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Dead Trash: A Zombie Exploitation Quadruple Feature
Two bad mamas break out of prison – and straight into HELL!
Dead Trash is a 70s era grindhouse odyssey that takes two women’s prison inmates, Irma and Arkansas, from the joint to joining up with a biker gang, from high-rise horrors in the projects to a nightmare kung fu showdown at the end of the world.
Dead Trash is a 70s era grindhouse odyssey that takes two women’s prison inmates, Irma and Arkansas, from the joint to joining up with a biker gang, from high-rise horrors in the projects to a nightmare kung fu showdown at the end of the world.
134 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 10, 2013
2 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Ed Kurtz
56 books145 followersEd Kurtz is the author of THE RIB FROM WHICH I REMAKE THE WORLD and other novels. His short fiction has appeared in numerous collections, and has been honored in Best American Mystery Stories as well as Best Gay Stories. Kurtz lives in Minneapolis.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 24, 2020
"So what do you reckon they are? Demons?"
"Nah," Arkansas disagreed. "Just people. People who don't know they're dead, so they're still walking around."
"And killing other people."
"Yeah, there's that."
"And chewing them up, too."
"Yeah."
"Fuck me," Irma said.
Women in prison,
gangs of bikers,
black exploitation,
deadly kung fu masters
and zombies... do you wanna more?
Cover says almost everything about this book, an heart-felt love letter to 70s B-Movies, just look at chapters titles and see.
A quick hilarious gory ride, so funny that you can close an eye about the not much fleshed characters, and a must read if you are into grindhouse old flicks.
Enjoy.
May 4, 2015
This story pokes all kinds of fun at seventies exploitation movies and was a blast to read. The scenes were gloriously over the top with characters that whilst weren't developed in any real way, were likeable.
My only problem with it was that the ending got a bit muddled. This didn't deter from it too much but some of the plot lines didn't go anywhere and questions over how some survived the zombies remained unanswered.
A fantastic fun read and well worth spending a few hours on.
Recommended.
January 30, 2014
Exactly what it claims to be
This really is a quadruple exploitation novel in the grindhouse tradition. The protagonists, two escaped cons in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, search for revenge.
They go from one group of people to the next wading through death and gore in one long battle that has only brief pauses. It had some originality and decent characterization and is, after all, another zombie apocalypse book.
This really is a quadruple exploitation novel in the grindhouse tradition. The protagonists, two escaped cons in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, search for revenge.
They go from one group of people to the next wading through death and gore in one long battle that has only brief pauses. It had some originality and decent characterization and is, after all, another zombie apocalypse book.
August 10, 2016
Arizona and Irma were doing time in prison when people started getting the munchies, craving human flesh and freedom came a little early for these bad broads. Irma is pissed she's been serving time for a crime she only half committed. Tromping from one spot to the next, blowing brains and taking names, Irma is still determined to make her accuser suffer.
These ladies were hardcore chicks who you'd want on your side if some mess popped off. On their journey they met some memorable characters who the author was quick to put in impossible situations.
This read was pure bloody fun!
Update: A few things were unexplained and at the time I was enjoying the read and totally missed it until a fellow reader pointed it out. What the heck happened to Zeke?
These ladies were hardcore chicks who you'd want on your side if some mess popped off. On their journey they met some memorable characters who the author was quick to put in impossible situations.
This read was pure bloody fun!
Update: A few things were unexplained and at the time I was enjoying the read and totally missed it until a fellow reader pointed it out. What the heck happened to Zeke?
October 23, 2013
Judge this book by its cover. Dead Trash offers exactly what you think it will. Pulpy and absurd, hilarious in its self-consciousness, Dead Trash is a wonderful paean to Seventies trash cinema. Women-in-prison, biker action, blacksploitation, and chop socky kung fu all get the zombie treatment in this wink-and-nod quadruple feature. Grab some popcorn, sit down and pop the beer you smuggled in your jacket. This one's pure eye candy.
July 28, 2014
Dead Trash perfectly captures the seventies style grindhouse films that it tries to emulate. The tone, style, and content set the right mood for the novel, which features two woman, Irma and Arkansas, who are incarcerated while a zombie apocalypse unfolds. They are able to break out of the prison as the zombies are storming the place. There they go on the run, first joining a biker gang, and then a man trying to keep his falling ghetto neighborhood intact. Their ultimate goal is to reach Irma's ex, an abusive creep whose supposed murder she was convicted for. When she finds out that he isn't actually dead, she makes it her mission to eliminate him from the crazed world they inhabit. They run across strong-willed characters who seem capable of handling themselves, but no matter where they go, their allies are overtaken either by the zombies or the nasty humans who are just as bad if not worse than the zombies themselves.
