Shadow: Dead Riot (2005)

Dir: Derek Wan

When the body count hits double-figures before the credits have rolled, you have every right to expect a splat-tastic time. "Shadow: Dead Riot" delivers one of these in spades. Tony Todd stars as Shadow, an eeevil serial killer and voodoo priest who gets executed on death row. 20 years on and the penitentiary is now a correctional facility for women (with wardens called Elsa Thorne and Franco which, if you get the joke, tells you exactly what kind of facility we're talking about here!). Upon the arrival of a kung-fu tough cookie called Solitaire (Carla Greene), weird things start to happen and, next thing you know, Shadow and an army of zombies are within the walls and hungry for fresh flesh! Yeah, it's a bit of a leap of faith but when you consider how tricky it is to marry up the Women In Prison, Martial Arts and Zombie genres, I think they did a great job. Wall-to-wall tits, epic fist-fighting and squishy, spurty grue'n'spew abound. It's so loaded with testosterone, I think I sprouted an extra set of nuts just from watching it. I admit the overdone photography and lighting irritated a little and they could've easily ditched all the digital post-production effects, but the enthusiastic performances, killer soundtrack and boundlessly imaginative screenplay recompense for any enjoyment lost. This is really the perfect offering for anyone who yearns for the lively, BBFC-baiting gorefests of the late 80s. I loved it. ***1/2