Main Cast: Jamie Rose, Don Calfa, Catherine Carlin, Kristina Loggia, Lycia Naff, Martha Quinn
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 86 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
New York's Troma Films continue their grand tradition of relentlessly bad taste with this horror epic, which follows the exploits of an all-girl motorcycle gang -- who go by the quaint moniker "The Cycle Sluts" -- and their fearless leader Rox (Catherine Carlin), who offers the freedom of the road to any frustrated small-town girl willing to slap on the leathers. Things take a nasty turn for Rox and her violent femmes when the gang rides into Zariah -- a town in the slimy grip of a deranged mortician named Ralph (Don Calfa), who has been busily turning the locals into cannibalistic zombie slaves. As if that weren't enough... a busload of blind, orphaned teens become stranded within spitting distance of Ralph's undead army, and it's up to Rox's twisted sisters to save the day. Troma is often guilty of slapping outrageously goofy titles on not-so-funny films (e.g. Surf Nazis Must Die, Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid!, etc.), but this is something of an exception, with wonderfully sleazy performances, lots of zany energy and many clever references to zombie and biker-movie genres. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Review
Any script audacious enough to smash together blind orphans, lesbian bikers, flesh-eating townspeople, and a morally conflicted young midget is certainly worth committing to celluloid. Writer/director Dan Hoskins may not turn such material into as auteur-worthy a statement as John Waters or Russ Meyer would, but he never allows himself (or his audience) to stop smiling while he tries. The zombie effects and the "suspense" here are fodder for laugher -- mostly intentional -- but the biker-gal glee and the feminist subtext are as genuine as in any classic exploitation film. Throw in a pre-Sling BladeBilly Bob Thornton (desperate for a paycheck around the time of One False Move) and a post-MTVMartha Quinn (similarly desperate, for obvious reasons), and you've got a late-night cable delight that's just screaming for a straight-to-video sequel. "Chopper Chicks in Outer Space," anyone? ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Vicki Frederick - Jewel; Gretchen Palmer - Rusty; Lewis Arquette - Sheriff Bugiere; Earl Boen - Butcher; John Casino - Bar Tough; Mel Castelo - Jeanne; Sharon Farrell; Ed Gale - Bob the Dwarf; Shon Greenblatt - Town Boy; Danitza Kingsley; David Knell - Booge; Cameron Milzer - Nurse/Town Woman; Nina Peterson - Tanya; Whitney Reis - Lucile; Billy Bob Thornton - Donny; Gwil Richards - Henry Clutter; Dave Adams - Store Manager; Hal Sparks - Lance
Credit
Tim Baxter - Art Director, Billy DaMota - Casting, Dan Hoskins - Director, W.O. Garrett - Editor, Arthur Sarkissian - Executive Producer, Daniel May - Composer (Music Score), Rodney McDonald - Production Designer, Tom Frisby Fraser - Cinematographer, James Hardy - Producer, Maria Snyder - Producer, Dan Hoskins - Screenwriter
Chopper Chicks In Zombietown is a 1991 comedy horror movie released by Troma, featuring Billy Bob Thornton.
The film is about an all female motorcycle gang named the 'Cycle-Sluts' who cruise into the isolated town of Zariah looking for a good time. Here an evil scientist turned mortician has been killing local townspeople with the aid of his long suffering dwarf assistant ("If god wanted you to do normal things, he would have made you look like normal people") and turning them into zombies to use as labor at an abandoned mine. The mine is too radioactive after underground nuclear testing to be mined by living people. Although he later admits that the real reason he's been doing it isn't the money, it's because he's just plain mean.
The zombies escape after a curious little boy removes the lock to explore the mine, becoming the zombies' first victim ("daddy, is that you? Aaaiiigh!"). Around this point we meet another one of the parties involved, a bus-load of blind orphans, who are stranded just on the outskirts of town as their ride breaks down. Luckily their bus-driver always keeps an Uzi on the bus 'for sentimental reasons'.
With vague memories of life to guide them, the zombies eventually find their way back to town and begin devouring live flesh. Going against the wishes of their leader and despite some rough treatment from the locals earlier in the film, the Cycle-Sluts ride to the rescue. Driven by a combination of personal history with Zariah, maternal instinct and possibly even a little true love the bad-ass moma's start hacking off zombie heads using chainsaws, baseball bats, welding torches and a garrott.
In the final scene the Cycle Sluts use fresh meat to lure the remaining zombies to the town church, which they have packed with dynamite. They are now aided by the doctor's dwarf who has decided that there are better lines of work than henchman. With all the undead on-board and the church sealed up the timer goes off and the church goes up in flames, zombies and all. The Cycle sluts are rewarded with a sack full of cash and induct the dwarf and several of the blind orphans as honorary Cycle-Sluts. They then ride out of town with some of the men folk in tow (their new 'bitches') and throw the sack of money to the wind.
