Zombie Nightmare (1987) User Reviews (58)

Cheap And Stupid, But...

[ReelCheese · 2/10 · 5 November 2006]

Never before have so few words so fittingly summed up a film as the VideoHound Movie Guide's entry on ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE. "Cheap and stupid" were the key words in its evaluation of this (extremely) low-budget, Canadian-made horror flick. But what our friends at VideoHound forgot to mention is that ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE is also occasionally (and unintentionally) hilarious in the tradition of awful movies from yesteryear.

Jon Mikl Thor plays a muscle-bound lunkhead who heads to the corner store for Momma one fateful night. After heroically fending off two would-be robbers, our good ol' boy is fatally struck by a car full of bad ass punks who speed away from the scene. Rather than call an ambulance, the store owner does what any of us would, loading the corpse into a car and dropping it off to Lunkhead's fretful mom. Having already lost her husband to punkery, Momma calls in the friendly neighborhood voodoo practitioner to turn her son into a modern day Lazarus. Soon the goon is up and around once more, only he's not nearly as friendly as he now screams a lot and clobbers the hit-and-runners with a baseball bat.

ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE is like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE in that everyone will have their own favorite example of its ineptitude. For this reviewer, the hands down winner is Shawn Levy, who is inadvertently uproarious as Jim the head punk. It's positively priceless to see Jim, he of blow-dried '80s hair and preppy clothes, recant how he actually enjoyed striking Lunkhead. "Christ," he says in what was intended as a creepily dramatic moment, "it was so easy." And who could forget the moment when Jim, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, hurls a handful of cold spaghetti at his nagging mom? You just know this dude and his cohorts would last about 10 minutes in a real high school.

Of course there are other highlights (lowlights?). There's never been a less frightening zombie than Thor. I'm sorry, but big muscles, long hair and short sweat pants exude stupidity, not fury. The zombie's appearance becomes increasingly ridiculous as the film progresses, going from Lunkhead to some Munster-looking dude with short black hair. ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE also attempts some humor, most notably with Jim's frequent non-success with the ladies. But it's all so lame you end up laughing AT the movie, not WITH it. Then there's the Adam West factor. You just know that any film that has to misleadingly give top billing to the former BATMAN star is doomed. That said, there is a certain perverse pleasure in seeing a man we all know and love from childhood being dragged into the cruel depths of hell by a born-again corpse.

It's quite stunning that that something like ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE was able to clear all the hurdles involved in seeing a a film come to fruition. It's amazing someone thought of it. It's more amazing that someone had enough faith in those involved to fund it. Our amazement continues to escalate when we think that real people -- presumably those interested in careers in the motion picture industry -- would allow their names to be attached to it and that a company, no matter how desperate, would release it on video. No wonder they say truth is stranger than fiction.

This one is #31 thanks to MST3000.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 24 March 2014]

When the film begins, a father is stabbed to death trying to save a young lady from being raped. Years later, the man's son is hit by a bunch of jerks in a Mercedes and his angry mother gets the local voodoo priestess to resurrect her son in order to exact revenge on his killers.

"Zombie Nightmare" is a very bad movie. However, it's not nearly bad enough to be the third lowest rated film on all of IMDb. Like so many films on IMDb's Bottom 100 list, it was spoofed on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and because of this it's rated so low. I assume most of the folks who scored this one a 1 never saw the actual film--just the MST3000 version. Other films unfairly on the list are such bad but not that bad movies like "The Girl With Gold Boots" and "Mitchell". So don't believe the hype--it's just not 100% horrible--just 98.7% bad!

I was excited to see that this film stars Adam West and Jon Mikl Thor. Thor is also the guy who played the lead in the terrible "Rock 'n Roll Nightmare"--and like in that film, he and his bad provide some of the music for this movie. And, speaking of music, that's the ONLY good thing about the film--the hard rock tunes are pretty decent. However, the bad very, very easily outweighs the good. The acting (especially by Molly Mekembe and Jim) is just pathetic--and who, exactly, was the coroner trying to imitate?! The zombie is hilarious, as it's supposed to be Tony (Jon Mikl Thor) but has completely different color and length hair! I suppose that in this bizarre town, zombies go to the hair salon before going on their rampage! The directing and editing are also terrible--such as when you see the dead guy in the pool moving his arms back and forth. Hey, hello...he's DEAD so why is he still moving?! Overall, this is a terrible film--don't misunderstand me about this. But there are hundreds of movies that are worse--much worse. The music alone is reason to give the film a 2 instead of a 1. Still, this one is bad enough that it does make for fun viewing by bad movie junkies as its full of unintended laughs.

