Zombie Nightmare (1987)

Wonderful character development!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

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

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE is one of those cheap and cheerful B-flicks of the 1980s, amusing enough in concept but difficult to sit through when it comes down to it thanks to the incessantly cheesy and stupid execution. We have the team at Code Red to thank for giving it a new HD lease of life in the 21st century. The story sees the posturing good guy Jon Mikl Thor killed in a hit and run accident and returning from the grave as the cheesiest zombie ever to get revenge on the teen gang who ran him down. Adam West contributes his own brand of acting as a cop and there's a role for Tia Carrera, who would have something of a Hollywood career in the 1990s. Generally, though, this is cheap and derivative, referencing and copying bits from THE TERMINATOR at times ("nice night for a walk") but not even coming close; laughable is what it is.

This was indeed a zombie nightmare! Being a zombie fan, then I basically devour (no pun intended) just about anything with zombies. Usually what is unearthed is bad, which is a shame, because the zombie genre is flooded with releases that are unwatchable and laughable attempts at being movies.Such was also the case with "Zombie Nightmare". In fact, it was actually so bad that I had to turn it off, and didn't make it through to the end.The story in the movie is about a group of young kids who accidentally run down young aspiring baseball guy. Without stopping to check if he is alright, the group just speeds off into the night. Griefstruck, the mother of the victim gets help from a voodoo woman, who brings back the dead son from the dead. He returns as an reanimated zombie who sets out to seek revenge on those who killed him.It was hard to believe that this movie was from 1987, because it just screamed late 70's or early 80's production and movie-making.The acting in the movie was actually fair enough, though there was nothing impressive to behold here. And I don't got to see Adam West, because I gave up on the movie before he entered the movie (or at least I didn't notice him)."Zombie Nightmare" is so cheesy, campy and bad that it is bound to give you a zombie nightmare indeed if you manage to stick with it to the very end.

O.K., I have been accused of rating too many films with 9-10 stars, but that is because whenever I rate one lower, people (most likely those associated with the film) mark my reviews as unhelpful. So, here is an opportunity for me to rate one as low without fear of retaliatory acts, as this film, even the makers must admit, deserves no stars other than one star for the one star in the film, Adam West.This movie shows just how horrible low budget productions were from the 80's, but they were even worse in the 70's.I didn't like watching these movies in recent years, but my eldest son told me to watch them as comedic, rather than as horror/sci-Fi movies. In doing so, I derived great pleasure at watching these low-budget horror films from yesteryear. When I was younger, during the 70's, I used to watch Creature Double-Feature on my small black & white TV, which was on a UHF channel each weekend, and aired two low budget horror or Sci-Fi films of this nature. That was the best we had back then. When movies came out like Star Wars, which might seem cheap now - the first one anyway, and Jurassic Park, they revolutionized movies. Dinosaurs never looked real, fight scenes always looked fake, but we used our imaginations more. It was more realistic looking than the frequent plays/musicals we attended.I won't provide a synopsis, nor any input about the values of this film, as every aspect of it was pitiful. Never-the-less, it is enjoyable to watch especially now in this day and age when films look so lifelike. We have come a long way, and one only need to watch a film like this to realize that.So, watch this film, if you can find an old VHS with it on it like I did, or some similar movies from this error, and just enjoy poking fun at how ridiculous everything looks. In the case of this film, the writing was also terrible - with lines that you are unable to watch without wondering if it was meant as satire.

After writing back-to-back negative reviews for Werewolf (1996) and Track of the Moon Beast (1976), I almost hate to make it three in a row with Zombie Nightmare. I've thought about raising one of the ratings because I really hate to seem so negative. But if you've seen this trifecta of cinematic crap, you'll understand that I really have no choice. Zombie Nightmare deserves the 1/10 – just like Werewolf and Track of the Moon Beast. It's pretty much bad in every way a movie can be. It's got it all – bad acting, poor special effects, ridiculous plot, weak technical aspects, and unlikable characters. I've used this expression several times recently, but Gawd awful also applies to Zombie Nightmare.Actually, I do have one positive thing to write about the movie. Somehow, the makers of this garbage were able to secure the rights to (or possibly just had the good sense to use) Motörhead's "Ace of Spades" for the opening credits. Lemmy rocks!