‘Attack of the Vegan Zombies!’ – Hold the brains, please

attack-of-the-vegan-zombies

It’s not easy to stand out in the crowded zombie genre.

We’ve already seen Nazi zombies (“Dead Snow”), funny zombies (“Shaun of the Dead”) and zombies serving as household pets (“Fido”).

Indie writer/director Jim Townsend’s spin on the genre involves zombies put off by eating brains and entrails.

They prefer a nice Chianti, and if they happen to find some in a person’s blood stream, so be it.

“Attack of the Vegan Zombies!” uses that as its twist, one which will likely attract gore hounds like bees to honey.

Writer/director/star Jim Townsend shrewdly sets the stage for his modest zombie affair, but he ultimately can’t decide whether his film is a spoof, a monster mash or an homage to classic zombie films.

It comes up a tad short in each category, but it’s still a diverting feature given the microscopic budget.

Joe and Dionne (Townsend and Christine Egan) are trying to make a living out of a less than fruitful vineyard. If the crops don’t bounce back – and quickly – they’ll have to sell the property.

But those crops do rebound – in remarkable fashion. Turns out Dionne is the daughter of a witch (H. Lynn Smith) who cast a spell over the crops to help them grow.

But her incantation has some unintended consequences, rendering the grape vines a wee more … aggressive than required.

“Vegan Zombies!” features such horror movie staples as uber-nerds, dumbfounded scientists and, of course, a pair of hotties. The elements take a while before they bubble into a full-scale thriller, but until then Townsend and Egan carry the film as a credible couple trying to stave off financial ruin.

The green-hued zombies look like Halloween night rejects, and the sinister vines are as frightening as a swinging tree branch. And the gore is kept to a minimum save one lopped off head.

Townsend isn’t interested in reinventing horror movie makeup. He’s having a blast with genre conventions, and it’s fun to watch a movie go for broke with such limited resources.

Still, when the film trots out some groan worthy punch lines it can be hard to rally by its side.

“Attack of the Vegan Zombies!” (available via Amazon.com and Filmbaby.com) isn’t interested in scaring us silly. The film simply wants to add to the growing zombie film library by one slim new volume.

(Photo: Jim Townsend and Christine Egan find their winery under assault in “Attack of the Vegan Zombies.”)