Zombies, (AKA Wicked Little Things,) 2006

  Opening scene exposition: a small mining town saw a tragedy in 1913 that led to a whole bunch of child-labor mine workers getting killed in a collapse. Fortunately, they’re still around! 

A hundred or so years later, a widowed mother of two young girls moves into the family home left to them by the deceased father/husband.

Of course the house is a dilapidated, rat-strewn wreck of a house, but Mom wants to fix it up, clean it up, sell it fast, and move on.

Meanwhile, older daughter, Sarah, meets up with some peers and is told about the ‘Zombie Miner Children’ legend of the surrounding forest, and younger daughter, Emma, has a new ‘imaginary friend,’ Mary, who just happens to 'live' in the woods.

Well, the whole thing plays out just like a decent ghost story should - the deceased rising at night to wreak revenge on the descendants of those that cost them their lives. Yeah, that old chestnut. However, that is both the good and the bad of it: it is more ghost story than zombie flick.

I mean, the minor-miners ARE dead, and apparently eat the flesh of their victims, but they only come out at night, they kill with pickaxes and shovels, they work together as a team, no transmission of Zombism, or any other of the ‘Rules of Romero apply, (aside from the eating of the flesh.)

In fact, these little blighters are more like ‘Nazi Zombies’ than any other Z-Type. Except, of course, that A) they’re just kids, and B) they died 20 or so years before the Nazis came into being.

As a zombie movie it is different, as a ghost story, not so much. Entertaining, though. The cast does fairly well, and the misty, woodsy, setting is creepy and atmospheric. The Killer Kids, though? Not really scary-looking. Dirty outfits and a little ‘Alice Cooper’ make-up is all. Sorry, ragamuffins.

Graded with the Zombie Movie Rubric for a little objectivity and Zombies, (or Wicked Little Things,) scored a 2.0 out a possible 4.0, which puts it smack-dab in the middle of the pack. An enjoyable little film worthy of a recommendation, but NOT to a zombie movie purist!

YouTube has both the trailer, here: WICKED LITTLE THINGS

Or, the whole film (with commercials,) under the name ZOMBIES

Also, as of this wring, it is included with Amazon Prime.

The Grapes Of Death, 1978

  Two friends, Élisabeth and Brigitte, are traveling on an almost otherwise empty train across the French countryside. After Brigitte leaves her to freshen up, a man boards and joins Élisabeth in their compartment - He is boil-covered and diseased-looking. As he sits there, his purification spreads and shortly, she can stand no more and runs out and down the corridor. As she gets to the end of the car, she finds her friend has been killed. She jumps the train and flees the ever-increasingly pustulant and now-pursuing, apparent assailant… To a quiet villa.

Sadly, Élisabeth’s troubles are only beginning as the deeply rural village is populated with less-than-hospitable townsfolk, many of whom seem in the grip of an illness that causes psychotic violence, oozing decay, and seemingly, living death. Oh, plus, almost all of these residents evidently wish to do very unpleasant things to her.

Okay, sure, that opening scene on the train, (with the death of her companion, the attack on her, and her desperate escape,) all sound suspiciously similar to ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ from only a decade earlier, and true, it more than likely was looking to coat-tail on the now-growing zombie movie popularity, but these zombies are quite different.

The 'ghouls' from The Grapes of Death are, (according to writer/direct Jean Rollin,) between life and death. They can show some signs of awareness, speech, tool use, deception. And they even sometimes show remorse at their actions.

Also, they don’t consume flesh, they don’t spread zombism through bites, and one need not destroy the brain to kill them. Plus, once dead, they stay dead.

So, not zombies, 'infected.' Oh, definitely infected. In fact, as the opening credits ran, we are treated to a group of workers spraying down the grapevines with a pesticide. The grapevines that produce the wine that all of the locals drink. Ah, NOW the name makes sense.

I let my Zombie Movie Rubric judge this “Non-Zombie” movie and The Grapes of Death scored itself a respectable 2.3 points out of a potential 4. 

    This ‘Better than Average’ rating equates to an enjoyable watch. But, I’d recommend The Grapes of Death with the following caveats: 1) It is NOT your average zombie/infected film, 2) it is a bit dated, (1978,) and 3) it is in French. If you’re okay with those conditions, this may be a nice, gory, little, late-night treat.

YouTube has a nice, long trailer, here: THE GRAPES OF DEATH