Zombie Nightmare had a release date of March 7, 1988. For a modest production with a simple and cliché plot, it was remembered for many reasons. Probably the main reason it was remembered was for being riffed as a popular episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 that was premiered as part of the Turkey Day Marathon on Comedy Central on November 24, 1994. It was also later riffed by the Riffrax crew on May 24, 2021. It was also known as a post Batman role for Adam West, where he played the bad guy. It was also part of body builder/rocker Jon Mikl Thor's filmography, 2nd film role (not counting tv) of actress/singer Tia Carrere, and early role, as the character who famously threw spaghetti at his mother, of future Night at the Museum franchise/Stranger Things/Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy. The CanCon movie was also remembered for its rocking soundtrack that featured artists such as Motorhead, Girlschool, Fist, Virgin Steele, Thor, Death Mask, Battalion, Knighthawk, and The Things. ("Zombie Nightmare" Movie Event)
I'm back from vacation, so time to finally finish this blanket by proceeding with MST3Knitathon, my attempt to finish all my knitting projects while watching the fan-voted top 100 episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in reverse order from bottom to top. Today's episode:
A list of the Top 100 Episodes of MST3K was compiled based on a survey taken of backers of the Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 campa
60. Episode 604 Zombie Nightmare
Content warnings: attempted sexual assault in film; inaccurate and insensitive portrayals of voodoo in film and sketches
Summary: While walking home from a community baseball game that he led, an unusually large man intervenes in the attempted rape of a young Haitian woman - and after winning the fight, is stabbed in the back by the fleeing assailants while he checks on the victim. His wife and young son helplessly watch him die.
Years later, his son Tony has grown to be just like his father: large, strong, loving baseball, and protecting the neighborhood by stopping robberies in his local convenience store. But none of that saves him from being killed in a hit-and-run by a gang of reckless driving teens. At the request of his grieving mother, the victim of the attempted rape - who has now become a voodoo priestess - raises Tony as a zombie to avenge himself on his killers. A tired Adam West turns in a barely-there performance as the corrupt police chief who covers up the murders of teenagers with baseball bats as drug related suicides out of sheer lazy disinclination to have to hunt for a serial killer. But in a third act twist, he turns out to be one of the would-be rapists from long ago, and when his co-assailant (and the teen driver's father) also turns up murdered, he tracks his former victim to the graveyard from which she raises the zombie and plans to kill both her and the eager young police officer who's been trying to actually solve the crime to cover his tracks. Unable to raise the zombie again because he has killed the last teen from the car (note: played by Tia Carrere) and his revenge is complete, the voodoo priestess performs a chant that will raise her as a zombie, and when Adam West shoots her, her zombified form drags him through a portal to hell as the horrified rookie cop looks on.
MST3K lore or notable moments: Because of this episode, Adam West hosted the Turkey Day '94 marathon where it premiered, making him something of a friend of the show. Hi, Adam West!
What do I think about its place on the list? OK, so the riff is very good, and body-builder/actor Jon Mikl Thor who plays Tony the zombie was also the front man of a heavy metal band and he designed the soundtrack, so if you're into 80s metal, the soundtrack is apparently very good. One of my favorite podcasts, It's Just A Show, about Mystery Science Theater 3000 (recommended!) has a high level of appreciation for this episode. But unfortunately, I just don't see it. I think it might be that I'm the wrong age. I was born right in the mid-80s, which makes me just a little too young to feel nostalgia for the time period (I don't remember it well enough), but just barely old enough that the 80s don't have that fun period flavor of cultural moments from before I was born. So I tend to find bad 80s movies pretty charmless by default unless they're doing something else that's endearing (see my thoughts on Robot Holocaust), and this particular film is just giving me nothing. Even the presence of Adam West doesn't help as, knowing how great he can be, watching him turn in a performance as bad and boring as everyone else in this movie is just kind of a bummer. (Adam from It's Just A Show linked above theorized that there was a period after the sixties Batman was canceled but before it found new appreciation with the rerun audiences when everyone was so scared of invoking it that Adam West was being directed to hold back so much that he wasn't allowed to give anything to his parts, which it certainly looks like could be happening here.) Zombie Nightmare is certainly a perfectly acceptable good episode of MST3K, but I don't see anything particularly special about it that should put it in the top 75, much less the first episode of the top 60. From the 80s (decade) this came, and to the 80s (on the list) it should return!
Join us Wednesday for: Number 59 Episode 318 Star Force: Fugitive Alien II
