing, etc. But I already said this is not a good movie.

Neither is "Bad Taste", and yet I had fun with that one as well.

I honestly can't really explain why this movie in entertaining to me. I guess I just really admire people who make movies with no money whatsoever. But this flick has some cool stuff in it, it's that simple.

Of course it is an acquired taste. A great deal of people will absolutely despise this movie.

I think you can have a pretty good idea of what you are in for by checking out the cover, plot, trailer, etc, so if you are at all curious, I say give it a go.