"Sorry there’s no eggs… the zombies ate the chickens."
Time for
some brutal honestly… I went into The Stink of Flesh not expecting
much. Another low budget zombie movie? Ugh. I threw it on expecting to
half watch it and maybe read a book a little. Much to my surprise it
turned out to be a really fun and unique take on the zombie genre,
commanding my full attention and making me crack up repeatedly.
The Film-
It’s
after the zombie apocalypse, and people are getting used to coping with
the reality of this creepy new world. Enter Matool (Kurly Tlapoyawa).
He’s a mexican dude fighting his way through the barren wasteland. He’s
covered in all kinds of makeshift armor- including shin guards and
sparring gloves. His weapons of choice are some long metal railroad
spikes and a hammer that he keeps in a loop on his pants.
He
comes across a group of zombies attacking a couple. and does his
thing.. saving the girl and bringing her back to his shelter. He’s
staying with a dirty old man called Mr. Rainville who is keeping two
young boys that he found. And when I say keeping, I mean keeping for
pleasure. Matool tries pulling some moves on the girl but she’s having
none of it. She freaks out and tries to run out, compromising their
situation. Everyone gets eaten and Matool barely escapes, only to get
kidnapped by some a guy in a truck.
The
guy (Nathan- played by Ross Kelly) ties up Matool and brings him back
to his house, where he presents him as a gift for his wife, Dexy, along
with one of the kids that was the old man’s property. Now’s when the
movie gets weird. See, Nathan brought Matool back to bang his wife.
They’re a couple of swingers, and the zombie plague has really killed
their love life, being that there’s a lack of living people to have fun
with. His wife also happens to have a sister who’s a little slow, and
has a little siamese twin growing out of her stomach- who are both
aching for love too. She usually jumps in and slaps whoever’s having
sex with her sister with a ruler.
So after all this craziness, 3 army guys who’ve lost their unit show up (no, not that unit),
and Dexy is in heaven. Nathan seems a little upset that her wife’s
getting sexed up by everyone else, one of the soldiers have been bitten
and is about to turn- and tensions begin to mount… leading to the
inevitable end…
The Judgement-
Right
from the beginning this movie warmed my cold, uncaring metalhead heart.
The opening fight scene between Matool and a zombie is hysterical, a
great battle ending when he gets the brain muncher in an armbar. This
set the tone for the movie to come. It’s really weird and has some cool
zombies confrontations.
The
dialogue is great, with lots of funny little lines that made me giggle
like an idiot. It’s very tongue in cheek and realizes exactly what it
is.
The
effects work is very impressive considering the budget (just 3 G’s!),
and it’s obvious that they had a lot of fun making this movie-
especially if you check out the incredible documentary of the shoot in
the extras. (more on this later) Lots of gore, lots of zombies, lots of
humor, lots of sex scenes-including zombie sex (yes, zombie sex)- where
can you go wrong? You can’t. Add all that together and you have a damn
good movie which deserves a rank among the better horror/comedy flicks
ever made.
The Sight and Sound-
Shot
on DV on the cheap, but it’s got a great look to it. The fact that they
shot around constant rainstorms gives the movie a dark, brooding look
for the outside scenes, which works perfectly for a zombie movie. Sound
is Dolby 2.0 but it does the job, with a great soundtrack and sound
effects to back it up.
The Extras-
Dead
Sexy- A 45 minute documentary covering all 12 days of these shoot. It’s
a great documentary, the kind that makes you appreciate the film even
more. Worth watching in its own right- I can see going back to this to
have a laugh. Great shit,
Outtakes
– 7 minutes of slips captured on the film. A few are explained by title
cards, and unlike most outtakes these are actually humorous.
Rainville
– The Early Years- Short (tiny) little look at Mr. Rainville (Bob
Vardeman), the dirty old man from the movie. He’s rambling, driving
around town, and trying on hats. This guy deserves a movie of his own.
World
Premiere Footage- 10 minutes from the premiere in their home town of
New Mexico- setting it up, and some reactions to the movie (including a
funny one by the director’s mother)
Early Short Films- The Early (and Crappy) Short Films by ./ He wrote that, not me. There’s two short
silent films done by him as a teen. He does commentary over them.
Two
Commentaries – One with writer/Director Scott Phil, the other with the
cast and crew. I haven’t been able to check these out yet but judging
by the rest of the extras they’ll be a good time.
Stills- Behind the scene stills
Trailers- 2 for Stink of Flesh and 8 other Tempe Films.
The Packaging-
Great
looking package, but you wouldn’t know it looking at the cover. The
cover art is horrible, looking like any other zombie movie out there-
but thankfully, it’s reversible. The art you see on your left is the
original poster, and that’s what’s on the othe side of the cover.
Change it as soon as you pick up this up and you’ll have a great
looking dvd.
The Lowdown-
Pick this movie up. It’s funny, it’s low budget, and the extras are worth the price alone. A great dvd for a fun movie.
The Movie- 8.5/10 The Disc- 10/10
Multiple nails hammered through skulls
Dozens of Zombie bites
Dozens of people eaten
1 ripped off cheek
1 fresh zombie turd
1 massive, rib-exposing chest wound
1 bleeding, naked zombie babe
More zombie violence than can be listed