Director – Charles Band (Corona Zombies, Trancers)
Starring – Cody Renee Cameron (The Neon Demon, No Respect for the Dead), Robin Sydney (The Gingerdead Man, Evil Bong), and Leslie Jordan (Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, American Horror Story)
Release Date – 2020
Rating – 2.5/5
Tagline – “The Corona Zombies saga continues”
Full Moon is at it again. Last month they had social media in an uproar when they spun Hell of the Living Dead and redubbed it under the title Corona Zombies. Many felt that this was very insensitive and offense but I honestly felt it was brilliant. Band is a true exploitation filmmaker and Corona Zombies was a genius move and worked for the filmmaker during the quarantine. With that being said, I felt that the film was a little too long for what it was.
I laughed and enjoyed most of it but by 40 minutes in I was ready to turn it off and move on. Not long after the release of that film Full Moon announced the follow up Barbie and Kendra Save the Tiger King. This film, like Corona Zombies, used new footage shot by Band and company and spliced with old films dubbed. This time they used the adventure film Terror in the Jungle.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows Barbie and Kendra who use toilet paper to save themselves from the evil corona zombies. Now, safely inside their home, they binge watch a show about Joe Exotic on the Big Pussy Network. This particular episode follows a little Joe (voiced by Leslie Jordan) as he goes to visit his mom but the plane he is on crashes. Stranded in the jungle with only his stuffed tiger, he must fight to survive against cannibals that want to sacrifice him. **Spoiler Alert**
I went into this one excited but expecting something in the same vain as Corona Zombies. The film did not disappoint but does suffer the same fate as CZ. It has plenty of laughs and I actually enjoy the voice acting more in this one that the first but the film is just too damn long for what we get.
The new footage starring Cody Cameron and Robin Sydney is fun considering it was probably shot on the fly and their characters fit the look the film was going for. Neither of them give us memorable characters and, sadly, these scenes are not the highlight of the film. The meat of the film comes from the dubbed footage of Terror in the Jungle. Leslie Jones steals the show. His little Joe Exotic lines are fucking hilarious.
The story for this one honestly works for the film. I really liked it but, as I stated earlier, it was just too damn long. If this was pushing about 30 minutes I could see myself really loving it but at almost 70 minutes you find yourself losing interest in it. Also, the interview with Tiger King’s John Reinke is very out of place. It was a really cool interview but it is completely out of touch with the film and left me scratching my head.
Finally, the new footage has the make up effects on the zombies that we saw in the previous film but the Terror in the Jungle segments are pretty tame. Bloodhounds will not be impressed by what they see here. Overall, Barbie and Kendra Save the Tiger King is a great idea and has plenty of laughs but the film itself stretches pretty thin before the halfway mark. It’s fun but I don’t see myself rewatching it anytime soon.
