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Zombie Doom
POPcinema // Unrated // July 30, 2002
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Have you ever been to visit a friend or relaive and they insist on showing you a home video that is filled with people that you don't know doing things that you don't understand? Well, that's the feeling that you'll get when you watch "Zombie Doom", a movie that was originally entitled "Violent Shit III". But, as the other two "Violent Shit" movies aren't readily available in the U.S. (and what a shame that is), distributor Shock-O-Rama decided to give the film a new, misleading monniker and unleash it upon Region 1.
The Movie
From the outset, "Zombie Doom" has two strikes against it. Having not seen the first two films of this German trilogy, the story was immediately confusing. Secondly, the English dubbing on this movie is questionable, thus making the movie even more incomprehensible.
The story, as it were, begins with three sailors being shipwrecked on an island. (It's never made clear exactly where they are or what's wrong with their boat.) They are immediately captured by a group of men wearing strange metal masks and military-style clothing. They are taking to a camp, where they meet, The Meister, Karl the Butcher (Marc Trinkhaus), who appears to be little more than a skeleton wearing armor, and his son, the monstrous, Karl Jr. (writer/director/special effects make-up artist Andreas Schnaas). After torturing and killing some of his men who were disobedient, Karl Jr. decides that it would be fun to hunt their new prisoners. So, he sets the men free, having a traitorous member of his group (Xiu-Yong Lin) join them. Thus, the movie turns into "The Most Dangerous Game."
From this point on, "Zombie Doom" is nothing but an excuse to show off gory special effects make-up. There are scenes involving the likes of ninjas and zombies (although, it should be noted that the zombies are only in one scene, thus making the title a bit dishonest). But, for all of the disembowlments, beheadings, and spine-rippings, the movie is just plain boring. The gore effects are very good given the amateur scale of the film, but they become redundant after a while. Add to that the fact that the film assumes that the viewer has seen the first two movies and offers no explanations as to who the two Karls are and what motivates them. The result is a gore-fest with no true rhyme or reason. Director Schnaas attempts to give the movie style by intercutting film footage with the shot-on-video scenes, but this comes across as annoying more than anything else.
Bloody, confusing, and mean-spirited, "Zombie Doom" is a loser from start to finish.
Picture
As noted above, the bulk of "Zombie Doom" was shot on video. For some reason (presmuably to give the movie a "film" look), the picture has been letterboxed at 2.35:1. The image is sharp, but rarely very clear. The picture is hazy at times, and suffers from video noise in many shots. Also, several scenes are overly bright and look washed out. The film segments appear to have been shot on 16mm (or possibly 8mm). The shots are grainy and often blurry.
Sound
On this DVD, the only audio option is a newly made English dubbed track, although subtitles would have been very nice. Apparently, most of the original audio was abandoned for this new track, as there are several moments where characters are clearly screaming, but there is no sound. The new dialogue sounds canned and even echoes at times. The music comes through in stereo, but the sound effects and dialogue are delivered mostly through the center channel.
Extras
Aside from several trailers for other DVDs from Shock-O-Rama and its sister companies, the only extra on this DVD is another Andrea Schnaas home-made movie, this one entitled "Zombie '90: Extreme Pestilence". (Which bares no relation to any Lucio Fulci film.) Unlike "Zombie Doom", there actually are zombies in this movie, as the plot deals with the aftermath of a plane crash, in which an experimental chemical was released. For this movie, all of the original dialogue was thrown out, and has been replaced by the most bizarre dubbing since Woody Allen's "What's Up, Tiger Lily". The main character, who is clearly a European man, speaks as an African-American pimp. And his assistant, who looks like Curtis Armstrong, sounds like a cartoon character. Along with the funny voices, the characters say incredibly bizarre things. This new dialogue most likely makes "Zombie '90" a much better experience, as the movie looks very bad. It is presented full-frame and many of the shots are out of focus. There doesn't seem to be any real plot, as the movie simply consists of gory zombie attacks in various locations. I found myself laughing out loud at the dialogue in this movie, and I must say that this is what "Kung-Pow" wanted to be. Fans of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" will love what Shock-O-Rama has done to "Zombie '90".
