Movie Review: Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies (2017)
Attack Of The Southern Fried Zombies is an indie horror film directed by Mark Newton and written by Christian Hokenson, with story help from Mark Newton, Stephen Stromer, and Daniel Wood. The film focuses on the small town of Charleston, in the county of Tallahatchie, where Dr. Fukushima (Kiyomi Fukazawa), and Dr. Klein (Miles Doleac) are conducting experimentation on a new crop-dusting formula to help eradicate the Kudzu Fodder Crops that have begun to spread too fast in the southern United States. The scientists are from “GloboBioTech”, a company that created “Quadoxin”, which is the new formula they hope will help accomplish this. The problem is that while this testing is happening, something seems to be also the catalyst for a zombie problem, which is developing fast in the town. As the county music festival takes place, the zombies don’t want to be left out of the festivities and things get a bit out of control in this seemingly quiet town.
One thing that was surprising was the number of extras and extensive cast in this film. Most indie films don’t have an entire cast, and a lot of extras, but this film had a huge cast, and it definitely made the story feel more alive. From the town festival to the zombies running the streets, there were people everywhere. The acting was pretty good in this film. There were a couple of recognizable faces, and almost the entire main cast has an extensive resume. It’s definitely apparent, and more acting experience is always a huge part of the success of any indie production.
The production quality, in general, was pretty great in this film. There were a lot of great camera shots, and the cinematography was good for the most part. There was one scene with the scientists where they did something wonky with the camera that felt a bit out of place, but for the most part, it was pretty spot on. The sound and score were great, and the lighting, and art and costume departments must have been really busy but also nailed it. As mentioned previously, the special/visual effects departments did a fantastic job as well.
Being an indie film, you never expect big-budget production, but having to work within an indie budget, they did a great job in the special effects department. There was a lot of blood and gore, and they used a nice mix of CG and practical effects throughout the film to accomplish this. Some of it was some ok cheesy CGI, some was actually decent CGI, and there was a mix of good and cheesy practical stuff in there as well, but it was all fun to watch. They even had some lower-budget Michael Bay-type explosions in there that were pretty awesome. You can tell that they really put some effort into it, and it was definitely appreciated. There was one scene, in particular, involving a plane that reminded us of something right out of Dead Alive that was very satisfying.
Overall, Attack Of The Southern Fried Zombies has the charm and depth of a Romero classic, and enough action and gore to satisfy zombie lovers everywhere. It starts off simple, and transitions to very over-the-top in a lot of ways, but definitely in the best ways. We definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to see a good, fun, modern zombie film with the heart and soul of the classics.
Attack Of The Southern Fried Zombies is available as of Tuesday, March 13th on DVD/Bluray, VOD (Cable & Dish), with a limited theatrical run starting in Los Angeles at Arena Cinelounge on Sunset starting Friday, March 23, 2018, and some cities throughout the South. See this link for information about where to see it near you! http://arenascreen.com/event/attack-southern-fried-zombies There is a prequel digital comic book available here! Kudzuzombies.com/freecomic and also check out their sweepstakes here after reading it! Kudzuzombies.com/sweepstakes
