Pot Zombies

...Be cause a plot was non existent. I mean...it is just random scenes of people eating people with cheesy, sometimes terrible looking blood/gore. There is a lot of Computer Generated blood splatter which looks absolutely dreadful, and near unbearable to watch. In a scene including an excellent performance by Lloyd Kaufman, there seems to be some really bad cg of something red flying around, I am assuming is supposed to be blood. The zombies have crappy looking glowing eyes, which reminds me of the glowing eyes in Lamberto Bava's Demons. Also, the movie only runs a bit less than an hour. However, I give it a 4 because although it is really, really awful I kind of enjoyed it. My favorite part is when a supposed police car comes after a hippie, and the police lights are CGI'd in the movie. It looks terrible, and it is hilarious. Worth a watch if you are bored, but don't expect a plot, or good special effects...or good production values...or good acting...well, you get the idea.

I had to sit through Pot Zombies yesterday and boy was it atrocious. I mean, for Troma, that's kinda what you expect, but you don't get that same B-movie charm you get from other Troma movies like The Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke 'Em High. The makers of this movie knew they were making crap, but they direct is as if they tried to make us laugh at it's poor quality. With other Troma movies like (again) Toxic Avenger, Nuke 'Em High, and Blood Hook, they also knew they were making Troma schlock, but they kind of let the movie direct itself, go with the flow and don't put such a comedic emphasis on its poor quality.

This movie treats it's audience like imbeciles and tells us what we're supposed to laugh at (as if it were not already shoved in our faces). It's a lot like those (horrid excuses for) parody movies made by Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg. They really push that comedy in your face to the point where you literally yell "Okay! We get it already!". If you want to make a decent B movie, watch Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Mystery Science Theater 3000, or anything made by Ed Wood.

They also don't condone using tripods for exterior shots, providing their film with a plot or employing real actors. Hell, they obviously didn't even bother tapping high school or college theater classes for their "talent." Regardless, I can tolerate zero budget films like this if they are done with some level of originality or enthusiasm. I can also tolerate terrible acting. I know when you're just getting started sometimes you have to draft friends and family to play roles. However, this film lacks virtually everything that goes into a decent comedy, a decent zombie film or even a decent no budget film. It's basically just lame grade school level pot humor combined with some of the worst special effects you will ever seen. There isn't even a plot. It jumps from one pitifully unfunny "vignette" to another, with nothing linking it all together aside from toxic weed. So basically you'll get a bunch of 5-10 minute scenes, featuring a bunch of horrible actors pretending to be stoners, who sit around smoking pot before turning into zombies and killing one another. This goes on for about an hour or so and then it ends. Really pathetic. It's like they didn't even try and thought whatever they slapped together would be sold by title and concept alone. Nevermind the fact that contaminated pot turning the users evil is hardly a new concept. Remember CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH from way back in 1986?

The film starts with three rednecks talking about the pleasures of cold beer and pulling tampons out with their teeth (yep, that's the level of humor you'll find here) while toking on a joint. Said joint turns them into green-faced zombies with glowing green eyes (horrid CG effect) who attack and start eating the others. Things cut to a classroom where a stoned student also transforms and rips his teacher's heart out of her chest. There are also scenes at a concert and a at a party, as well as other places. Each bit is cut with really horrible computer graphics, such as the film logo and animated joints; one has boobs and the other farts... oh, how witty. There's also a mock news program, captions and a subpar trip sequence or two. Absolutely nothing even remotely funny or interesting happens in the entire film. Toward the end, the movie throws the viewer a bone by having a gratuitous T&A lesbian scene with two goth girls making out. They smoke pot and when one goes down on the other, she turns into a zombie and starts "eating" the other girl. Hee Hee. Groan. There's also a performance from a band where the lead male guitarist stands on stage buck naked before impaling someone with his guitar. The special effects are typical of home video product, but this movie takes it a step further and makes it seem even cheaper by employing some of the lamest CGI blood spurts you'll ever see.

The film was released by Troma and features some obligatory Troma in-jokes. There's a poster for TERROR FIRMER on a wall and Lloyd Kaufman shows up in a stupid cameo as a retarded pizza delivery man who is killed. Another clichéd touch is a clip from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD playing on a TV set in the background, which is ironically the only point of interest here.

Even if you're a zombie movie fanatic like I am, my advice is to skip this one. It's a rip-off and a waste of time.

Pot Zombies is another no-budget SOV movie in the "Gore comedy Tromatic" arena. Take some Redneck Zombies and some Class of Nuke em high (in that troma classic there was some radioactive pot that turn people into maniac monsters or something like that, this movie plot is the same turning stoned dudes into maniac zombies). The movie is not that bad if you like this kind of no budget stuff, but its far from good, it have some moments but over all, the FX are pretty crappy, the acting is awful and there isn't that much gore. You can have a good time with this one if you watch it in the right mood, with friends for a laugh in the "So bad is funny" way.

4/10

Now, I realize that Troma didn't actually produce this pile of steaming dog crap but the fact that they would put their name on it shows how low they really are. Let's get one thing straight here, this is not a movie, this is a poorly random series of clips of different people getting high, turning into zombies, and eating their friends. There is absolutely nothing more to this film. You'll be happy if you stay away from it, far away.

There is no storyline at all, it's so amateurish and incohesive that I could have probably done a better job myself, hell, I know I could have done a better job. I'm not being cocky, I'm just stating how bad this movie really is. The acting is miserable as well as the pacing, music, editing, effects and absolutely everything else. There is not one single good thing about this film so do yourself a favor and just walk by if you see it on the movie shelves. I sure wish I had done as much.