A group of high school students break into an experimental facility to free their friend who is being experimented on illegally. They unwittingly set the zombies free. Stupidity ensues.

Where to begin? When you step in dogshit every time you put your foot down, it’s hard to time your curses, and that’s the way this flick is. I’m seen much, much worse, hell, I’ve bought much, much worse on DVD. I’m a zombiphile, we get screwed a lot. This one’s free and when compared to lots of the older Italian stuff, it’s good stuff. The problem is, forgetting Zombie Holocaust and the like, this is a movie with people who are almost actors, probably ten times the budget of the Italio-zombie stuff, and at least one writer who speaks English. Still, it’s a piece of shit. It’s not just that it’s not good, or even that it sucks, it’s that they didn’t try. They knew it sucked and didn’t bother doing better. Or else they’re all completely retarded. I dunno which.

First of all, the most annoying aspect of the film was Peter Coyote. He’s been in hundreds of movies and TV shows, and is a real actor, usually. He’s playing the most unrealistic, ridiculously stupid character that’s likely ever been written for any medium. He has no morals or motivation, he’s just a scientist who likes to cause trouble. There’s no justification for him, I tried. He wants to hurt his family, people he don’t know, other countries, and the corporation he’s serving. He’s not offended, afraid or concerned about anything. He’s more evil than Charlie Manson and Darth Vader and has no real goals at all. Completely insane doesn’t even work.

Top this off with Coyote’s decision to play the entire film with a weird grimace frozen on his face. In the first scene I was thinking “close your fucking mouth, dipshit, what’s wrong with you?” And he never does, he’s baring his teeth throughout the film, poor feebleminded fucker. I can only assume he’s either had a stroke or some bad Botox, if it’s neither of these, he’s just a fuckstick.

It’s not like he’s in a cast filled with people who’s facial expressions aren’t retarded, though. The main dork was nearly as bizarre in his exaggerated expressions, but at least he didn’t just pick one and stick with it.

Still, there’s way more to be annoyed with. A personal favorite was the constantly stupid, contradictory dialog. Whoever wrote this shitpile didn’t even read over it once, and never watched as it was filmed. There are so many examples I can’t even be bothered to list them, but I’ll give you an example:

A girl pulls her semi-automatic pistol and dry-fires it several times as if it were an unloaded revolver. The dork next to her says “You gotta take the safety off first, Quickdraw!” She nods in understanding and puts the gun back in her pocket.

Now if she didn’t want to fire it, why did the dumb bitch pull it out in the first place? Was turning the safety off too much trouble? Who wrote this shitty movie and were they paid?

This is how the entire movie goes. No attempt at logic or even reason. A girl tells her friends no one’s been in the basement in years, something she couldn’t possibly know or be right about, since the place is spotless and without even a cobweb. Two guys are chased up the stair and in the next scene they rappel down the outside. Where did they get the rappelling equipment, do they carry gear in their asses?

No attempt at consistency is made, either. The zombies are sometimes killable by punching them in the face or shooting them in the stomach, other times it takes a tank.

I’m filled with understanding for zombie flicks, I ask for little. It’s only when they don’t try that they get my ire, and the bastards that worked on this film should be punished.

The good, though, is the zombies looked good and often great, the gore was always done well and if you take out the horrible fight scenes, the action was ok. The uber-zombies looked really cool, too. The truth is, if you’re ten years old, this movie will completely kick ass. It’s only when you’re older and realize that you’re being insulted that it starts sucking.

4 out of 10 movies that weren’t good enough to go straight to video

Whoo. Just got finished watching this one. I love zombie flicks as well. Whether they be absurd, chock full of horrible dialogue, or completly devoid of a solid plot and consistancy - I still love them to a degree. RoTLD:4 takes on all three of these attributes. What I CAN say for it, it that the gore was good. SFX definately shined through for what it was. They did not make up for the inconsistencies, though.

Our "mad scientist" is exposed to the gas several times during the movie (probably a goof, but pay attention if you find yourself watching this)... with no detrimental effects.

The dialogue was just horrible... and seriously... was the one girl supposed to look like Paris Hilton? Because she sure did. I did get a laugh or two at certain times, but I get this horrible feeling that the movie wasn't made to be campy. Perhaps if they took that route things would have turned out better. I really couldn't tell you, since they did not.

To sum everything up, this movie wasn't the worst incarnation of the zombie sub-genre, but I certainly wouldn't buy it. The only reason I could think of that they used the RoTLD name is in hopes that someone would purchase this to complete their RoTLD collection.

It could have just stood on it's own as a goofy, badly-executed zombie flick and received much less ridicule had they simply called it something else. Maybe "Scalp Chompers" would have had more pertinence. And what's with the clear Borg rip-off? Expectations are a bitch though... and this film is sure to shatter them when compared to any of the previous RoTLD films.

3 out of 10 cute blondes that I wouldn't mind being behind in a ventillation shaft... or anywhere else of that matter.