Written by Josh B. Taylor
It’s funny to see the look on some of my friends’ faces when I answer “What’s one of your all time favorite movies?” with the Troma film, Redneck Zombies. It was initially released in 1987, but its wide release was 30 years ago today, on February 15, 1989, and I wanted to write a retrospective article about this Tromasterpiece!
In the heartland of America, live a very special kind of people, friendly decent hardworking people. When they accidentally use a barrel of nuclear waste to make moonshine, they turn into undead rednecks feasting upon human flesh. Meanwhile, seven city slickers get lost in the woods during their camping trip and encounter a nightmare world of these illiterate, and extremely insensitive, undead. What started as a scenic nature-hike turns into a bloodbath of dismemberment and cannibalism. Some moments from this film are a parody of the horror film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, including a hitchhiker scene (which I’ll come back to).
I was introduced to this movie when I was in the fifth grade. My dad use to work with Alan Hogg, who portrayed “Colonel Sir” in the movie, and he knew that my brother and I loved watching horror movies. He gave my dad a copy of the film, saying that if we’ve seen countless zombie movies over and over, then we’d love this one, and boy was he correct! What got me hooked was the fact it was filmed around the Delmarva area (Delaware, & Maryland mostly) where I’m from, and one of the first films shot and released on videotape.
Making home movies in my backyard with a camera probably similar to what they used to shoot the movie, got me so inspired: “If they were able to shoot and release a film with a camera like I have for my home movies, then what’s stopping me from releasing a film?” Troma co-founder Lloyd Kaufman hired director Pericles Lewnes and producer Ed Bishop to the team, and they worked on the special effects for some Troma classics (Toxic Avenger 2, and 3, and Troma’s War).
Over the years, I got in contact with several of the actors and producers of the film (also got some photos from William Decker “Jethro Clemson” that were taken during the making of this movie.) I’ve sent my original poster out throughout the country to get signed by them. One of my favorite stories about collecting signatures for this film was sending it out to the hitchhiker character from this movie. It’s one of my favorites because I was googling, doing some research on who I could contact next to see if they’d sign my poster and found out that the actor who portrayed him is Frank Lantz, the director of the New York University Game Center.
I sent an e-mail out saying how much I love this film, and if he would like to sign my poster for me. As I was about to send this email, I thought, what if this isn’t the guy Google says he is and I’m sending a random email to some guy about how much I love this Troma film? So, I added that if I sent the wrong email to someone, to please ignore my love letter to this film. I got an email back saying they were that character from the film and would love to sign my poster.
Out of all the films to inspire me creatively, this Troma classic is what inspired me the most, and to this day, I always think of this movie sometime throughout the day, whether it’s listening to the soundtrack or looking at my poster (still trying to add more signatures), Redneck Zombies is a down-home, cheesy good time that I highly recommend to anyone out there who is looking for some off-the-wall crazy fun!
