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Directed by Kevin Hamedani. Starring Janette Armand, Doug Fahl, Cooper Hopkins. 89mins, USA.

The film opens on the island town of Port Gamble with a blind resident discovering a rotting zombie washed up in the sand.

Frida is a young Iranian-American woman who has returned to her small and rather small-minded hometown of Port Gamble after dropping out of university. On her return she bumps into her neighbours, Judy, Joe and their son Brian, who refer to her as an Iraqi, much to Frida's annoyance. Her father Ali is frustrated with his daughter, as he doesn’t think she is patriotic enough to her Iranian roots and is not impressed with her white boyfriend Derek.

Meanwhile Tom, a local man who moved away to the city, returns with his gay lover, Lance, to tell his mother he is gay. As they are having dinner with her though things take a turn for the worse and just as Tom is making his announcement his mother, now a slightly worrying colour and foaming at the mouth, suddenly attacks him. It soon becomes clear that she has turned into a zombie. The zombies are done in traditional Romero style; green and slow moving!

Frida has sneaked off with Derek and the two are in his car when another resident who has turned attacks them. Derek has his face literally ripped off and eaten by the zombie (an unexpectedly impressive and unique moment). Frida manages to escapes as lots more zombies attack the car. She runs back home but is unable to get in as the house is locked up. Her neighbour, Judy, calls to her from her house. As Judy is helping Frida she is bitten by one of the zombies.

Judy’s husband Joe soon becomes convinced that Frida is the enemy and is a terrorist, after watching the news and seeing a symbol that is the same as the one on Frida’s necklace. He decides to torture her until she confesses. It seems the zombie outbreak is a terrorist plot and he wants to test Frida's patriotism. He even nails her foot to the floor! There is lots of political satire in the film with references to Frida’s nationality as Iraqi when she is in fact an Iranian-American. This family kind of represents the ignorance held by some people in the West regarding terrorism.

In the mean time Tom and Lance have ended up in the church with the local teacher Mrs. Hunt, Mayor Burton and the Reverend Haggis who is convinced that they can be turned into ‘straights’ by drugging them and forcing them to watch erotic ‘gay’ videos. The boys manage to escape with Mrs. Hunt and meet with Frida. The foursome are rescued by the army and flown away in a chopper.

Sections of the film are very much like a 1970s/80s horror. The opening scene is especially remnant of this with the blood seeping into the water and the creepy music. Again it feels very much like a Romero film.

There are some goofy bits that seem typically American but also some really funny elements like when Frida is helping a little girl and tells her “everything is going to be ok” and then a big truck plows the girl down!

Overall this was a fairly good zombie film. The make up and effects by Tom Devlin are impressive, especially the gorier bits like the zombie eating Derek’s face and Mayor Burton biting a woman’s jaw off. The acting is predictably cheesy and over the top but the gay couple are actually very entertaining. It isn’t clear whether or not it should be a comedy horror or a serious film, as these elements seem a little disjointed. However Zombies of Mass Destruction is definitely worth a watch. It isn’t Dawn of the Dead but it certainly takes a lot of its influence from it and films like it.

Extras: trailer and making of Zombies of Mass Destruction.

Maria Phillips & Gareth Martin.

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