TheLittleSongbird
No scratch that, Zombie Nation IS the worst zombie movie ever and down there as among the worst movies ever made. As terrible as Vampegeddon, Zombie Night, Vampires vs. Zombies and Dead Men Walking were even they couldn't come close to the unwatchable ineptitude that is this dreck! There are movies that are so bad it's good, but there are movies that leave you reeling in disgust at how intelligence-insulting it is and ones where you struggle to see how anyone can find any good value in it, and Zombie Nation is one of them in the worst possible way. It's one of the most amateurish-looking movies there is, the sets look like someone's basement, some of the lighting is so dark that it's not easy to make out what's going on, the "raccoon-mask-like" make-up for the zombies can't even pass for make-up(likewise with their costumes which look like cheap Halloween hires) and the camera-work and editing are so jumpy and all over the place that it makes your eyes hurt. The audio is recorded so low that it's not always easy to make out the dialogue and when the volume turns up in "changing the volume on the radio" fashion you're not missing much when you're hearing repetitive dirge-like music that sometimes takes away from the mood and dialogue so cheesy it makes the toes curl that makes kindergarten talk seem mature in comparison. The story is barely there, instead it moves along at a snail's pace and is full of random scenes with absolutely no relevance that you have no clue what's meant to be going on and action scenes that look incomplete and reminiscent of playground bullying. The characters, well the few that show any kind of relevance to the story, are obnoxious and without personality, most of the time they're like walk-ons, while the zombies have barely any screen time and when they do appear they look terrible and are the most emotionless and least threatening zombies imaginable. Lommel's direction is typically inept, and the acting gives the impression that nobody wanted to be there which accounts for the uniformly lifeless-as-a-corpse performances. To conclude it is very difficult to put into words how awful Zombie Nation is, I really try to be a subjective person and am very respectful of other people's opinions but given the nature of the movie this is a very rare exception where it is impossible to be subjective. Only to be seen if you are curious as to see whether Lommel is capable of making a halfway-decent movie or whether it would be another one of his atrocities(of the movies I've seen of his so far, all of them have been that). 0/10 Bethany Cox
Dual Bios
Having seen all the bad reviews on this film I decided to go and investigate for myself. Believe me, it really does live up to the hype. So, what was so bad about it? Well...A big part was the selection of filming locations which seem to consist of a warehouse (police station) and a furniture store (I cant figure out why?). These filming locations are so bad that in the police station you can see half painted/wooden boards which represent walls along with pipes and valves everywhere. They even reuse the same desk for different police officers in some scenes! This brings me onto the next part, due to the lack of any production value it made me lose a lot of faith in their ability to portray to the audience any story locations. So therefore, while watching I could never figure out if the furniture store for instance was meant to represent one main location or several, so I ended up completely lost with where the characters were supposed to be!The storyline was absolute garbage. It consists of a deranged cop who murders young women. We continuously flashback to his past where we watch a naked bald man being hit with a stick over and over. The murders he carries out are pretty much in full knowledge of his co-workers who seem intent on keeping it covered up for him due to them all historically being in the same platoon in Iraq? Very poor logic. The 6 women he murders then come back from the dead to get revenge against him looking absolutely nothing like zombies. They are in perfect condition, fully conscious, can talk, drive cars and crack jokes - only they have black makeup round their eyes! They can't seem to make up their minds whether they are undead flesh eaters or actually human?I have absolutely no idea where the image from the front of the DVD case comes from!The acting is just so weak and completely unbelievable pretty much all of the time. None of the characters have any emotion or seem to know what their role entails. I would try and list the worst examples, but looking back they are all about as bad as each other! Don't get me started on the fight scenes or the gore - its almost like its made to be purposely bad. The ending just makes no sense and is absolutely cringe worthy to watch, it literally must have been thrown together at the last minute.I'm hardly covering any of the bad things about this movie, there is so much more but I wouldn't have enough room to list it all. However, the only thing which was mildly acceptable was the end credits music - which was completely out of place in comparison to anything else used.Avoid this like the plague, its not even worth watching for comedy value!!
