A group of American tourists find mystery, magic, and plenty of zombie-generated danger on a tropical island.
Subgenres: zombie, magic
Director: John T. Carter
Starring: David Broadnax, Tom Cantrell
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The goal of movies--far and away most movies, anyway--is to be entertaining. Most go about attaining this goal via a pleasant aspect or, preferably, a combination of several. Clever, insightful writing and good acting, maybe inventive directing, or even just great locations. Some movies, on the other hand, only gain some modicum of entertainment value by virtue of the fact that they're so hokey they're enjoyable to watch. Seeing the better films in this category strikes me, for some reason, as being akin to watching the birthday party of a kid you don't know (something to do with the antics, I suppose). Other times, it's like watching a train wreck--so, so horrible, but you can't look away. Fortunately, Zombie Island Massacre fits into that first category. It's bad, yes, but bad in a kinda groovy way. The dialogue is hitchy, not boring, and some of the actors actually do make their characters somewhat endearing, if not entirely convincing. Furthermore, though most of the directing falls firmly in the "standard" region, some shots are actually interesting. And ZIM does get bonus points from me for actually bothering to come up with a plot. A non-Romero zombie flick with a story and/or purpose? Not that's a rare thing. (Jul 18, 2000) | ||||||
