In what has sadly proved the last so far of the Zombie Bloodbath series, Todd Sheets switches up the gears yet again with the most ambitious story of the trilogy. Leaping right in with a zombies versus military prologue, a bizarre turn of events then moves the action to its main location, a school after hours inhabited by detention students, a pervy principal a couple of radio heads, drama students and two visiting actors. Inevitably zombies get loose and a bloodbath of sorts commences, although by this stage in the game I can't say as all the flesh rending and gut chewing had much of an effect for me. Whats more interesting is how the film builds on its predecessors in its take on characters. The first had families coming together to face the menace with little friction, the second was a harrowing reminder that the worst of horrors are sometimes all human, and this one is a take on youth. It has been said that the film is Todd Sheets' (though perhaps more new writer Brian Eklund's) take on The Breakfast Club. I've never seen that apparently classic film, but I suspect it has neither zombies nor characters constantly shouting abuse at each other, and hence probably isn't as good. From what I've read the films do share an optimism though, the notion that disparate high school cliques can come together in pursuit of a common goal and in doing so reveal their hidden depths and talents. Its the most upbeat of the Zombie Bloodbath series, which oddly enough comes off rather charming. The acting does the heavy lifting where charm is concerned, whilst no one comes close to giving what might be considered a good performance everyone acts their socks off and the result is at times a barely controlled maelstrom of profanity and frayed, zapping nerves. Blake Washer comes off strongest as the token rebel, obnoxious to everyone without any kind of a filter he brings an odd likability to his ass hole character. Abe Dyer makes for a good highly strung heroic nerd, Ruth Gordon suitably snappy as the token bitch and Byron Nichodemus convincingly grimy and grouchy as the principal. The pacing is very lopsided with most of the action in the final 40 minutes so the cast being amusing really helps, but there are definitely passages where the film drags. On a plus side, the unnecessary editing tricks of the second have been abandoned so the grue comes off better, and the soundtrack has variation from the generic death metal of the first two, taking in punk, alternative and even some Chili Peppers rip off sounding band. Not that any of it is actually good music mind, more that its nice to have a bit of variety. Not much more to add, well its probably worth noting that the ending is rubbish. Still, if you like this sort of thing this is a worthy watch, its got zombies, gore, ridiculous dialogue, crazy sci fi trappings, talking zombies and even a cyber zombie. Not as good as part 2 but still a fitting end to the trilogy, 6/10.
