Customer Reviews

Flesh Eater [Blu-ray]

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I like sam's review alot. He understand no budget and very low budget movies very well. And If you aren't a fan of these movies then you'll hate them all. But for those of us who love low budget to no budget or just plain bad you can't rate them all one stars like non fans would. So for those who don't like movies that are made by inexperienced actors then this one isn't for you. BUt if you are a zombie fan then this one is ok. It has good effects and is better than some very low budgeters of the late 80's. I still wish someone would put dead life' on dvd at least. ANd you can compare the dvd version here to the blu ray. THe blu ray has lots more color but the artifacts are more visible because it's blown up film. Basically shriek show is just taking the print from the dvd and putting it on blu ray. I wish they'd clear up the defects though , spots and cuts that are there , but in this case they are rare enough not to be distracting. Unlike lets say 'galaxina' a great movie with many shredded scenes. This one was only shown at a few theatres and mainly was out on tape. The old straight to tape days. of the now long gone 80's. And this reflects the 80's , the music was better then for sure but the hairstyles weren't!
Still, I like the gore here and the acting which is first timers is decent at least. This isn't a studio affair of the film of pros. It's a regional movie from the 80's and you still see lots of these movies today. The dvd version looks more solid and filmy than the blu ray because of the resolution of the film to begin with. Still I prefer the blu ray version and you do get both. I can see media blasters is not going to clean up these movies but at least we get them on blu. THis would not be my first pick to order though, beyond the darkness, burial ground, and zombie apocalypse are better movies that they have out. Still , in a perfect world even obscure movies like this would have the specks and cuts fixed before blu ray release. I can see that the other shriek show videos will fall into this pattern . no clean up but will look better than the dvd although they will have that video artifacting due to superior resolution. Oh well. I wish it all was on blu.

Flesh Eater Blu-ray Review

Distributor: Media Blasters (US)

No, not Zombie Flesh Eaters unfortunately (although that one is coming later this year) but Bill Heinzman's Flesh Eater aka Zombie Nosh to UK audiences, so now that's out of the way, what can possibly be said about this one?
Truth is, I'm not even sure where to start. OK well as far as reviewing obscure releases goes, then we should be on pretty safe ground to start with, as this one is about as obscure as they get. Some films are so bad they're good and some are just bloody awful and in reality Flesh Eater probably lies somewhere between the two.

Made to capitalise on the "popularity" of the central zombie character from Night of the Living Dead, the film does have some reasonably decent gore effects especially considering the low budget it was given, however to get anywhere near a decent level of appreciation for the film, you first have to bypass the acting, most of which is more wooden than the Blair Witch herself could muster up. The film plays out as a semi homage to Romero's earlier zombie masterpiece and features various similar plot points along the way whilst considerably upping the gore (and nudity factor) and adding an unintentional side order of tongue in cheek. At least in Romero's original movie, the cast didn't just stand around stating things like "oh my god" while waiting for the zombies to attack them.

Filmed in 16mm then blown up to 35mm for theatrical release, anyone expecting visuals to rival newer releases has clearly never experienced this film before. The 1080p 16x9 transfer as expected is complete with various specks and other print damage as well having a fair amount of grain on display throughout the picture. Colours and black levels don't appear to come across as particularly strong either, with the whole transfer coming across as looking suitably washed out. Even taking into account the films low budget roots, there is really nothing here to recommend this transfer.

Audio is also pretty disappointing. Presented in a DTS soundtrack, dialogue is flat with some scenes retaining a hissy background noise. The repetitive score (which soon becomes rather annoying) doesn't help matters either and if you are looking for something to give your surround speakers a work out, then you better think again. All things considered the overall soundtrack provides a pretty weak performance.

Extra features are about the best thing to say about this Blu-ray, with the previous making of documentary from the DVD release replicated here. If you do happen to actually like the film, then the documentary is pretty good as it contains interviews with principal cast and crew who all seem to be having a hell of a good time whilst still perhaps taking the film just a little too seriously. There are also trailers available of other Shriek Show titles, a photo gallery and a spoof pizza commercial again featuring the lead zombie himself.

From the point of view of a mindless zombie movie, Flesh Eater does have a limited charm about it, although it is pretty difficult to state what it is that people actually see in the in the film. Certainly this is not a film that was ever likely to be a top contender for a high definition release, however it is nice to see these lower budget efforts materialise on the newer format, even though in this case, the quality here really doesn't justify the release. Just in case anyone is still interested at this point, Media Blasters have at least got something right here, in releasing this one as a region free Blu-ray disc.

Whether or not this one is truly deserving of a place in your collection is something that only you can answer. There may actually be a couple of worse ways to kill 88 minutes and if all else fails you can always leave this playing in the background while entertaining your mates over drinks. If nothing else it will provide an excellent talking piece.

Now all we need is someone to release Hard Rock Zombies on Blu-ray for the ultimate trashy brainless zombie weekend double bill.

"This evil which will take flesh and blood from thee and turn all ye unto evil".....

(even the dodgy tag line sounds like it was ripped off from City of the Living Dead.)


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was skeptical when I bought this, I had reason to be. bad acting to say the least, with cheap & poor effects, bad editing as well. It was a gamble purchase and I lost