The Stink Of Flesh (DVD)

...he regularly smashes them into the skulls of the undead, which now outnumber the living by a massive majority.

Now meet Nathan. He spends his time in a rather different way. He doesn't waste it sparring with the zombies. He just shoots them in the head. It's less risky that way, you see. Besides, Nathan has other priorities. His wife, Dexy, has needs that he can't fulfil on his own so he regularly makes little trips out in his truck, ...
...were an exclusive product of the 1980s, you need to think again. They're still making them now and Stink of Flesh is a prime example. A bizarre combination of gory zombie movie and softcore porn flick, it seems that the film serves only one purpose and that is to shock. Shock tactics never did make a good movie.

Stink of Flesh's first problem is the director's apparent lack of skill. The film feels as though it has been filmed by a ... more

Meet Matool. He used to be a handy man. Now he's just handy with his fists, a hammer and a selection of large steel nails. In order to survive, he regularly smashes them into the skulls of the undead, which now outnumber the living by a massive majority.

Now meet Nathan. He spends his time in a rather different way. He doesn't waste it sparring with the zombies. He just shoots them in the head. It's less risky that way, you see. Besides, Nathan has other priorities. His wife, Dexy, has needs that he can't fulfil on his own so he regularly makes little trips out in his truck, looking for those who have yet to be infected so that they can pleasure his nymphomaniac wife.

When Matool meets Nathan, there are no fireworks. A truck door and a roll of gaffer tape sees to that. And then things start to get plain weird…..

If you thought dodgy, cheap horror movies were an exclusive product of the 1980s, you need to think again. They're still making them now and Stink of Flesh is a prime example. A bizarre combination of gory zombie movie and softcore porn flick, it seems that the film serves only one purpose and that is to shock. Shock tactics never did make a good movie.

Stink of Flesh's first problem is the director's apparent lack of skill. The film feels as though it has been filmed by a group of amateur filmmaking buddies who borrowed a camera for the afternoon. The composure is very superficial - no style, artistry or flair, just point and click. This in turn means that there is absolutely no suspense whatsoever as the camera exposes every nasty little surprise looming, long before it hits any of the (allegedly) unsuspecting cast members. None of the locations add much to the mix either. Outdoor scenes in a non-descript stretch of American scrubland are interspersed with a very average and very purpose-built wooden house. Like I said, no style or flair. I can't see the director (Scott Phillips) having a long and illustrious career.

Stink of Flesh also suffers from being rather stupid. That's a terrible understatement actually, because it's bloody ridiculous when you come to think of it. Most zombie films are. The trouble with movie zombies (which are the only kind that I have ever seen, I must admit) is that they aren't really any threat. They lumber, they lurch and they traipse around with their broken arms and ankles and pose as much threat as a pack of Boy Scouts. So why is it that when it suits the director's needs, they are suddenly able to pin down a perfectly able-bodied man and woman and tear lumps of flesh out with their bare hands / fingers? The zombies' ability to wreak havoc seems dependant on who they are attacking. If you are the hero of the story, then you are virtually invincible. If you aren't, then sooner or later you'll find a pair of teeth gnawing at your bones. Another question for you. Even if a virus did raise the dead, why would they suddenly want to start eating everyone? Surely they would simply want to do the nice things, like go for country walks, have picnics and watch movies? Clearly not. These things aside, whilst Stink of Flesh may not answer these fundamental questions, it does have a go at some of the more superficial curiosities that might have crossed your mind. Do zombies still defecate? Watch Stink of Flesh and find out (if, that is, you're interested of course.)

Next problem. The plot - if that's what you can call it - doesn't really make a lot of sense and seems to have little purpose. For a start, we haven't really got a clue why most of the world's population has turned into a zombie. I think we are just supposed to assume that a strange disease has taken hold. Given that a zombie holocaust is, generally, rather irreversible, such films tend to descend into hopeless mayhem and Stink of Flesh is no exception - save only the fact that it is nonsensical hopeless mayhem. I really couldn't decide whether much of the film was supposed to be serious - that is, until the gore level upped itself to the max once again. One thing's for sure, Stink of Flesh never ceases to amaze you, not because of its technical competency or visual drama, but simply because one bizarre, gross thing happens after another. Children get eaten. Brains get sucked out. People's ears fall off. A woman exposes a deformed, mutated twin sister living in her midriff - and a lost soldier then sets about kissing it. And then there is Nathan's fat, sex-crazed wife who humps everyone in sight. It's all like some rather grotesque circus. And you have a ringside seat.

The cast is almost entirely consistent. They're all pretty crap actors. The worst of the bunch must surely be Matool (Kurly Tlapoyawa) who barely seems able to string a sentence together and only pulls a facial expression when someone on the set holds up a cue card. Nympho wife Dexy (played by the luscious (not!) Diva) is pretty repulsive, so she probably is a realistic swinger. Her sister, Sassy (Kristin Hansen) scores just as highly on the repulsion scale and manages to be just slightly worse on the acting scale too. Clearly, the Kristin Hansen School of character acting advised her that mad people simply chew their lips all day. That's about the extent of her dramatic capability. A rag-tag bunch of abandoned soldiers has no overall effect, negative, positive or otherwise, which still isn't a good thing - although one of them gets a killer line in before someone plunges a pair of scissors into his neck. There's also a cameo from Bob Vardeman as the rather sinister Mr Rainville, only because it surely cannot be possible for such a bad actor to get a role in a film. His son's not much better either, and it's probably just as well that his film son is his real son, given only that he tries to pimp him out. The only real exception to the general rule comes in the form of Nathan (Ross Kelly). Kelly is completely out of place from the start and even his character seems to realise it, as he has a perpetually bemused look on his face. It's not that Kelly is that fantastic an actor. It's just that he is so damned beautiful - what the hell is he doing with his clothes on all the time???

The effects are a very mixed bag. Some of them are dire. The recreation of Sassy's deformed sister Dorothy is nothing less than an embarrassment. Why include something in a film that you simply don't have the budget to do convincingly? The zombies, however, are fairly effective, as zombies go, and there is plenty of schlock / ick to keep the gore hounds happy. Whilst I suppose it is fairly easy to get lots of gooey, red, lumpy liquid and portray it as innards, the bits where people get chomped are quite effective and the makers would have done better to stick with this sort of thing. One particularly gruesome scene shows a young soldier's T-shirt being peeled off a wound, to reveal bare muscle and ribs underneath. It'll put you off Chinese takeaway for life.

Stink of Flesh (great title, actually) is a grim little movie that Grandma would NOT like. It is, however, so outlandishly horrible that you do rather have to see it to believe it. I came close to switching it off several times, not because I found it offensive, but purely because it was just so silly. But, just as I hovered over the stop button, either something bizarre would happen or Nathan would appear again (drool!) and I was once again inspired to stick with it.

I shan't recommend it, however, because when it comes down to it, there is no escaping the fact that this is simply a terrible movie. End of.
 

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