The premise is actually quite clever. A ridiculous make over show, that gets its kicks and paycheck out of “re-animating” old homes enlists the help of a mad scientist they plan to put on television and rejuvenate his home. The problem is this mad scientist is indeed psychotic, and seven years before failed in a project that would create mechanic zombies for the military. Today the makeover show has signed onto re-do his house, but he has other plans for them. He wants to re-create his army come hell or high water.
As a spoof of reality shows, “Zombies by Design” can work, because it acts on being goofy, but when it’s trying to follow a pace or story, it fails because it can never make us hate or be interested in the characters enough to watch and wait for them to die. And our heroine is never compelling enough to want to sit and watch if she can outwit the doctor while he shows off his gadgets which allow him to control the walking dead and make them cannibalistic killing machines. Director Wascavage really pushes for the Troma mood, and it rarely works because “Zombies by Design” is never schlocky enough to be warranted as a B movie, and its never scary enough to warranted as an actual horror comedy, so it instead just drags on with its story without much coherency.
Why would this scientist take hold of a bunch of very popular people and draw attention to himself? “Zombies by Design” really seems to want to spoof these shows, and it some respects it pulls it off, but when we watch the two cameramen getting into a stripping contest in front of screaming fans for their show, and you then realize these design shows only have women fans, the comedy is somehow lost in translation. While “Zombies by Design” never supplies what it promises its audience with flat humor and a thinly laced plot, it deserves a watch because of its original premise alone. Those renovation show people deserve to be eaten alive.