Films are meant to be enjoyable. For many, there is nothing better to do after a hard day of work than sitting down in front of the TV and watching a great movie. However, once in a while a film pops up that the world could probably do without. And according to many disappointed viewers, one of them is Zombie Nation.
Released in 2005, Zombie Nation is an American independent horror movie written and directed by Ulli Lommel. It stars Brandon Dean, Phil Lander, Karen Maxwell, Naidra Dawn Thomson, and Victoria Ullmann. Despite the name, only six zombies appear in the entire film. The plot follows police officer Joe Singer, who leads a secret life kidnapping and killing women.
After their deaths, a group of voodoo priestesses resurrect his victims as zombies, who then seek revenge.
The film has a dismal 1.5 out of 10 rating on IMDb and just 8% on Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score.
And as you can imagine, viewer reaction has been overwhelmingly negative. One person said: “Zombie Nation is as close to genuine pain inflicted on your body as movies can come.”
Another furious review read: “If you want to see possibly the worst movie ever made then I suggest you rent this one.”
A third added: “I have seen thousands of films in my time, many excellent, many forgettable.
“Zombie Nation I will remember forever as one of the most hopelessly laughable ‘horror’ films I have ever seen. In fact, I still haven’t recovered from the experience of watching it.”
A different reviewer, who deliberately sought out a bad horror film, said this one went too far: “This movie was not the B horror movie that I had in mind.
“This was much worse. I didn’t know that crap like this existed amongst men. This movie seemed like a 5-year-old wrote and directed it, and that is being nice.”
Some felt personally offended by the experience. One person said: “This movie was by far the worst movie that I have ever seen in my entire life.
“I’m not even kidding. It was poorly made and the actors couldn’t act. It was a waste of my time and money.”
Another review added: “If ever there was a film that deserved a big fat zero rating it’s this pile of crap.
“I love zombie films and even bad ones usually have something going for them, but not this atrocity. I actually began to feel angry watching this film because it’s so insultingly poor.”
Even Variety called it “a jaw-dropping mess” and “the kind of daft what-were-they-thinking camp exploitation exercise” that might only appeal to midnight movie fans.
There are very few positive reviews that you can find out there and it’s difficult to say whether they’re sarcastic or not. I’ll let you make up your own mind.
One viewer wrote: “Ulli Lommel has taken the zombie genre to an all new level. In this great social commentary he plays on your stereotypes and prejudices of what to expect from Hollywood production plays, and then completely destroys them. The result is what is truly the most innovative zombie flick of our time.”
Another added: “It’s so bad it’s gooood and funny to watch! Brilliant.”
Whether Zombie Nation is a misunderstood masterpiece or truly one of the worst films ever made is for viewers to decide, if they dare to watch it.