The Alien Dead (1980)

Tom: "What do you think about, Shawn?"
Shawn: "I don't know. Getting out of the swamp. Eating hamburgers. Stuff like that."

Zombies attack a swampy town full of rednecks.
Starring: Ray Roberts, Linda Lewis, Mike Bonavia, and Buster Crabbe

Link to IMDB

Bottom of the Barrel: Exhibit #3

Something strange has been happening in the swamps surrounding a small Florida town, which has led to all the alligators disappearing and rumours of some type of monster lurking about. Tom, the local news reporter, decides he better head into the swamps to investigate. He meets a hillbilly lady named Shawn, and her and her dad tell him about the strange history of the swamp, which includes a mysterious meteorite that crashed here a few years ago.

Tom                                         Shawn                           Warden
                                                                                       Miller

Cranky Sheriff and Deputy Dumb

We quickly see that there's a zombie outbreak, and the undead are slowly getting closer to town since they've run out of gators to eat. When Tom discovers this he tries to convince the sheriff of the danger, but no one believes his crazy story about zombies.
The sheriff thinks there's just a killer gator on the loose, so he sends all the rednecks out into the swamps to hunt it down, but they're just going to end up as zombie fodder!

Despite the body count steadily rising, the only help Tom and Shawn can find is a park warden named Miller, but can they stop the zombies before the entire town gets eaten by the undead!?

"Your wife's deader than Mother's Day at an orphanage." - Sheriff

This is pure low-budget garbage in all its glory. The budget is estimated at $12,000 and that probably just covered the boat rentals, because it sure wasn't spent anywhere else except some rubber monster masks. To be fair, there are a couple of inventive homemade special effects to see, as the zombies attack and munch on everyone they see.

This is one of those movies that actually becomes more engaging based on the fact that it had no money and almost no talent. It's always a treat to watch the next bumbling bit of acting occur, as the barely existing story plops along like a log in a bog.

Overall, the filmmaking itself isn't too terrible, considering this is a small homemade type of project. It has the charm of being a labour of love, which somehow holds it all together for glimpses of coherency. It's easy to find laughs here, but you need to be in the zone for a soggy mess.


Be sure not to miss:
- The music is total chaos. Just an assortment of clangs, thuds, beeps, and gronks.
- Don't talk about giant possums and then not have any giant possums in your movie!!
- Zombies might cop a feel when they eat you.

Internet review:
"Stinkers like this make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside." - Razzle Man

Should I watch it?
You really got to be in the mood for some good old fashioned trash.

Where can I find it?
Links here.

The Alien Dead gets...