"She's briskly jogging from him!" (+2 stars for Adam West and MotorHead)

[lemon_magic · 3/10 · 7 May 2005]

MST covered this one and did a good job with it.(The quote is from the first zombie attack.) And as I recall, Adam West even introduced their cover of it for its first broadcast during a "Turkey Day" Thanksgiving marathon. (Good for you, Adam! You look good!)

Hey, Frank Dietz, it was fun to see your comment about the movie; glad you have a good sense of perspective about it, and I hope you are doing well. ZN was completely cheesy, but it wasn't your fault...you were just in over your head!

Adam West has taken a lot of crap over the decades for his somewhat hammy style and fruity baritone, but he's still the real deal as an actor. Put him in a 3rd rate film like this one, and he instantly blows everyone else in the film away without trying. This movie was lucky to have him.

The film also gets an extra star for starting out with "Ace Of Spades" as the opening song on the soundtrack and a nice little thumbprint graphic for the opening title. It was a great choice and started the movie with a nice burst of energy.

But after that, things go downhill pretty fast. There are lots of missteps here: pacing, plot holes, characterization and consistency of tone. For instance, the movie stops dead in its tracks at one points and spends 2-3 minutes watching a mediocre tennis match between the tall, lanky mall punk and his blond girlfriend. It spends an inordinate amount of time driving to the local 'Twist and Creme' ice cream store. When the hero/zombie-to-be gets run over by the mall punks at the beginning of the movie, his mother doesn't call a doctor, call an ambulance, or start CPR, she calls her local voodoo practitioner "Molly Mokembe" so she can go about getting revenge for her son's death.

(This brings all kinds of questions to mind, BTW. The movie seems to find it unremarkable that there is a high priestess of voodoo just down the street in an average Canadian urban neighborhood. Geez, not ONE of the black people I grew up with turned out to be voodoo masters, not even the ones whose life my father saved! I never knew Canada was so wild at heart!)

Oh, and if YOU were attacked by a zombie, and you knocked him down with a shotgun and then you got in your car to flee, wouldn't you a)shoot the zombie in the head and knees a couple of just to slow him down a bit more and b) CLOSE THE CAR DOOR while you cranked the ignition??? I'm just asking...

But the biggest weakness, IMO, is in the part and performance of the mall punk's 'psycho' member. Ooooo, he has an ATTITUDE! OOooo, he throws pasta at his mom! Ooooo, he harasses a waitress with juvenile remarks about the size of his 'member'! Ooooo, he...well, he goes for a drive! (See 'Twist and Creme' reference above.)

He's about 105 lbs, soaking wet, with pencil thin arms and elaborately blow-dried-and-feathered shoulder length hair, but we are supposed to accept that he's some kind of menacing James Dean stand-in. And he is, in fact, almost infinitely annoying. But he (the character that is) wouldn't last 10 minutes at my old junior high school (it was on the 'wrong side of the tracks' in a town of 60,000 people.)

The rest of the cast is OK. The other four mall punks are natural and at ease in front of the camera. Frank Dietz manages to hold his own in his scenes with Adam West. A couple of the murders are fairly gruesome. And the blond cutie looks sexy as she 'briskly jogs' away from the zombie in her towel. Some of the other songs on the soundtrack are pretty good, especially the one by Girlschool. Even Jon Mikl Thor is, well, not as bad as he could be, although it's pretty obvious that the project began to overwhelm him and he was forced to get another actor to play the zombie for some scenes. Don't quit your day job, JMT.

An amusing mess. Watch with one dose of alcohol clutched firmly in your mitt and several more readily at hand and you'll have no problem with 'Nightmare'.

I played the hero in this movie, and yet I still live...

[froodle · 7 May 1999]

ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE was my very first movie as an actor. I was chosen to play the hero, Frank Sorrel, a young detective who uncovers the secret of the zombie murders. When I made this picture, I was told it would be a big theatrical release. And I was thrilled to work with my childhood hero, Adam West. But about half-way through production, I began to realize how low-budget this epic was. I was mortified by the final product...that is, until MST3000 turned it from a lousy horror film to a downright hysterical comedy. Thank you, Crow and Tom Servo, for making me proud to be an actor!

