FleshEater, Night of the Living Dead Rip-Off

Today we are quite done with zombies.  "The Walking Dead" went woke several seasons ago and we lost our appetite for the entire subgenre.  In 1988, this was not the case.  The world now had seen George Romero's "Dead" trilogy and hungered for more.  Not far from where Romero shot his original masterpiece, S. William Hinzman (the original zombie in "Night of the Living Dead") paid homage to it.  With lots of zombies, gore, and beaver (incidentally, this film is shot in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania), we have 1988's "FleshEater."

Five college couples, all babes and hunks, go on an overnight hayride at Halloween.  Near their campsite, a farmer removing a stump unearths a cursed grave.  Out of the grave pops a ghoul (Hinzman), who eats the farmer's neck and spreads zombie death through the woods.  The college kids drink beer, have pre-marital sex, and will all die horribly in states of undress.  The exceptions are Bob (John Mowod) and Sally (Leslie Ann Wick).  After seeing their friends eaten and turned into zombies, they are on the run.  Reports of violence hit town and the cops are sent...and are eaten and turned.  A Halloween party filled with hunk and babe college kids is also invaded.

Say what you want about this rip-off of "Night of the Living Dead," but Mr. Hinzman finds better looking hunks and babes than Romero cast.  With a great cheese and beef factor, Pennsylvanians are eaten and turned in great number.  Bob and Sally fall deeper in love as they continue running for safety.  Oh yes, the taboo is shown on the silver screen as even a cute little girl dressed as an angel is bitten to become a bloodthirsty zombie.  She'll eat her dad.  Iron City Beer will flow as a posse is put to use.  Even a local news crew will hit the scene.  Having seen "Night of the Living Dead," there may not be too many plot surprises for you.  Still, the beef and cheese factor, thanks to Mr. Hinzman, is so great.

Will Bob and Sally meet a better fate than Ben did at the end of Romero's classic?  Will cheerleader zombies eat their fraternity dates?  Is it fitting that a zombie film with great cheese in it be filmed in Beaver Falls?  Low budget and filled with gore and shocking kills, "FleshEater" is a film you will want to see.  It was a zombie film before woke-ness killed the subgenre.