Go John! John Saxon! Go John! We love you! John Saxon: star AND director of this surprisingly inventive and ambitious horror gem that somewhat feels like a successful crossover between cheesy American 80's horror and gore-drenched Italian cult. Saxon perfectly found the middle path between these two styles because he's familiar with both (the titles on his resume go from "Blood Beach" to "Cannibal Apocalypse") and he delivers a hugely enjoyable little film that deserves more attention from genre fans, if you ask me. Granted, it's quite a bizarre film and the first 30 minutes nearly make you fear you purchased an ordinary 80's action flick with dire car-chases and implausible mafia shootouts. But this opening is just a very extended introduction of the main character, Derek. He's a heroic Vietnam veteran, framed for murder by his mafia-employer and sent to the death row of a nasty prison. And his situation only gets worse, since this prison is chosen by the government as a place to experiment with new and highly dangerous types of drugs. The guinea pigs rapidly turn into ravenous zombies but the army puts the entire building under quarantine, so even the prisoners and guards that aren't infected can't escape! John Saxon rewarded himself with the role of the evil colonel who runs the whole operation. The script of "Zombie Death House" is often quite messy and incoherent, but it's full of action and ingenious little surprises that make you forget all the flaws easily. I know the zombies aren't actual "zombies". They're more like infected persons as in "Nightmare City" or "Hell of the Living Dead" but seriously who cares? Their flesh is rotting, they hunt and kill humans and they're damn difficult to destroy
that's good enough for me! The prison setting is excellent, with secret tunnels and freaky execution chambers all over the place, the make-up effects are effectively gruesome and the story even foresees a few genuine shock-moments (the rape-scene!!). Maybe my opinion shouldn't be trusted, since I'm John Saxon's greatest fan, but horror fans certainly won't regret giving this 80's gem a chance.
Review of Death House
