There are kudzu plants growing all over the southeastern United States, but I'm most familiar with them from the Georgia-lensed forest scenes in JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI, where you can see kudzu vines growing on the trees. I have to admit, I have never looked at those vines and thought that kudzu could in any way lead to the creation of zombies.
That thought did occur to writer Christian Hokenson and director Mark Newton, however, as you can tell from the fact that the pair have teamed up to make a movie called KUDZU ZOMBIES.
Filmed in Mississippi, KUDZU ZOMBIES has the following lengthy synopsis:
Kudzu was originally brought to the U.S. as an ornamental plant in the 19th century, but was used planted heavily by southern states for erosion control and as a cheap feed for livestock. The vine turned out to be a real survivor type and began to dominate the American South, choking off the native species of plants and making it tough to farm the land. Enter GloboBioTech, a large agrochemical corporation that has chosen Charleston to test its new herbicide, Quadoxin, that’s been designed to kill the foreign and invasive Kudzu vine (and nothing else) once and for all. Only this year Quadoxin unwittingly enters the human food chain. Creighton’s goats have been feeding on the kudzu and the herbicide metabolizes in their bodies. Once humans consume the goat meat it turns them into zombies — “Kudzu Zombies.” While “healthy eaters” like vegans, vegetarians, and those who didn’t eat the meat pies are untouched by the chemical change, they are now forced to defend themselves against their friends and fellow town citizens who are turning into zombies left and right, eventually becoming a large horde of killer Kudzu Zombies. Will the survivors find a way to safety and be able to alert others to the horror of Kudzu Zombies?
So you have to eat goat in order to become a kudzu zombie? In that case, I feel pretty confident that I could avoid this plague.
KUDZU ZOMBIES will be receiving two sneak peek screenings in Los Angeles during the first weekend in June, the first screening scheduled to happen at the Ahrya Fine Arts theatre on Saturday, June 3rd at 9:30pm. Star Moses J. Moseley, who also played one of the jawless, armless zombies the character Michonne had with her when she first showed up on The Walking Dead, will be in attendance to judge a zombie walk.
A trailer for KUDZU ZOMBIES can be seen below, and while it's obvious that the movie was made on a limited budget, it's also obvious that the filmmakers didn't let the lack of funds hold them back from delivering mayhem.
If you're in the L.A. area and would like to secure a ticket to one of the upcoming screenings, head over to Laemmle.com.