''Flesheater'' is 1988

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed, written, produced, and co–edited by

Bill Hinzman Samuel William Hinzman (October 24, 1936 – February 5, 2012) was an American actor and film director. Hinzman's first role was the cemetery zombie in the popular horror film ''Night of the Living Dead'' (1968). He reprised the role in ...

. An

independent production Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, the film also stars Hinzman, best known for playing the cemetery

ghoul A ghoul ( ar, غول, ') is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid. The concept originated in pre-Islamic Arabian religion, associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh. Modern fiction often uses the term to label a certa ...

George A. Romero George Andrew Romero (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, editor and actor. His ''Night of the Living Dead'' series of films about an imagined zombie apocalypse began with the 1968 film of the ...

's ''

Night of the Living Dead ''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven peop ...

'' (1968).

Plot

The film starts with a group of kids taking a hayride in the country on

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

. They pay the local farmer to take them to a secluded area of the forest. The kids arrive and begin drinking, telling the farmer to come back after dark to pick them up. As the party wears on the group separates to find their own little love nests. Meanwhile, the farmer has stumbled across a large tree stump which he proceeds to remove with the help of his tractor. Under the stump is a large wooden box with an ancient seal telling not to break open the box. The farmer breaks the seal and opens the box. Inside is the Bill Heinzman "Flesheater" who proceeds to eat the farmer making him a zombie in the process. Both zombies head towards where the kids are. Two of the kids who retreated to the barn for some alone time are killed by the flesheaters. As the flesh-eater is killing the kids, two of their friends walk in and see what's happening then they run outside to warn the group at the party. Inside the barn the kids who were attacked become zombies and head out of the barn for fresh victims back near the party and one of the girls is attacked in the woods by the zombies. It tears a chunk of shoulder away but the girl is saved by her boyfriend who hears her screams and tackles the flesh-eater. The remaining kids retreat to the old "Spencers Farm" a dis-used farmhouse in the woods. They proceed to nail up the windows and doors. They manage to phone the police but the call is cut short when a zombie outside rips the phone line out. Meanwhile, the two kids who escaped from the barn have caught up with the group (who refuse to open the doors in case of an attack) so the two kids hide in the basement and lock the door. Upstairs the girl bitten on the shoulder dies and returns as a zombie. Just as she gets up the zombies outside break in and the remaining group are slaughtered, each becoming a zombie and heading into the woods for more victims. A police car then turns up at Spencer's farm responding to the cut-short phone call. The police officer is attacked by a group of zombies and left for dead. The kids in the basement open the door and see the body of the policeman. They take his gun and kill his half remaining zombie corpse and escape into the night. Some of the zombies find their way to a residential street where they proceed to eat a local family inside their home turning them into zombies in the process. The two kids find a local stable where they try to warn the owner about the coming attack. He goes inside the house to find that his wife has become a zombie. More zombies appear and the man is cornered and eaten alive and the kids flee again. They find a large barn where a Halloween party is being held. The kids try to warn the group about the undead but they laugh it off as Halloween nonsense. Soon the zombies arrive and slaughter the party-goers. The two kids who survived the basement find a hiding spot inside the framework of the barn. Back in town, the police department are assembling a posse after hearing of the officer who was killed at Spencer's farm. As daylight approaches the posse have arrived at the woods. They find zombies emerging from the woods and proceed to kill the creatures. They proceed through the woodland killing zombies as they go. The posse arrive at the barn and find the party-goers are all zombies. The posse kill them as the zombie group come out of the barn. The two kids hiding in the barn hear the gunshots and think they are saved. They exit the barn and are shot on sight by a sniper (the same actor who shoots Ben in Night of the living dead). The posse throws all the bodies inside the barn and barricade it shut. They set it on fire burning the remaining few zombies inside. The posse thinking they destroyed all the zombies head home. A few days later a police officer is checking out the remains of the barn when he is attacked by the original flesheater, who kills him and begins the outbreak over again.

Cast

as FleshEater * John Mowod as Bob * Leslie Ann Wick as Sally * Kevin Kindlin as Ralph * Charis Kirkpatrick Acuff as Lisa * James J. Rutan as Eddie * Lisa Smith as Kim * Denise Morrone as Carrie * Mark Strycula as Bill * Kathleen Marie Rupnik as Julie * Matthew C. Danilko as Tony * David Ashby as Officer Harv Morgan * Terrie Godfrey as Police Dispatcher * Dave Kelly as Newsman * Karen L. Gergely as Newswoman * Bill Ingalls as News Director * Rik Billock as Farmer Ned * Jackie Sodergren as Farmer Jackie * David A. Sodergren as Farmer Dave * Tom Madden as Tractor Driver * Allan T. Bross as Father * Bonnie Hinzman as Mother * Chris Bross as Chris, the Little Hobo * Heidi Hinzman as Heidi, the Little Angel * Susan Marie Spier as Susan * Steven B. Sands as Steve, Karate guy * Adena Dodds as Joanne, the Cheerleader * Andrew Sands as Andy, the Vampire * Scott Knechtel as Scott, the Big Chicken * Taryn Thomas as Taryn, the Hula Dancer * Paula Recchio as Paula the Witch * Kristy Dettore as Kristy, the She-Ra * Carl W. Sodergren as Carl, the Toga Dude * Mark Hinzman as Mark, the Hunter * Michele Vensko as Michele, the Ballerina * Michael Gornick as Mad Mike (voice) * 'Wild Bill' Laczko as Sheriff * Vincent D. Survinski as Vince

Alternate titles

The film has been released under a number of alternate titles, including ''Zombie Nosh'' and ''Revenge of the Living Zombies''.

Release

The film was released on VHS by

Magnum Entertainment ''Magnum'' is a Latin word meaning "great". Magnum may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Magnum Research, a firearms maker * Magnum Semiconductor, a spin-off of Cirrus Logic * Magnum Photos, a photojournalist cooperative * Magnum C ...

under the title ''Revenge of the Living Zombies'' in 1989. The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

Shriek Show Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...

in 2003. It can also be found packaged in the Zombie Pack, Vol. 2 alongside ''

Burial Ground A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

'' and ''

Zombie Holocaust ''Zombie Holocaust'' ( it, Zombi Holocaust) is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Marino Girolami. The film is about a team of scientists who follow a trail of corpses in New York to a remote Indonesian island where they meet a mad doctor (Dona ...

''. The film was released in a 2-disc

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

and DVD combo pack by

in 2010. Vinegar Syndrome has announced that it will release this film which has been newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 16mm original camera negative on 4k UHD and Blu-ray on 26 April 2022.

Reception

Writing in ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia'', academic

Peter Dendle Peter Dendle is a professor of English at Penn State Mont Alto, teaching classes on folklore, 20th and 21st century representations of the Middle Ages, Old and Middle English (language and literature), and the monstrous (in film, folklore, and s ...

called it "mostly a waste of a good barn". Glenn Kay, who wrote ''Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide'', said, "If the filmmakers didn't care about what they were creating, why should horror fans?"

References

External links

* {{Livingdead 1988 films 1988 horror films 1988 independent films American independent films Living Dead films Films directed by Bill Hinzman American zombie films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films