I've seen worse. Much worse.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 23 August 2015]

As a boy, Tony Washington witnesses the fatal stabbing of his father after he goes to the rescue of a young black woman, Molly Mokembe, who is being sexually molested by two teenage thugs.

Cut to the present day, and Tony (now played by heavy metal singer Jon Mikl Thor) is a musclebound, long-haired baseball player who, like his father, has no time for hoodlums: when his local grocery store is held up by armed robbers, Tony steps in and saves the day (the Italian shopkeeper is-a so-a grateful, he lets-a Tony have his-a groceries for-a nothing!).

Unfortunately, as Tony crosses the road with his freebies, he is run down and killed by a gang of no-good punks, lead by psycho Jim Batten (played by Shaun Levy, now a successful Hollywood director). When Tony's mother sees her son's lifeless body, she calls for Molly (Manuska Rigaud), who uses her voodoo powers to resurrect Tony from the dead. Armed with his trusty metal baseball bat, shuffling zombie Tony goes looking for revenge.

As I type, Zombie Nightmare is currently sitting at #53 on IMDb's bottom 100 movies (most likely thanks to being featured on MST3K); but while I cannot deny that the film is no classic of the zombie genre, and is sadly lacking in both the gore and nudity one expects from 80s trash (a blonde cutie in her underwear doesn't cut it), neither is it deserving of such contempt. I've seen hundreds of films that are tougher to endure than this one, which at least entertains with its 80s cheesiness and sheer silliness.

Boasting a rocking metal soundtrack courtesy of Motorhead, Girlschool, Thor, Deathmask and Fist (no, I've never heard of the last two bands either), an early performance from Wayne's World babe Tia Carrere (schwing!), Adam 'Batman' West as a police captain with a dark secret, hilariously bad zombie make-up, terrible acting (Manuska's Haitian voodoo routine is a masterclass in over-acting), some really nasty 80s fashion, and a fun finale in a foggy cemetery (smoke machine on overdrive!) that sees West dragged to hell, Zombie Nightmare is definitely worth a go for fans of z-grade horror.

Thor as Zombie!

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 5 June 2021]

Straight out of the suburbs of Montreal, Canada*, Zombie Nightmare was originally written to start black actors but the money people wanted white character names and actors. Yes, that really happened.

After baseball practice, William Washington saves Molly Mekembe from two thugs who kill him. A few years later, a similar fate befalls his son Tony (Jon Mikl Thor!) when he stops a robbery and is then hit by a car driven by Bob, Amy (Tia Carrere), Jim (Shawn Levy, who would go on to direct Big Fat Liar, Cheaper by the Dozen and the Night at the Museum movies), Peter and Susie.

Tony's mother - wearing the same sweater as Pamela Vorhees - brings in Molly, who is now a voodoo priestess, and then uses her son's zombie form to get revenge on the teenagers. As the murders begin, crooked cop Tom Churchman (Adam West) is on the case and man, he likes to shoot things. I guess that corruption and a love of guns are a few of the prerequisites of being a police officer.

Man, the casting for this movie makes me overjoyed. Tony was originally played by bodybuilder Peewee Piemonte, who I assure you is a real person and has been in Barb Wire, My Demon Lover, Under Siege, Weekend at Bernie's II and over three hundred credits for stuntwork. Well, the story is that Piemonte was fired for eating all the craft services and the meals of crew members. Superstar Billy Graham was originally going to play Tony's father, but no one picked hi, up at the airport. Yes, that really happened.

Beyond Thor contributing music from his band and doing the soundtrack under the name Thorestra, Motörhead, Virgin Steele, Girlschool, Fist and Death Mask songs are in this movie. There's also a song by Thor's then-wife and backup singer Rusty "Pantera" Hamilton (note that the cover of the DVD says Pantera, which isn't a lie but isn't the truth).

As for the director and producer of this movie, Jack Bravman, the majority of his film career was in the adult industry, using names like Wizard Glick, J. Angel Martini and Looney Bear.

*Writer John Fasano, who acted in Blood Sisters and painted the poster for Tenement, wanted to set this in his hometown of Port Washington, New York, but they could not get permits.

horrid USA Up All Night Film with some bonuses though!

