Good concept, poorly executed.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood' (2008) ** (out of 4) First off, if you're coming to a movie with a title like this, you really shouldn't be expecting the work of Orson Welles. A solar flare crosses paths with the Earth, which turns most people into the title characters. There's a small group of survivors in Los Angeles and they're quite an interesting mix as we have white cop (C.Thomas Howell) and rival black and Chinese gang members. At just 81-minutes and featuring a terrific title, MUTANT VAMPIRE ZOMBIES FROM THE 'HOOD' is just what you'd expect to see at a drive-in forty-years ago when this type of exploitation was getting produced in mass numbers. Of course, today there's no way anything like this could ever come close to a theater but that's too bad because fans of trashy, silly exploitation should be able to get a few laughs out of this film, which is a lot better than you might think. Obviously the budget is extremely low but I give credit to director/co-writer Thunder Levin and his writing partner George Saunders for making up for that by delivering some nice characters, some fun dialogue and a rather interesting set-up for a good time. Having rival gangs and a cop having to team up isn't exactly the most original thing as it was done in previous movies but it works here because the characters are so memorable and most shocking is that you begin to care for them and want to see them live, which is usually something these movies never pull off. The dialogue is also fun for fans of the genre because there's mention of George Romero and various zombie pictures from the past few decades. I was also surprised to see how good the performances were including C. Thomas Howell who doesn't seem bitter about appearing in something like this and instead gives it his all. I also really enjoyed Tyshawn Bryant in the role of G-Dog. The movie features some funny sex scenes, some nudity and quite a bit of CGI gore to keep things moving. This isn't a classic or even a good movie but I think it's a good example of taking a small budget and little story and doing something good with it.

Now in Gangs of the Dead, rival Mexican and black gangs and assembled arm-candy or gun malls are doing a drug deal in a warehouse that gets busted by the cops. Things go wrong on the outside and they must join forces to fight off the surrounding zombie horde. Here its black and wanna-b-black Asian gangs. Apparently the slang talking Asians kidnapped the black gang member's girl friend in order to deal drugs with them. The deal sours a zombie comet hits earth, but instead of a castle siege it's a running gun battle black-hawk down style…C. Thomas Howell who was in that south rampart show (which NBC will go to hell for canceling) is slumming as usual, his usual black side kick cop. Apparently its okay to do racist stereotypical depictions of minorities if you stick a bandanna on them and call them gang-members. I think one of the black gang-members was that rapper "MYSTIKAL". Sticking to the true ROMERO they have to learn to shoot the Zombies in the head. All news is coming from the lone TV (the black guy from "Bay-Watch nights") and it's about how people react to each other during this catastrophic disaster.

As I said in the title of this review don't let the rating of this movie fool you, it's a good and I mean really good B-series zombie movie...The title made me not want to see it... made me expect rap all the way trough the movie... Well there was very little rap involved and the music was so well chosen it blended into the movie in the most outstanding way (personally I think that if you can watch a movie without the music striking you it mean it was well chosen to fit the mood of the movie).I was expecting mindless gangstas who are barely more intelligent than the zombies but again I was wrong the main characters are well developed and act like real human beings and not like wannabe rap stars who live for their ''beef'' (wich made me very happy cause as a zombie flick fan I'm fed up with black guys who are either stupid gangstas or badassery made human with barely any personality).Plus this movie has every thing that so many other zombie movies lack, a good explanation of what caused the zombie outbreak, a conversation about zombie movies in a zombie flick, gangstas that put aside their ''beef'' when they have to survive, just enough stupid stuff to make it funny but not to much, just enough badassery and to top it all decent actors.

I was one of the fortunate few who got an invitation to an advance screening of "Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood." Like so many of you out there I have been waiting for this one for about a year, and with much trepidation. I think we were all hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. Well, I'm happy to report that these Mutant Vampire Zombies deliver. KeiKabou Holland and Maxie J. Santillan Jr. practically steal the movie, while Johanna Watts and Tyshawn Bryant ground the film with strong, believable performances. In fact, all the gang members are terrific--my only caveat is that their screen time is too brief. The script by Thunder Levin and George Saunders is fun--think more along the lines of an R-rated "The Mummy" than "Shaun of the Dead"--and Thunder's direction keeps the story going at a hurried pace. There's never a dull moment. The zombies look great, the action is crisp and the laughs work in all the right places. After all the waiting, I was happy to see that "Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood" lives up to the pure hokum fun its name implies.