Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Curse of the Screaming Dead (1982)

aka Curse of the Cannibal Confederate Soldiers

Six friends head to the woods for a weekend of camping and hunting.  After hearing noises in the woods, they discover the ruins of an old church and a graveyard.  Inside the church they find an old box which contains diaries and a Confederate flag.

Sarah thinks they should steal the flag because it might be valuable.  Most of the others argue that they shouldn't take something that doesn't belong to them.  Idiot Mel decides to steal the diaries which causes zombies to rise out of the ground and seek revenge on all of them.

The group gets lost in the woods, the police show up, zombies do some chompin' and there's tons of padding to round out the film.  Of particular note is the footage of zombies rising out of the ground which is repeated.

This is difficult to watch as it's not good on so many levels.  Sometimes the film looks washed out while other times it has deeper colors.  Not sure if this is the print or the film stock.  The police chiefs close ups are in the dark, but in the far shots the sky is light.  There are rotting zombies with clean teeth and pink gums.

None of the characters are particularly likable and the acting won't win any awards.  The worst are Sarah, a haughty blond who reads her lines like she's in a 1940s comedy, and Kyomi, a whiny blind girl who acts like she's six and cries when she hears bells.  Why they brought a blind girl on a hunting trip is inexplicable.

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