[ojalafilms · 1/10 · 25 February 2003]

Ever get together with your pals and watch horrible movies while you suck down donuts and cheap beer? Well then this one is for you! Actually this movie really sucks. However there are some inspired moments of suckiness. Such as when the heavy metal oaf with the heart of gold is about to get struck by a car of "mall punks." He stands in the road looking at them and yelling in slow motion until they mow him down! Pretty amusing. The leader of the mall punks is the best part though. Definitely one of the best cheesiest cool badass leaders ever put in a crappy film. There is one hilarious scene in particular where he is arguing with his Mom. So what does this badass gang leader do? He throws a strainer full of wet noodles at his Mom! Watch and laugh. Make sure to get plenty of beer and donuts for this one!

It Was Dreadful, But I Was Never Bored.

[msrosemoonstone · 2/10 · 13 May 2022]

The acting was woeful, the continuity non-existent and the whole budget must have been less than 100 bucks, but I sure did laugh. Although, probably not for reasons the film-makers intended.

If you love bad movies and inept film-making, this is for you. The added bonus is Adam West, who deserved better but is always a welcome sight.

Worth a watch if you don't want to be challenged in any way and need a good chuckle.

Why Batman, Why?!

[zpindus · 1/10 · 8 April 2005]

I'm sorry for the score of 1, but that is as low as it would go. I for one am a HUGE fan of cheesy horror movies, but this one was just a pile of crap. The acting is terrible, the people were terrible, even Batman was terrible. The only thing saving this movie was the fact that it had a good soundtrack. I have seen my share of bad movies, but when I got this one, I realized it was the hugest waste of 3 dollars I had ever spent... ever. The only people who would like this movie is probably morons, and maybe the fat kid from Salute your Shorts. I suggest everyone to stay as far away from this movie as possible. Going to close to this movie could cause dizziness, loss of sleep, boredom, diarrhea, cramps, and possibly death.

George A. Romero's Casey at the Bat

[Oosterhartbabe · 1/10 · 15 October 2005]

A zombie nightmare indeed. But the zombies would be pretty much most of the Canadian actors in the movie, and the nightmare comes from having to view this atrocity.

The plot(such as it is) involves a flashback to a beefy guy saving some Haitian girl in the 60's from some punks(and she just happens to turn out to be a voodoo queen, of course) and getting stabbed to death in the process. He obviously felt less pain than the average viewer. twenty years later, his beefy and girly haired son ambles into the road and stands there waiting for a car full of rich white kids to plow him down. Why he did this, we're never sure. Maybe the steroids had affected his brain and motor skills. Anyhoo, some good Samaritans and an Italian grocer by the name of Peters(huh?), instead of calling an ambulance or checking for a pulse, drag the kid off to his Mom. She, extending the brainlessness, calls for the local voodoo queen to re-animate her kid so that he can shamble off as a zombie and kill everybody who was in the car that struck him. Yeah, that makes sense.

Enter Adam West, on a long downward spiral from his Batman days, playing a cop so unpleasant that he should be working in L.A. He and a skinny kid detective(who looks about nineteen, frankly) are called in for a series of bizarre murders, generally involving a baseball bat(the zombie weapon of choice). There's a Colombo like character who might be the forensics guy, but is definitely annoying. He and the kid detective have some very painful scenes together at the murder scenes. Where's that baseball bat when you need it?

The main white bread 'punk' is a skinny little doofus with hair so Farah Fawcett like that it has to be seen to be believed. It looks like he's actually got hair horns. He thinks he's really cool because he ran someone over, and then later pelted his mother with pasta. His 'innuendos' to a waitress are just laugh out loud funny. When the zombie finally kills him, you feel obliged to let out a loud cheer.

There's a hysterical scene in a gym, where the zombie does in two of the teenagers. He 'drowns' one of them in the hot tub-and the corpse immediately begins to visibly tread water! Then he leisurely ambles after the girl, who apparently had polio in her youth and so can't outrun a really slow dead guy. All the death scenes are pretty funny, including the denouement killing in a cheesy looking graveyard with fake headstones. Some of the music isn't bad, but the rest of this film is pretty much a toxic spill.

'What are you looking at?! Eat your ice cream!!'

[Nightman85 · 1/10 · 4 February 2006]

Teenagers run-down a man in their car, a local voodoo woman turns him into a zombie, and said zombie then seeks revenge against the foolish teenagers.

Cheap, 80's style horror cheese falls flat on every level. The story is unoriginal and has no suspense, the chase sequences are laughably awful. The production values are very low-grade. Much of the movie is a show case for some occasionally decent heavy rock music. You know it's all about the music when the bands take opening credit just after the stars.

