The Stink Of Flesh

Kurly Tlapoyawa plays Matool, a kick-ass Asian dude who is living in the zombie apocalypse with no problem when it comes to surviving. Still, he needs a place to shack in between the zombie massacres, and gets to the home of Nathan (Ross Kelly), a quiet and strange man who shares his home with his wife Dexy and his wife’s sister, Sassy (Kristin Hansen). Soon soldiers join in on the fun, but tensions begin to fire up when Nathan’s wife has sexual relations with every man in the house. They share what they call an ‘open relationship’, but Nathan is still resentful, and soon the zombies won’t be the only thing the characters will have to worry about.
This film is basically a remake of Night of the Living Dead, only on an ever lower budget and with a much more fun tone. In fact, that’s the best way to describe this film: it’s fun. The action is pretty kick-ass when it happens, mostly focusing on hand-to-hand combat, and contains a lot of gore. The camerawork and lighting are mostly natural, making the zombies seem more like psychotic men than undead fiends. Acting-wise, the movie is half and half. The Matool character was really cool, kicking ass and not taking any shit, and I also like the fact that he’s named after the island in Zombi 2. Ross Kelly plays a pretty cool psychopath, and Kristin Hansen, who’s related to Gunnar Hansen from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, gives a very crazy, wacky, yet disturbing performance. The rest of the cast is nowhere near as interesting.
The plot has a lot of cool exploitative elements that many genre fans will surely appreciate. For example, Sassy has a sister who’s nothing more than an appendage stuck to her stomach, similar to films like Basket Case or Imprint. Nathan also keeps a naked zombie chained to the shed which he uses to fuck regularly. The music is excellent as well, performed by Chris Alexander, who used to write for Rue Morgue Magazine. His score is very reminiscent of Italian horror and giallos, kind of the stuff by Ennio Morricone. They add a really weird vibe that’s perfect for the kind of film. The rest of the soundtrack features really cool rock n’ roll that is shown in many indie horror films, and with good reason, as it adds to the ‘fun’ vibe.
Yes, this movie is fun. It’s entertaining, has a lot of exploitative elements, gore, and nudity, and the storyline is very over-the-top, culminating your typical gore-soaked ending. The film has many close elements to the Bruno Mattei shitfest, Hell Of The Living Dead, in that it’s more of a fun good time than a scary one. Unlike Hell Of The Living Dead, this movie is a good one, and comes very recommended.