Uncle Sam 1999 Horror Movie Review

This G.I.-zombie tale, smartly scripted by exploitation auteur Larry Cohen (It’s Alive, God Told Me To) and directed by William Lustig (Maniac, Vigilante), straddles the line between antiwar satire and slasher-movie silliness. American soldier Uncle Sam, as he’s known to his hero-worshipping young nephew, is a bullying homicidal misfit too ornery to die. His bloodied and burned corpse, sent home from Kuwait for burial, crawls out of his casket and declares war on punks, crooked politicians, draft dodgers, and pretty much anyone who wanders into his path. There are some interesting ideas floating around—a pointed commentary on the attraction of violence under the flag of patriotism, an undercurrent of psychosis and sadism in Sam’s home life, and a clever twist on all-American iconography—which get lost in the Fourth of July reign of terror. Body-count fans will appreciate victims hacked with hatchets, cleavers, and garden shears, teenagers buried alive, and a severed head found smoking in a barbecue pit. David “Shark” Fralick stars as Sam, with Isaac Hayes as a crippled Korean War vet and small roles by cult stars Bo Hopkins, Timothy Bottoms, P.J. Soles, and Robert Forster, a smarmy governor given a fireworks sendoff he’ll never forget.  —Sean Axmaker