Rise Of The Rip-Off

 

 

 (imdb)

RISE OF THE ZOMBIES-2012-A group from a research lab venture into the city because they believe a cure for a zombie plague is there, created by a scientist (French Stewart) with a monkey. Meanwhile another scientist (Levar Burton) stays behind doing experiments on the living dead (including his wife). This is another blatant rip-off from The Asylum, this time copying Romero's Dead series (especially DAY). The cast (including Mariel Hemingway, Danny Trejo, Ethan Suplee, Heather Hemmens) is whittled down and eaten. 

Director Nick Lyon also made ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (2011).

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7 Dummies

 

(imdb)

7 MUMMIES-2006-Idiotic supernatural western nonsense about a group of convicts who escape their transport truck and head into the desert with a female prison guard hostage. After a crazy local (Danny Trejo) tells them about some hidden gold, they decide to search for it and wind up in an old west town occupied by zombie vampires, led by Drake (Billy Drago). Martin Kove is a bar owner. The director Nick Quested had been a music video director before this.

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Not An Elvis Remake!

THE CURSE OF EL CHARRO-2005-This typical gory mean spirited horror tale takes place in California where a young college student named Maria (Drew Mia) suffers from nightmares while coping with the suicide of her sister. Her roommate (Heidi Androl) invites her to go along with two other girls to her uncle's remote house in Arizona. Along the way the meet a hick cop who, after oral sex, takes them to a scary dark bar where a weird guy in a wheelchair sings a terrible punk metal like song. Later they meet some guys at a club (run by dwarfs) and return to the house for drinking, drugging and sex but not before Maria has a strange vision done in a super 8 black and white silent film (with title cards) relating the tale of El  Charro (executive producer Andrew Bryniarski with Danny Trejo's voice), a Mexican demon who wanted Maria's ancestor for himself but she rejected him so in retaliation he slaughtered her whole family. Before the townspeople destroyed him El placed a curse on the family bloodline and swore he'd be back. Well he keeps his promise and dismembers, hacks and kills everyone until the archangel David (James Intveld) appears and kills Charro. Unfortunately for Maria she winds up in a padded cell and blamed for all the murders. Motorhead's Lemmy has a brief bit as a priest.

This usual bloodletting nonsense was directed by Rich Ragsdale who since CHARRO has wisely only made film shorts. Much of it is too dark and the script and acting are terrible (but what else is new?). El Charro portrayer Bryniarski was Leatherface in the 2003 remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (and it's later sequel). He kind of looks like a trick or treat version of pro-wrestler The Undertaker.

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Not That Much Soul

ALL SOUL’S DAY-2005-2 couples wander into a desert town in Mexico and interrupt a human sacrifice (during The Day of The Dead) thus setting into motion the return of the town’s murdered dead. David Keith is the local sheriff who rips a girls tongue out and creepy Danny Trejo is the guy who started it all years before by becoming immortal. 

Several TV actors star. Laura Harring (from David Lynch’s MULLHOLLAND DRIVE) is in it and Jeffery Combs has a small role. It was alright but the version I saw was cut.

Director Jeremy Kasten later remade HG Lewis’ THE WIZARD OF GORE with Crispin Glover! Screenwriter Mark A. Altman wrote HOUSE OF THE DEAD and (the Star Trek related) FREE ENTERPRISE.
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More Predators

PREDATORS-2010-This kind of a sequel to the first PREDATOR and “restarting” of the franchise. A diverse but typical group (a black, a whiney white guy, a tough woman, a Russian and surprisingly a Japanese Yakuza) of humans are thrown together on a planet where 2 different types of the famous alien fight each other and hunt the humans. Adrien Brody tries his hand at being an action star by leading the group including Danny Trejo, former MMA fighter Oleg Taktarov, Alice Braga (from I AM LEGEND) and Topher Grace (SPIDER-MAN 3). Lawrence Fishburne shows up unexpectedly. It’s not bad as junk like this goes and doesn’t go overboard with the gory SFX but it’s too dark at times and the characters whisper too much. The climax (where Brody emulates Arnold) is very good. Director Nimrod Antal had previously made VACANCY and ARMORED (also with Fishburne). Robert Rodriguez was the producer.

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