This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Excellent, smart action film.

Boring

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Prior to watching this movie I was not aware that it had gained most of its notoriety from being banned in Britain. Neither was I aware that it went by several different titles other than "Toxic Zombies". Be that as it may and in all honesty, this is not a good movie. I hate to be so blunt but that's just the way it is. The acting was pretty bad, the script was awful and the zombies didn't look that impressive at all. However, compared to a few other Grade-Z low-budget zombie movies, this one at least makes an effort to overcome its obvious lack of funds and talent to try to produce something worth viewing. It doesn't succeed but at least it tries. Essentially, the movie begins with some DEA officials who decide to spray a heavily forested area with a new chemical called "Dromax" in order to destroy marijuana cultivation. They make this decision without regard for any potential damage this new chemical might cause. As it so happens the chemical powder descends upon the people growing the marijuana and turns them into zombies who attack and kill everybody they come across. So much for the plot. But having said all of that, what I liked about this film was that the director (Charles McCrann) put in an honest effort and tried to make a good zombie movie rather than cop out and try to deliberately make a film that's "so bad it's good" like several other directors have done. Of course, those specific movies weren't that "good" at all. They were just plain awful. And while this one wasn't good either it's at least better than those just mentioned. For that I applaud the effort.

I'll admit to having a soft spot for TOXIC ZOMBIES, as it will always be known to me. The film has a legacy behind it that's somewhat bigger than the final results. Notorious for being one of the "Video Nasty" titles banned in Britain during a public outcry over gory, sexually suggestive horror movie videos. Its actually one of the last holdouts which hasn't gotten what would be a highly lucrative DVD revival, and there's a tragic, creepy reason for it.The premise is basic enough to be easily understood on a sort of Urban Legend sort of level: Dumb hippies camping up in the sticks for a summer growing season are waiting to harvest $2 million dollars worth of dope when a team of federal narcotics agents stumble upon their bivouac. They shoot the only good looking woman willing to bare her breasts for the camera and are promptly slaughtered for their efforts by the hippies, who aren't all peace & love after all. After the agents are reported missing cynical federal drug officers decide to dust the crop of weed with an experimental defoliant known to have toxic side effects. I actually remember stories about weed being dusted by the government with paraquat that would make you gag blood when I was a teenage troublemaker, and always wondered if this movie was a source of that urban myth.So the feds hire a down on his luck loser to do it, planning to off him afterward to cover it all up. The hippies get exposed to the defoliant and mutate into ravenous, bloodthirsty zombie type maniacs. They go on a rampage murdering and partially devouring anyone they come upon and the film does a good job of trotting a regular supply of fresh victims onto the location sets. Meanwhile, the hero (writer/director/star Charles McCrann) and his girlfriend happen upon a young girl and her mentally handicapped brother as they wander through the woods looking for frogs or whatever. The four flee the toxic zombies and take up with a survivalist hermit living in the woods who must have been Ted Kazinski's next door neighbor (even though the film was made in Pennsylvania). They fight a losing battle against the toxic zombies & find themselves on the run again, only to come face to face with the scurrilous drug agents, who plan to murder everybody and cover up the event. All we need is that cigarette guy from the X-Files and we'd have a nice little modern day post Vietnam era paranoia parable here.That's the movie in a nutshell. What works are the zombie attacks and the low budget middle of nowhere locations that were chosen. There's also a decent pulsating electronic musical score that suggest somebody had seen a couple of Lucio Fulci movies -- And it turns out, director/star Chuck McCrann was indeed a horror movie buff and sort of made this on his own with some friends & business contacts, one of whom was George A. Romero actor John Amplas, himself a native Pennsylvanian known to work on risky, low budget projects.There's certainly a "home movie" sort of quality to the proceedings, which I say works in the movie's favor. Mr. McCrann was apparently something of a financial entrepreneur and likely raised the funds for the project himself, giving the film a nice independent/regional edge to it. There are no big stars, the zombie effects and gore makeup are effective yet minimal, and the biggest bill for the project was probably the lab fee for the print. Most of the actors are non-professionals, it was likely filmed on public land with a modest crew, and was indeed apparently so independent of a production that there wasn't anyone to stick up for it when British authorities outright banned the film in or around 1984. Its legend as a barf-bagger epic banned by assorted heads of state grew far out of proportion to anything the movie actually delivers, resulting in some of the confusion amongst the ranks of my fellow reviewers here.Today the film exists in a sort of limbo. Not public domain but the legal rights to the film are probably undetermined since they likely remained with Mr. McCrann, who it turns out was one of the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, which is where his offices were located. Until the legalities are sorted out the film will remain slipped through the cracks and overlooked, with only its bizarre legacy to recommend it. The only DVD versions kicking around today are sourced from old home video releases. There's an R rated North American DVD and an unrated print from Japan that shows the complete 89 minute assembly rejected by the MPAA.One offbeat tangent of intrigue here is that the theme of government conspiracy and indifference to public well-being runs through TOXIC ZOMBIES right up to a paranoid survivalist hoarding guns & MREs up in his cabin. Of course its just a coincidence but it adds to the film's aura of seediness and cynicism. I actually kind of like it too. I adore low budget regional horror and this is probably one of the pinnacle efforts. It deserves to be resurrected and restored, both as a legacy to McCrann's vision and a great object lesson on how to make a cheap, sleazy, endearing little horror movie for peanuts.6/10

