Bayview Entertainment has tabbed Jan. 19 for the latest installment in the company’s popular “HNN Presents” line of independent horror films on DVD.
This time, from the wilds of Kalamazoo, Michigan no less, comes writer/director Justin Cash Kirkpatrick’s Buddy Bebop vs. The Living Dead, a mixed-genre homage to 50’s rock ‘n’ roll legends, date night at the roller rink, mad scientists and the undead.
Buddy, played by Nate Melvin, who has an uncanny resemblance to rock legend Buddy Holly (he’s actually appeared in stage productions of “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story”), might be the title character or Kirkpatrick’s horror tale (with equal doses of humor and music) — and Buddy does get his “licks” in — but the real focus of the events that unfold are Bobby (William Ellwood), a slicked-back greaser — who could be right off the set of James Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause — and his main squeeze, bebopper girlfriend, Rosie (played by Kelly Dominique, who also starred in Kirkpatrick’s The Mountain Kings).
We get the malt shop set, a backstory about a hush hush research, skip over to a few shots at what’s on slab over at the lab, and then head over to the local roller rink for some date night action. It is here that the mad scientist’s experiment gone awry arrives … a plague of the undead, a zombie hoard.
We also get word that help is on the way. There’s even a cameo of Vice President Richard Nixon (Barry Eisen) assuring us that “The King” will put things right. But, while we wait, the body count mounts and Bobby, Buddy and Rosie have to survive date night at the roller rink. Munch, munch, munch.
Buddy Bebop vs. The Living Dead is a nifty blend of 50’s rock ‘n’ roll nostalgia (filmed in black and white, with brilliant colors added here and there for effect), the experimentation of a mad scientist gone south (Leo G. Carroll in Jack Arnold’s 1955 classic, Tarantula, is a great example), the undead on a rampage (think: Night of the Living Dead) and a battle-royal at the end (sorry, not giving away that plot point … but the clues are all here) over the one dose of serum that will save one, but not two legends.
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