I knew I liked this movie before I even saw it.

The title “Redneck Zombies,” is exactly what the movie is about, a recruit driving a jeep down a long stretch of country road has a barrel of toxic waste with him. He loses it when it falls off the truck and a redneck steals it from him, the recruit leaves after being threatened, and then the redneck who takes it has it stolen from him by another four rednecks, who turn it into moonshine, the one redneck son, Ellie-May, takes a whole batch of it into town to deliver it to friends while his two brothers and dad stay behind and drink it, which turns them into flesh-hungry zombies. They’re pretty much your basic Romero-zombies, however they seem to be killed not only by a shot to the head, but also by a bug spray containing a certain chemical, thought I can’t remember what. The movie is pretty much your standard zombie-fare, with rednecks all over the place in “the backwoods of Maryland.”

It should also be noted that the movie is notoriously humorous, the scene with Loren the Gay Soldier sticks out, and the zombie who is completely mindless except for the fact that he knows how to use a Polaroid camera. The whole movie really reminded me of the original ‘Evil Dead,’ for some reason, but with a lot more ridiculous humor and slapstick. Another interesting factoid is that this movie was shot entirely on video in 1986, with VHS camcorders, and it looks fantastic. Usually shot-on-video movies look bad, but this one really stuck out well because they had good actors, a good director and great makeup effects that, true to the tagline, “makes Dawn of the Dead look like Mary Poppins.” I bought the 20th Anniversary Edition, which comes with a color-corrected, digitally remastered version of the movie as well as the soundtrack on the second disk, which, for such an obscure movie, is actually pretty good music. Troma did a great job with the release of the DVD, and I have to say it was worth the twenty dollars I spent for it. I have yet to check out the special features on the DVD.

If you like zombies, or Troma, or rednecks, check out Redneck Zombies!

Where to begin… First, Troma has always made great films! Sure they don’t cast Hollywood’s “finest” (lol), but that’s not why you watch them! And this film certainly lives up to its rep. I first saw it back in ‘94, and I’ve been hooked since. The baby in the washing machine is classic! In fact, that one scene alone embodies everything it means to be a “redneck”. The only regret about the film is there was no sequel when there clearly should have been. What happened to the woman carrying the bastard zombie child?!? All in all, great freakin’ film for all it’s worth at a great freakin’ price! You’ll even save some money fer th’ to’baccy’ man! Yer kids’ll thank ya’ later.