Zombie Beach Party

I bought this on DVD for my roommate as a joke gift, but after watching it the joke was on me. If you are a fan of comic books, this flick deserves a look. The main characters are larger-than-life celebrity heroes and who eat, drink, and sleep with their wrestling masks on and have to fend off autograph-hounds when they go for smokes. The story is minimal (Zombie King wants to take over the world) but each of the heroes has a past with at least one of the antagonists, adding a feeling of depth to the story world. The fight scenes are fun, if you go along with the idea that pro-wrestling moves are the best way to subdue an opponent. The music, mostly surf music by the Tijuana Bibles, carries the action very well. All-in-all, surprisingly entertaining. Just goes to show that low-budget movies can work, if done right. Also props for a cameo by Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart of WWF fame as the butt-kicking local sheriff.

I bought this on eBay after being lured in by that Kirbyesque cover, only to actually receive one with a much crummier Photoshopped cover of scenes in the movie. It may sound lame, but it dampened my enthusiasm for the movie and I didn't end up watching it for two weeks.

Anyway, it was decent fun. The first ten minutes or so were boring and I nearly cut the DVD off until the hot goth gas pump attendant appeared. Then more boring for another ten minutes or so, and the movie finally started kicking into gear. Some decent wrestling, lots of excessive blood, nice looking but still fake body parts for the zombies to nibble on, topless yacht captains. Part of the movie takes place in an abandoned amusement park, and they try to do one of those Scooby-Doo things where A runs in one door while B runs out the other trying to catch A. So there's that.

Did I mention how hot that tattooed goth chick is? Pretty hot. I would have been mad if the zombies got her, fortunately she ends up with a somewhat happy ending.

Okay, I don't know anything about wrestling or luchadores but I'm a devout zombie fanatic and I like my share of comic book heroes... so... I got this promo DVD of "Zombie Beach Party." It wasn't easy to find at the time. I guess it went straight-to-video and it's Canadian and it's not properly distributed yet (it should be!). I just watched it and I was very entertained for an hour plus.

There's a palatable plot. There are a variety of personalities to like and to dislike. Visually, it's reminiscent of something like Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses" (comic book colors and tattoo art mixed with a spooky atmosphere). There's Gore Galore though not the most convincing I've seen... a valiant effort nonetheless... they even managed a "Zombie Feast," something we gore-hounds don't get to see in today's R-rated films. There's an "artsy" narration by Ulysses (the hero), similar to that in "Bubba Ho-Tep."

There's gratuitous nudity, lesbians, drugs and condom purchasing. Finally, the music/soundtrack reminds me of BOTH

"House of 1000 Corpses" and "Bubba Ho-Tep" (what a coincidence). I rate it 8 stars. Fun and Fresh!

The plot reads: When a string of zombie killings hits the coast, it's up to the heroic Ulysses and his wildcard band of luchadores to find out whose behind it and to destroy the murderous undead.

This movie was made to watch and laugh at. It was on afternoon TV, and thats the category it should be judged in. It's cheesy, the acting is dubious, and make up is terrible. All of that comes together in a way that makes it campy fun. Don't watch it expecting Titanic or Dawn of the Dead; think Lost Skeleton of Cadavera, and you'll be on the right track. Just turn off the higher functions, crack a beer, and relax. Its a movie where Luchador heroes battle outrageous villains that would be at home in any Saban live action show, with over the top everything and a decent soundtrack to boot. I can only hope that more equally cheesy movies come out to balance the epic films that seem to be in vogue right now. Viva los Luchadors!

I was so excited to see this movie. Original idea in the plot summary, great cover art. The costumes and the characters interested me from the front.

But BLAM the dullness of the movie hit me Sooooo hard that it demolished all hope to enjoy this poorly made effort. The characters had zero development beyond them being introduced. I really didn't give a damn about any of them surviving, they were strangers through the whole thing. The "babe"(Mercedes) was not really a babe at all, I was almost glad that I couldn't see the rest of her face. Ulysses was so flat I could use his character as a coaster, and thats really a problem when he's supposed to be the hero. What was with his lame clothes. A Mexican wrestler would never wear anything so dull, especially a true hero. Think back to the BLUE DEMON & SANTO, and all the great Mexican wrestling monster movies of the 70's. They could really rip apart zombies and look good doing it, not the group of reject uggos in this waste of time. Half way through, I really wanted it to end. The story and characters were not progressing any further after the first 20 min, and the movie just kept eating up my time... The one redeeming character was Tiki, I almost wanted to know more about him, he was the only character who seemed to have any passions or emotions at all. But the makers were ridiculously trying to up-sell Ulysses the whole damn movie, and he was very very bland. I hope the makers all have day jobs. The guy at subway who made my sandwich contributes more to the world than this project.