USA 1989 86m Directed by: Dan Hoskins. Starring: Jamie Rose, Catherine Carlen, Lycia Naff, Vicki Frederick, Kristina Loggia, Gretchen Palmer, Nina von Arx, Whitney Reis, Ed Gale, Don Calfa, Martha Quinn, Earl Boen, Billy Bob Thornton. Music by: Daniel May.
Riding around on their motorbikes, a gang of tough women bikers are the only thing that stands between a crowd of Zombies, which have been accidentally let out of their secure cave (!), and those still alive in the town.
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"Chopper Chicks in Zombietown" is a whole lot of fun and definitely a guilty pleasure entry.
**SPOILERS**
Riding into a small town, Dede, (Jamie Rose) Rox, (Catherine Carlen) T.C., (Lycia Naff) Jewel, (Vicki Frederick) Jojo, (Kristina Loggia) Rusty, (Gretchen Palmer) Tanya, (Nina Sonja Peterson) and Lucille, (Whitney Reis) members of an all-girl biker gang, find themselves treated with scorn from the townspeople. Trying to get repairs made so they can move on, they incur the wrath of them and are forced out of town, and while recuperating, find that several of them are missing back in town. They eventually find that mortuary owner Ralph Willum, (Don Calfa) has been using the dying townspeople to crate a race of zombies that will dig in his mine due to the radioactivity, and when the rest of the people refuse to help them since they're all family, they take on the rampaging creatures themselves.
The Good News: This was a pretty enjoyable entry that had a lot going for it. One of the best positives is the fact that it's just so endearingly cheesy it becomes fun after awhile. From the fact that the film deals with the headstrong females, who take to leather, motorbikes and the general kind of attitudes one would expect among those who do it for a living as they do, which just makes it all the more camp. Some other scenes of the campy attitude come from the inclusion of the wise-cracking blind kids and their encounters with the zombies, which are actually nicely done and come off as great comedic relief. Handling the mini-gun against them, the fact that they unexpectedly encounter them while stumbling around early on yet never do, and a whole slew of great lines makes for some nice, campy moments. Aside from the camp, what also makes this one definitely enjoyable is the way it manages to stay interesting despite not having a lot of action going for it. There's really only two big action scenes in the film and both are in the later half, but the fact that it doesn't get boring in the beginning is a nice touch and makes it far more enjoyable otherwise. The film also manages to put in some nice action scenes with the zombies, which is a great way to help this one. As well, there's also the way in which this one has it's action scenes merge into one big fight at the end, starting with the burning house sequence, where they battle the zombies and make a great escape before being confronted by the irate townspeople before dealing with them from then on by themselves, it allows for a ton of excitement and entertainment through these scenes. It's hard not to be entirely entertained by them, which always fun and definitely has a lot to enjoy with these scenes. The final fight in the streets, complete with tons of high explosives, lots of hand-to-hand fighting and a rather fire-based conclusion are just the icing on the cake here for how well this one ends. That it also manages to squeak in some nice gore amongst all this is the last big plus for it. There's some nice limb devouring, a couple of acceptable decapitations, tons of wounds on the zombies, a rather impressive impaling with a shovel and the big one, where a zombie hungrily devours the victim in an orgy of blood-splatter, compared to what came before and is certainly a lot of fun. These here are what really worked for the film.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot really wrong with this one but it did have a few flaws. The main issue is the fact that the film tends to have the majority of it's zombie action at the very end, making the beginning incredibly sparse with it's zombie action. The first half to this is really based around their actions against the townspeople, and while it's not entirely boring, those looking for a fast-paced zombie encounter will be sorely upset at the film for not putting it into the film at the junctures where it would've worked. This is especially more noteworthy since the zombies are unleashed and willing to do something quite early on, much earlier than expected, and deciding to feature their battle with the residents will upset some. Also quite hard to overcome will be the film's rather hard to understand plot-line with how the zombies got released. It's not all that hard to believe, but it's hard to understand the science to it. That's where it really doesn't gel that well, making it hard to figure out. It really could've used a few more scenes to fully get all the understanding from it out in the open, but otherwise, these are the film's only flaws.
The Final Verdict: Certainly a more worthwhile entry than expected, this one was certainly a lot of fun and definitely delivered more than expected. Give it a shot if you're a fan of the cheesy films of the 80s or these kinds of zombie films, while those who aren't that big on these should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence
Review by slayrrr666 from the Internet Movie Database.