Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead was one of the most influential horror films of all time. In the ‘80s, you couldn’t turn the corner at the horror section of your local video store without seeing a movie that was inspired by that horror classic. Many aspiring filmmakers picked up a camera because of Raimi and began making their own no-budget horror flicks in their backyard. One such director was Martin Nike, who along with his friends made the highly entertaining Raimi homage, Summer Horror Day.
A young director and his friends are about to make a movie in their backyard when they find an old book in the basement. They foolishly read the passages out loud and the place is soon overrun by zombies. The leader is a cool, scary, skull-faced sucker who looks like a cross between the zombie in the “Father’s Day” episode of Creepshow and Angus Scrimm in The Lost Empire. Will our director be able to stay one step ahead of the zombies and escape his fate?
Summer Horror Day is oozing with DIY charm. I don’t know if the zombie leader’s mask was made by Nike and his crew or if they found it in a Halloween store, but it is certainly memorable and effective. Not only that, but the film is also filled to the brim with guts, blood, and slime. The over the top gore scenes are well done and occur at a rapid pace, so there’s no shortage of no-budget zombie carnage to go around.
One of the biggest advantages of the film is that it’s only fifty-five minutes long. Nike was smart to waste no time getting to the good stuff as he dispenses with the set-up in an expedient manner. One wishes it had built up to a more satisfying climax, but the fact that Nike was able to keep things moving as well as he did for as long as he could is a testament to his no-budget ingenuity. It’s a shame he didn’t make anything else as he clearly had a promising future as a horror filmmaker judging by the evidence here.
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