| Zombie Nightmare | |
|---|---|
 Promotional release poster | |
| Directed by | Jack Bravman |
| Screenplay by | John Fasano |
| Produced by | Jack Bravman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Roger Racine |
| Edited by | David Wellington |
| Music by | Jon Mikl Thor |
Production company | Gold Gems |
| Distributed by | Shapiro Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes[1] |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $180,000[2] |
Zombie Nightmare is a 1987 Canadianzombie film produced and directed by Jack Bravman, written byJohn Fasano, and starringAdam West,Tia Carrere,Jon Mikl Thor, andShawn Levy. The film centres around a baseball player who is killed by a group of teenagers and is resurrected as azombie by aHaitian voodoopriestess.[3] The zombie goes on to kill the teens, whose deaths are investigated by the police. The film was shot in the suburbs ofMontreal, Canada. It was originally written to star mostly black actors but, at the request of investors, the characters' names were changed to more typically white names. While Bravman was credited as director, Fasano directed the majority of the film. Problems occurred between Fasano and the production crew, who believed him to beassistant director and ignored his directions.
Originally planned for theatrical release,Zombie Nightmare was releaseddirect-to-video byNew World Video. It grossedC$1.5 million against a budget of $180,000. While it received negative reviews from critics, finding the plot to be predictable and derivative, it was praised for itsheavy metal soundtrack featuringMotörhead,Girlschool, and Jon Mikl Thor's bandThor.Zombie Nightmare was shown in a 1994 episode of the comedy television seriesMystery Science Theater 3000.
Baseball player William Washington is fatally stabbed defending a young black girl from two white teenage boys. Years later, William's son Tony also becomes a baseball player. After Tony disrupts a robbery at a grocery store, he is struck and killed by a car full of teenagers: Bob, Amy, Jim, Peter, and Susie. The teens flee the scene and Tony's body is carried to his home, where his mother Louise mourns over him. She contacts Molly Mekembe, the girl William saved, to repay the favour of her rescue. Now revealed to be aHaitian voodoopriestess, Molly resurrects Tony as azombie and uses her powers to guide him to the teenagers, aiding him in his revenge.
The next night, Tony tracks Peter and Susie to an academy gymnasium and fatally breaks Peter's neck, then kills Susie by crushing her skull with a baseball bat. Police detective Frank Sorrell investigates the case. Police Captain Tom Churchman tells the press that the killings were a drug-inducedmurder-suicide. The next night, Tony finds Jim sexually assaulting a waitress and impales Jim with his bat, killing him. Churchman tells Sorrell that they found a suspect responsible for the murders and closes the case. Believing that the case has not truly been solved, Sorrell investigates photos that place Molly at both incidents. He suggests bringing her in for questioning but Churchman dismisses it. After sending Sorrell home to rest, Churchman calls Jim's father Fred and informs him of Molly's involvement in Jim's death. Fred goes to the police station to meet Churchman, but is killed by Tony en route.
Believing that they will be targeted next, Bob and Amy decide to leave town. They steal money from Jim's uncle's garage but Tony finds them there and kills them. Sorrell is attacked by Tony but survives. While monitoring Tony's actions, Churchman abducts Molly and forces her at gunpoint to show him where Tony is going. Sorrell follows Tony to a cemetery. Molly and Churchman soon arrive, with both telling Sorrell that the priestess resurrected Tony to not only avenge himself, but also to avenge Molly, as Churchman and Fred were the teenagers who attacked her years ago and Churchman killed Tony's father. Churchman shoots Tony, having learned that a revived zombie's power fades once it has achieved its goal. Molly tries to cast a spell, but is shot and killed by Churchman, who then turns to kill Sorrell as the only surviving witness. However, a second zombie rises out of a nearby grave and drags Churchman into the ground while Churchman pleads for Sorrell to kill him but he ignores him and walks away.
