Actor John Saxon graduated to the rank of director with this grisly splatter-gore, exploitation mash-up "Zombie Death House" about a virus that turns death row inmates into ravenous, flesh-eating fiends. Dennis Cole stars as decorated Vietnam veteran Derek Keillor, a driver for murderous mafioso Vic Moretti (Anthony Franciosa of "Across 110th Street"), who has him framed for the murder of his girlfriend and sent to Death Row. Actually, the jealous Moretti drowned his girlfriend Genelle Davis (Dana Lis) in his own bathtub because she was having an affair with Derek. Anyway, after Derek is shipped up the river to Townsend State Prison, he finds himself in real trouble when Colonel Burgess (John Saxon) gives the prison medical team the green light to administer a genetically altered version of a virus called HV8B. Saxon knows a little about horror movies since he starred in the cannibal classic "Cannibal Apocalypse," the seminal 1974 slasher flick "Black Christmas and Dario Argento's "Tenebre." This is good, ghoulish, gory fun.

If you made a genre flick in the late 80s, you basically had a 50/50 chance it would either be set underwater or in a prison (sadly, we never got an underwater prison flick). Framed for murder by mafia boss Moretti (Anthony Franciosa), Derek Keillor (Dennis Cole) ends up on death row, right alongside the mob boss' brother Frankie (Frank Sarcinello Jr.). But this is the least of Derek's problems as rogue government agent (and mob stoolie) Col. Burgess (John Saxon, who also directs) is using the prison as a testing ground for a new supervirus. This is the only flick Saxon directed during his storied career. For a guy who has worked with tons of directors, it appears the only ones he picked up any tips from were the cheap-o Italian ones. Sure, it is low budget, but that can't excuse the stilted staging, shooting gaffes, or clumsy exposition in the first 15 minutes. To his credit, Saxon did make it slightly gory and he works in a hilarious nude scene (our lead falls asleep during a prison riot only to fantasize about a female scientist). Cole, who looks like a more rugged Jan-Michael Vincent, is decent as the stoic lead and Franciosa - sporting a really bad rug - gives it his all as the cliché mob boss. The end takes place at Marty McKee's favorite location, Bronson Canyon. Retromedia released this on DVD as ZOMBIE DEATH HOUSE.

To many, John Saxon has become a living cult-legend And I myself quite like seeing the man doing his acting-thing on screen. DEATH HOUSE (aka ZOMBIE DEATH HOUSE), his co-directorial debut, perfectly summarizes what the man has been up to until 1987, DEATH HOUSE's year of release. From cheesy American crime movies to gore-drenched Italian flicks. So Saxon-fans should love this one. However, to casual viewers DEATH HOUSE probably will come across as pretty bad. And even if I enjoyed it a bit more than my rating suggests, I cannot deny the many bad aspects this movie has. The plot itself, though containing many implausible acts, wasn't the main problem. It develops at a steady pace, resulting in a decent, though clumsy staged pay-off. The first 20 minutes however kept me wondering what the hell kind of movie I was actually watching. I felt like a soft-erotic gangster-movie, the bad B-movie kind, complete with dire car-cases, a badly performed mafia shoot-out scene and even Vietnam flash-backs. It seemed like typical B-movie rubbish, but I soon learned that all this was one of the most elaborate ways to sketch and introduce the protagonist: Derek Keillor, an ex-Vietnam veteran, who finds out his new job is being a chauffeur for the local mob-boss. He then gets framed for the murder of his boss's girlfriend and ends up on death row. Enter John Saxon, a soldier/scientist who's illegally testing a new virus on the inmates. Given the movie's title it's needless to say what happens next...Good thing about this movie is that it contains a fair amount of sleaze & gore and still manages to tell a story that hums along nicely. The acting maybe isn't the worst I've ever seen, but it certainly isn't top-notch either. And now for the bad things: John Saxon, regardless his on-screen charisma, isn't exactly giving it his best shot in the acting department. He comes off as routineous and wooden. The small scene where he speaks the line "I am a soldier..." over the telephone even caused me to chuckle. It was the one moment he briefly seemed to go for it. The cinematography is pretty awful and the editing is rudimentary. The sound-editing and sound-effects are atrocious and the musical score is simply bad and cheap. But somehow I managed to look beyond all that and found myself amused by this flick. The ravingly mad zombie-like infected persons of course added to the fun, as well as the occasional gore-effects. One shock-scene (though not really shown) concerning the sodomizing of an inmate by a guard left me a bit baffled. And there was even one jump-moment involving a meat-cleaver that actually worked. The final freeze-frame end-shot worked very well for me. And then came the final pleasant surprise for me: when the end credits started to roll, the song "Chemical Warfare" by DEAD KENNEDYS came on. How cool's that? It left me wondering if it was John Saxon or co-director Nick Marino who picked out that song for the soundtrack.So in the end we have sort of a bad B-movie that is actually rather good because of some very enjoyable elements with a pretty eccentric look & feel to it. It actually feels a bit like an Italian Zombie-movie, even though it's an American production. And because of the involvement of John Saxon this flick very well deserves an underground cult-status. While watching this movie, I thought of another one (well, a few actually), and I never thought I would actually give the following recommendation: People who like this one, might wanna check out SHADOW: DEAD RIOT, starring Tony Todd. It's a pretty insane and rather very bad flick also dealing with zombies in prison: I describe it as a cross between BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR and LIK WONG: THE STORY OF RICKY, mixed with a solid portion of women-in-prison sleaze. But mind you, it's a tad bit worse than all the above mentioned movies.

Go John! John Saxon! Go John! We love you! John Saxon: star AND director of this surprisingly inventive and ambitious horror gem that somewhat feels like a successful crossover between cheesy American 80's horror and gore-drenched Italian cult. Saxon perfectly found the middle path between these two styles because he's familiar with both (the titles on his resume go from "Blood Beach" to "Cannibal Apocalypse") and he delivers a hugely enjoyable little film that deserves more attention from genre fans, if you ask me. Granted, it's quite a bizarre film and the first 30 minutes nearly make you fear you purchased an ordinary 80's action flick with dire car-chases and implausible mafia shootouts. But this opening is just a very extended introduction of the main character, Derek. He's a heroic Vietnam veteran, framed for murder by his mafia-employer and sent to the death row of a nasty prison. And his situation only gets worse, since this prison is chosen by the government as a place to experiment with new and highly dangerous types of drugs. The guinea pigs rapidly turn into ravenous zombies but the army puts the entire building under quarantine, so even the prisoners and guards that aren't infected can't escape! John Saxon rewarded himself with the role of the evil colonel who runs the whole operation. The script of "Zombie Death House" is often quite messy and incoherent, but it's full of action and ingenious little surprises that make you forget all the flaws easily. I know the zombies aren't actual "zombies". They're more like infected persons as in "Nightmare City" or "Hell of the Living Dead" but – seriously – who cares? Their flesh is rotting, they hunt and kill humans and they're damn difficult to destroy…that's good enough for me! The prison setting is excellent, with secret tunnels and freaky execution chambers all over the place, the make-up effects are effectively gruesome and the story even foresees a few genuine shock-moments (the rape-scene!!). Maybe my opinion shouldn't be trusted, since I'm John Saxon's greatest fan, but horror fans certainly won't regret giving this 80's gem a chance.