It doesn't feel right stomping all over a film that probably cost less to make than it does to buy a meal deal at Tesco, but I'm going to do it anyway: Witchdoctor (all one word) of the Livingdead (all one word) is just too unintentionally funny not to mock.
The plot for this crazy Nigerian horror sees a wicked witchdoctor punishing locals for abandoning the religion of the forest: he transforms into a goat to eat their crops, sends a rubber cobra to kill, and in the finalé, raises an army of zombies to attack villagers who have barricaded themselves inside the local church (a ramshackle wooden building that looks like it would collapse in a strong breeze, but somehow withstands the pounding of the undead).
If you've never seen a low-budget African film before then you're in for a treat: diabolical acting with English dialogue delivered in a heavy accent, amateurish direction with lousy picture quality, editing that feels like it ha been done with a machete, atrocious sound quality with inappropriate use of library music and sound effects-they take bad movies to a whole new level.
This film starts as it means to go on, with a hilarious attack on a taxi driver by a group of wholly unconvincing zombies, whose 'acting' needs to be seen to be believed. Director Charles Abi Enonchong ups the ante with his next showstopper, in which the rubber cobra disappears between a woman's legs while she squats to take a pee, the reptile eventually emerging from her mouth. The unintentional hilarity keeps on coming with the prolonged ringing of a cowbell (every film needs more cowbell!), zombies wielding plastic Halloween props, gunfire that sounds like a Star Wars laser blaster (with ricochet sound effects despite there being nothing for the bullets to bounce off), a man in a shiny purple and green tracksuit, and a sun-baked scene supposedly set at midnight. All of this is accompanied by incongruous blasts of music that start abruptly and stop just as suddenly.
Witchdoctor of the Livingdead is a constant source of amusement thanks to its technical incompetence in all departments, and is made all the more entertaining by the sheer enthusiasm of all involved; however, this being Africa, where life is cheap but special effects are clearly too expensive, a grisly scene involving the killing of a goat is all too real and may upset some viewers.
The plot for this crazy Nigerian horror sees a wicked witchdoctor punishing locals for abandoning the religion of the forest: he transforms into a goat to eat their crops, sends a rubber cobra to kill, and in the finalé, raises an army of zombies to attack villagers who have barricaded themselves inside the local church (a ramshackle wooden building that looks like it would collapse in a strong breeze, but somehow withstands the pounding of the undead).
If you've never seen a low-budget African film before then you're in for a treat: diabolical acting with English dialogue delivered in a heavy accent, amateurish direction with lousy picture quality, editing that feels like it ha been done with a machete, atrocious sound quality with inappropriate use of library music and sound effects-they take bad movies to a whole new level.
This film starts as it means to go on, with a hilarious attack on a taxi driver by a group of wholly unconvincing zombies, whose 'acting' needs to be seen to be believed. Director Charles Abi Enonchong ups the ante with his next showstopper, in which the rubber cobra disappears between a woman's legs while she squats to take a pee, the reptile eventually emerging from her mouth. The unintentional hilarity keeps on coming with the prolonged ringing of a cowbell (every film needs more cowbell!), zombies wielding plastic Halloween props, gunfire that sounds like a Star Wars laser blaster (with ricochet sound effects despite there being nothing for the bullets to bounce off), a man in a shiny purple and green tracksuit, and a sun-baked scene supposedly set at midnight. All of this is accompanied by incongruous blasts of music that start abruptly and stop just as suddenly.
Witchdoctor of the Livingdead is a constant source of amusement thanks to its technical incompetence in all departments, and is made all the more entertaining by the sheer enthusiasm of all involved; however, this being Africa, where life is cheap but special effects are clearly too expensive, a grisly scene involving the killing of a goat is all too real and may upset some viewers.
