Zombie Strains

We've been waiting for 1970s zombie movies to get gory and sexy, but (with the gruesome exception of 1971's I DRINK YOUR BLOOD) it's been a relatively tame decade so far. But no longer! HORROR HOSPITAL has everything we expected the 70s to offer: violence, nudity, and that overall vibe of tastelessness that defines the exploitation cinema of the Disco Era. John, Andy, and Producer Brad...

It's our first Hindi zombie film! The last time our zombie hunt took us to Asia, it was in the racist, American-produced REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES (1936); now we finally have a chance to see what Indian filmmakers do with the zombie. What unfolds is a strangely compelling fusion of erotic thriller and supernatural revenge story, in which a good-hearted scientist falls prey to the machinations of a...

In our first zombie prison movie, a group of incarcerated, formaldehyde-sniffing bad seeds make a break for it, but their plan gets nipped in the bud when the prison guards mow them down. The situation gets even thornier when undead horror quickly blooms from the shallow soil. Will everyone wind up pushing daisies? John, Andy, and Producer Brad grab their pruning shears and head into the GARDEN OF...

We've been wondering when the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD knockoffs would arrive. Well, they're officially here, starting with CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS! This movie hides its twenty minutes of solid Romero-style zombie action behind an hour of bizarre drama involving a team of actors, their sadistic director, and lot of black magic mumbo-jumbo. John, Andy, and Producer Brad...

It's probably a bad idea to try and resurrect somebody named Baron Blood, right? Especially in a medieval castle with a torture dungeon, an iron maiden, and lots of spikes that could conveniently be used for impalings. Nonetheless, that's exactly what our bold (or foolish) heroes do in this strangely compelling low-budget Italian zombie film directed by the legendary Mario Bava. Will John,...

Scarce ammunition, locked doors, a sewer level, and of course, loads of disgusting bio-mutant zombies: everything that scared you when you first ventured into Spencer Mansion on your 90s-era Playstation is here in Zach Cregger's take on RESIDENT EVIL (2026). So does the much-lauded director of WEAPONS and BARBARIAN successfully evoke the famous horror video game series without stumbling into t...

Just because they can't see you doesn't mean they can't catch you and tear you apart! John, Andy, and Producer Brad journey across the Atlantic to Spain in the waning days of the Franco regime, where they confront a Euro-horror cult classic that combines lurid exploitation with sharp social commentary. Expect spooky castles, zombie Templars, and a psychedelic confrontation with the und...

Director Al Adamson's 1965 heist film, PSYCHO A-GO-GO flopped. So in 1969, he hired John Carradine to play a mad scientist, shot new scenes, and retitled it THE FIEND WITH THE ELECTRONIC BRAIN. That, too, flopped. Adamson hired Tommy Kirk in 1971 and shot more new scenes and released it with another new title, BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR. Will John, Andy, and Producer Brad be able to keep all this...

One giant high-rise in downtown Seoul. Hundreds of people going about their everyday lives inside. Add one mad scientist with a vision for a fungus zombie hivemind apocalypse, and you have the recipe for a wild zombie action film! Director Yeon Sang-ho has already given us two modern zombie classics ("Train to Busan" and "Peninsula") but he's not done with us yet. John and Andy...

Get ready for the grindhouse! In this zombie double feature, the Zombie Strains team faces down two very different sides of zombie cinema. First up is the ultraviolent schlockfest I DRINK YOUR BLOOD, followed by the curiously retro I EAT YOUR SKIN. One of these is our first glimpse of 70s grindhouse, and the other might be the last dying groan of the traditional voodoo zombie. Which path will John...

Crime waves... Watergate... disco... 70s zombies don't rise from the dead in a vacuum! The 70s was the decade that horror broke into the mainstream. So what lurking fears of the 1970s were exploited and amplified by zombie cinema? John and Andy take a little break from the regular lineup of zombie movies to talk through what exactly was so scary about the groovy 70s. Show Notes: Us Theatrical...

The end of the world was just the beginning of Robert Neville's problems. Sure, he's set up in a swanky post-apocalyptic penthouse suite, but he's cursed to spend his days and nights battling a Luddite cult of zombie hippies! John, Andy, and Producer Brad brave their first big-budget Hollywood zombie epic of the 1970s. Will this action blockbuster, another adaptation of Richard Matheso...

