With Zombeak, writer/director Sam Drog has created a bona fide first in the horror genre, a zombie chicken movie (this project was shot before Troma’s Poultrygeist).
The film begins as Melissa is abducted from the back of the Cooters (LOL) Diner where she works. She is taken to a house where a bunch of wannabe Satanists reveals that they are about to sacrifice her. Help soon shows up in the form of Max, her boss, Bobby Ray, her dim-wit mechanic lover and his big brother, policeman Fasmagger. Chaos ensues as the ritual goes awry and the sacrificial chicken comes back to life turning anyone it bites into a satanic zombie.
The film is genuinely enjoyable and funny, with good performances from a largely unknown cast except for Daryl Wilcher who played Riff in Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland. Wilcher and Tracy Yarkoni are particularly enjoyable in their respective roles of Leviathan and Vascara but everyone runs wild with the material creating an entirely believable (yet completely absurd) scenario.
Zombeak also looks great thanks to simple yet effective set design, and also boasts decent visual effects considering its small budget.
On the downside, the film is very short at just over an hour, it has some pacing issues (all the action seems to occur within the last 20 minutes) and the heroes aren’t as likeable as the villains.
OVERALL SUMMARY
In the end, Zombeak is a prime example of a small film which has benefited greatly from a hardworking cast and crew, as it looks impressive and is more importantly the funniest thing I’ve seen in a good while in the genre. Let’s hope that the promise of a Zombeak 2 becomes a reality sooner rather than later.
