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U.S.A.
/ 1987
Directed by John Saxon
Starring
Dennis Cole
John Saxon
Tane McClure
Color / 90 Minutes / Not Rated
Format: DVD (R0 - NTSC)
Retromedia
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There
are no zombies in this movie. Actually, in the
print used for the DVD the word "zombie"
appears to have been electronically added to the
original title, Death House. Like 2003's
Beyond Re-Animator
the film involves illegal experiments on prison
inmates. But instead of the living dead, when
infected with a man-made virus the prisoners and
staff become drooling, super-strong homicidal
maniacs with really bad skin conditions. So this
one'll have to classified with 28
Days Later in the 'pseudo-zombie' subgenre
— though infected convicts are briefly
glimpsed gnawing on dead bodies at one point.
For a low budget direct-to-video
exploitation film there's a ridiculous amount
of backstory to the main characters in Zombie
Death House. TV regular Dennis Cole (Bearcats!,
The Young and the Restless) stars as decorated
Vietnam hero Derek Keillor, who's down on his
luck and just can't seem to get a fair shake.
(Hey, you and John Kerry, bud...) Badly in need
of employment, he takes a job as chauffeur for
well-known L.A. Mafia boss Vic Moretti (Tenebre's
Tony Franciosa), assuaging his conscience with
the proviso: "All I do is drive." It doesn't
work out that way, though. In short order Keillor
begins a secret affair with the boss's hot blonde
girlfriend (Dana Lis) and brusquely sticks his
nose into Mob business. When Moretti gets wind
of these betrayals the vicious gangster personally
drowns his moll in a bathtub and frames Keillor
for her murder. Swiftly convicted and sentenced
to die in the electric chair, Keillor is shipped
off to a maximum security prison in the California
desert to await his appointment with Ol' Sparky.
As bad as things stand, however, his troubles
are only beginning. Running the prison from the
inside is Moretti's psycho gay brother, Franco
(Michael Pataki of Sidehackers
and Zoltan: Hound Of Dracula).
With sadistic head guard Raker (Howard George)
on Vic's payroll, Franco looks forward to making
what's left of Keillor's life a living hell. (Believe
it or not, all this is laid out in fairly smooth
fashion in less than 20 minutes... half of it
before the opening credits even finish!)
Shortly after arriving on Death
Row, Keillor learns that the prison doctor is
conducting experiments in behavior modification
using a formula called HV-8, administered to inmate
volunteers who receive special perks for participating.
While this particular medical study is aboveboard,
another drug, unknown to the doc, is secretly
being tested. HV-8B, a genetically-engineered
variant of the first serum, is introduced into
the prison population by fanatical military/CIA
scientist Col. Burgess (Fast
Company's John Saxon, who also directed).
Using the inmates as guinea pigs, Burgess hopes
to perfect a 'super-soldier' formula with which
the Pentagon can field an invincible army. But
it all goes terribly wrong. Starting with a nose
bleed, the symptoms rapidly progress as the injected
convicts' skin begins to rot, eventually driving
the test subjects insane and turning them into
violent, mindless berserkers. Even worse, the
infection has mutated and become communicable,
spreading like a virus among the inmates and staff.
As the situation deteriorates Keillor leads the
still-healthy prisoners in a desperate rebellion,
taking guards, the warden and the warden's visiting
family hostage. Medical aid is demanded in exchange
for their safety. Keillor also threatens to kill
Franco unless bad brother Vic comes to the prison
for a face-to-face meeting. Burgess, safely ensconced
outside the walls, calls in troops to surround
and quarantine the place. He contacts a former
colleague, ex-government scientist turned TV news
reporter (!!!) Tanya Karrington (Tane McClure,
Doug's daughter) for help. Since she developed
the original HV-8 formula, Burgess insists she's
the perfect researcher to enter the prison and
find out what's happening. He also promises her
exclusive rights to the story in her capacity
as a journalist. What he doesn't tell her is that
he has no intention of letting anyone leave the
prison alive...
The coincidence-reliant
script is strictly subpar straight-to-Cinemax
material. Clearly there wasn't enough money on
hand to do this thing right, even with so much
of the film set in a single location. (While the
majority of it takes place at the prison, the
climax leads us to that reliable old B-movie standby,
"Ro-Man's Cave" in Bronson Canyon.)
One scene is actually edited out of sequence:
Keillor is seen packing up and splitting his hotel
room (and the state) for good, only to be shown
meeting with Vic's girlfriend there for a quickie
the next minute. Yet, in his only directorial
effort to date, John Saxon
keeps things chugging along, in competent TV episode-style,
even when the film seems to be spinning its wheels.
Action scenes, however, are generally clumsy if
not unintentionally funny, with the exception
of a police car chase that's pulled off okay.
(And which surprisingly doesn't involve any crashes.
Too expensive?) Exploitation mainstays are trotted
out on occasion but are under-used. Lis has a
couple of brief topless scenes before her character
is murdered; McClure gives us a look at her mammaries
as well. There's really not that much gore. Perhaps
this has to do with Saxon's personal aversion
to such effects. Though the film credits Saxon
as sole helmer, the IMDB lists producer Nick Marino
as co-director. Perhaps the latter shot a few
gore inserts.
So what we have here is
a bland and cheesy — if (mostly) technically proficient
— time-waster, with some veteran performers in
key roles elevating the caliber of acting above
the norm for this sort of dreck. It's as if The
X-Files was a Quinn Martin production, only
with some cussin' and a teensy bit of skin and
gore thrown in to keep you watching.
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This
is a fullframe transfer, but from all appearances
the film was shot 1.33:1 for the direct-to-video
market. It doesn't look like any visual information
is lost. Colors seem a wee bit muted, there's
steady grain (particularly in night/dark scenes),
and portions look overly contrast-corrected, yet
the print's damage-free and otherwise fine for
a low budget cheapie. The audio track, flat but
serviceable, comes up short a time or two when
the actors speak in low tones, so it's sometimes
difficult to understand what they're saying. Then
again, this could be a symptom of the original
sound elements... Did I mention this was a cheap
production?
Other
than a trailer for the film, Retromedia's Zombie
Death House DVD is pretty much a bare bones
affair.
It's cute, though, that company honcho (and B-movie
director himself) Fred Olen Ray has thought to
include a personally signed "Shock Insurance
Policy" guaranteeing payment of a $1000 "Death
Benefit" to the beneficiary of the first
person to die of shock while watching the film.
This gag harkens back some of the "gimmick"
horrors of the '50s like The
Screaming Skull. Thus I'll rate the DVD
a "5" — provided you can find it retail,
where it goes for about ten bucks. (Otherwise
it's a "4".)
9/28/04
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