Why didn't this ever happen?
 

We all know Italian exploitation directors of the 80s excelled at churning out zombie movies and post apocalyptic Road Warrior rip-offs (stuff like 2020 Texas Gladiators, 1990 Bronx Warriors--even Fulci made one, though I can't think of the title off-hand), so why didn't anyone ever combine the two and make a zombie/post apocalypse hybrid? The genres, at least as done in Italy, had a lot in common: government officials wearing bio-hazrd suits and carrying heavy weaponry, the rag-tag band of wise-cracking commandos, miles and miles of empty space, etc. Not to mention that the post apocalyptic movies had a lot of mutations caused by nucleur fall-out, a plot device that could easily lend itself to the reanimation of the dead. Vincent Dawn (he just keeps popping up, doesn't he) even mixed the horror genre (in the form of killer rats) and the post apocalyptic genre, as did Paul Naschy over in Spain.

So why didn't we ever see David Warbeck or big William Smith driving a souped-up car thru a bombec-out city while his leather-clad warrior babe (who was probably from some tribe that didn't speak English, even badly dubbed English) fried zombies with the laser mounted on the trunk?!? ZOMBIE HUNTERS OF THE YEAR 2050---EXTERMINATORS OF THE LIVING DEAD---hell, it almost writes itself.

I don't know about y'all, but I think this was a serious missed oppurtunity!!!!!!

Dr. K, looks like you and me have a script to get crackin' on.

I believe the Fulci film was The New Gladiators with Fred Williamson.

I dont know, but I would love to see one!

it does seem a little misfortunate i would love 2 watch it:D

That movie would be so fun to write. I'd also like to do a women in prison/zombie movie. That'd really rock!!!!

And yes, The New Gladiators. I got a video copy released by Thorn/HBO!!!! Man, that's weird. The post apocalypse movies always had cool painted covers, though. A genre I truly miss.

This one goes out to the ones I love: After The Fall Of New York, She, 1990 Bronx Warriors...

Yes, a zombie epic would be great. But a zombie epic inside of a women in prison movie could be cinematic magic.

"Caged Heat...of the Living Dead."

Yes, the trick with a hybrid is staying true to both genres. How about this....We have a women's prison on the moon of some desolate planet where male miners are digging for some kind of crazy miracle ore. It's a dangerous job, so part of the benefits package is the use every weekend of the women's prison as a bordello for the miners. Our main character will be this really tough, sexy chick who has escaped from every prison in the universe, and now the federation or corporation or whoevershe stole from is going to break her spirits by using her as a sex-toy for all these miners. There's also an inmate with a grudge and a crazy warden (I like the name Chaos Rulz, but it's so good I can't believe someone hasn't used it already). Anyhow, some of the miners are caught in a cave-in. The other miners can hear them moaning so think they're still alive (the fact their equipment doesn't pick up body heat from the shaft has to be a glitch in the machinery). When they open the shaft they have of course released some Lovecraftian evil that has turned the trapped miners into zoms. Soon all the miners are infected and laying seige to the women's prison. Ah, now things are ripe for an inmate uprising. Old grudges come to the fore. But while all this squabbling ensues, no one notices an escape tunnel that was dug by a love-struck miner who wanted to free an inmate he has fallen in love with. Zombies find enterance into the prison using the tunnel just as our main character and the warden arr about to battle head-to head!!!! Whew. Whatta you think?

Wow dude. I'm awestruck. All I can say is that it's time to bring the exploitation genre back. We gotta fit Reb Brown and Pam Grier in there somewhere.

I wouldn't think of doing it without Pam or Reb!!!!

Ah, there's nothing better than getting two film geeks together.

If Fred Olen Ray can talk people into giving him money for the utter shit he makes, why couldn't we?