Director Jack Bravman wanted to transition fromadult films tohorror, and contactedJohn Fasano after hearing about his work onBlood Sisters. Bravman asked Fasano to write the script and take an uncredited co-directing role. Fasano accepted and wrote the original script to have the teens be black with black-sounding names, setting the film in his hometown ofPort Washington, New York, and offering local actors roles for the film. Associate Professor of theUniversity of Lethbridge Sean Brayton described the original concept as "a retribution narrative" of a black character getting revenge on the white perpetrators of his death.[4] The script was later changed to give the teens more white-sounding names because investors were worried that a black-centric cast would not sell in the foreign market. Having written the script on anIBM Selectric II, Fasano typed the white-sounding names onto a page, cut them out with a knife, and glued them to their appropriate places in the script. After the name changes, they received a budget of $180,000 from investors.[2][5] Unions in New York did not give the production a permit to film in the state, so filming was moved toMontreal, Quebec.[6]
Zombie Nightmare was produced by Montreal-based company Gold-Gems Productions and was the film debut of American actressTia Carrere.[7][8]Adam West played the crooked policeman Tom Churchman. West was on the set for two days and glanced at his script during his scenes; fellow cop Frank Sorrell was played by Frank Dietz, a childhood friend of Fasano.[9] Manuska Rigaud, who played voodoo priestess Molly Mokembe, was a professionalTina Turner impersonator.[10] The role of Tony was originally given to bodybuilder Peewee Piemonte. Days into production, Piemonte was fired for eating all thecraft services and the meals of crew members. Piemonte was replaced by Jon Mikl Thor, singer for the Canadian rock bandThor. WrestlerSuperstar Billy Graham was originally cast to play Tony's father. On the day he arrived in Montreal, no one came to pick him up at the airport and Graham left after waiting ten hours. Fasano took up the role.[9] Scenes with West and Carrere were directed by Bravman while Fasano shot the majority of the film.[6] Problems occurred between Fasano and the Canadian crew, who believed him to beassistant director and not co-director. This resulted in his directions being ignored by the crew, including cinematographer Roger Racine.[11]
Tony Bua and Andy Clement, college friends of Fasano, made the zombie masks and provided the makeup for the film.[11] It took five hours to apply Jon Mikal Thor's makeup, using glue and latex.[12] American cast and crew members were housed in an airport hotel with pornography being played on every television channel, and they noticed that Bravman's name appeared in the credits for many of the films.[11]Zombie Nightmare's editor,David Wellington, received the writing credit for the film so that it would qualify for a Canadian tax credit program.[13]
Thor wrote much of theincidental music. This includesheavy metal riffs by his band andsynthesizer music played by the band Thorkestra. Several other heavy metal bands contribute to the soundtrack. TheMotörhead single "Ace of Spades" plays during the opening credits. Other bands heard on the soundtrack includeVirgin Steele,Girlschool,Fist, andDeath Mask, and a track by Thor's then-wife and backup singer Rusty Hamilton.[14][15][16]
The film was originally planned for a theatrical release by Filmworld Distributors but it was instead releaseddirect-to-video byNew World Pictures.[17] It was released in the United States onVHS in October 1987.[18] The film grossedC$1.5 million worldwide.[19] The film was released on special editionDVD by Scorpion Releasing in 2010.[1]
Steve Bissette forDeep Red Magazine criticized the story for being predictable and derivative. Bissette thought the makeup and production values to be competent and noted Rigaud's "absurd over-the-top performance".[20]Fangoria had praise for the performances of the teen leads and recommended the movie for its heavy metal soundtrack. However, the reviewer considered the film boring, criticizing the lack of special effects and the predictable plot.[21] Ian Jane ofDVD Talk wrote that the film was horrible but so "deliciously goofy" one couldn't help but have fun with it.[2] Writing inThe Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academicPeter Dendle called it "painful and toilsome".[22]Bloody Disgusting listed the film among the "cheesiest" of heavy metal horror films.[14]Kerrang! considered the soundtrack to be better than the film itself.[23] Jim Craddock, author ofVideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever, summarized the film as "cheap and stupid".[24]
Zombie Nightmare was featured in a season six episode ofMystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), acultscience fiction comedy television series in which the characterMike Nelson and his two robot friendsCrow T. Robot andTom Servo are forced to watch bad films as part of an ongoing scientific experiment. The episode was first showcased duringComedy Central's "Fresh Cheese" fall 1994 tour around college campuses in the United States.[25] It made its television debut on Comedy Central on 24 November 1994.[26] The episode premiered during the channel's annualTurkey Day marathon ofMST3K episodes, which West hosted.[27] InThe Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, a series guide written byMST3K members,Mary Jo Pehl described the movie as "painful" and said that the members of the show "thoroughly, intensely, and unequivocally hated this movie".[28] In 2009,Shout! Factory released the episode as part of the "Volume XV" box set,[29] and in 2017, the episode was added toNetflix.[30]