Ruptured Review: The Italian Zombie Movie: The Grindhouse Cut

Country of origin- U.S.A
Year of release- 2010
Director- Thomas Berdinski
Stars- Jeffrey S. Bromley, Laurie Beckeman, Dan Grams  

  

First of all I would just like to apologise for the sudden lack of reviews of late, this is due to me being a dumbass and badly scratching my cornea, which by the way hurts rather a lot. Couple this with a suddenly very busy work schedule and the result is a total lack of reviews, so once again sorry about that.

 

I would like to preface this review by explaining how The Italian Zombie Movie: The Grindhouse Cut came to be. This film is in fact two 90 minute films cut down into one 120 minute feature. This film is the crazy inbred love child of Zombie Abomination (2010) and Zombie Atrocity also 2010 – i.e The Italian Zombie Movie Parts 1&2. As these two clocked in with a pretty hefty combined run time it was established that a new cut of the film could be made to remove some of the lesser martial these films had to offer. And so we find ourselves here.

 

The film centres around are likable hero Bruno who is a desert storm veteran. Bruno finds out that his twin brother Dario has been killed, and nobody has any idea who committed the crime. He decides to try and find out what exactly happened to his brother, and later receives a message from a Mysterious stranger who tells him that he has information about Dario’s death. Little does Bruno know but this information will ultimately lead him to Italy and to the discovery of an evil government plan that has lead to numerous deaths already, and could end the world as we know it.

 

This film is a fantastic example of what can be achieved with no budget, a crapy camera and a hell of a lot of passion for the genre. Before I get over excited with my praise for this film, I have to mention some things I disliked about it. First of all, the innumerable subplots that make up the film are at times dull, and a little confusing. I am aware that some of the subplots are written specifically with this in mind, in order to pay homage to the congested and maddening plots we all know and love from crappy 80s horror. However sometimes they simply didn’t work and that really affected the overall pacing. Secondly, the films effects are a mix of fun and cheesy practical effects, and some of the dreaded digital effects I have ranted about in the past. Now I understand that these guys had NO money to make this film so I can forgive most of the digital effects. However there were occasions where I felt that some good old fashioned cheap practical effects could have easily been used instead. My final complaint isn’t really about an issue that is the fault of the director, it’s a problem that all no-budget cinema suffers from, and that is terrible acting. Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of funny and enjoyable performances in this one, but there are one or two very poor examples of acting, and I mean Marcus Jean Pirae levels of poor.  

Putting aside my problems with the film I have to say I absolutely loved this underappreciated little gem. The first highlight of the film definitely being the crazy no budget practical gore and splatter which put a grin on my face every time it popped up, which was fairly regularly. Something this film managed to achieve what most other no budget horror comedies fail to do is to create actually funny dialogue that made me laugh quite a few times. This was a nice surprise as most of us have by now been bombarded with annoying and brainless horror “comedies” that are about as funny as knee surgery.

However, this film can boast many things including great gore and funny dialog, yet its finest point is something that exists purely as a gut feeling, and that is its passion. This film stands out as a genuinely engaging homage to the gone but not forgotten days of grimy Italian horror cinema, a genre that holds a very special place in my heart. Not only is the film accurate in its homage by having a 101 subplots packed with insane twists that contain bizarre characters (all tropes in retro Italian horror). I am willing to go out on a limb and say that this is a far better homage to retro 80s Italian horror cinema than something like Planet Terror. I highly recommend this one, little problems aside it’s a very enjoyable film that kept me very entertained from almost start to finish, this one gets a well deserved 8/10 from me. 

 

Check out the films site here