“Only when retrieving the book can you end his reign of terror. That will be 29.95.”

Sorry indie filmmakers, but when I’m sent a zombie film, my immediate response is “Fuck,” because well, everyone wants to be like someone. People vie to be Kevin Smith, Tarantino, and yes, indie filmmakers vie to be Romero. Low budget, no name actors, apocalyptic story, traditional effects, and instantly they think they’re Romero. It’s just not that easy, folks. Zombie movies are pretty standard indie fare along with vampire movies, and it’s an almost impossible formula to succeed in. Most times the results are disastrous (Night of the Dead, Day of the Dead: Contagium, Zombies by Design) and sometimes the results are good (Zombie Honeymoon, City of Rott, and…?), and the point is being a filmmaker, and not a filmmaker who wishes he/she were Romero, or Hooper, or hell even Ed Wood.

You love horror, great, you want to acknowledge them, great, but be your own filmmaker for god sake. “Carnival of the Damned” is yet another zombie movie from more independent filmmakers, and I was weary. Thompson and crew have the right idea from the get go. Their film is a full on grind house tribute. Kung-Fu in the opening, gore galore, a bad ass mustachioed Dirty Harry hero, and zombies. “Carnival of the Damned” isn’t a perfect film, but there were moments where I was honestly entertained. Thompson’s directorial prowess is fantastic, and he can really draw out tension and sheer dread when he wants to.

After slaughtering a bar room one night, Harry and his newly assigned partner Todd discover a cult has kidnapped a hapless waitress and plans to use her for their own deeds. After a planned foil goes incredibly wrong, the dead walk! And now the two officers, the waitress and a few accomplices plan to fight back, and end the zombie carnage by stopping the leader of the cult who possesses a satanic book that controls the li’l flesh eaters. We’re then given, by Chris, gun toting survivors, elaborate scenarios exploring the zombies, and a lot of gut munching that is surprisingly convincing.

Thompson uses the great make up effects to his advantage with rather disturbing chomping sequences, while also briefly looking through the eyes of the zombies. Thompson (Who directs, wrote, shot, and edited) kicks the film into high gear with an all out orgy of survivalist action, as the group finds the mission to stop the dead from rising is a rather difficult one. Raphael Giovanni Carlo deserves a lot of credit for taking on the hero role and never chewing the scenery. This guy is bad-ass, pure and simple. He’s Dirty Harry, mixed with Riggs from “Lethal Weapon,” combined with Roger from “Dawn of the Dead,” and he steals the show.

He’s tough and grizzled as this cop looking to put a stop to the cult, and then becomes an all out clever zombie killer helping the others to survive. I dug this cat. “Carnival of the Damned” is a bag of treats for fans of really any sort of genre. It has action, juicy gore, some great shoot outs, an action hero we can finally root for, and a genuine sense of dread helped by the walking dead. What more do you want?

I can take Romero references for a certain time, and I can even take a vignette paying homage to one of the best horror films ever made, but when the last half of a reasonably good movie becomes full on “Dawn of the Dead,” the gloves come off. There is the team raiding the weapon armory, escaping on helicopter, storming a closed in area, being eventually overrun, one of them being turned, the unsuspecting hero and the damsel make it out barely, escape, and then we revert to full on sequences of the world going to shit where I just lost it there. Why does the reporter have a microphone in hand, with a boom mike at top? Um… what? And, I won’t even talk about the news cast in the climax that lifts lines from “Night of the Living Dead” with two stiff actors who did not convince me they were horrified. Sorry to say, but damn did they suck.

“The.Recently.Deceased.Are.Rising.From.Th-Th-The.Dead…” And then the blond co-anchor, “Do.Not.Ap-Approach. any.of.them.” Meanwhile, “Carnival of the Damned” is about twenty minutes too long, taking too long to develop in the first thirty minutes, and I was anxiously awaiting an explanation as to how the zombies come into play. And when the zombies finally do enter the scene, suddenly all the plot devices wash away. Where did the dead come from again? Whatever happened to the satanic cult? What purpose did waking the dead serve, again? Meanwhile, the dead are roaming the streets and devouring hapless morons, and then Thompson curiously meanders taking too much time to show the survivors re-grouping, and then we enter into an odd sub-plot with Baltz’ character and a killer clown? I mean, who gives a shit about a girl’s flashbacks to a clown that killed her dad when there are zombies running around eating people? I was curious why this came into play at any time, and I just couldn’t catch on.

In the end it’s still twenty minutes too long, but when you get past the meandering sub-plots, “Carnival of the Damned” is a beautifully made zombie flick that’s worthy of the grind house image it touts. I had a blast.

• For more information on "Carnival of the Damned," visit the official website.