Directed by Pericles
Lewnes
Buy
Redneck Zombies on DVD
Whether it’s present cinema or back in the late 80’s when the no-budget splatter romp,
Redneck Zombies was produced by pals, Pericles
Lewnes (also Director) and Ed Bishop, you can’t deny the complexity of getting your film released being a low-budget filmmaker. It
isn’t a mystery,
Redneck Zombies is a classic of sorts and quite groundbreaking at the same time being a shot-on-video movie to amass a surprisingly vast audience. Before locking up with
Troma for a video distribution deal over twenty years ago, Bishop and
Lewnes had plenty of doors slammed in their faces. Production
companys basically thought that a feature length film on video wouldn't fly. Only
pornos were really shot-on-video, not a horror film. Redneck Zombies and it's crew persevered though. What do
Lewnes and Bishop have to show for it? How about a new 20
th anniversary special edition for the new
Tromasterpeice collection of their magnum opus,
Redneck Zombies? That’s right,
Redneck Zombies!
Redneck Zombies' plot is very simple and akin to the
Troma offerings in the late 80’s with it’s toxic waste infused plot. A group of country-folk becomes flesh-eating, gut-chomping undead monsters when some toxic waste gets mixed in with their beloved moonshine. The acting is abysmal but it really
doesn’t matter as much of it appears intentional anyway. These are essentially cartoon characters that have come to life. That said, a few of the characters completely stand-out amongst the movies biggest draw – the non-stop gore. I personally loved the performance of one plus -sized redneck, Ferd
Mertz (Henry Dicker, AKA Becky
Santini). Dicker is gigantic in size but shows in equally strong ability to “eat up” every second of scream time. Amazingly, Dicker has shed more than half his weight since production, which you’ll notice in the bonus features.