Near the end of the movie, main character Mike said “It was a good little movie.”

Au contrare.

This is an adaptation of author R.L. Stine novel Zombie Town, which, much like his Goosebumps series of books, is meant to be targeted to young readers to give them an introduction to horror, so you can expect this film to be a younger skewing movie. Still, skewing young does not excuse a film from being so stupid.

Reclusive director/filmmaker Len Carver (Dan Aykroyd) lived in a town named for him, after disappearing and stopping creating zombie movies at his high point during the 70s. Today, Carver prepared a new film for release.

Mike (Marlon Kazadi) did not like zombie movies, but he did work at the theater that had the exclusive release. However, Mike was more interested in what the girl he had been crushing upon, Amy (Madi Monroe) was up to.

When Carver was dropping off the film the day before the big release, he was hit on the head and taken to the hospital. With the film in his possession, Mike texted Amy, who hurried over to the theater, asking to see it early. Though he was not sure if this was a good idea, Mike acquiesced and played the film for her. Instead of a film, there was just white light and some magical power that transformed the town into zombies.

Mike and Amy was not changed into zombies so they ran across the town in an attempt to figure out what was going on.

This had a ‘so bad, it’s okay’ feel to it as this conceivably could turn into one of those cult films that are shown like The Room or Samurai Cop. In fact, I feel as if this film would be extremely entertaining as a film shown by RiffTrax Live. It absolutely has that level of quality (or lack there of) to it.

It was intended to be funny, but, at best, I may have chuckled once or twice. Would a ten year old find it funnier than I did? Maybe, though I am not convinced of that.

Clearly, the budget on this was all for Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase because the zombie makeup was basically some dark eye liner and maybe some powder for the faces.

Some things happen that defy total explanation. For example, Carver never made the hospital, but the theater owner (Henry Czerny), who had been coming with him to the hospital and had changed into a zombie, actually drove the ambulance with Carver… and he drove it as a zombie. What?

Characters were inconsistent with their motives and their actions. Carver himself was a mess of contradictions, flip flopping all over the place.

I did think that Marlon Kazadi was okay as the lead. He did not have a lot of material that stretched his acting skills, but he did have a decent screen presence. He did not have much chemistry with Madi Monroe though and unfortunately, they were supposed to have plenty. Their relationship felt mean-spirited at times and seemed more like siblings than anything else.

I intended on watching this on Saturday after The Equalizer 3, but my plans changed and I decided to go today on Labor Day instead. It was a poor choice as this was an hour and a half that I won’t get back again. There are considerably better films to introduce young people to horror, including films from the oeuvre of R.L. Stine, like the Goosebumps films or the film by Guillermo Del Toro, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Don’t waste your time with this one.

1 star