Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things
Director: Bob Clark
Year Released: 1972
Rating: 1.0
A theatrical troupe, with hammy Alan (Alan Ormsby) as their "leader," sail to an island filled with graves where the two caretakers met horrible ends (the first went insane, the second one committed suicide) in order to dig up bodies and perform dark rituals ... and then the corpses come to life and start chomping away. For a Night of the Living Dead rip-off it sure is belabored - and the characters are all quite unlikeable - so when the zombies do show up in the last act (along with some oddball sound effects) it does become a little bit of cheesy fun (with makeup and masks by Ormsby) that's naturally drawn in a cult audience. Back in the old video store days, I used to see the VHS box for this and noticed the "Weird!" quote by Leonard Maltin on the cover ... except it should be noted Maltin and his team did not use an exclamation mark in the actual capsule. Also: who taught the undead how to operate a boat? Does Charon have a side-hustle?