DVD Corner

Hard Rock Zombies DVD Review

“Hard Rock Zombies” is one weird bad movie.

Written by David Ball and Krishna Shah (who is also the director), 1985’s “Hard Rock Zombies” is an oddball horror-comedy film that plays like a cross between “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Night Of The Living Dead,” “The Addams Family,” with a dash of Russ Meyer. It also happens to be a very bad movie that has managed to become a sort of bad movie classic over the years due to its strange elements (more on that in a bit). Anyway, the story involves a rock band called Holy Moses that is venturing to the small California town of Grand Guignol (eye roll) to play a concert. Alas, the town is anti-rock music and tries to shut the show down. The band stays with a very strange family that includes a sexpot serial killer, a one eyed dwarf, a photographer, a werewolf, an axe wielding bald man, a deformed dwarf, and Hitler. To no surprise, the psychotic family kills the band, but the band is resurrected when the singer (Jessie) gives a girl (Cassie) he has a crush on a tape that features a rock incantation that brings the dead back to life. Now, the band has become zombies and are out for revenge against the family, but the deranged family also rises from the dead to create further chaos in town. There’s also a bunch of subplots involving the local yokels, the band’s manager, a record executive, and more. 

“Hard Rock Zombies” is one of those bad movies that has to be seen to be believed. The amount of bizarre, shocking, and bad taste scenes that exist within this film is off the charts. There’s a decapitated hand, head tossings, Nazis, a deformed dwarf eating his entire body, lines like “Looks like he munches babies,” puzzling edits, a Virgin sacrifice, celebrity faces spooking zombies (don’t ask), a vile sex scene, and that’s just scratching the surface. If you love bad movies like “Troll 2” or “Birdemic,” you might be drawn to this one just for the sheer weirdness of it all. There’s certainly nothing else like it nor is it like any other zombie film really. If you’re looking for a “good” horror-comedy, this is not for you. 

As a horror film and a horror-comedy “Hard Rock Zombies” does not work at all. It attempts to be another comedy movie about rock music posing a threat to people, but it goes off in so many bonkers directions that that element gets lost in the shuffle. Even the rock music element is largely forgettable with the cheeseball 80’s songs and corny rock band shenanigans (like the dopey montage).

“Hard Rock Zombies” is due out July 15 from the MVD Rewind Collection.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.85:1. How does it look? The print resembles VHS quality with some shots looking worse than others.

Audio Track: Dolby Digital 2.0. How does it sound? The audio fares better here with a solid 2.0 track. The music sounds especially sharp here.

The lone extra is a trailer

June 18, 2025 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | 80's Movie, Bad Movie, Hard Rock Zombies DVD Review, Horror-Comedy, Rock Movie, Zombie Movie