Zombie Death House

Starring:Bill Brinsfield, Dennis Cole, Macka Foley, Anthony Franciosa, Jim Golff, Daniel Kong, Michael R. Long, Frank Marino, David Marriott, Dana Lis Mason, James McKay (II), Ron O'Neal, Rickey Pardon, Dino Paskas, Salvatore Richichi, Frank Sarcinello Jr., John Saxon, Carl A. Watson, Joe Zimmerman
Director: John Saxon
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Description

Flesh-eating zombies go on a blood-mad rampage when mad scientist John Saxon (Enter the Dragon) uses prison inmates as unwilling test subjects for his new experimental drug. TV stalwart Dennis Cole must fight the mob (headed by Tenebre's Anthony Franciosa) and an army of the living dead to rescue pretty Tane McClure (Legally Blonde) and a batch of cute tykes from certain disembowelment. Other stars on the chopping list include Ron O'Neal (Superfly) and Michael Pataki (Grave of the Vampire).

Customer Reviews:

A disaster.......2007-05-27

John Saxon is a name instantly recognizable to the cult film fanatic. It's easy to see why when you take a stroll through his filmography. He's doing television work nowadays, acting in shows like "CSI" and Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series, but you must look back to the 1970s and 1980s to understand his real claim to fame. Saxon starred, or co-starred, in many of the most memorable drive in movies of all time. Most folks recognize him from "Enter the Dragon," the picture that turned Bruce Lee into a huge cult star. That's only the beginning for the discerning exploitation fan, however. Saxon also turned in a memorable performance in Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street," where he played the police officer father of hapless Heather Langenkamp. I can go on and on. He starred in Antonio Margheriti's cannibal classic "Cannibal Apocalypse," Bob Clark's seminal 1974 slasher flick "Black Christmas," and Dario Argento's "Tenebre". He even appeared in a fair amount of pure schlock, stuff like Roger Corman's Star Wars knockoff "Battle Beyond the Stars" and Umberto Lenzi's tepid giallo "Nightmare Beach". Only once did he step behind the camera to assume directorial duties, in a little film called "Zombie Death House".

"Zombie Death House," or "Death House," is actually two movies in one. The first story arc concerns an unfortunate wretch called Derek Keillor (Dennis Cole) and his experiences with a Los Angeles mafia family headed up by the treacherous Vic Moretti (Anthony Franciosa). Keillor, a decorated war veteran, spends a lot of time driving around town in his cool car. He looks bored, oddly enough, and so do I as the movie quickly falls into a rut. Derek drives, and drives, and drives some more. Apparently he doesn't have much to do. In an effort to make a few bucks, he quickly (well, not as quick as we'd like) hooks up with Moretti. The mob boss offers our hero a position as his chauffeur. It's not a great job, but it does have its perks. For example, Keillor soon falls into a relationship with Vic's main squeeze, Genelle Davis (Dana Lis), and the two covertly consummate the affair in an out of the way motel. Not smart, not smart at all. Mob bosses are notoriously overprotective of their women, and Vic Moretti soon learns what's going on. Instead of whacking Keillor, the crime lord kills his woman and frames Derek for the crime. Oh dear. Off to prison our man goes, and here's where the movie shifts gears entirely.

While awaiting execution in the electric chair (since when does California carry out executions in the chair?), Keillor runs afoul of Franco (Michael Pataki), Moretti's brother and a sadistic jerk. Further complicating the situation is an experimental drug research program conducted by Burgess (Saxon), a CIA agent and all-around bad guy. Inmates agree to participate in the experiment in exchange for small favors, but there is a catch. The CIA actually switches the injections without the prisoners' knowledge, substituting a far more dangerous compound that eventually turns the criminals into mindless, crazed lunatics who think nothing of tearing other folks to shreds. In no time at all Keillor and a few of the unaffected inmates stage a rebellion inside the penitentiary's walls, largely to save their own lives. Obviously, they want the experiments to stop, but they also request medical assistance to deal with all these zombies. Burgess throws up a cordon around the prison and sends in the scientist who developed the deadly drug, Tanya Karrington (Tane McClure), to help calm the situation. Vic Moretti also appears on the scene to throw the movie into an even more confusing state. What's going on here?

