Onslaught of the Dead (Ten-Headed Skeleton, 2025)

Hypnotic zero budget horror with big ambitions

A small ad for a movie caught my eye in the most recent issue of Fangoria; it had a picture of a bloody brain splattered on asphalt with a big bold dripping red font over it reading “Onslaught of the Dead”. It looked like a low budget zombie flick that promised practical effects made on a shoestring budget and was likely a labor of love for all concerned — and indeed it is.

Filmed on the deserted streets of downtown Los Angeles, it’s clear that this was produced by a dedicated group of cinephile friends with every expense spared. However, it impossible not to admire the achievement. Anyone who sets out with ambitions to make a film and actually accomplishes it deserves admiration, or did we learn nothing from American Movie?

Aesthetically, Onslaught of the Dead is a beautiful film. There are some truly stunning compositions of LA, and the grainy bluish color treatment only serves to elevate these images — as well as harkening back to the age of taping late night horror movies off the TV.

Indeed, there is a scratchy background noise layered over many of the sequences of this film, which only serves to further accentuate this VHS aesthetic. It also provides the film with a decidedly Lynchian quality — and there are other elements later in the film that suggest Lynch was very much an inspiration to the filmmakers.

Another probable influence is the beloved micro-budget Carnival of Souls given the abundance of whimsical carousel music used throughout the film to score scenes in which the zombies stagger through the streets, often in pursuit of our protagonists. The effect is sometimes humorous, but always contributive to the dissonant vibe of the film’s playfully off-kilter world.

The plot of Onslaught of the Dead couldn’t be simpler: there is an unexplained zombie outbreak across the city and a group of individual survivors band together to get across town and find safety.

And you know what? It’s enough. At a tight 88 minutes, the film never outstays its welcome, even though it is largely repetitive in its numerous sequences depicting survivors running through the streets of LA and being attacked by — and fighting back against — the ubiquitous zombies.

I’ll admit that by the midpoint of the film, I did find myself wishing that the filmmakers had sprung for more than just the two sound effects which play over and over and over again whenever our heroes land a blow on a zombie. Even when one character upgrades his weapon mid-movie, the SFX that accompanies his every strike remains the same as it ever was. Yet after a while, I must admit I found this strangely reassuring; it felt like watching a retro video game where wave after wave of baddies attack only to be identically slain in quick succession.

Obviously, given the nature of zero budget productions, the film does have its shortcomings. Some, such as the fact all the “zombies” wear matching painters’ onesies are easy to overlook and only add to the film’s bizarre charm. Others, such as the predictably lackluster acting are harder to forgive. (One performance in particular is atrociously bad to the point of distraction; any time they were in a fight scene I found myself talking to the screen — not to bemoan that they seemingly hadn’t bothered to study any fight choreography in preparation for their role, but rather to question whether they’d even observed a fellow human before ever.) And then there are the just plain weird choices, such as the character portrayed by the director wearing a golden grill with vampire fangs throughout the film, which renders every single line delivery as garbled as Rami Malek on a good day.

There is certainly ambition here though. A throwaway blink-and-you’ll-miss-it line by one of the characters hints at a much bigger narrative that only finally comes to fruition at the film’s conclusion, though not in an entirely satisfying way. But it still allows for a creative experimental sequence that is the kinds of swing for the fences you want from such raw and independent horror cinema!

For what it is — and for all the squirting blood and mashing of brains — Onslaught of the Dead is a strange and hypnotic piece of cinema that will surely lull you under its spell as it did me.