I was A Teenage Zombie

I was A Teenage Zombie (1987)
Dir: John Elias Michaelakis
Starring: A bunch of unknowns and George Cominera (Splatter University)

Sometimes while looking for flicks to review a movie I was fond of as a child will pop up and that is the case with I was A Teenage Zombie. I remember the old VHS cover of this video sitting on shelves of the local video rental stores back before the days of Blockbuster when smaller mom and pop shops were chock filled with posters and cardboard cutouts of The latest Horror Icon and the shelves were overflowing with horror films. With that said sometimes these childhood favorites will stand the test of time and still be awesome upon viewing years later as an adult, in such cases as films like Neon Maniacs, Nail Gun Massacre, Maniac and The films of Frank Hennenlotter ( Basket Case/ Frankenhooker/Brain Damage), But in this case the film in question does not possess the same amount of enthusiasm as it did when I was a child. Now don't get me wrong, I was A Teenage Zombie is a fun movie and I can see why I liked it as a child but now after watching it as an adult it just does not have the same appeal.
Synopsis:
     A group of students are preparing for a dance and Gordy is in charge of finding the gang some pot, He also needs to score this pot to keep a bully from kicking his ass for a debt owed . After coming to a bunch of dead ends Gordy comes across a local thug named Mussolini  and Gordy and his friends decide to test out the product. Upon finding that the pot is bogus and for fear of getting beaten by Bird the school bully , Gordy catches up with Moose to try and get a refund. This plan does not go too well as Gordy is quickly beaten to a pulp by the thug.

After being beaten Gordy returns to his friends and tells them and Bird of the incident , So the gang all gather together in order to get payback on the lowlife thug. During the altercation, Moose slips on a banana peel and dies upon impact from the fall. Freaking out the guys decide to throw his body in the lake to cover their tracks, but Moose wakes up and Dan the jock of the bunch is called upon to finish Moose off, Then he takes a bat to the gangsters head before throwing him in the lake.

Once the body is disposed of Bird realizes his money was in the guys pocket so he returns to the scene of the crime to find that Moose has risen from the dead and Bird gets his tongue ripped out killing him. It turns out that a nuclear plant nearby run by Lloyd Kaufman (Troma/Toxic Avenger/ etc.) had leaked into the river causing Moose to reanimate.

Later that night the gang is out on the waterfront with some girls enjoying a bonfire and drinks,when Moose arrives killing one of the guys girlfriends. Now realizing that Moose had been reanimated due to the radioactive waste , the gang comes up with a scheme to ambush moose to take him out. This plan unfortunately does not go as well as planned because The groups go to guy Dan is killed in the process.

After realizing that Moose has gained some strength in his reanimation so the kids come up with a scheme to Bring Dan back from the dead the same way in order to have him fight Moose for them, SO they steal his corpse from his funeral and throw it in the River.the following day Dan returns on campus as if nothing ever happened and the gang has to explain his new situation. While Dan adjusts to his new lifestyle and realizing he will never get the girl of his dreams Cindy now that he is dead , Moose roams the streets killing anyone in his way including some mobsters he owed money to.

The gang plans to set up a meeting to pit the two zombies against each other , while Cindy finds out Dan is back and insists that Dan still takes her to the dance. While the gang prepare for the dance and the ambush, one of the kids is killed while heading to the school. Afterwards the dance starts and everyone shows up just in time for the final showdown. During the final showdown Cindy is killed just before Moose is decapitated by Dan. After the brawl Dan carries Cindy off into the River and they both go into the water together to be with each other forever.

Final Thoughts:
As I said before I could see why I enjoyed this as a kid, When I was still a bit disturbed by films that were to graphic and scary this one is lighthearted and goofy enough to enjoy and it does have some decent gore that is not to explicit. But now as an adult that has been thoroughly descencitized to pretty much anything horror has to offer this one just comes off as pure cheese, and that is not always a bad thing . this one just does not have the same nostalgic feeling that a film like Neon Maniacs or Basket Case has when it comes to childhood favorites. This is a fun watch and would actually be a decent horror date movie if you find a girl who is trying to get into cult and B-Cinema in order to put up with it for the sake of a relationship. This is a pretty harmless Horror film that would not be a bad choice for a Horror film for kids that wanna seem cool by watching something they're friends have not seen as it has just enough gore to keep them paying attention, some silly gags , and no nudity. So a film like this does serve a purpose and this would be a nice movie to play with films like Teen Wolf and even Fright Night. Not really a classic but truly a fun watch for nostalgia's sake. I cannot stress how much I miss the days when the rental stored had huge selections of horror films and no just films from the past year or so , It makes it allot less fun to rent for a movie night these days.

Gore:6
Nudity:0
Story:5
Characters:5
Overall:5.5 out of 10