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Good start, but then it gets ruined

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Fantastic!

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

More sub-par NIGHT OF THE LIVING shenanigans are here in this shot-in-Pennysylvania effort, strictly amateurish from beginning to end and yet not without a certain charm. This is a virtually plot less affair, involving a group of hippies who are sprayed with experimental herbicide and turn into weapon-wielding zombies, although it has to be said that there are very atypical zombies as they resemble nothing more than stoned students wandering around in the woods. Astonishingly, this is a film which gained a certain notoriety thanks to its brief appearance on the video nasties list, this is incredible when watching a relatively tame film when compared to the likes of Fulci's ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS or the myriad other video nasties around at the time.The entire film takes place in the woods and it has to be said that the location is the best aspect of the film, lending the movie a natural atmosphere which even the occasionally sloppy camera-work can't hide. The cast is a largely interchangeable bunch of hippies, government agents and holidaying families, with plenty of chasing about and action interspersed with some laughable gore segments; a man's hand is cut off, a severed leg is found in the wood, some entrails leak from a torn stomach. The special effects are laughably bad, so cheap that they even use those joke-shop plastic flies at one point, sticking them to a wound. The "zombies" just appear to have putty stuck to their faces so don't go expecting any Dick Smith-style gruesomeness here.The wooden lead is played by Charles McCrann, actually Charles Austin, who also acted as director, writer, and producer. In retrospect his action-man persona is lent a touch of poignancy, in the discovery that he was killed in the 9/11 Al Quaeda attack on the Twin Towers. FOREST OF FEAR is Austin's baby and it isn't that bad, certainly more atmospheric than the other amateur efforts of the '80s and '90s, like ZOMBIE NOSH for instance. The unknown Beverly Shapiro is mildly attractive as the heroine, whilst Romero regular John Amplas pops up as a corrupt government official. However, it's the supporting characters who are the most hilarious; Dennis Helfend, who plays a paranoid hermit living out in the woods, steals the show with his fleshy, edgy performance, whilst the acting of the lad playing the boy also gets a few laughs. In the end, FOREST OF FEAR is pretty much interchangeable with the other cheap horror efforts coming from America between 1980 and 1983, but it retains a few moments of interest to make it worth a look for kindly fans.

One of the infamous video nasties that were banned in Britain, this one known as Forest of Fear, is still banned. It was released on video in the US as Toxic Zombies, and is also known as Blood Butchers. With all these names changes, maybe they can sneak it past the British Film Board.It is a typical zombie movie. The government sprays some unapproved substance (DROMAX) on marijuana fields on government land, and it turns the pot growers into zombies. They start killing their friends that didn't get infected, then move to campers in the woods.Lots of blood and body parts, but only one gratuitous nude scene (Debbie Link) before the whole thing starts as one pot grower is bathing out of a pail.Cameo by John Amplas (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Knightriders).For zombie completists.

Some movies are great to an individual because of his or her own personal experiences with them. This film is one of those "special films" to me. I saw it originally in 1988 or so on the old USA show "Saturday Nightmares" at the tender age of 8. Saturday Nightmares was the best, way better than "Up All Night". They showed two horrendously crappy horror films every Saturday night, starting at 8 p.m. My dad and I would get very excited for "Saturday Nightmares" because it was always incredible. We were always amused/amazed by how bad these films were and we always wondered where the hell they found them. Every week you would see two movies that would blow your mind. "Toxic Zombies" was one of these. My sister, my father and I were laughing at this trash heap of a zombie film extremely hard. I searched for it for years, and just found it at Videoscreams three years ago. Still horrible, and I still laugh at it.

BLOODEATERS (which I saw the theatrical trailer for many years ago and laughed at), and TOXIC ZOMBIES are the same film which I discovered by accident after renting it. I had heard terrible things about both titles but as a zombie movie fan, I tend to fall prey to my inner hunger to see guts ripped out and devoured onscreen by pasty-faced freaks, often against my better judgement. This film was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be--although it's no masterpiece, either. The film is padded out, has terrible, wooden acting, a ludicrous script,awful zombie makeup, and yet somehow it doesn't fall flat on its face... well, not entirely. On the plus side, there is a small but decent amount of gore effects (severed limbs, bullets through head and neck, guts seeping out of a dead body) and the soundtrack (similar to John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN) is actually quite eerie and effective, rendering the film a tad more suspenseful than it has a right to be. The zombies, not truly being undead but just drugged out homicidal maniacs, are the result of being sprayed by a secret government herbicide, and thus die all too easily (as any normal person would). The film needed more zombies, more victims, more gore and more action. It has its moments and a certain creaky, campy charm, but suffers mightily from its amateur cast and crew and is paced only slightly faster than your average snail and has about as much intelligence. Not a bad rental if you're hard up for zombie fare. I give it a 3 out of 10 stars.