Movie Review: Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody Bill

Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody Bill 

The Asylum, USA, 2004.

Fugitive drug dealer Darrell (Dean N. Arevalo) gets lost in desert and finds an old village. Sunset Valley seems to be an abandoned Western town. The town is however  full of zombies who want to eat him. 

Darrell in a bad place

Group of teens are going to debating contest Phoenix. Gwen (Chelsea Jean) "The Sensible", Mandy (Denise Boutte) "The Snob", Buck (Steven Glinn) "The Idiot", Sandra (Kandis Erickson) "The Not Particularly Characterized", Jerry (Matt Marraccini) "The Slightly Religious" and Avery "The Coach" (Scott Carson). Darrell's former business partner Earl (Gregory Bastien) carjacks their minivan. They arrive to the village whose population has grown by one! 

Jerry and Gwen

Earl

Sunset Valley

Zombified Darrell appears and says that Bloody Bill (Jeremy Bouvet) will find them. The zombies start picking the youth one by one. During civil war evil William Anderson (loosely based on real historical person) was lynched and now he has returned to get revenge.

Buck getting acrobatic with his hat

Bloody Bill

Although The Asylym is best known for mockbusters and low budget monster movies, in the beginning they made some original(!) low budget horror movies. This looks a bit like Z-grade "From Dusk Till Dawn" or "Hills Have Eyes" with zombies. The music is not all bad with Rob Zombie style metal by Ralph Riechermann. 

This is quite average direct-to-DVD zombie flick. As far as cinematography and special effects go, they are quite decent. Not unwatchable for a low budget horror film. It is just that there are several similar and better zombie flicks around so that this is very forgettable run-of-the-mill stuff. There are some comical moments: Buck getting (unintendedly) acrobatic with his hat, Earl's Scarface-moment and the constantly updating population number sign. Maybe there is a zombie carpenter who makes those signs. 

Rating: Average

Starring: Chelsea Jean, Gregory Bastien, Denise Boutte, Scott Carson, Matt Marraccini, Kandis Erickson, Steven Glinn, Jeremy Bouvet, Dean N. Arevalo, Tori Gonzales, Summer Davis , Jaycee Davis, Lee McLaughlin, Eric Steele, , Jodi Lyn Brockton, Robert Fleck, Kim Little, Stephanie Paris (and over 50 zombie actors) 

Director: Byron Werner