The Argentinian horror film "Plaga Zombie" entertainingly combines the alien invasion plot with a zombie epidemic plot: in this case, dastardly extraterrestrials infect select people with a virus, and then just wait for them to mutate and attack other humans. A trio gets together to tackle the problem: "doctor" Bill Johnson (Pablo Pares), mathematician Max Giggs (Hernan Saez), and wrestler John West (Berta Muniz).
With Saez and Pares also co-directing (and the three stars writing the screenplay), "Plaga Zombie" was filmed on a true micro-budget. (Apparently, the equivalent of less than $120.) And yet, it benefits from so much gonzo, glorious, go-for-broke Do It Yourself enthusiasm that it's impossible to resist. The bargain-basement gore is hilariously, wonderfully over the top. After a while, Saez, Pares, and Muniz just drop any pretense of telling a story to just concentrate on cartoonish, macabre mayhem. The second half is particularly amusing, with characters ending up with almost as many lives as nine cats.
The actors are good fun to watch, especially the upbeat, engaging Muniz as the brawny hero who declares that his feet & hands are his best weapons. The scores of extras playing zombies are very energetic, and this little film does have a pretty good pace, dropping us into the story proper with little preamble, and the running time is a brief and agreeable 69 minutes.
For those who don't shut this off once the end credits start rolling, there is a quick coda that is worth waiting for.
Seven out of 10.
