“Bath Salt Zombies”
Movie #2 of the 2019 31-Days of Horror Challenge.
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The designer drug problem, specifically Bath Salts, in New York has caused the producers to come up with stronger strains of the drug. One inventive producer is using a military grade weaponized chemical in his strain. This strain is 100% addictive after the first use, and causes violent outburts. Agent Forster is on a mission to end designer drug use and production in New York using every resource at his disposal.
This is a low-budget, indie horror from writer/director Dustin Wade Mills. Thematically it is reminiscent of the classic Reefer Madness, regarding the consequences of illicit drug use, but it’s a whole lot more wild and bizaare. With a mixture of animation and live action, computer graphic and practical effects, and switching between color and black and white, the viewer is presented a surreal nightmarescape of a story, enhanced by a Punk Rock soundtrack.
The film is realtively short, which is good, because the pacing feels slow, though I’m not certain that it actually is. The issue is that there’s no fleshed out characters with whom the audience could empathize. There is the junkie who is spiraling into his addiction, the cop, the drug dealer, the chemist, and a handful of peripheral but utterly disposable characters. There really isn’t much for a plot, it’s more of a cautionary tale or warning.
There are a few definite positives going on. I loved the masks that were used for one of the drug dealing gangs. There was some really great make-up toward the end to represent the complete change of the person on the drug. There was a lot of gore. And for those who consider it a plus, there was a fair amount of female nudity.
This movie is so very not for everyone. This not a movie I would recommend to most people.
