Zombiechrist (2010)

Bill Zebub (real-name not known) is a New Jersey-based filmmaker. In 1991, Zebub began publishing the fanzine The Grimoire of Exalted Deeds, which is principally dedicated to reviewing death metal and interviewing musicians, among other things. Zebub has made more than fifty micro-budgeted films since the early 2000s. These circle around horror fandom, frequently blasphemous attacks on Christianity, and are made with a wilfully extreme bad taste – a disturbing number of the films hold the word rape in the title or feature it as a central theme, for instance – or are heavy metal documentaries.

Bill Zebub’s other genre efforts include Jesus Christ, Serial Rapist (2004), Kill the Scream Queen (2004), The Crucifier (2005), Bad Acid (2005), The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made (2005), Assmonster: The Making of a Horror Movie (2006), Dolla Morte (2006), Frankenstein the Rapist (2006), Rape is a Circle (2006), Spooked (2007), The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made: The Remake (2008), Breaking Her Will (2009), Ravage the Scream Queen (2009), Forgive Me for Raping You (2010), I Told You Not to Call the Police (2010), Night of the Pumpkin (2010), Antfarm Dickhole (2011), Captive Audiences (2011), Jesus the Total Douchebag (2011), Disgruntled Employee (2012), Surreal Sicko (2012), Amuse Me (2013), Jesus the Daughter of God (2013), Lessons in Love (2013), Scienceless Friction (2014), Holocaust Cannibal (2014), The Lesser Evil (2014), Loving a Vegetable (2015), Nightmare on Elmo’s Street (2015), Dickshark (2016), Trust Your Photographer (2016), Santa Claus: A Horror Story (2016), A Devil’s Wind (2017), Clowna Nostra (2019), Horror Odyssey (2019), Boogers of the Antichrist (2020), Dickless Zombies (2021) and Dumb & Dahmer (2021).

Zombiechrist was my introduction to the cinema of Bill Zebub. The first thought is that you are watching an amateur film made on a budget that would regard being called a shoestring as a luxury. The second thing that captures your attention is that the first ten minutes or so are occupied by naked women – the credits take place over a montage of nude women cavorting in the woods where Zebub himself plays a druid enacting a ritual. This goes on for seven minutes and is then followed by another five minute of scenes as Eidolona comes home, strips off to take a shower and then, while naked, confronts the zombie Jesus as it devours her soul.

What we have is a film that is clearly made by metal fans if you didn’t know anything about Bill Zebub’s background– plentiful bands play on the soundtrack and the end credits list a long line of thank yous to various bands. It is a film hoping to get by on outrage value alone. There is no discernible plot to anything that happens, just a random series of scenes where the Zombie Christ (a near immobile puppet) attacks and is said to devour various women (always in a state of undress). The acting by all involved (all non-professionals) is fairly terrible.

One of the recurrent themes of Bill Zebub’s films and fanzine is apparently his attacks on Christianity and organised religion. If the title itself didn’t get believers worked up, he throws in a variety of scenes guaranteed to outrage, including a scenes with the Zombie Christ violating a nun (Jordana Leigh) with what looks like a chicken drumstick and another where the Zombie Christ gives a paedophile priest a blowjob and bites his dick off in a highly unconvincing gore effect. Peculiarly, there are also a series of scenes interspersed throughout, usually between Martin Grinmsley and Jessica Alexandra Green, where Zebub seems to be seriously arguing for an alternate non-religious interpretation of the Gospels.