Zombie Isle, 1970s Drive In Gore-Fest

...but made in 2014 by Robert Elkins (writer and director).  As the winter blockbusters under impress, treat yourself to a horror film from a very pristine era...even though it was made a few months ago.  "Zombie Isle" looks like one of those cheesy quality straight to drive-in movies.  The camera work is uneven, and scratchy.  The acting is campy....but refreshing.  Oh yes...the gore.  Are you sick of Rated PG-13 quality zombie films?  I think Robert Elkins is.  We see ominous scenes of zombies eating coeds while they are still kicking.  The fiends rip off flesh, chew, eat some face, chew some more, and then battle for intestines.  Sort of a hybrid of Lucio Fulci's "Zombie" and "Shock Waves,""Zombie Isle" is a refreshing throwback to 1970s horror treasures.

The plot:  Some hot coeds, a couple of jock-wannabes, and their pervert professor (Tony Jones) head to an uncharted island to study flora specimens.  The professor pairs up his students and sends them in different directions.  Our pervert-PhD saves Amie (Kyle Billeter), his star pupil, for himself and then endeavors to get in her pants (these two are pictured above).  As each of the couples delve into the island's fauna, worm infested zombies close in.  Slow moving, but popping up everywhere, the pretty coeds and their wimpy men are pulled apart and devoured.  One lass, Cindy (Catherine Goodson) is alive for many torturous moments as the zombies eat her bit by bit.  Edie (Leah Gosnell) suffers a similar fate.  Only Amie, the perv, and two ditzy coeds remain.

Like most deserted islands in these films, there is a secret military lab, run by a Nazi mad-scientist, hidden on it.  The U.S. Government brought him over from Germany but were horrified by his experiments.  Instead of trying the monster for war-crimes, they gave him a deserted island to ply his trade.  He abducts Amie, and eventually her two friends and pervert professor.  This schizoid has invented a formula which brings the dead back to life as his slaves.  Half eaten Edie, not so pretty anymore, is brought back.  Herr Doctor can also control them.  Oh yes..his magnum opus....a three-headed zombie, who needs to feast on body parts (see photo below).  What does the evil doctor have in store for our pretty coeds and their professor?  Who's brain is he keeping in a glass jar, and cooing to?  Did the broadness  of the Marshall Plan in Europe allow this Nazi scientist to slip through the cracks, and flourish on an island near Virginia? 

                                       

The answers to those questions are answered in a terrifying conclusion.  If you endured through Brad Pitt in "World War Z," you deserve to treat yourself to "Zombie Isle."  Nothing about this homage to the 1970s reeks of Rated PG-13.  On the contrary, the gore is icky and stomach turning.  The actresses are good-looking, and capture, in their performances, the mood of straight to Drive-In horror exploitation.  The DVD is reasonably priced on Amazon.com.