FleshEater (1988)

 

 

Twenty years after George Romero made history with the release of Night of the Living Dead FleshEater was released.  While not being a direct sequel it certainly has it's shambling feet firmly placed in the Romero zombie universe.  FleshEaster stars S. William Hinzman as the titular character but if you remember Night, he is the first zombie we are introduced to in the cemetery.  The famous line "They're coming to get you Barbara.", is in direct reference to Hinzman as he approaches Johnny and Barbara.  Thus beginning the new form of zombie before they were even called zombies.  Hinzman is the one responsible for FleshEater as he stars, writes, directs, produces, and hell, yeah let's add in edits the film.  Most of the rest of the cast is one and done when it comes to acting in films.  The few exceptions being Rik Billock (Dawn of the Dead, The Dark Half, and Monkey Shines) as Farmer Ned and Michael Gornick (Dawn of the Dead and Martin) as Mad Mike the DJ we hear talking. 

 

Also featured as a little girl dressed like an angel for Halloween (the film takes place on Halloween) is Hizman's granddaughter Heidi who has appeared in a few other films with her grandfather including The Majorettes and Children of the Living Dead.  This one definitely has a small Pennsylvania town feel to it even twenty years after the original.  Not only is Hinzman playing a zombie once again here but it is the same zombie or at least I think it is the same zombie.  He has been entombed in a grave and then sealed with a warning to not open the grave or dare unleashing hell on earth.  There is some sort of an attempt to connect a satanic cult with the zombies but I'm not sure that's ever fully explained or sussed out.  Of course the grave is opened and in no time he wakes up and goes on a killing spree.  Not only killing but also turning a bunch of people into zombies as well.  In the end what we have is just another less than average gore fest (it is pretty bloody and chunky as well) with some really bad actors.  There's a reason most of them were one and done.      

 

 The story follows along on the same premise as the original with the one exception that the ghouls are called zombies this time.  The makeup and special effects are OK with a few seconds of some less than impressive shots of heads exploding thanks to well aimed shot gun blasts.  At one point in the film the local authorities burn down a barn where some of the dead are expected to be holed up causing one film reviewer to describe the movie as a huge waste of a good barn.  Ouch!  Not much of an improvement for me over the original and seeing as how this one isn't as important historically I don't really feel much of a difference for it.  I gave the original Night of the Living Dead two and a half out of five and I will give this the same.  Two and a half purple shotgun shells out of five.  Since I added a gif above, which I think is the first time I have placed a gif on the old blog, there's an extra picture for this post.  Perhaps I have to rethink my score as this is a historic post of The Man Hole with the first gif... nah we're good.  Enjoy the extra pic.    

 

 

 This isn't the only film I have planned for today which is a good thing because I would hate to end the month on a down note.  More to come.  Happy Halloween!!