Widowed Karen Tunney and her two daughters, Sarah and Emma, move to a small town in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where she has inherited a house not far from an old mine (where many years earlier many child-slaves had been killed in a terrible accident).
Little Emma befriends a strange little girl and disappears--from that moment on, tragedy begins for Karen.
Zombies - Revenge of the Innocents is a cute film about little living dead that examines child exploitation that will lead children to become vengeful. We are confronted with a small group of zombies who are neither putrid nor swinging but driven only by the desire for revenge.
Their make-up, so subtle and almost hinted at, as well as director Cardone's choice not to show any excessively bloody details, contrast with the spooky atmospheres and eerie locations that serve as a dark frame for the film in which the few violent scenes (pickaxing, feasting on human flesh...) stand out.
The direction by J.S. Cardone (Desert Vampires, 8MM 2) is not sublime but is certainly up to the task; the cast is quite convincing (apart from Lori Heuring).
Zombies - Revenge of the Innocents is definitely an enjoyable horror film and interesting for the originality of its subject matter.
Fun fact: Initially, when the film was still only a draft, Tobe Hooper was to direct it.
