DIRECTED BY: Thomas Berdinski
REVIEWED BY: Mario Dominick
Over the past couple years, filmmaker Thomas Berdinski and his production company The Cult of Voi and Mous Producioni Co. have taken the indie horror scene by storm with their back-to-back Italian zombie movie spoofs Zombie Abomination: The Italian Zombie Movie Part 1 and Zombie Atrocity: The Italian Zombie Movie Part 2. Having played at various conventions and film festivals and having seen a DVD release as a double feature from the Cult of Voi and Mous, the two movies have quickly developed a minor cult following on the underground circuit and have shown that they do for Italian zombie movies what Dire Wit Films’ Pleasures of the Damned and Isle of the Damned have done for Italian cannibal flicks. The horror hostesses at Midnite Mausoleum even showed the two movies on their Midnite Mausoleum cable program. Just recently, Midnite Mausoleum released special limited edition DVDs of both films.
Zombie Abomination: The Italian Zombie Movie Part 1 starts off with title cards telling us of an experiment that the military got an Italian biochemist to do to create a special “antitoxin” that make soldiers immune from deadly attacks by biological weapons during a time of war. The results on the human guinea pigs used in the experiments created something horrific that the military decided to cover up. Now, the dead have reanimated as a result of this “antitoxin” and a Michigan town is engulfed in a huge zombie attack. Two militia men (who wash their hands in their own urine to do zombie autopsies) run afoul of the rampaging zombies along with a man and woman on a vacation, and other oddball characters. Zombie Atrocity: Italian Zombie Movie Part 2 continues the story where Part 1 left off. This time, new revelations emerge about several of the characters and the “antitoxin” as battles with the living dead ensue.
The Italian Zombie Movie Parts 1 & 2 are both entertaining and tremendously fun and campy zombie comedies with lots of gore, humor, and references to Italian horror with characters who have names like Fulci, Ruggero, Bruno, Catriona, etc. They’re both the ultimate love letter to Italian gore flicks and fans of those movies. There are lots of funny plot twists, cheesy special effects with animated alien ships, some cool gore effects with lots of dismemberments, beheadings, disembowelments, etc., and a funny element to the plot with a character who had his intestines removed by zombies so everytime he eats, food goes straight through him. Ha! There’s even a nice little homage to Fulci’s Zombie with a zombie forcing someone’s eye onto a sharp nail. Some of the zombie make-ups are even reminiscent of those seen in the Italian gorefests. If you love Italian horror, Italian Zombie Movie Parts 1 & 2 are both the ultimate homage with enough quirky moments, over-the-top special effects and acting, and fun film references.
The Midnite Mausoleum DVDs of Italian Zombie Movie Parts 1 & 2 are hosted by Marlena Midnite and Robyn Graves who both show up in little breaks that come up during the movies, including ones where they interview director Thomas Berdinski, play volleyball with “Sascratch,” make popcorn over a campfire, and more. The DVDs include numerous extras such as special bonus material relating to Midnite Mausoleum, festival and convention footage from IZM 1 & 2, Thomas Berdinski’s short film The Giant Rubber Monster Movie, and much more.
For more info, go to www.italianzombiemovie.com and www.midnitemausoleum.com
