All Rise...

Judge Paul Pritchard would eat your brains, but they'd only aggravate his IBS.

The Charge

We Will Eat Your Brains!

The Case

The Walking Dead Girls is made up of interviews with famous names from zombie cinema, as well as a number of "zimbies." For the uninitiated, zimbies are zombie bimbos; a slightly odd subculture that sees attractive young women zombified for sexy photo shoots. Beginning with the man who arguably shaped most people's perception of zombies, George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead), The Walking Dead Girls asks what it is that fascinates us with the living dead.

Along the way, we are treated to interviews with famous names from horror including Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead), The Ladies of the Evil Dead, and Lloyd Kaufman (President of Troma). Unfortunately, though each of the interviewees is charismatic—Campbell and Kaufman in particular—the interviews are far too short and lacking in depth. The questions are often so aimless ("What is the best movie to take a stripper to?" being a good example) that it isn't hard to imagine this DVD raising the ire of hardcore horror lovers. I mean, who cares what George A. Romero's favorite food is? How about you just let the man discuss his movies? At least he cares about the subtexts to his work; the creators of this DVD sure as hell don't seem to. We get snapshots of how zombies have become so commonplace in modern pop culture, with references to shows like The Walking Dead and gatherings like Zombie-Con. These are only touched on with no real insight offered—and this is where The Walking Dead Girls ultimately falls down. Had it focused solely on the "Zimbies," we would have at least had a focused documentary—albeit one with an extremely small niche to aim for. Instead, with its insistence on delving (however shallowly) into zombie culture in a broader way, it's impossible to walk away from The Walking Dead Girls feeling fulfilled.

In stark contrast to the interviews with Romero and Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead), the interviews with the zimbies feel rather contrived. Part of this may be down to some of the tedious questions asked, which includes "Vampires or Zombies?" and "Fast or Slow Moving Zombies?" While we get a lot of talk about the appearance of the zombies, none of them seem to care much for the social allegories which were so prevalent in Romero's movies. I've nothing against any of the ladies interviewed, they all seem nice enough and one or two clearly have great things in front of them, but I'd seriously question how many of them have seen more than Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake.

Picture quality is poor, with a soft image and both colors and small details suffering as a consequence. Audio is uneven in places, with the volume altering from shot to shot. There are no extras included in the DVD.

The Verdict

Guilty.

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