What happens when zombie horror gets put on a collision course with... the early 20th century temperance movement? Add a toucan, a snake dancer, acid trips, and Boris Karloff (and did we mention all the snakes?), and you have SNAKE PEOPLE. John, Andy, and Producer Brad return to the voodoo roots of zombie cinema in a film that combines decades-old horror cliches with the salacious sentiments of 19...

Teleporting zombies. A tortured antihero. A sinister satanic cult. Only one man can save the day! The world's greatest luchador Santo returns to Zombie Strains for one last match against the undead. This time, the horror begins in colonial New Spain, travels to 1971 Mexico, and culminates in a trip to hell itself. John, Andy, and Brad don their masks and capes for one last wrestling match agai...

Santo's back, and so are his wrestling zombie enemies! He might be facing a full rogue's gallery of classic Hollywood monsters, but he's not alone in the fight. He's joined by the mysterious luchador Blue Demon... at least until Blue Demon is cloned and turned against Santo. There's just so much to deal with in our first 1970s zombie film that we called in some backup to help u...

Don your most posh bowler hat, squeeze into your brightly-colored jumpsuit, and grab your umbrella sword. We're on a mission to Swinging London! John and Andy once again commandeer the Zombie Strains lab to visit the '60s spy-fi hit THE AVENGERS. See what happens when secret agents John Steed and Emma Peel face off against a two-pronged zombie threat... and find out what 1960s network TV w...

Pigeons aren't the scariest bird... UNLESS they team up with vengeful zombies in the post-Civil War South. Then they become a force to be reckoned with! John and Andy take a swampy detour on the trail of PIGEONS FROM HELL, a 1961 episode of the TV show "Thriller" based on a short story by pulp maestro Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan and other pulp heroes). Will they survive the nigh...

Bunny isn't the only thing missing in BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (1965)! There's also no trace of zombies. Or is there? In the interlude between Zombie Strains seasons, John and Andy take a curious detour into a psychological thriller about a possibly delusional mother's quest to find her possibly non-existent missing child. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, and you just might pick up the tra...

Against all odds, we've survived to the end of the 1960s! What have we learned about zombies along the way? What were the unexpected delights and the unprecedented horrors of the last twenty years of zombie cinema? John, Andy, and Brad wrap up season 2 of Zombie Strains--and brace themselves for the coming disco era--by reflecting on the remarkable ways that zombies evolved through the 1950s a...

Seven terrorized survivors. One isolated farmhouse. And one endless horde of the living dead. It's time to confront the patient zero of modern zombie film, Night of the Living Dead (1968)! In addition to guns, torches, and survival supplies, John, Andy, and Brad are bringing all the knowledge of zombie cinema they've gained from watching four decades of zombie movies. What did this masterp...

How do you take down a vampire mastermind who's out to conquer the world? You send in hell's most dangerous secret agent! Aided by his zombie henchwomen, the enigmatic antihero Dr. Satan must match wits with the bloodsucking Yei Lin in a wild series of heists, assassinations, and intrigues. Who will be the last one standing? John, Andy, and Brad venture into the deadly world of the Mexican...

Show favorite John Carradine is back as Dr. DeMarco in 1968’s THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES. DeMarco has figured out how to create enhanced humans (don't call them zombies!) for the space program, but now everyone wants his secret. The CIA must find DeMarco before the sinister Satana (Zura Satana) and her gang of thugs steal the secret of the Astro-Zombies for their own sinister purposes. Who will reach h...

Didn't your parents always warn that if you watched too much mind-numbing TV, you'd turn into a mindless zombie? Little did they know how literally that would turn out! In EXTRAÑA INVASIÓN (1965),AKA STRANGE INVASION, a small town is horrified as its children become addicted to a mysterious zombifying TV broadcast. John, Andy, and Producer Brad head once again to Argentina to find out whet...

The trippy 60s are finally here! This hip party beach in Argentina has a problem: young women are sinking into a zombie-like state, wandering off, and getting themselves murdered by a psychotic killer. THE DEADLY ORGAN is a psychadelic film that has everything you expect from 1960s horror: sex, drugs, and... no actual zombies? John, Andy, and Producer Brad don their coolest beach attire to learn w...

It's time for another horror anthology film, this one rooted in the melodramatic twist endings of horror comics! DR. TERROR'S GALLERY OF HORROR walks us through five spooky tales that feature vampires, werewolves, and yes, zombies--as well as horror veterans Lon Cheney and John Carradine. Will this film's earnest charm overcome its bargain-basement production values? Join John, Andy, a...