The low rating and not so good reviews were not a good sign, and if other recent low-budget viewings were anything to go by was worried that it would be one of those that bad or worse films. But there was the concept, while a very weird one it was oddly intriguing, though knowing what to expect was not difficult. So watched 'Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies' anyway as part of one of my film and television quests (often completest).
Have seen worse films as part of my recent modest at best/low budget film quest definitely, but that is saying little. 'Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies' is still a terrible film in nearly every way. It is also one of those films that doesn't intrigue at all, offers very little new and is so implausible and ridiculous. The concept was not a derivative one as such, but the execution is and is also too conventional, extremely dull and bland, often very hard to take at face value even with what it was going for (understand the turning-brain-off-at-door thing but the film went too far the other way) and seemed resistant to take any risks.
Two points in its favour is some atmosphere in the lighting and that the beginning somewhat showed a promise in providing some unsettlement and fun. Both are too far and between, any atmospheric lighting is wasted by most of it being drab, sloppy at best effects, a too compact setting, haphazard editing and some photography that induces nausea. Meanwhile the film goes down south very quickly and doesn't recover.
Direction is at best pedestrian and this does affect the pacing and the direction of the actors. The acting is at best risible with no exceptions, they are all as bad as each other so picking out a dishonourable mention is hard, and the character interaction is very bland and sometimes random.
From start to finish, 'Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies' badly lacks tension or suspense, which immediately dilutes the atmosphere. Nothing scares and it even for a horror with comic elements goes well overboard on the witless and juvenile humour and nothing scary or creative at all, which is why there is so much predictability. Everything is easily foreseeable long before it happens and the zombies are more goofy than creepy. The script never sounds natural and the cheese and childish factor is sky high and the interest factor low as can be.
The story is ruined by being paper thin, useless padding and a very erratic pace, sometimes rushed, others draggy. As with some recent viewings, it did feel too much like a short film stretched out to feature length with nowhere near enough content to fill it. A lot of it doesn't make sense either and is intelligence insultingly ridiculous. The characters are never interesting, even with few attempts to which are so flimsily developed that it is difficult to care for any of them, and frustrate with the way they behave. So many stupid and illogical character behaviours here matched by the far-fetched ending.
In conclusion, a mess. 2/10 Bethany Cox