lovecraft231
These days, one director whose name horror fans have learned to fear is Ulli Lommel. Originally known for directing films like the supernatural slasher flick "The Boogeyman", the Richard Hell (yes, the musician) vehicle "Blank Generation" and the notorious gay themed horror film "The Tenderness of Wolves", Lommel was a director who at one point could at least be said to have not been terrible. How times change then, because his name is now largely synonymous with pretty bad (and all around tasteless in a bad way) accounts of notorious serial killers and murder cases, and the type of unwatchable, oftentimes lazy low budget crap that polluted rental shelves in the decade. Case in point: his misleadingly titled movie "Zombie Nation." "Zombie Nation" deals with officer Joe Singer (Günther Ziegler, whose character is supposed to be from Alabama, yet he speaks with a heavy Germanic accent), who likes to pick up loose women, fondle them, and then torture and kill them. Why? Well, like so many cinematic psychopaths in low budget garbage like this, he had a really bad childhood with a minister dad (David Hess, in a rather worthless cameo) and an abusive mom that has turned him into a religious zealot/killer. Well, one woman knows that others are disappearing, so she has herself protected by a voodoo curse in case he gets her. The next thing you know, she and a few others come back from the dead for revenge.I don't have a problem with the cheap production values (apparently, houses and police stations are in abandoned furniture stores and boiler rooms.) A lot of really low budget exploitation movies were able to take their obvious limitations and still come up with something entertaining. The problem though, is that "Zombie Nation" is really, really bad horror/exploitation garbage. The kind that makes you feel like you've wasted an hour and a half of your life you will never get back. The kind that makes you incredibly mad when it's over. So, what makes it so bad? For one thing, this movie has no energy to it whatsoever. Pretty much everything about this-from the dialog to the constant flashbacks to the violence has all the verve and spirit of a man on downers. This movie can't even make a dumb redneck getting his penis torn off and eaten interesting. Then there's the aforementioned flashback scenes, which are handled with all the finesse of an epileptic person holding a food tray. The flashbacks themselves just show up from time to time, and don't offer anything worthy of note other than they are some of the clumsiest attempts at adding back story I've ever seen. Don't even get me started on the "Fight Club" flashback. Also, I know the director (who has a horrible acting role as a therapist who constantly asks "Is it safe?") was working with a budget, but come on, this police station can't even afford things like computers or radios? Then there's the zombies themselves. While one of them wonders if there are "millions more like us", this isn't really a zombie nation. Apparently, a zombie nation or whatever only needs five zombies. Also, in Ulli Lommel's world, all you need to look like a zombie is some white make-up, a little blood here and there, and enough eyeshadow to make them look like you have raccoon eyes. These thing's not only don't look like zombies (they don't even show any signs of decay), but they don't act like zombies either. I'd forgive this if the intention was to try something different to subvert the expected behavior of the walking dead, but this just reeks of laziness. These zombie girls talk, drive cars, flirt, wear sunglasses, and do so many other things that they did when they were alive. This barely even counts as a zombie movie, as it's more of yet another "killer with mommy issues" movie. Oh, and what's with the annoying Euro-Dance music that plays whenever the girls go on the attack? I hated everything about this movie, and I didn't give a s#!t about anyone or anything in it either. As a matter of fact, you can tell nobody involved gave a s#!t about what they were doing, and there is nothing worse than lazy exploitation. If you, like me, managed to sit through this whole thing, then congratulations, you are just as p!$$ed off as I am. Look, I know Lionsgate and other studios realize that there is an undemanding audience to cater to, but come on, this is bad even by terrible Direct to DVD standards. Seriously, the people who released this crap should feel ashamed of themselves.I could complain more and more, but yeah, there is no reason to see this. I can't see it appealing even to the bad movie mavens of the world.
