Zombie Fuel

      by Bone Jawnson This past weekend, I viewed the cult film from the mid-1970s, "Blood Sucking Freaks." Originally, the film was released under the title "The Incredible Torture Show," which was acquired by Troma in 1981 and retitled. At face value, this film is a misogynistic buffet of torture, murder, and bizarre sex acts. When examining it further, it can be seen as the beginning of what is currently known as "meta" currently. After viewing this film, I researched the history of horror theater. Through this process, I learned about Grand Guignol-style theater productions that originated in France in the late 1800s. This article will discuss the correlations between the "Grand Guignol" style and the modern splatter film while analyzing the production of "Blood Sucking Freaks."  Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol opened in Paris in 1897 and specialized in naturalistic horror shows. This type of horror show aims to create an illusion of re...

  by Bone Jawnson "Monster Mall" is the third short film from Zombie Fuel. This was filmed with no budget and with a team of one person, myself, Bone Jawnson. All scenes were filmed in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania with a Motorola smartphone and edited in the free graphic design program, Canva. All sound effects were filmed live or downloaded from the Canva foley fx files. All additional footage was downloaded from Canva's free-use video files, as well as all digital creations.

  by Bone Jawnson Through a serendipitous set of circumstances, "Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D." was born. Through some research I conducted prior to and after viewing the film, I discovered that, while filming "The Toxic Avenger 2" in Japan, the team from Troma was approached by the video game company NAMCO to create a Japanese superhero modeled after Kabuki theater. Supposedly, the idea of a Kabuki theater superhero was originally thought of by Troma's Lloyd Kaufman. Beginning with a budget of $1.5 million from Namco, the film began its production. Eventually reaching a budget of $4 million, it became Troma's most expensive film to date.  Now, down to the brass tacks. This film ebbed and flowed from the quirky and goofy to the exploitation and slasher. Rick Gianasi, who portrayed the main characters Harry Griswold and his superhero alter ego Sgt. Kabukiman definitely sold his performance. Through the eyes of a cocky New York City police officer, he undergoes a tr...

  Pictured: Bone Jawnson in "Smoke Field" by Bone Jawnson "Smoke Field," starring Bone Jawnson and his daughter, Lily Weiss, is the second short film produced by Bone Jawnson for ZombieFuel.net. This film is a fast-paced, investigative father-and-daughter adventure inspired by Canadian wildfire smoke in Pennsylvania in 2023. This was filmed with no budget and with a team of two people, myself, Bone Jawnson, and my daughter Lily. All scenes were filmed in Hatfield, Pennsylvania with a smartphone and edited in the free graphic design program, Canva. All sound effects were either filmed live or downloaded from the Canva foley fx files. All music was utilized and credited through Canva.

  Photo credit: IMDB by Bone Jawnson This past weekend, I viewed the Troma classic, "Class of Nuke 'Em High." While I usually used the Tubi TV app, I went ahead and tested a free trial of the Troma NOW app. I was pleasantly surprised at how user-friendly it was. The app has the entire Troma catalog available to stream, and more. I was able to easily search for what I was looking for and stream it in no time. Based on my research, this 1986 film was produced with a budget of $400,000. The crew seemed to really pull off a lot with a budget like that. The film, set in the fictional Tromaville, NJ, and hailed as the "toxic chemical capital of the world," was fast-paced and slashery. "Slashery," which is a word I started using recently, means "a film that has some slasher sequences but isn't all out slash and has a followable storyline." "Class of Nuke 'Em High" is a straightforward, slashery, toxic-teen exploitation film. There...

  Photo credit: www.moviehousememories.com by Bone Jawnson If you do not love the Monster Hero, then what are you doing here? When I dove into the Troma Entertainment classic, "The Toxic Avenger," I was coming off a month-long run of low to no-budget Rick Slone movies. I wanted to compare an independent movie with a budget of $500,000 (Troma) versus a budget of $8,500 (Rick Sloane). Personally, I feel that the Rick Sloane movie closest to the production of "The Toxic Avenger" is "The Visitants." There was a notable difference in the production value of the two films, which I attribute to the budget and availability of special effects. Otherwise, Rick Sloane did a damn good job getting a feature film made for next to nothing. Now, on to the brass tacks. The last time I watched "The Toxic Avenger" was on my birthday a few years ago in the backyard of a friend who had a projector. I was, how should I say, very well lubricated. I felt that kicking T...