Those who are familiar with the "Violent Shit" films will know what to expect from "Zombie Doom" and may want to check it out. All others should stay very far away, unless you want to rent it and experience the lunacy of "Zombie '90".
The Movie
From the outset, "Zombie Doom" has two strikes against it. Having not seen the first two films of this German trilogy, the story was immediately confusing. Secondly, the English dubbing on this movie is questionable, thus making the movie even more incomprehensible.
The story, as it were, begins with three sailors being shipwrecked on an island. (It's never made clear exactly where they are or what's wrong with their boat.) They are immediately captured by a group of men wearing strange metal masks and military-style clothing. They are taking to a camp, where they meet, The Meister, Karl the Butcher (Marc Trinkhaus), who appears to be little more than a skeleton wearing armor, and his son, the monstrous, Karl Jr. (writer/director/special effects make-up artist Andreas Schnaas). After torturing and killing some of his men who were disobedient, Karl Jr. decides that it would be fun to hunt their new prisoners. So, he sets the men free, having a traitorous member of his group (Xiu-Yong Lin) join them. Thus, the movie turns into "The Most Dangerous Game."
From this point on, "Zombie Doom" is nothing but an excuse to show off gory special effects make-up. There are scenes involving the likes of ninjas and zombies (although, it should be noted that the zombies are only in one scene, thus making the title a bit dishonest). But, for all of the disembowlments, beheadings, and spine-rippings, the movie is just plain boring. The gore effects are very good given the amateur scale of the film, but they become redundant after a while. Add to that the fact that the film assumes that the viewer has seen the first two movies and offers no explanations as to who the two Karls are and what motivates them. The result is a gore-fest with no true rhyme or reason. Director Schnaas attempts to give the movie style by intercutting film footage with the shot-on-video scenes, but this comes across as annoying more than anything else.
Bloody, confusing, and mean-spirited, "Zombie Doom" is a loser from start to finish.
Picture
As noted above, the bulk of "Zombie Doom" was shot on video. For some reason (presmuably to give the movie a "film" look), the picture has been letterboxed at 2.35:1. The image is sharp, but rarely very clear. The picture is hazy at times, and suffers from video noise in many shots. Also, several scenes are overly bright and look washed out. The film segments appear to have been shot on 16mm (or possibly 8mm). The shots are grainy and often blurry.
Sound
On this DVD, the only audio option is a newly made English dubbed track, although subtitles would have been very nice. Apparently, most of the original audio was abandoned for this new track, as there are several moments where characters are clearly screaming, but there is no sound. The new dialogue sounds canned and even echoes at times. The music comes through in stereo, but the sound effects and dialogue are delivered mostly through the center channel.
Extras
Aside from several trailers for other DVDs from Shock-O-Rama and its sister companies, the only extra on this DVD is another Andrea Schnaas home-made movie, this one entitled "Zombie '90: Extreme Pestilence". (Which bares no relation to any Lucio Fulci film.) Unlike "Zombie Doom", there actually are zombies in this movie, as the plot deals with the aftermath of a plane crash, in which an experimental chemical was released. For this movie, all of the original dialogue was thrown out, and has been replaced by the most bizarre dubbing since Woody Allen's "What's Up, Tiger Lily". The main character, who is clearly a European man, speaks as an African-American pimp. And his assistant, who looks like Curtis Armstrong, sounds like a cartoon character. Along with the funny voices, the characters say incredibly bizarre things. This new dialogue most likely makes "Zombie '90" a much better experience, as the movie looks very bad. It is presented full-frame and many of the shots are out of focus. There doesn't seem to be any real plot, as the movie simply consists of gory zombie attacks in various locations. I found myself laughing out loud at the dialogue in this movie, and I must say that this is what "Kung-Pow" wanted to be. Fans of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" will love what Shock-O-Rama has done to "Zombie '90".
Those who are familiar with the "Violent Shit" films will know what to expect from "Zombie Doom" and may want to check it out. All others should stay very far away, unless you want to rent it and experience the lunacy of "Zombie '90".
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