Zombies of Mass Destruction review (Blu-ray) ★★

The makers of Zombies of Mass Destruction have cleverly tried to mix the classic horror tropes of the zombie film with topical political comment and satire. Sadly, although their hearts are in the right place, it doesn't quite gel.

Life is all sweet and rosy in Port Gamble, a conservative little US island town, until a toxic, rotting corpse washes up on one of its beaches. The corpse springs to life and attacks a passer-by, who then attacks another, and so on until the local community is overrun with flesh eating zombies. But what is the cause? Has the zombie virus been unleashed by a Muslim terrorist? Battling the mindless hordes are three "heroes" – a gay couple, and an Iranian/American college dropout. Adding to their troubles, they also have to tackle homophobia and xenophobia, making it a very long night with the living dead.

There are some nice ideas on offer here, along with buckets of blood and gore, but there's nothing terribly fresh or original. The zombie film as social satire has been done before, and no one has yet to do it better than George Romero. Zombies of Mass Destruction is an interesting enough diversion, but it lacks the subtlety and the laughs to make it memorable.