Mutant Vampire Zombies from the ‘Hood!
It's the end of the world, yo!
The wonderfully descriptively named Mutant Vampire Zombies from the ‘Hood opens with a police stakeout and a gangland double-cross in downtown Los Angeles. Things look bad until a special effect strikes the Earth and everything changes. Now everything looks a whole lot worse.
Mutant Vampire Zombies from the ‘Hood isn’t a comedy, but it is – as its title suggests – a very self-aware film. The writing team of Thunder Levin (who also directs) and George Saunders are clearly familiar with the stereotypes, audience expectations and range of approaches that have developed within the zombie genre and play around with these to great effect.
There is plenty in here to keep the exploitation fan happy and lashings of gore, all of which is remarkably well executed. The zombies are all suitably revolting and are blown away in a consistently spectacular fashion. There’s also a lot of fun to be had with the constant ranting about Nosferatu from Larson (KeiKabou Holland), one of the gang members who goes to pieces both believably and entertainingly. The Old Man (Maxie J. Santillan Jr.) who takes on the role of enlightening the gang members as to what has happened, and who has managed to tune in to the only broadcast still being transmitted, is also a great deal of fun.
In fact, the characterisation is very strong throughout. Not only are these people believable, but they are a very likeable bunch as well. This applies not just to the leads, but to the minor characters as well, all of which makes it very easy to become caught up in their plight. This is a striking achievement given the diversity of characters forced to throw their lot in with each other. It also allows the filmmakers to successfully and seamlessly introduce some social commentary into the film.
Our survivors are made up from two gangs – one black, one Chinese – and one of the policemen that was looking to break the deal and make some arrests. Faced with the larger threat of walking dead, they quickly recognise that old enmities will need to be pushed aside, but they are not forgotten and these tensions remain.
The groups do, however, work reasonably well together and the film’s willingness to poke fun at both our differences and our prejudices makes for a refreshing change in a genre where the the order of victims is often painfully predictable.
Mutant Vampire Zombies from the ‘Hood is a well written, well acted, and well executed zombie film that understands the limitations of the genre and its tropes and is willing to play around with these in order to come up with an original and very entertaining twist on the genre. It probably isn’t for everyone, but if the title raised a smile for you, then this is a film that you should definitely take a look at.
0 comments Monday 07 Jul 2008 | Paul Pritchard | Horror
