Members of a debate team, and their adult coach, are heading for a contest in Phoenix when they have this misfortune of happening across drug-pushing thug searching for the partner he believes took off with their money and cocaine. Holding them at gun point, Earl(Gregory Bastien, portraying the stereotypical profane black criminal low-life who finds some sort of redemption towards the end when facing possible death)demands the group drive him to a desert location where his partner's vehicle is found abandoned. A little further ahead lies a literal ghost town, Sunset Valley, containing flesh-eating undead victims claimed by devil-worshiping ghoul, Bloody Bill(Jeremy Bouvet; whose face is rotted away, his lower lip gone, exposing teeth)who avenged the wrongful lynching of his beloved innocent sister Mary. Anyone who walks into the town are cursed just the same as those victims claimed by Bloody Bill's sword. The group, under such dire circumstances, fall under siege and their situation grows worse every moment as the zombie army under Bloody Bill's lead aim to harm them, yearning for flesh. When a victim is killed by Bill or his zombie brood, they become a number in Sunset Valley's population, a new member of the undead with a hunger for human flesh themselves.
The Asylum strikes again with yet another terrible film, this time a zombie movie. These zombies, supposed to be ghosts of those cursed by Bill after he returned from the Civil War broken and defeated, finding that they had murdered his sister, only to be executed by the township, using the notorious killer's own sword, are yet another retread of the George Romero brand where they rip away flesh and drop when shot in the head. Chelsea Jean is the final girl, Gwen, who has the fortune of looking like Bill's slain sister, appropriately finding a photo of Mary, noticing their resemblance, and even reading a letter(..wrote by Bloody Bill)explaining to us just how motivated the racist Confederate killer was to getting his revenge..it's a ploy by the screenplay to assist Gwen and inform us on certain back story elements concerning why all this madness is happening to begin with. Matt Marraccini has the role of Jerry, someone amazingly well-versed in the town's(..and Bloody Bill's)history, poetically telling the story to his friends, foretelling their possible doom because of entering this godforsaken place. Jerry's arm is torn into early on(..his fate mirrors Roger's in George Romero's Dawn of the Dead)and his condition slowly deteriorates as the film continues..he's really a fountain of information regarding this town and Bill, thanks to a screenplay which needs to feed the characters attempting to survive(..and the viewer wondering just what the hell is going on)knowledge. Scott Carson is Avery, the adult guardian of these frightened kids, who tries his best to gain an upper hand in such a disastrous situation spiraling way out of control. Some of the kids decide to scurry off, blindly running for either help or escape from the town. It's established that no matter where you run, those attempting to flee find themselves right back where they started from. Sunset Valley is limbo and to escape this place you must contend with Bloody Bill. The zombies carry the appearance of dried corpses whose flesh look as if baked under the sun, clothes dirty and tattered. The camera speed is turned up a notch and director Byron Werner has his editor cut a lot from one zombie on the prowl to the next. Most of the attacks are rather quickly presented and it's clear during the flesh eating the look of latex, cheap and disappointing. The wound on Jerry's arm is quite a grisly sight, and the rotted faces of the zombies are rather ghastly. Nothing you haven't seen before and there are an army of these low-budget zombie crapfests which churn out the gore more effectively. Some of Gwen's retaliated swings(..at one point using a Jesus statue)towards those charging towards her are absolutely pathetic. The Asylum have built a reputation as the new millennium's Full Moon Pictures, and those who believe this might just be onto something. I felt as I watched this that they were aiming to please the gorehounds, but this flick is just too derivative and under budget to succeed. Little creativity put forth doesn't help matters, either.