The strongest element of this novel is the writing itself. There isn't anything overly original about the plot. Zombie apocalypses have become fairly commonplace in literature, television, and movies. But the story moves at a fast pace with little wasted motion or words. The action never stops until the explosive conclusion. The characters are well-developed. Besides Irma and Arkansas, many of the minor characters are fleshed out and relatable. My only complaint is the lack of realism in the fighting scenes that can be found in the final part of the novel. Otherwise, this might just be the best zombie novel I have ever read.
Carl Alves - author of Blood Street
The strongest element of this novel is the writing itself. There isn't anything overly original about the plot. Zombie apocalypses have become fairly commonplace in literature, television, and movies. But the story moves at a fast pace with little wasted motion or words. The action never stops until the explosive conclusion. The characters are well-developed. Besides Irma and Arkansas, many of the minor characters are fleshed out and relatable. My only complaint is the lack of realism in the fighting scenes that can be found in the final part of the novel. Otherwise, this might just be the best zombie novel I have ever read.
Carl Alves - author of Blood Street
August 23, 2017
I read this in 24 hours. An amazing book, not that I was surprised. Ed Kurtz is by far my favorite author as of now. This is the second book that I read from him. Every book he writes is a masterpiece. He knows how to pace a story. He paints characters beautifully, though some are less than beautiful. This book was a thinner read from him stopping 10 pages shy from 200.
It really was a pleasant hat tip to 70s grindhouse. I loved the campiness that screamed classic Evil Dead or Dawnnif the Living Dead. This is a book I would read again and would highly recommend if you dig cheesy classic horror movies . It has all the tropes ( zombies, bikers, kung fu.).
It really was a pleasant hat tip to 70s grindhouse. I loved the campiness that screamed classic Evil Dead or Dawnnif the Living Dead. This is a book I would read again and would highly recommend if you dig cheesy classic horror movies . It has all the tropes ( zombies, bikers, kung fu.).
December 19, 2013
If Roger Corman had ever taken all the great drive-in movies from AIP and New World and tried to roll them into a single package, it might look something like Ed kurtz's "Dead Trash". Look at that title: "Dead Trash: A Zombie Exploitation Quadruple Feature." So don't start reading this thinking you don't know what you're getting into.
Irma and Arkansas bust out of prison when the zombie apocalypse comes over the walls where they're being held. Irma learns that Zeke, the man she killed and went to prison for, is still alive in the city. And she will have justice, so together, they set off in search of Zeke while trying to avoid becoming zombie food. So we start with a women-in-prison sequence that rolls right into a motorcycle gang episode when the girls meet up with a crew of zombie-killing bikers. From there we ride into the city for a little urban "blaxploitation" crime drama as Arkansas seeks help from and old friend. Then everything come to a head with a mad monkey kung-fu fight fest as Irma closes in on Zeke (and other plot threads come together). And of course, the whole package is wrapped in that zombie apocalypse story.
This is high-concept storytelling right here, and Ed Kurtz matches his prose to the beat of drive-in movie rhythms perfectly. Straight forward, minimal, just the good parts to keep the plot moving and the action fast and furious (no movie reference intended). Kurtz does a great job of capturing the basics of the film genres "Dead Trash", dare I say, exploits? The dialogue, the characters and their actions come across like they were ripped from the pages of that great, waiting to be made drive-in epic in the bottom of Roger Corman's desk drawer. "Dead Trash" is trash, great trash, the kind of trash exploitation film fans love. Given that, it's hard not to love this book.
Irma and Arkansas bust out of prison when the zombie apocalypse comes over the walls where they're being held. Irma learns that Zeke, the man she killed and went to prison for, is still alive in the city. And she will have justice, so together, they set off in search of Zeke while trying to avoid becoming zombie food. So we start with a women-in-prison sequence that rolls right into a motorcycle gang episode when the girls meet up with a crew of zombie-killing bikers. From there we ride into the city for a little urban "blaxploitation" crime drama as Arkansas seeks help from and old friend. Then everything come to a head with a mad monkey kung-fu fight fest as Irma closes in on Zeke (and other plot threads come together). And of course, the whole package is wrapped in that zombie apocalypse story.
This is high-concept storytelling right here, and Ed Kurtz matches his prose to the beat of drive-in movie rhythms perfectly. Straight forward, minimal, just the good parts to keep the plot moving and the action fast and furious (no movie reference intended). Kurtz does a great job of capturing the basics of the film genres "Dead Trash", dare I say, exploits? The dialogue, the characters and their actions come across like they were ripped from the pages of that great, waiting to be made drive-in epic in the bottom of Roger Corman's desk drawer. "Dead Trash" is trash, great trash, the kind of trash exploitation film fans love. Given that, it's hard not to love this book.
