Zombiethon

Basically just a clip compilation, though with some original linking segments. The zombie movie clips themselves show a lot of zombies and female nudity, including (thanks to Zombie Lake and The Invisible Dead) a fair amount of full-frontal nudity. Most zombie fans will have seen all these movies (a mix of classic and pointless clips from them are used), so it's disappointing some more obscure zombie films weren't put in the mix. There are some more obscure movies, yet they aren't zombie movies, but I guess ZombieandEuroHorrorThon doesn't roll off the tongue as easily. And they would have had to make some linking segments in which Howard Vernon chases people into the theater or something.

In the first of these linking segments, a woman dressed a bit like a schoolgirl is chased by a (rubber-masked) zombie in an overgrown garden, and takes refuge in an old movie theater... filled with zombies watching the zombie movie clips. This is followed by clips from Fulci's Zombie.

In the next, a sunbather is confronted with an armored or robotic zombie of some kind, and she too runs to the theater. This is followed by clips from Zombie Lake.

The third has a woman offering some dreamy narration over shots of crashing waves. Dressed in flowing white clothing, she goes down to the beach while a woman somewhere else uses a voodoo doll to revive a zombie, which picks up the woman in white and takes her to the theater. This is followed by clips from Oasis of the Zombies.

The next segment has a woman with her young daughter in deserted streets that a zombie also wanders. Surprisingly, this does not conclude with them going to the theater. There's a title card with a quote attributed to Hieronimus A. Steinback from the 17th century, "For centuries, theologists, philosophers and poets have delved into the universe in search of proof of the existence of the devil. It would have been sufficient to look into the depths of their own souls." This is followed by clips from the somewhat rare Fear AKA L' Ossessione che uccide (1981). There are no zombies in it, but because it features the gorgeous Laura Gemser, no one should object too much. Actually, there is a zombie in it briefly, in what I gather (from a review of Fear by Mike Martinez of Kult Movie Maximus) is a dream sequence. An axe and a chainsaw get used in it, and there's a lame giant spider and some fake bats. I'd like to see this one now!

The Fear clip returns us to the theater, where the zombie projectionist is having some difficulties and is making the zombie patrons impatient. When he finally gets things working again, there's clips from The Invisible Dead. This relatively little-seen movie is not a zombie flick either. Evidently Wizard Video, which produced Zombiethon, distributed this also and used their video box art for Invisible Dead to create the impression it was a zombie movie as well. This one seems like it could be amusing.

The woman and her child show up in the theater just as some odd random images are showing. The child is not phased at all, hitting a zombie over the head with a pink balloon, and bothering it with a party whistle. When the projectionist gets things rolling (he's not very good) a title "The Pre-Halloween Late Show" comes up, followed by clips from A Virgin Among the Living Dead.

After a brief shot of the zombies, we get clips from The Astro-Zombies. It's one of a number of really cheap horror movies John Carradine appeared in, copying Lugosi's career, seemingly. Director Ted V. Mikels directed a sequel to this 1969 movie of his in 2002! In the final segment, the zombies have a party in the theater. Supposedly Zombiethon features clips from White Zombie, but I seem to have missed those.

A compilation of zombie clips whose only true reason for existence is showing a lot of movies that have never reached our shores here in Brazil, due to the fact we were living in a hardcore military dictatorship at the time of the depicted movies release. So, it was an undying pleasure to finally see some scenes from "Zombie" and "Fear", of Lucio Fulci, that were censored and banned in my country. The other clips are all right, but the poor production and involuntarily funny special effects shown, together with the nudity exploitation, harm a little the experience of watching them; although it is always interesting to see European horror movies because of the different atmosphere and general delirious climate of such flicks. The linking segments are OK, but nothing memorable and with a glimpse of welcome irony. I give thumbs up, but stays in the average.

Zombiethon (1986)

** (out of 4)

Charles Band and Wizard Video made three compilation movies beginning with THE BEST OF SEX AND VIOLENCE and followed by FILMGORE and finally this film, which takes a look at the zombie films in their library. It's easy to see why so many of these compilation videos were released during the VHS boom since it was an easy way for studios to put something out there and gain attention for movies that fans might enjoy. I mean, someone could rent this, enjoy the film clips and then want to rent or buy the movie, which just means more money into the pocket of the company. This documentary offers clips from ZOMBIE, ZOMBIE LAKE, OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES, FEAR, DR. ORLOFF'S INVISIBLE MONSTER, A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD and THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES. When viewed today, this documentary is mainly going to be for those who enjoy the throwback of watching something from the 80s. Outside of that this thing really doesn't offer too much because all of these films are now available in much better editions so if you want to see them there are better options. The quality of the clips are quite low and stuff like ZOMBIE are shown P&S, which is just a horrid way to see the clips. The funny thing is that the clips shows are all the 'big' scenes so if you hadn't seen the movie, watching the clips here would pretty much ruin the experience. It's also worth noting that Jess Franco's A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD, the best film of the group, isn't even a zombie movie but when Wizard released it they hired Jean Rollin to film new zombie scenes and add it into the film. So, needless to say, it would best to see the original version but at least the alternate scenes are here to view. ZOMBIETHON also features some new scenes of beautiful women being chased into the El Ray theater being chased by solo zombies.

One of serval direct-to-video tapes by exploitation king, Charles Band that showed gory highlights from films distributed by Wizard Video. The framing of this clip show centers around various women who are drawn for one reason or another to the El Rey theatre where an audience of zombies are watching clips from different zombie movies.

The warp-around segments featuring the women in trances and rubber masked zombies are goofy Halloween style fun. The clips are a spoiler reel of the highlights from grindhouse titles like Zombi 2, Zombie Lake and The Astro-Zombies. The clips themselves condense the films into a 5 to 10 minute highlight-reel of the gore and the nudity with very little plot points.

If you grew up a horror fan in the 1980's, this may have some nostalgia for this kind pre-internet "best of" film. And while some what entertaining, its serves nothing more than a interesting curio from the VHS-era.

How does one review "Zombiethon"? From executive producer Charles Band (of Full Moon), this is nothing but a series of clips from zombie films, mostly or completely European ones that may be hard to find (or were at the time).

I cannot say the gore is good, even though it is, because this film's creators did not make the gore, they just took clips of it. There is no plot, no acting. It is really just clip after clip of zombies attacking. If you love zombies, this might be something you want to check out... I could also see this being a good film to play in the background at a party or something.

There is a non-stop barrage of naked women frolicking (often with other naked women), which you might like, and there are some good scenes from Lucio Fulci's films -- some eye-gouging and the wonderful zombie versus shark scene. I guess since in 1986 you could not easily obtain the originals, this might have been a good idea, but now it just seems like another cheap Charlie Band maneuver (and you almost have to wonder if the people who own the rights to these films should not try to shut this picture down).

The film was once distributed by Wizard Video, though to the best of my knowledge they have been gone since the late 80s or early 90s. There is a rumor that Band has been re-issuing titles under the Wizard Video banner because of the popularity of the box art, but I know nothing about this. I saw "Zombiethon" on Netflix, and I think that may be its only existence.