A young militia is all that stands between a coming dead horde and their rural town decimated by the fracking industry.
Harrison Smith has said he would never do a zombie film, that zombies are "the NASCAR of horror". His position on avoiding the zombie subgenre was probably wise, as the market is flooded and trying to break through is not easy. As for what he meant by "the NASCAR of horror" is a bit more unclear. Clearly it is meant as a derogatory comment, but NASCAR does happen to be the second-most-watched sport in America, so maybe it is not the insult it first seems.
Where zombie films work best, when not just being an opportunity for gratuitous gore, are when they have a sense of satire. The classic example is Romero's "Dawn of the Dead". Does this film have a political message? There seems to be a strong subplot with the fracking mines, but it never quite comes to a head... the punch is pulled.
Director Harrison Smith brings in his regular Felissa Rose, this time casting her as a cult member who speaks to God. This is a strong role, and Smith should be commended for bringing Rose back to acting and the horror genre. We also get Billy Zane, the director's best catch since Cloris Leachman. In fact, probably his best one yet.
One positive about "Zombie Killers" is how it is aware of its own existence in zombie films, with mention of "those old zombie movies", though direct references tend to be few. One of the most obvious is actually to "They Live", which is not a zombie film at all. But we are made clear that this is our world, not some bizarre film world where the living dead are a complete shock to those around them.
The film is decent, and visually very well done, but suffers some obvious problems. The biggest, again, is the uphill fight of being in the zombie subgenre. Although better than the average zombie film, it still carries the stigma. There is also the unfortunate situation with the title. "Zombie Killers" was already taken, which is probably why the subtitle "Elephant's Graveyard" was tacked on. But this presents confusion: is it a sequel? No. Is it in Africa? No. The title makes the casual video store customer wary.
