Pot Zombies

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.

...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.

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.

Alright, alright. This is not necessarily what any critics would call 'oscar material' or even 'good' but don't think of this as something meant to be great. It's a supposed to be a goofy stoner zombie comedy, and that it is. I'll be honest, I have a bit of a bias here since I myself enjoy making films, but I loved this film. It has a nice analog feel that could only be matched by the likes of a home movie on an old VCR that you and your friends made years ago. That's exactly what this film feels like, one of your friends' movies from years ago that you're revisiting one lazy night. It's got a certain charm to it and watching it, you feel like you are part of the filmmaking experience. It's like you know the people who made this personally and you know they had a great time making this. Like I said, this film is not a masterpiece, in fact, it's awful. This would never be respected in any serious film community but it's not supposed to be. It's a fun movie that some friends got together and made one summer while they were off from college. I mean really, with a title like "Pot Zombies," what did you expect? But it's got character, you like this movie, you like the people involved, and you like that they had fun doing it. Also, this film has lots of zombies and pot, so it's super entertaining that way as well.

Well the film makers did mess it up. I honestly think I spent more money on the DVD then they spent making the movie. I picked this movie up hoping to have a good laugh at some cheesy low budget humor. But this film isn't even funny in a so bad it's funny kind of way. The movie doesn't have much of a plot to speak of, it is made up of some random threads that are loosely strung together involving people smoking pot and turning into zombies. There are also some bad attempts at humor. I could break all the elements of film making down and say where everything went wrong, but it would be quicker to just say everything about this is bad. Don't waste your money. Go to the dollar section of the store and indulge in some cheesy movies there. This movie isn't worth it.