Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! – Strippers vs. Zombies (2008)

zzzA group of strippers, two hookers,  a bouncer, and a pimp run in to a strip club after hours. The start of a funny joke? It’s the premise for “Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!” a surprisingly well made and entertaining horror comedy considering the miniscule budget that it works on from the minute one. Notice how the strip club is the same exterior as the ice rink from the prologue. But who cares? “Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!” is a classic grind house throwback that features a group of mismatched survivors and malcontents going up against an endless horde of the walking dead.

After a scummy drug dealer steals experimental chemicals from a local laboratory seeking a new high, he accidentally unleashes the new “drug” on his hookers who become zombies and begin spreading their infection along the city. Holed up in the Grind House strip club after hours and faced with no options, they have to figure out how to outwit the hordes of the walking dead while trying not to turn on one another. “Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!” is trash first and foremost, a movie so ridiculous and absurd that it manages to defy logic as a simple B horror movie, but once you shed all pre-existent grasping of common sense with characters, you’ll have a lot of fun with the characters, all of whom are oddly well drawn out and explored, including pimp Johnny.

Anthony Headen may not be the best actor, but as Johnny he seems to have fun and is often hilarious as the backhanded pimp who is so reliant on his pimp hand he even extinguishes zombies in the same method. And you have to appreciate the character Harley’s sub-plot as her primary motive for getting home is to be with her baby daughter as she fights her way through the walking dead with her valiant brother who plays surrogate father while she strips at the Grind House.Mainly, though, the film is about hot women fighting zombies and hot women becoming zombies, while the inept men who enter their path are either lovelorn or consumed by their ravenous monstrous form. Jason Murphy’s “Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!” has a lot going for it comically with moments of pure hilarity (including the different hues of blood and nut munching sequence), and works well as a zombie film that channels “Dawn of the Dead” on some occasions.

There are some nods to Romero and its own sense of terror that works even in the confines of its miniscule budget. Director Murphy’s attempts to channel the grindhouse motif is successful and really serves to add a sense of excitement to the Strippers vs. Zombies throw down that soon ensues when Harley realizes she either gets home to her mom and daughter, or risks becoming one of the pack. Director Jason Murphy’s ode to ass kicking strippers fighting the walking dead is a pure shameless B movie monster and one that uses its small budget to create a damn fine piece of grindhouse fare that works well on all levels with three dimensional characters, and gory action trash cinema fans can appreciate.