The cast, which only has Adam West for a known star, is pretty bad. The characters are generally moronic. The only interesting character is Shawn Levy as a big-haired teen thug (who throws noodles at his mom!), but he makes a rather premature exit from the movie.

A lame entry in the 80's teen horror scene, but it's still not as bad as Rick Sloan's Hobgoblins (1987)!

BOMB out of ****

'Zombie Nightmare' maintains a killer splatting average!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 9/10 · 3 December 2021]

Jack Bravman's fearlessly freaky folly is a marvellously maniacal monster mashing mélange with heroically hot water bottle blasting heavy metal singing Zombie Jon Mikl Thor taking his righteously murderous, Voodoo-inspired, baseball bat bludgeoning revenge on an especially witless gang of Walmart wallowing wastrels, including a future 'Red Witch' Tia Carrere, this morbid morality tale garishly exposes the perfidious pastimes of shiftless, small town skells, hopped-up on Hirsute heavy metal, persistently perpetrating hormone-induced fractious nightclub hi-jinks; these switch-blade stabbing simpletons, being wantonly wasted, inveterate DUI speed freaks fatally cross the line, escalating from tawdry teenage delinquency to grievous vehicular homicide! And not long after these party hearty hedonists have laughingly absconded from their dastardly deed, callously leaving the mangled remains of benign muscle head Tony Washington (Jon Mikl Thor) on the road, manifested malevolently through the occult ministrations of hysterical Voodoo priestess Molly Mokembe (Manuska Rigaud), the once shattered, latterly lifeless corpse of mom-loving, affable meathead Tony deliriously awakens to the thunderous, skeleton-shattering sounds of Motörhead, his devilishly deranged, zombified mind singularly hell-bent on a most gruesomely rendered revenge! Jack Bravman's fabulously skewed 'Zombie Nightmare' is a diabolically demented splatter-movie dream wherein the wilder, psychotronic sensibilities of Ed Wood Jr., and Ray Dennis Steckler are crudely amalgamated, and boisterously given a gnarly 80s heavy metal B-movie make over! A magisterially bad, hilariously mad monster movie freak show, this asinine, Adam West-mugging, terminally trashy nightmare is one I'd happily never awaken from! And lumbering no less disgracefully than Tor Johnson, the pectorially proud protagonist Jon Mikl Thor's eternally lame Zombie avenger is arguably one of trash horror's more memorably heavy hitting heroes, with an ear-splittingly ecstatic score, 'Zombie Nightmare' maintains a killer splatting average, and still dazzlingly delivers a grisly good, balls out, B-Movie hit-and-run!

Hands down, this is my favorite after-school special concerning the dangers of voodoo.

[johnmorghen · 6/10 · 20 January 2003]

In the grand tradition of other resurrected corpse stink-fests from the mid 1980's, such as "THE VIDEO DEAD", "FOREVER EVIL", "I WAS A TEENAGE ZOMBIE", "RAIDERS OF THE LIVING DEAD" and "HARD ROCK ZOMBIES", Gold Gems Ltd. kindly presents "ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE" (a.k.a. "THE LAST VIDEO ON THE SHELF").

After a promising opening credit sequence, featuring the strains of Motorhead's "Ace Of Spades", it seems the film can do no wrong. The overall result is a film that's never as good as it wants to be and ends up falling extremely short of it's early promise. To put it mildly, this ain't exactly "THE LION OF WINTER", but it'll do.

Everyone's favorite steel-bending rock god thespian, Jon Mikl Thor of the aptly-named metal band THOR, plays a dork in a hooded sweatshirt who becomes victim to a hit-and-run by Tia Carrere and Co. His mother calls upon the neighborhood voodoo priestess, played by Manuska Rigaud (think Karen Black and Tina Turner's lovechild on PCP), to resurrect her dead son, so he can wreak revenge on the tire-squealing curlies. One by one, the no-good teenagers meet their end by the hands of the zombified dork in the hooded sweatshirt.

Halfway into the film, Adam West makes a welcome appearance, playing the local police chief who may have something to do with the intricate proceedings. Well, I won't give anything away here! Let's just say, if your name is Ronnie Milsap, you'll never see it coming! Think "THE USUAL SUSPECTS" with Manuska Rigaud. Get the picture?

For those who may ponder Adam West's involvement in such a film, allow me to put it into perspective, how many actors can say they've worked with The Three Stooges AND Jon Mikl Thor? I rest my case.

