Obscure low-budget horror/comedy in the same vein as early Troma movies like The Toxic Avenger this has a group of high schoolers buying some bad marijuana from sleazy drug dealer Mussolini (Steve McCoy, who hams it up big time) which leads to them accidentally killing him when they go to get their money back. But there problems don't end there as they throw his body into the nearby river only for him to come back as a murderous wise-cracking zombie when it turns out the lake is radioactive thanks to the nearby power plant.

From there it's all sorts of alright gore effects (a face is ripped-off, a girl is snapped in half) and dopey comedy with the guys deciding to bring back one of the friends (Michael Ruben) in the lake to come back as a zombie also to fight Mussolini. Did I mention there's also a poor "love angle" subplot to contend with also?

Cheap, somewhat amateurish, and juvenile this is still an entertaining time loaded with silly jokes, a soundtrack filled with what amounted to the "hip" underground bands at the time, and it even manages to have a loose kind of charm to it. It's also packed with lots of in-jokes (one of the power plant workers mentioned on a radio newscast is called Lloyd Kaufman).

Still this is a bit thin on plot and the entire finale feels pretty rushed and sports some really bad fight choreography, but if you're into goofy B-movies then you could do a lot worse than I Was A Teenage Zombie. (Chris Hartley, 11/16/04)

Directed By: John Elias Michalakis.
Written By: James Martin.

Starring: Michael Ruben, George Seminara, Steve McCoy, Peter Bush.