Beats me. "Zombie Death House" is a mess of a film, a movie that tries to do far too much with a confusing script and cheap set pieces. I wonder what went wrong. Saxon receives a directing credit, but so does some guy named Nick Marino. I'm thinking someone shot part of the film and then the producers fired him and brought in Saxon (or vice versa). That might explain the schizophrenic feel of the movie. The movie is--at one time or another--a mafia flick, an action movie, a horror picture, and a prison film. Try keeping track of such nonsense! Worse, the movie looks cheap. I suspect that someone ran out of money during the process and they tried to do the best they could with what was left. They failed. Throw in banal pacing, REALLY lazy editing, and cheap gore effects and you've all the trimmings for a terribly lousy viewing experience. I hate to say it, but "Zombie Death House" tanks. Big time. If this picture is any indication, it should come as no surprise that Saxon never stepped behind the camera again. His performance, along with the always reliable Franciosa, helps move the film along--but not enough to save this clunker.

It's strictly amateur hour over at the company that released this crudfest to DVD. Retromedia (run by b-movie monarch Fred Olen Ray) gives "Zombie Death House" a lackluster treatment, giving us a single trailer for the film as the only supplement. Worse, they provide the viewer with a fullscreen version of the film. Not that a widescreen presentation would have helped the viewer digest this mess any better, mind you, but they could have given us something with which to work. The picture quality looks awful, and the audio isn't much better although it is adequate enough considering the budget we're dealing with here. I can't in good conscience give "Death House" more than one star. It's trite filmmaking at its worst. If you have a craving for zombie pictures, I can recommend a dozen better films than this one. Rent something from Romero or Fulci before diving into this train wreck. Avoid at all costs.

If you loved Sugar Hill and The Boneyard.......2006-03-03

If you loved "Sugar Hill" and you thought "The Boneyard" was the coolest zombie movie ever, well, you might like Zombie Death House. Maybe. This is a confused film, weirdly paced, equal parts "Short Eyes" and "Biohazardous", but not nearly as good as either. I'll give it one star for being unusual with okay 1980's era gore effects, but it's for the "zombie completist only" (or someone who just has to have the only film John Saxon directed...)

Not worth adding to your zombie movie collection.......2005-06-12

The previous review that describes this as a made for TV movie is dead on right. It's in full screen format, and the only thing that makes it not a TV movie is the brief scenes of nudity. This movie could have been edited a little better in that you spend half the movie developing the main character...which could have taken easily 10-15 minutes instead. The emphasis of gay sex here and there they could have done away with. But above all, they should have put more of the budget into scenes with zombies in it. It's a great premise for a zombie movie, but it's just disappointing with what they did with it. If you're looking for rare movies to add to your zombie movie collection...you should seriously skip this one.

Get me out of this prison!.......2005-04-21

This came off as a made-for-tv-movie despite it having nudity and brief moments of gore (very brief, nothing nose-turning).

ZDH was more cheesy than anything, but for John Saxon, it was worth a gander...the nosebleeds in this movie were amusing.

Not much of a zombie movie, just dead guys walking after you, no gut-muching qualities about it...sorry.

It's okay, a good addition to any zombie collection.

please dont buy.......2005-03-07

John Saxon is a good actor, as for the rest of this movie it was no good. How this guy above me rates it 4 stars i will never know.

He already told you what the movie is based on so in conclusion if you are a fan of Zombie cinema as I am and you like movies like Dawn/Day/Night of the living dead or Zombi By L.Fulci or Dead Alive etc.. Im sure you get my point this is not like those at all. And I dont really consider it worth the $$$ it cost. Please dont waste your $ as if you are a zombie film fan you will be very disssapointed, very. 2 stars I gave it only because the acting is pretty good. You will also have some trouble selling as I tried and it dont come up in the systems , i tried getting rid of it last week.

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