Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies movie review

Jeffrey Lyles March 23, 2018March 19, 2018 0 Comments Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies, Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland

You’re probably going to need some level of inebriation to remotely enjoy Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies. Otherwise it’s best to leave this undercooked zombie comedy to rot.

There’s not a slew of zombie comedies as it’s not the easiest hybrid to make work. Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead have little to worry with here.

An experimental treatment to stop the spread of the kudzu vine triggers a zombie outbreak in Charleston, Mississippi. Just in time for the annual town fair.

That forces crop duster Lonnie (Tom Welling lookalike Timothy Haug) to lead a motley crew of survivors to escape before the town is overrun. Among that group is Lonnie’s pal Ed (Escalante Lundy), his ex Kayla (Wyntergrace Williams) and a pair of ready to rumble lesbians (Kaitlin Mesh and Megan Few).

It’s stupid to expect A-list quality acting in a low budget film, but it’s so bad. A main reason the film plays out like a bad comedy is because of the lousy acting. Sharknado wasn’t gonna win any Emmys, but the cheesy acting was part of its charm. But the acting here is aggressively awful.

Christian Hokenson’s script doesn’t do the cast many favors either. There’s a subplot involving weed, a politician seeking re-election, and a clown and a rival meat pie owner. Comedy is tough in this genre and Southern Fried Zombies doesn’t have any sense of humor.

Director Mark Newton hits all the zombie checklist boxes, but he frequently chooses the wrong moments for slow motion and dramatic close-ups.

The special effects are inconsistent. Some zombie deaths are impressive while others look amazingly bad by a wide margin. Most of the gunshot effects including exploding headshots are surprisingly well done. Dismembering, explosions and most zombie attacks look like the money ran out. And there’s just something silly about zombies with random vines on them.

There’s a few inspired bit of zombie kills and outrageous scenarios that are funny including the mayor (Michael Joiner) who decides to put his tie on and use an electric guitar as a weapon. That’s definitely the exception though as most of the action is silly.

It’s always amazing how people have no survival instincts in zombie movies. Southern Fried Zombies might have some of the dumbest characters of the genre. Some try to reason with the blood covered Zombies, ignore basic logic like taking the guy vomiting green blood alive or just bothering to run when the zombies slowly advance. And who doesn’t know to go for a head shot at this point?