Thor went on to star in a whole 'nother nightmare, "ROCK 'N' ROLL NIGHTMARE" (a.k.a. "THE EDGE OF HELL" or "Hey, I rented ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE, and when I got home to play it, this tape was inside"). If "ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE" is good, then "ROCK 'N' ROLL NIGHTMARE" is DAMN good... or, maybe not.

I recommend watching both films back to back and then running around naked in a chicken coop, with petroleum jelly on your feet, for three hours. Compare the experiences and get back to me ASAP. Thanks.

Worst Movie Makes for Possibly Best MST3K Episode Ever

[daniel_lalla · 1/10 · 22 March 2008]

This movie is bad...really bad. Did I say just how bad? Bad...This MUST have been a tax write-off for someone. The zombie rock tune at the beginning of the film (as bad as it is) is probably the highlight. A triumph of poorly made Canadian cinema.

Adam West must have been really starved for work when he got involved in this. Growing up in Montreal, the scenes from the West Island were a real hoot. Let's stop for an ice cream at the Twist & Creme and then kill some teenagers.

The plot is ridiculous and the acting is worse. I won't bother with a detailed synopsis. It would be pointless (and unbelievable).

EVERYONE (I'd qualify that by saying maybe everyone aged 30 and older) should watch the MST3K version of this. One memorable line: "Hank Peters...Italian Grocer" (watch and you'll know) A rotten tomato for sure

"Excuse Me Boys, What's Going On Here?!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 12 January 2019]

After witnessing the murder of his father, young Tony Washington grows up into the hulking, musclebound version of himself (Jon Mikl Thor). Meanwhile, a gang of brainless punks are causing trouble. Tony, busily ridding the streets of crime, encounters said ne'er do wells, resulting in his untimely demise.

Thankfully, Tony's mum knows the local voodoo priestess, who dresses up like an eeevil clown and whips up some mumbo jumbo tout de suite! Let the ungodly ineptitude that is ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE begin! Rising from his grave with hard-boiled eggs for eyes, Tony sets out for ultimate vengeance.

A masterwork of hyper-schlock cinema, this movie excels in every category! There are non-actors, acting as though they've just been handed their scripts for the first time. This gives the dialogue that fresh, robotic sound. Lines are delivered in a quasi-human fashion, making us believe that animated mannequins have somehow learned to speak.

The plot proves that scripts can be written "on the fly", during filming, without editing! This forces the various characters to wander about, oblivious to whatever is taking place. The crooks, the cops, the squawking medical examiner, the whole cast!

However, no one outshines Thor as the Frankenstein-in-sweat-clothes hero, who's hair length changes in every scene! A true stroke of genius!

EXTRA POINTS FOR: Adam West as Capt. Tom Churchman. He's rough! He smokes cigars! He's Batman with a mustache!

EXTRA-EXTRA POINTS FOR: The music! Any movie that opens with Ace Of Spades by Motorhead... um, at least has that going for it!...

Pretty Bad

[Uriah43 · 2/10 · 20 September 2013]

When "Tony Washington" (Jon Mikl Thor) is accidentally killed in an auto accident his mother goes to a voodoo priestess named "Molly Mokembe" (Manuska Rigaud) to avenge his death. Molly turns Tony into a zombie and he is given a mission to kill the five teenagers who were joy-riding in the car that night. So much for the plot. Now, initially I figured that with Adam West (as "Captain Tom Churchman") and Tia Carrere ("Amy") in this movie that they would lend some credibility to this picture. And while they did okay, the rest of the cast was awful. Additionally, the action scenes were terrible, the sets looked cheap and the special effects were just plain silly. Likewise, the music of "Motorhead" and the other bands featured in the soundtrack wasn't good enough to radically improve this film either. In short, this film is pretty bad. That said, I have rated it accordingly. Definitely below average.

The title actually says it all...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 15 September 2013]

This was indeed a zombie nightmare! Being a zombie fan, then I basically devour (no pun intended) just about anything with zombies. Usually what is unearthed is bad, which is a shame, because the zombie genre is flooded with releases that are unwatchable and laughable attempts at being movies.

Such was also the case with "Zombie Nightmare". In fact, it was actually so bad that I had to turn it off, and didn't make it through to the end.

The story in the movie is about a group of young kids who accidentally run down young aspiring baseball guy. Without stopping to check if he is alright, the group just speeds off into the night. Griefstruck, the mother of the victim gets help from a voodoo woman, who brings back the dead son from the dead. He returns as an reanimated zombie who sets out to seek revenge on those who killed him.