December 19, 2013
If Roger Corman had ever taken all the great drive-in movies from AIP and New World and tried to roll them into a single package, it might look something like Ed kurtz's "Dead Trash". Look at that title: "Dead Trash: A Zombie Exploitation Quadruple Feature." So don't start reading this thinking you don't know what you're getting into.
Irma and Arkansas bust out of prison when the zombie apocalypse comes over the walls where they're being held. Irma learns that Zeke, the man she killed and went to prison for, is still alive in the city. And she will have justice, so together, they set off in search of Zeke while trying to avoid becoming zombie food. So we start with a women-in-prison sequence that rolls right into a motorcycle gang episode when the girls meet up with a crew of zombie-killing bikers. From there we ride into the city for a little urban "blaxploitation" crime drama as Arkansas seeks help from and old friend. Then everything come to a head with a mad monkey kung-fu fight fest as Irma closes in on Zeke (and other plot threads come together). And of course, the whole package is wrapped in that zombie apocalypse story.
This is high-concept storytelling right here, and Ed Kurtz matches his prose to the beat of drive-in movie rhythms perfectly. Straight forward, minimal, just the good parts to keep the plot moving and the action fast and furious (no movie reference intended). Kurtz does a great job of capturing the basics of the film genres "Dead Trash", dare I say, exploits? The dialogue, the characters and their actions come across like they were ripped from the pages of that great, waiting to be made drive-in epic in the bottom of Roger Corman's desk drawer. "Dead Trash" is trash, great trash, the kind of trash exploitation film fans love. Given that, it's hard not to love this book.
Irma and Arkansas bust out of prison when the zombie apocalypse comes over the walls where they're being held. Irma learns that Zeke, the man she killed and went to prison for, is still alive in the city. And she will have justice, so together, they set off in search of Zeke while trying to avoid becoming zombie food. So we start with a women-in-prison sequence that rolls right into a motorcycle gang episode when the girls meet up with a crew of zombie-killing bikers. From there we ride into the city for a little urban "blaxploitation" crime drama as Arkansas seeks help from and old friend. Then everything come to a head with a mad monkey kung-fu fight fest as Irma closes in on Zeke (and other plot threads come together). And of course, the whole package is wrapped in that zombie apocalypse story.
This is high-concept storytelling right here, and Ed Kurtz matches his prose to the beat of drive-in movie rhythms perfectly. Straight forward, minimal, just the good parts to keep the plot moving and the action fast and furious (no movie reference intended). Kurtz does a great job of capturing the basics of the film genres "Dead Trash", dare I say, exploits? The dialogue, the characters and their actions come across like they were ripped from the pages of that great, waiting to be made drive-in epic in the bottom of Roger Corman's desk drawer. "Dead Trash" is trash, great trash, the kind of trash exploitation film fans love. Given that, it's hard not to love this book.
July 23, 2016
The first half of this book was very good except for the fact that all the characters I liked kept getting killed off (which I can deal with, I guess). But, about half way this story took a hard turn and went all cheesy Kung Fu movie on me and threw me off the story almost completely. I didn’t see that coming and while it didn’t totally fail, it didn’t totally work either. This one had a lot of potential and was written very well , but was just a 3+ star read for me, which includes a half star taken away for the Kung Fu and a half star given back because the book cover is f’n cool.
August 1, 2014
I'll give this a five spot, because not only does Kurtz know how to shape sentences that flow and sing, he knows how to tell a HUGE story and effectively break it up into four novella-length pieces. It works really well. This is ALL meat and action, not much interior pondering, so know what you're getting yourself into before diving in. If you want straight up exploitation-fueled mood, he's the guy to deliver it. I'd love to see this expanded into a series where Kurtz tackles various exploitation cinema tropes and rolls with them. He knows the territory. Study this one to really see how to write a "cinematic" piece of fiction.
October 5, 2014
DEAD THRASH is boldly and cleverly written. Tackling a theme like exploitatio n, a lots of things can go wrong in terms of tone, especially that Kurtz covers mode than one genre. But DEAD THRASH keeps an earnest approach until the very end, where it verses into parody and cliché with the Kung Fu sequence. Fortunately, Kurtz steers the ship upright before the ending and keeps DEAD THRASH thoroughly enjoyable overall.
August 27, 2016
A love letter to '70's exploitation films, this novel is one story but framed in the style of four different genres (women in prison, biker, blaxploitation, and kung fu). For fans of these films there could not be a more fun read.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews