The Astro-Zombies (1968)

You won't be disappointed!

Best movie ever!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Nutty, ridiculous late 60's sci-fi / horror film. Any film with credits that have toy robots, toy tanks, and the sound effect of heavy artillery you can't expect much from. John Carradine plays a mad scientist for the umpteenth time. He's creating zombiefied human robots from criminals with ultra creepy mask faces. The mad doctor's assistant is a leering sub-mental that Carradine treats to long-winded monologues of the science behind what he's doing. Meanwhile a sinister foreign government has sent their crack agent to steal Carradine's work. Said agent is a modern-day Asian dragon lady type with a somewhat sleazy co-hort. An American agency is out to stop the enemy government and the mad doc. The best part of this whole mish-mash is when one of the zombs, in the middle of an attack on a scantily clad girl, loses his energy oomph and has to hold a flashlight to a hole in his head until he gets back to the lab and gets re-energized. Wacky fun. The RiffTrax version could have been improved. The Rifftrax soundtrack can be heard, but you can barely hear the film's dialogue, which takes away from the RiffTrax humor. As for the film only version itself the sound is just fine, the picture and color quality is sharp and clear. I have to add though that as far as I could make out the Kino Lorber DVD quality is equal to the Image Entertainment DVD. The Kino version has some extras though. Recommended for fans of bad movies.

This is a terrible video that is not really watchable. It can't really be reviewed because it doesn't really exists for real film buffs. It is not 'empty calories', which implies some pleasure, but is simply empty and boring. It's a dramatic void where a story, plot, pacing, and performance ought to be. It's a collection of promotable empty elements strung together until it's time for the next film. The "Astro Zombies" is vapid even by the standards of other 'D' films/videos. Also this 'Zombies' is limp and is an insult to the venerable horror films and their exploits that it's based on. With no plot, characters or 'lines' worth experiencing, let alone remember, this video merely occupies space and hopes for the best.

Astro-Zombies, The (1968) 1/2 (out of 4) When people discuss some of the worst movies ever made, this one here usually gets a vote or two. While this film is certainly bad it at least has a few decent things going for it. The movie tells the story of a scientist (John Carradine) who wants to create some "astro-zombies" so that he can control their mind and have them doing all of his dirty work. Of course, along the way several people are killed so that this experiment can move forward but a CIA man (Wendell Corey) is on the case. There was a time when this here was one of my most sought after film simply because I had read so much about it but as a kid every Mom and Pop store either didn't have a copy or if they did someone had rented it and their VCR ate the tape. When I finally got around to seeing it on DVD the thing certainly lived up to its bad reputation but I would stop short of calling it one of the worst films ever made. I think the film has a couple things going for it and one is of course Carradine. It's amazing to think that at one time he was one of the most respected character actors around and yet he ended his career appearing in one bad movie after another. The movies themselves might be bad but it's always fun seeing Carradine do his thing and I must admit that I found most of his scenes here to be mildly entertaining. The stuff with his hunchback assistant runs on way too long but there's some sort of weird atmosphere going on. Corey, who died shortly after this film, appears drunk in most of his scenes and doesn't have too much to do. Another plus are the Halloween masks that our astro-zombies use. Yes, they look fake but they at least are fun. The biggest problem with this turkey is that it's deadly boring. There's not an ounce of energy, life or even a light pulse to be found. The pacing is just deadly because it takes way too long for this so-called "story" to actually be told. This problem is made worst by the fact that a little editing probably would help things. The majority of the scenes run on and on for no apparent reason other than to push up the running time so if they would have cut some of this added time we'd probably be talking about this thing as something "so bad it's good." I can't help but imagine a drive-in back in 1968 where a guy took his virgin date to see this thing knowing he wasn't getting any but by the thirty-minute mark the woman had decided to give herself up just so she could take her eyes away from this thing. The badness is all over this movie and there's no question this thing is a disaster but at the same time there's just a weird vibe going on that makes this thing worth viewing if you enjoy bad "Z" movies.

Demented Dr. DeMarco has figured out a way to create Astro-Zombies–that is, wildly gyrating actors wearing skull masks. His methods involve organs being removed--usually from lovely women, of course. The Feds want to stop him. Villains led by statuesque Tura Satana want his formula. Most viewers probably wanted their money back. John Carradine plays DeMarco with all the professionalism he can muster. Satana's costumes showcase the twin talents that made her a Russ Meyer star. She also throws a nasty karate kick, just as her Mexican cohort brandishes a mean switchblade–never let it be said that Ted V. Mikels let a stereotype go by. Another character jokes about "becoming a lush;" that line is in ill taste since co-star Wendell Corey–who died after filming–was suffering from acute alcoholism. On the funny side: there's never more than one Astro-zombie on screen at any time; must be the local Woolworth's only had one skull mask in stock. One Astro-zombie manages to lose his "photo cell" and pursues victims while holding a flashlight up to his head to keep going. Toy tanks and robots appear for no logical reason under the credits. Old VHS tapes titled SPACE VAMPIRES ran a mere 77 minutes. I recently saw a 91-minute DVD that featured some surprising bits of cheesecake early on and gore toward the end. I bet co-scripter/co-producer Wayne Rogers never mentioned this five-cent fiasco to his buddies on the set of M*A*S*H.