It was hard to believe that this movie was from 1987, because it just screamed late 70's or early 80's production and movie-making.

The acting in the movie was actually fair enough, though there was nothing impressive to behold here. And I don't got to see Adam West, because I gave up on the movie before he entered the movie (or at least I didn't notice him).

"Zombie Nightmare" is so cheesy, campy and bad that it is bound to give you a zombie nightmare indeed if you manage to stick with it to the very end.

Weak slasher movie, which hides under a Zombie moniker

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 4/10 · 26 December 2007]

And here we have yet another eighties 'zombie' movie, which despite a title that brings to mind illusions of Lucio Fulci-type walking-dead mayhem, it owes a damn site more to slasher flicks such as Friday the 13th and The Prowler et al. Inexplicably, there was a high number of horror attempts during the eighties that incorporated the living dead into their titles, but cinematically delivered stalk and slash plot lines that were prominent since Halloween categorised the genre. Fulci's House by the cemetery was a prime example of a slasher film cloaked under the guise of a Romero style zombie-thon, whilst Zombie Island Massacre, The Dead Pitt and Ruben Galindo's Cementerio del Terror and Ladrones De Tumbas all mixed re-animated corpses with the plot trappings of the slasher craze that swept the eighties.

It opens on a high school baseball field sometime during the 1960s. An amicable coach named Bill Washington is watched playing catch with some youngsters by his wife and son. Also in the stands are a Haitian school girl and two troublesome youngsters who let their intentions be known by plotting a nasty surprise for the African spectator. As the young family head home across the streets of the idyllic neighbourhood, they come across the two hoodlums from earlier attempting to rape the passive Haitian. Bill Washington immediately intervenes, much to his downfall, because whilst his back is turned he is stabbed in the chest by one of the rampant thugs. The screen fades with a shot of the young boy watching his father struggle for life on the cold concrete sidewalk.

Fast forward twenty years and Tony Washington - the child from the prologue - has grown into a helpful and polite young man. Whilst out shopping for his mum's groceries, he underlines his impressive community status by courageously battering two armed thugs that were attempting to rob the local shop keeper. Things takes a turn for the worse for the vigilante, when he is savagely run down and killed by a gang of drunken teenagers in a scene that pre-dates I know what you did last Summer by at least twelve years. The gang of drunkards speed off into the night, showing no remorse for their victim. Despite being visually devastated, Tony's mum decides not to inform the police of the murder and instead she calls upon the favour owed by the Haitian from the pre-credits sequence. Somewhat fortunately (albeit stereotypically) Molly Mokembe is now a voodoo priestess and so with a dust of black magic, Tony Washington rises from the dead to avenge his ruthless murder....

If you were looking for a possible pre-cursor to Kevin Williamson's I know what you did last summer, then look no further than this inexcusably poor mid-eighties entry to the slasher cycle. The plot is familiar to each and all, as the victim of a horrendous accident returns to avenge his death, systematically slaughtering the culprits one by one in gruesome fashion. Although the film never reaches the heights of slasher-classic status, it does boast a few credible benefits that lift it from the irreversible depths of movie obscurity. The soundtrack is awesomely impressive, with songs provided by Motorhead, Girlschool and Thor and I must admit that I was pleasantly shocked as 'The Ace of Spades' confidently adorned the credit sequence. As is the case with so many eighties slasher entries, Zombie Nightmare plays host to one young and fresh-faced 'soon to be superstar'. Yep, you don't need to clean those spectacles; that chubby faced youngster unconvincingly warbling is none other than Tia Carrera, most memorable for her characteristic performances in Wayne's World and True Lies.

Unfortunately, it seems the budget spent on the soundtrack pretty much drained the finances from the rest of the feature, because Zombie Nightmare seems to take an unprecedented slope into mediocrity very quickly. Despite an excellent debut performance from Frank Dietz as the protagonist, the dramatics are really scraping along the lines of putrid slop. Watch out for the hilarious Manuska Rigaud, who seems to believe that 'acting' amounts to squawking her voice like she's constantly suffering from an epileptic fit. Zombie Nightmare is famous for thrash legend Jon Mikl Thor's lengthy cameo in the opening half of the film. Despite proving that rock stars certainly shouldn't walk the path to Hollywood, he also manages to pull off the admirable feat of adjusting his body shape and height unrecognisably post death!

