-Grindhouse Fest is the special section in Celluloid Dimension where you can discover all the goodies…and baddies from the golden age of exploitation cinema. Have fun!
Directed by Charles McCrann
Written by Charles McCrann
Starring:
- Charles McCrann as Tom Cole (credited as Charles Austin)
- Beverly Shapiro as Polly Cole
- Dennis Helfend as Hermit
- Kevin Hanlon as Jimmy
- Judith Brown as Amy (credited as Judy Brown)
Rating: 
At times the homespun aesthetics of this clunky regional zombie flick look so apt for the lo-fi milieu that it manages to convey the excitement of budget-constrained moviemaking. The challenges that come with it and how to deal with them on the spur of the moment. That’s the infectious appeal of this pioneering redneck zombie genre shocker; hastily crafted and so nugatory that at odd turns its slipshod execution can be mistaken for the ugliness of a SOV-ish execution. But its 16mm celluloid roughness captures with joyous ardor the moronic story of pot growers being sprayed with a toxic herbicide having zombified consequences on them, and with this alone it turns its shortcomings into glorious DIY bravura. Charles McCrann directed, wrote, produced and starred in this slice of zombie grindhouse while he was on sabbatical, and the feeling that oozes from watching his impassioned work is nothing less than the exhilaration of making movies purely for the sheer love of it; there’s plenty of heart and verve in his filmmaking, what is lacking is shape and technique to bring his vision to fruition. But who gives a damn? The gory craftsmanship dazzles amidst all the lousy acting and inoperative lighting – for the most part the filmmakers handle the natural daylighting dreadfully. In the end all the randomness of its technical squalor conjures up the dichotomous entertainment of the appalling and the superb. Maybe not quite so bad that it’s good, but so blithely flawed that it’s accidentally diverting. It moves slowly and fleshes nothing out, but it has the unprofessional naiveté that stimulates creativity just enough to lend maturity to an exploitation entertainment.
