Backlash007 ~Spoiler~ John Saxon: great actor, lousy director. Zombie Death House is one poor excuse for a horror movie. What he was thinking when he made this piece of trash I'll never know. And how he got some decent actors for this is another mystery. Anthony Franciosa, Michael Pataki, and Ron O'Neal all co-star in this thing. The long, incredibly dragged out plot follows a former Vietnam hero and mafia chauffeur who winds up in prison. While there, other death row inmates are subjected to experiments that zombify them for lack of a better word. John Saxon plays some government black-bag operative who quarantines the prison and our hero and a few others try to escape. It was a nice idea but poorly executed and, for the most part, boring. It takes a long time to get going and it's not worth your time when it does. Also, the lead actor is completely bland. For a better Zombie In Prison movie (or ZIP flicks as I like to call them) check out Beyond Re-animator.

Coventry Go John! John Saxon! Go John! We love you! John Saxon: star AND director of this surprisingly inventive and ambitious horror gem that somewhat feels like a successful crossover between cheesy American 80's horror and gore-drenched Italian cult. Saxon perfectly found the middle path between these two styles because he's familiar with both (the titles on his resume go from "Blood Beach" to "Cannibal Apocalypse") and he delivers a hugely enjoyable little film that deserves more attention from genre fans, if you ask me. Granted, it's quite a bizarre film and the first 30 minutes nearly make you fear you purchased an ordinary 80's action flick with dire car-chases and implausible mafia shootouts. But this opening is just a very extended introduction of the main character, Derek. He's a heroic Vietnam veteran, framed for murder by his mafia-employer and sent to the death row of a nasty prison. And his situation only gets worse, since this prison is chosen by the government as a place to experiment with new and highly dangerous types of drugs. The guinea pigs rapidly turn into ravenous zombies but the army puts the entire building under quarantine, so even the prisoners and guards that aren't infected can't escape! John Saxon rewarded himself with the role of the evil colonel who runs the whole operation. The script of "Zombie Death House" is often quite messy and incoherent, but it's full of action and ingenious little surprises that make you forget all the flaws easily. I know the zombies aren't actual "zombies". They're more like infected persons as in "Nightmare City" or "Hell of the Living Dead" but – seriously – who cares? Their flesh is rotting, they hunt and kill humans and they're damn difficult to destroy…that's good enough for me! The prison setting is excellent, with secret tunnels and freaky execution chambers all over the place, the make-up effects are effectively gruesome and the story even foresees a few genuine shock-moments (the rape-scene!!). Maybe my opinion shouldn't be trusted, since I'm John Saxon's greatest fan, but horror fans certainly won't regret giving this 80's gem a chance.

mguyer I myself am a big fan of low-budget 80's horror films. This isn't the worst but still not to spectacular. The plot line is decent but drags out way too long. You're through half the movie before you even get to see any zombie action. The kills aren't very creative and the zombies aren't too crafty. I truly think this movie would have been better if they left out the zombies and just made it into some mafia flick. It's watchable but I feel that this film did steal at least an hour of my life. I'll give the film credit for being somewhat original. If you are really into B horror movies it's worth a viewing but if you're not, don't bother. But you don't have to take my word for it.

Stinger839 *Contains some spoilers* This movie is cheesy 80s horror in all its awfulness. The plot takes way too long to get off the ground, never steadies itself, and then just plain crashes about 40 minutes into the film. There are a few gem moments for zombie fans, but not nearly enough zombies to create a real sense of terror.The zombies also take a long time to make their appearance. First, there's a whole half of a movie about mobs and prison gangs. The hero of the movie is an ex-Vietnam vet who gets caught up in the mob. The main mob boss sets him up and he goes to jail. In this jail, they are experimenting on the prisoners to find a way to cure them of homicidal tendencies and criminal behavior. But the badie psychotic head scientist/military guy has other plans in mind. He wants to use a slightly different version of the serum to make ....da da da.... super soldiers! After some infected prisoners kill a few guards and most of the prison has a round of infected communion wine, the military/crazy scientist guy goes "hey this might be a problem" and gives a call to the genius scientist turned investigative journalist hot babe ultra-empowered independent woman character, who of course invented the original serum. She goes to the prison to see what's going down, the military guy calls in a few SWAT teams from his secure position outside the prison, and the hero guy takes charge of the few prisoners with a heart of gold when a riot breaks out. The hero guy and the scientist/journalist lady team up to find a cure, save the warden's kids, and deal with some irate prisoners, both infected and not. Meanwhile, the mob boss guy has made a deal to get into the prison so that he can save his imprisoned brother. The military gets ready to blow the place up, and everyone inside scrambles to find a way out.There are a lot of gory scenes where people are killed by being pressed or pulled through prison bars. There's also a creepy decapitation scene and electrocution scene involving the same infected rasta prisoner. Still, the most disturbing scene is in the early part of the film, when a gross corrupt guard rapes a prisoner.The main highlight of this film is one scene towards the end. The hero, woman, and kids are trying to make their way to the only escape route. Their path leads them to a long hallway, on one side there is a wall and on the other are prison bars. Hundreds of bloody zombie hands reach through, gracing their hair and faces as they pass by. There's also a few good scenes of the classic "couple of zombies munching on freshly dead bodies" and "many zombies ripping one guy to shreds" bits.Overall, worth watching if you're researching the zombie genre as it has so many zombie clichés worth noting; it's practically an instruction manual on what not to do when making a zombie movie. But if you're new to zombie flicks and want a real scare, you should look elsewhere.