There's no gore or suspense worth mentioning and the whole feature is weakly directed to the excess of point and shoot mediocrity. Originality is a wayward concept in the eyes of Jack Bravman, so basically, what you see is what you get - and you get very little. Zombie Nightmare is far from being the worst slasher movie released during the peak period, but I really could only find very little to recommend. The hulking lone killer proves that this is pure slasher trash and those searching for a dose of zombie gore will be thoroughly disappointed

This may hurt a little.

[seesar · 2/10 · 12 December 2002]

This movie has two redeeming qualities: 1. it was an episode on Mystery Science Theater 3000 2. It has Adam West. Okay so maybe only one good quality. This movie is about a guy dying and coming back to life for revenge. Unfortunately that is the plot (how original?). I've seen worse, but if you want a (as in one singular)laugh rent this movie. You can see a dead man tread water (what fun?). Zombie Nightmare is as painful as having cavities filled without an anesthetic, it hurts but it is tolerable. If you watch this piece of trash cinema enjoy.

Heavy Metal disaster...

[icehole4 · 1/10 · 12 February 2002]

I think the producers of this film thought the film's soundtrack could cover over the stupidity of everything else. While they have a lot of loud heavy metal songs by a lot of the prominent bands of the time, everything else was skimped on and doesn't really work. Adam West chews scenery again, this time as a policeman (shades of William Shatner!) The whole plot is very contrived and pretty stupid. In the end you'll not care about anything.

BAD, yet very funny!!!

[kevhol2000 · 2/10 · 30 July 2002]

Zombie Nightmare is one of those "funny in a bad way" movies that's actually quite endearing. I admit, I'm basing this review on the MST episode. Yet, I beg anyone who loves the show who hasn't seen this episode to see it. This is classic 80's pain, much like what "Angel's Revenge" did for the 70's.

Oh well, where to begin. The funniest moment actually occurs in the first minute of the movie. I won't give it away, yet I will say that its supposed to supply quite a "jolt", but instead is probably one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. I love the use of music in this scene too. Its almost like the makers of this movie seemed to think they were so "cool". Yes, I am a fan of Motorhead!

I guess, the synoposis of this movie is this. Big, heavy metal dude gets killed by punks, then gets turned into a zombie and seeks revenge. That's about it. Adam West may have played Batman, but let's face it, he's a horrible actor. His scenes don't even seem phoned in. He plays such a jerky detective, yet he's strangely distant and disjointed. I think if you had a hypnotized actor doing a role, that actor would have more interest than West has in this movie.

There are also "great" scenes where West's young detective protege thinks that something else is killing the kid's, and a great argument ensues. This is DRAMA!

2/10 movie grade A- MST episode grade

I've not seen this since 1988

[PsychoBeard666 · 10/10 · 3 December 2019]

My review is 100% based on my nostalgia and vague memories of 4 year old me.

The effects are excellent, the chase scenes brilliant and the revenge element was definitely the direct inspiration for Liam Neeson's TAKEN.

Imagine a zombie who does know who you are, so will hunt you, WILL find you... and WILL kill you!

What is it about this film?

[whammy666 · 7/10 · 17 July 2006]

I found this being sold at the video store with no box, I just saw the title and figured it would not hurt to get it, and I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. My expectations were not at all high as I popped in the VHS. Soon, I saw Adam West was in it and thought..."Holy Guacamole Batman, this might be good!" Was it good? No. Did I like it? Somewhat. This film has absolutely no redeeming qualities, bad acting, bad dialog, bad special effects, but there is something about this film. The basic plot is this cool dude dies because some idiots killed him so he comes back as a "zombie" to kill them. Armed with a baseball bat they all get killed in rather comical and unoriginal ways. This is worth a look since it is oh so bad, but oh so good. I find it to be an entertaining bad movie. Check it out!

Comparing it to "I Know What You Did..." is giving this flick...

[Gislef · 2/10 · 15 December 1998]

...WAY too much credit. That's like comparing Toolbox Murders to Psycho. Zombie Nightmare has no redeeming value whatsoever, although it's actually probably a high point of Adam West's career. Scariest moment: watch for the teenage kid getting into the jacuzzi with his saggy, dirty underwear. *brrhh* Calling this movie an ego vehicle for Jon Mikl Thor is factually accurate, but again gives this movie much more credit then it deserves. It'd be lucky to be an ego vehicle for a cockroach, much less any human being. Made slightly watchable by the MST3k treatment, but otherwise avoid at all costs.