Have You Been Watching...? Zombies Of Mass Destruction (2009)

 

Zombies of Mass Destruction (aka ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction and even "Zombieworld" in some territories), directed by Kevin Hamedani, is one of those movies that I’d never heard of until I was researching some new movies to watch during the Halloween month of October. I'd read a synopsis and it certainly sounded interesting and I’d watched the trailer, which again looked good. I could not, however, find it anywhere to stream so found a copy on DVD and purchased that. It wasn’t expensive, so I thought if it was terrible, it wouldn’t be such a great loss. It's a purchase I'm very glad I made!

Set in 2003, the movie stars Janette Armand as Frida Abbas, a Princeton University dropout who returns to the small island town of Port Gamble. At the same time, another ex-resident Tom Hunt (played by Doug Fahl) arrives with his boyfriend Lance (Cooper Hopkins) with a view to come out to his mother over dessert. These two storylines seem innocuous enough to the viewer, but there is a reason this movie is set in 2003. This is the era of post 9/11, the Iraq war, George W Bush is president and the fear of terrorism is at its peak. Heavy topics for a low budget zombie flick.

The people of Port Gamble are small minded and hold bigoted views. This plays significantly in the stories of Frida, Tom and Lance. The locals all seem to believe Frida and her father come from Iraq, despite her frequent reminders they are from Iran, a completely different country and that she herself is born and raised in America. Tom relates to Lance that a boy he had a crush on in school was outed and had a terrible experience, so he has been terrified of coming out since (the couple now reside in New York). As all this is happening, slowly, some of the residents are becoming zombified. It isn't made clear how this is happening, or the root cause (no chemical waste in this scenario) but you don't need to know how. 

The movie is a very low budget affair (the biggest name cast member appears to be Russell Hodgkinson, who played series regular “Doc” in Z Nation), but don't let that put you off.  This movie is great! There are some decent special effects and the script is hilarious. There are copious amounts of gore and humour throughout, although it takes a while to get going. Once it does, there’s no stopping it. I found myself laughing so much one minute and squirming at some of the gore and the situations our heroes find themselves in, the next.

Despite being a zombie horror movie on a low budget, there is something really sweet about it. The viewer finds itself rooting for Frida, Tom and Lance as their situations get worse by the minute. Yes, there are very uncomfortable moments when the trio face the prejudices against them, but they are without doubt the heroes of this adventure and the voices of reason in the face of small-mindedness. In the era of post 9/11 and the associated paranoia that came from that, the movie is a breathtaking reflection on that time told from the perspective of those being persecuted. Not all of the townspeople are so petty and there are clues that Tom’s homosexuality is not quite the secret he thought it was.

The cast are extremely competent in their roles and at less than 90 minutes long, it gets rolling quite quickly. It’s definitely worth investing in and you won’t be disappointed!

Year: 2009

Availability: in the UK, appears to be on DVD only

Rating 8/10