Bloodeaters, aka, Toxic Zombies and Forest of Fear, is one of a handful of films with the dubious honor of being on the Video Nasty list. Now, I'm a huge fan of the Nasties and whenever one becomes available on DVD or online, I watch it. Some are a little more deserving of their reputation than others.This film is not deserving of being in the same notorious company as films like Absurd, Anthropophagus, or Flesh for Frankenstein. Toxic Zombies(the title I watched) is more like Don't Go in the Woods....Alone!, but maybe even a little less bloody. A lot of what you see is the after-effects of a zombie hippie attack, such as some strewn about flesh or internal organs. You don't see much in the way of on screen carnage as it happens. Although, you will see a hand chopped off, but that ain't much.The basic story of this film, and yes, it's pretty basic, is that the evil government decides to ruin a fun time for some hippies by spraying their hidden pot crop with an experimental crop poison. Yes, this idea has been done before and better. Anyway, some of the hippies get the dust on them and turn into zombies. To their credit, they take a cue from Burial Ground--Nights of Terror and utilize weapons and even torches! That's pretty much the plot, with some dummies running around trying to avoid being killed and partially eaten. The acting is non-existent, but I was somehow able to get over that. I was disappointed by the level of gore(aren't I always?). The musical score was, by and large, totally inappropriate for the action, although occasionally it was creepy. Often times, it sounded like a comedy score.Also, the director was killed in the 9/11 attacks, if you didn't know. That might actually give the movie more fame than being on the Nasties list. This film is not nasty, it's silly. But, that doesn't mean you won't be entertained.

And to think, I was actually looking forward to seeing this film! Forest of Fear is a Video Nasty zombie flick, and if that's not enough to put you off; the fact that it's really boring might. The plot looks like it might give way to a fun little flick, as it follows the idea of a field full of weed being sprayed by chemicals, which turn everyone who smokes it into zombies. However, the film can't capitalise on this plot base; I'm not sure if it was because of the budget constraints, or merely a lack of talent on the writer's part, but most of the film is made up of tedious sequences; and even the parts where the zombies get to munch on human flesh aren't up to much. I've got no idea why this film was banned, as while there are gore sequences in the film; none of them are particularly gruesome, and I reckon that whoever made up the actual 'Video Nasty' list decided to take this film out of circulation because it's a zombie film. Not that I particularly have a problem with a ban on this movie; it's not worth seeing anyway.Despite being rubbish, however, Forest of Fear marks a personal achievement for Charles McCrann. McCrann, apparently a movie buff, has credits on this movie for acting, directing, editing, producing and writing - and that's no small feat, even for a movie of this low calibre. However, despite McCrann's personal achievement; Forest of Fear is a zombie movie of the lowest order. Movies like Dawn of the Dead took the idea of zombies and moulded it around a substantial social commentary, and later films such as The Evil Dead worked in spite of a low budget thanks to a constant stream of entertainment; Forest of Fear lacks both intelligence and interest, and it very much just another zombie movie. Ironically, had the film have been Italian; I may have been more forgiving given all the glorious trash that they've given the world of cult cinema, but unfortunately; this is just a really bad film and unless you're planning to see everything on the Video Nasty list (like me) - I can't recommend going out of your way to find this.