FLESH EATER is a movie that shouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable as the final product ended up being. You cannot blame Bill Hinzman for cashing in his claim to fame as the cemetery zombie in George A. Romero’s seminal classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Hinzman doesn’t just coast on those zombie laurels either, in addition to being the titular flesh eater, he produced, edited, wrote, and directed the film as well. Something that I find particularly interesting, and while the movie is absolutely not original in the least, I wasn’t expecting the movie to mostly be structured like a slasher movie. It’s that kind of ultra-low budget late 80’s horror that you can’t help but be enticed by its regional charms. The plot follows a group of young people who are heading out for some Halloween party time, and in the process, a farmer ends up unearthing Mr. Hinzman from his tomb and the zombie mayhem starts to ensue. The movie delivers what the people want out of a movie like this and that is the gore, and this movie delivers it by the bucket, and for how low budget the film is, the quality of the gore is quite decent as well. Hinzman delivers a very serviceable straight to video store gut muncher that is perfect for a few friends, a pizza, and some cold ones.
Vinegar Syndrome present FLESH EATER in a dual format UHD/Blu Ray release and safe to say, VS have struck again with a fantastic looking release. It still retains that 16mm down home flavor, but the clarity and the colors really pop off, it is shocking how well this looks compared to any prior home video release this movie has ever had. To match the video, the DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono track is in real good condition, clarity is really good, so you’ll get that wonky synth score in perfect clarity.
Vinegar Syndrome have also really loaded this release up with a bevy of bonus features, an audio commentary and number of interviews with various cast and crew go into the ins and outs of the small production and what it was like working in the hallowed zombie grounds of Pittsburgh and working with Bill Hinzman.
-Billy Jarrett