Blood-splattered July 4th weirdness from seasoned eccentrics Larry Cohen, who wrote the script, and William Lustig, who directed. It’s about this U.S. soldier who’s killed by “friendly fire” in Iraq (circa Desert Storm), gets shipped back home for burial, and then comes back to life as a zombie in an Uncle Sam costume and goes on a 4th of July murder spree in which he targets anyone who’s even remotely unpatriotic. Tax cheats, flag-burners, corrupt politicians, draft dodgers from the Vietnam days, and even people who mock the national anthem all meet grisly ends by his hand. He’s pretty creative, too. He embraces everything from the standard ax killings to flagpole hanging strangulation, live burial, a face to the barbecue grill, and, of course, death by firecrackers. You get all that plus a great cast of cult favorites that includes Isaac Hayes, Bo Hopkins, Robert Forster, and P.J. Soles.
The juiciest thing about this film though, is how ripe it is for diverse political interpretation.
If you’re left wing and you want to consider this a critical comment on American nationalism, you’ve got plenty here to go on. Check out the wild anti-military speech delivered by a sympathetic Isaac Hayes about a half-hour into the film.
On the other hand, if you’re right wing, you could read this film as a maimed soldier’s revenge story on a society who treats American values frivolously. After all, Uncle Sam’s victims here are mostly far from sympathetic. They tend to be either smarmy opportunists or ax-bait numskulls.
It all adds up to one of the most memorable slasher flicks of the 90s. Avoid the traffic at the annual 4th of July fireworks show from now on. Instead, stay home and watch this, I say.