THE WALKING DEAD GIRLS!

A brief introduction from Troma’s head honcho Lloyd Kaufman leaves us with no doubt as to the nature of THE WALKING DEAD GIRLS!: a 73-minute documentary looking to into the "phenomena" of stripper zombies ...

Or, as the rather loose definition appears to more accurately be in Tyler Benjamin’s rather rudimentary film, sexy zombies. For the more critical, perhaps you should just make that "female zombies".

The film, though, employs its own definition: "zim-bie: The body of a dead bimbo or stripper given the semblance of life, by a supernatural force, usually for some sexy evil purpose" ...

The opening titles then clue us in further on what to expect. This includes film convention-based interviews with George A Romero, Bruce Campbell, DAY OF THE DEAD co-stars John Amplas and Terry Alexander, Linnea Quigley, THE EVIL DEAD female co-stars Betsy Baker, Ellen Sandweiss and Sarah York, "zombie icon" Boyd banks (a bit player in LAND OF THE DEAD, DIARY OF THE DEAD and the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake) and Lloyd Kaufman.

What follows is a rather silly but good-natured trapping of various genre luminaries at conventions, where they’re initially pressed to discuss the theme of stripper zombies.

First off the block is an amiable Romero who, despite looking somewhat bemused by the questions proffered by his big-titted interviewer – "would you run from a stripper zombie?" – takes it all with a pinch of salt and grins throughout.

The interviewer in this case, pink-haired hottie Luna Moon, asks banal questions about Romero’s career and influences. It’s credit to the man then that he can muster interesting replies, speaking of how NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD evolved from his appreciation of "I Am Legend"’s twisted take on failed revolution, and how the Europeans in particular embraced his vision of zombies.

It doesn’t take long though before Moon has dried up and is resorted to asking what type of car Romero drives. If you’re wandering, he doesn’t own one.

The odd forays into the world of "zombie pin-ups" are interspersed throughout the documentary, the first of which allows us to meet Calendar pin-up Mandy Apple (her real name?). She’s interviewed briefly and we watch her getting made up in green body paint and fake-looking bruises for a typically coy photo-shoot.

Kaufman then returns to the screen for a more candid interview with Benjamin. This is more like it: Benjamin chats easily with the Troma president about his background and, despite Kaufman’s penchant to slip regularly into quips, this makes for interesting stuff.

We also get treated to footage from 2010’s ZombieCon festival (where the majority of these chats were staged) – including some enjoyable footage of Campbell’s stand-up-style stage act – which leads us into more from the aesthetically delightful, but rather uninspiring, Luna Moon: "how does it feel to be legends?" she asks the EVIL DEAD ladies, along with several other questions they’ve doubtless been asked a million times before.

Benjamin keeps returning to the screen to speak to the camera on occasion, grounding the film in semi-seriousness with a more authorative take on the extent to which zombies have been glamorised in modern society (even taking in the likes of ‘Glee’ along the way).

The interviews with stars are entry-level stuff because of the questions being asked, but it’s always fun to see the likes of Amplas, Romero, Quigley and especially Campbell being their affable selves for the camera.

I did miss the lack of clips or even stills from the films being discussed – especially as, the dips into the calendar shoots aside, this ends up being a delve (albeit a shallow one) into the history of the zombie film, from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD onwards. Also, direction-wise there’s no denying that Benjamin’s film is rather static in its approach: despite Moon’s marvellous mammaries, there’s not much going on visually.

THE WALKING DEAD GIRLS! is presented in 16x9 widescreen and looks okay but not great in a colourful but occasionally dark and soft transfer. Shot on digital, the flaws in the presentation don’t prove to be too much of a distraction for this manner of fare.

Audio-wise, the 2.0 English track is adequate throughout.

Independent Media Distribution/Cheezy Flicks’ region free DVD opens to a static menu with the catchy anthemic theme tune’s refrain of "we will eat your brains". A static scene-selection menu allows access to the main feature via 17 chapters.

The only extras on the disc are trailers for PENANCE and I AM VIRGIN.

THE WALKING DEAD GIRLS! may, to the cynical, appear to be nothing more than a series of opportunistic interviews conducted at a zombie convention. But the interviewees are what make it just about worthwhile.

This release from Cheezy Flicks is okay at best.

Review by Stuart Willis