Plaga Zombies + Plaga Zombies: Mutant Zone

[Jim H]

Anyone seen these?  I bought the two disc set of both at Best Buy for $10 and watched the first 70 minute feature last night.  

Definetly the most competently put together movie I've seen shot (obviously) on a camcorder.  The film also looks a little odd since apparently after shooting it was transferred to film then put to DVD, so it has the grain of film and the look of video.  Or something.

Anyway, Plaga Zombies is an argentinian zombie flick.  EXTREMELY energetic, that's the best way to describe it, with crazy camera movements (ala Raimi) and very few slow spots after the first 10 minutes.  Good amounts of gore, some fairly good considering the budget, others not.  LOTS of slime and ooze.  The movie is also often genuinely funny, using some amusing double takes, exaggerated actions (occasionally riffing on Bad Taste/Dead Alive - listen for a musical cue taken straight from Bad Taste towards the end), and bizzare scenes.  Like when a character has become deranged, due to having been vomited on a bunch of times by zombies and then having a lawn mower shoved into his head (apparently, they don't show it, but his head is badly injured afterwards) holds down the offending zombies and manages to vomit into the zombie's face in petty revenge.  Good times.

Quite entertaining, but apparently the sequel is a lot better (not to mention a full half hour longer) with more coherency and better action sequences, and a lot more/better done gore.  At $10 though, the first film by itself was worth it, and the disc has a bunch of extras I haven't gone through yet, including a half hour of deleted scenes for Plaga Zombie and commentaries.

Anyone else have thoughts?

[dean]

Haven't heard of it or ever seen it before but by god from that description I think it sounds fantastic!

Let us know about the sequel!

[plan9superfan]

I'm a born-and-bred Argentinian, and I've NEVER heard of "Plaga Zombies".

Say, what do you think of "Moebius" and "Condor Crux"?

[Jim H]

Haven't seen either of those...  Plaga Zombies was my first venture into Argentinian film, and one of my first for South/Latin American film.  Pretty hard to find them in the states, it seems.  I've heard good things about film from that area (especially horror), and I'm very open to foreign films (which I guess should be obvious, since around 2/3s of my DVD collection is non-english), but man, I can't really recall ever even seeing a film from that region on shelves here, and I like to see a bit before I start importing like crazy.

It's taken 10 years, and we're finally seeing Asian imports regularly, maybe in another 10 we'll start seeing some South American productions too. :(

That said, Plaga Zombies: Mutant Zone couldn't be watched today, as the friend I was watching with wanted to watch Cyborg instead.  But I'll be seeing it soon enough and I'll let you guys know...

[plan9superfan]

So, the first movie you see from my proud country is a s**tty b-movie about zombies? f**k!

I recommend see ing the foolowing Argentinian movies:

-Nueve Reinas

-El Aura

-Luna de Avellaneda

-El Hijo de la Novia

-El Desvio

-Kamtchaka

-Valentin

-Tan de Repente (which is pretty much an Argentinian Jay and Silent Bob movie)

[Jim H]

"So, the first movie you see from my proud country is a s**tty b-movie about zombies? f**k! "

Hehe.  I LIKE s**tty b-movies about zombies.  At least when they're as well-done as Plaga Zombies is.  

The first movie I saw from New Zealand were Bad Taste and Dead-Alive (though come to think of it, outside of Peter Jackson the only other New Zealand films I know I've seen is Aberration and The Piano, if that counts).  The first from China/HK I'm sure was a really awful kung fu film of some sort, or maybe a Jackie Chan one...  The first Korean was My Wife Is a Gangster.  First Japanese was one of the Godzilla flicks.  

I guess you could say I've not had proper introductions to many countries' cinematic catalogues.  :)  

A lot of it has to do with my eclectic tastes of course - for instance, all the French films I've seen (with one or two exceptions) are basically action films, my favorite genre - despite my knowledge that France has produced some truely awesome films in all genres.  I'm not too big on drama or comedies, but Nueve Reinas (which has actually gotten a US release titled Nine Queens, meaning I might be able to rent it!) and El Aura are on my list of films to see now.  

Oh yeah, and I just thought this was funny, from reel.com's review of Nine Queens: "Despite its title, this Argentinean drama is not about a gay softball team".  Classic.

On a slightly related note, do you have much idea how different Argentinian Spanish is from Mexican Spanish?  I don't speak much Spanish, but they seemed quite different to me from what I could tell.  Language differences are a fascinating topic to me, ya see.

And I'm out of state now, so I can't watch Mutant Zone til Monday!  Damn.

[plan9superfan]

Crash course on Argentinian slang (or as we call it, "lunfardo"):

cana, yuta  = cop

medialuna  = croissant

gato  =  hooker

barrabrava  = soccer hooligan

timbero  = gambler

asado  =  barbaque

facon  = Argentinian hunting knife

calesita  = merry-go-round

piqueteros  = picketing teamsters

chorro  = thief

echar flit  = telling someone to go to hell

gomas  = hooters

concha  = p***y

mierda  = s**t

[Mr_Vindictive]

Jim,

Thanks for the heads up on this film.  Sounds like a blast.  I just ordered a copy from DeepDiscountDVD.

[Jim H]

Finally say Plaga Zombies: Mutant Zone.  In a word, it was disappointing.  Especially after so many people said it was much better than the original.  Either way, to me it was clearly not.  It still had some ingenuous moments, and the film is much better shot with much better makeup and gore.  But what it doesn't have is the energy of the original.  

The middle 45 minutes (in a 95 minute movie) were, well, boring.  Not a whole lot happens.  Blah.  I was quite enjoying up til that part begins, and I kind of enjoyed the last bit too, but man..  Just not that great.  Still, it is worth watching if you buy the two disc set (which is awfully cheap, at $10, anyway).  

There are a few scenes I did find pretty good though.  I liked most of the crazy gore, the zany humor, and I still found Max to be entertaining.  When he descends further into madness (and stops being that funny), it damaged his character a lot, though he does recover somewhat by the end.  John West is still good, as is the lead character, Bill.  The John West theme song is indeed pretty funny.  

I dunno.  I'd give it a 6/10 I guess.  The original is a 7, close to an 8.