In this age of zombie films, with their bio-zombies running around like decathaletes hepped up on brain infused protein bars, it is a breath of fresh air to return to a time when the undead were less visual props for techno fueled clips and more cannibalistic tools of evil. There is nothing better than a 1970’s and early 80’s low budget zombie movie, and TOXIC ZOMBIES fits the bill beautifully, with its cheesy gore and bits of gratuitous nudity thrown in for good measure.

The film opens up with two flannel-clad hunters driving along a dirt road somewhere in Booniesville, USA. As the two hunters begin stalking the woods, a topless and panty clad blonde starts washing her neck with a washrag. After taking her sweet time getting dressed, she is spotted by the two men. It is becomes clear that instead of deer, they are hunting for something else entirely. With a look of recognition, she starts to run, only to be instantly shot down and killed. It turns out that these men are not hunters at all, but federal agents tracking down a rogue band of criminals growing marijuana on government land. Unfortunately for the agents, these aren’t your stereotypical group of Mary Jane growers and violent retribution is in order for the death of their compadre.

The disappearance of the two men does not go unnoticed by the government. Two agents, including the semi-cautious yet wimpy Phillips (John Amplas), start discussing what to do next. Philips wants to play it safe, but is somehow talked into using an experimental pesticide called Dromax. Killing the pot crop sounds like an effective enough solution but Dromax hasn’t been officially approved and has already shown signs of having some particularly nasty side effects. You can see where this is leading to, no doubt. That’s right. Everyone (and everything, though the animal after effects are sadly all off screen) that is touched by Dromax becomes blood hungry, cannibalistic, toxic zombies. The Dromax gets dropped and the chemical heavily affects all the pot growers and even the eternally drunken crop-duster.

This government screw-up of mondo proportion is discovered by Cole (director Charles McCrann under the pseudonym Charles Austin), a civil servant worker whose main job entails checking up on the forested areas of particular Federal Reserve lands. Despite getting a memo from Phillips telling him to halt his upcoming check up, Cole goes camping anyways, bringing along his wife Polly (Beverly Shapiro) and his brother Jay (Philip Garfunkel) for some rural fun. Naturally, the section he is scheduled to check out is the same one that the Dromax was dropped. All is well until they happen upon two kids, Amy (Judy Brown) and Jimmy (Kevin Hanlon), who have lost their parents somewhere in the woods. Everyone jumps in the car and starts driving around, trying to locate the kids’ original campsite with the hope of finding mom and dad. They do find the site and get a nice surprise zombie attack for their trouble. Now on the run, they encounter a crotchety mountain man, which leads to a final showdown involving the government and the pot growers/flesh-gnawing zombies (the real question is, which one is the true villain?).

TOXIC ZOMBIES aka BLOODEATERS is without a doubt one of the more fun entries of the zombie movie subgenre. It has some great and seriously dark moments mixed in with some of the campier aspects of the story, all resulting in a peculiar type of atmosphere that is impossible to recreate nowadays. It is completely and one hundred percent a product of the time period and that is part of its charm. While the basic plot of zombies created by stereotypical governmental incompetence is extremely familiar to even the most casual horror fan, the execution of it is pure zombie goodness. You cannot have a proper undead film without some blood and torn flesh. It’s not as gory as its predecessors, like DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) or future films like THE BEYOND (1981). But it possesses enough blood, skin chewing, hand severing, gristly gunshot wounds and other nice ghastly touches to make it worth your while. One particularly great and nasty touch is a shot of one of the female zombies licking freshly spilled blood off of a rock in a creek. It’s such a strange and visceral scene. It definitely gives some credence to the film’s original title, since these are not simple blood sippers. These are mutants that lick and eat blood and flesh!

The actors are a mix of mostly unknowns who are all fairly good and appropriately cast for their parts. The real standouts of the piece are John Amplas and Judy Brown. Amplas, an accomplished film and theatre actor, does an exceptional job of conveying the youthful naiveté and the well-meaning but weak Phillips. It’s not a terribly big or fleshy role, but he makes the absolute most of it and steals a good chunk of the movie. Brown is really striking as Amy, the wise beyond her years youngster who takes care of her handicapped brother while fending off various murderous characters. Yet she never comes across as over the top or annoyingly plucky. Just a smart young girl doing what she has to do to survive and protect her family.

Music can be an integral part of a movie, especially when it comes to any film that needs as much as effective atmosphere it can get. Thankfully composer Ted Shapiro serves up an entertaining synth score that fits the piece beautifully.

Digital Conquest has done another boffo job of bringing a super fun and undeservedly under-looked film to the DVD world. Now if you go into the movie expecting a deadly serious tale about the fatal and violent errors of human folly, you will probably be disappointed. That said, McCrann crafted a highly entertaining horror film with good acting, fun music, and enough strangeness and creepiness to make it a stand out in a sometimes glutted but always colorful subgenre.