The Life Zone

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The Life Zone has been described as a "pro-life horror movie", written and produced by Ken Del Vecchio (a former New Jersey judge who had run for State Senate) and directed by Rod Weber. It stars Robert Loggia and a host of mostly unknowns and was filmed on a shoestring budget of $1.5 million. Its promotional poster has two babies screaming from someone's abdomen, though subtlety has never been one of anti-abortion films' strong points.

Synopsis

Three women, who had been expecting to have abortions, wake up to find they've been kidnapped and held captive by a doctor, who intends for them to deliver their unwanted babies. Instead of your usual horror fare, the women are dressed in nightgowns and drink warm milk, while reading and watching propaganda on why abortion is bad.

After a while, two of the women decide against having the abortion, and agree to have their babies, whilst the third still resists and tries to force a miscarriage.

Suddenly it transpires that the two women who gave birth were never real; it turns out that the die-harder had died on the abortion table and the doctor had committed suicide—they are both in Hell. This is not what actually happens to most people who get an abortion nor to doctors who perform abortions.

Reaction

Fewer than 50 people—including the cast and producers—showed up at the premiere. When interviewed afterwards, several cast members couldn't make head nor tail of the ending of the film.

The media have been less than complimentary:

• "How Insane is the Pro-Life Horror Flick The Life Zone? Let Us Count the Ways" wrote Movieline.com
• "The Life Zone Trailer Introduces Us to Pro-Life, Forced-Breeding Horror" - Movies.com
• "Low-Budget Horror 'Life Zone' Pushes Pro-Life Message... Sorta" - NextMovie.com
• "This Exists: NJ State Senate Candidate Ken Del Vecchio Offers Anti-Abortion Version Of Saw" - Mediaite.com
• "The First Trailer for The Life Zone Tackles Abortion and Forced Birthing" - This is one of the first independent films that this film lover has seen on YouTube, which has several more dislikes than likes. The comments for this film are pretty scathing, too. - 28 days later analysis
• "Find yourself on the receiving end of an unwanted pregnancy? Thinking about having an abortion? How dare you assume that you can do with your body what you wish! Finally there's a madman ready to stifle that ludicrous conclusion! A right-to-lifer with methods so misguided that the recently departed Jack Kevorkian would call him extreme!" - Dread Central
• "If Del Vecchio and director Rob Webber would have turned out a decently directed and written movie, it wouldn’t have mattered if they were arguing the finer points of scrotum torture, I would have given a decent review to this film despite my close relationship with my ballsack. But instead of trying to make an entertaining movie, I think the makers of this film were more interested in spewing out one uninterrupted Pro-Life argument after another and squelch any Pro-Choice responses. In that they were successful in making a film where everyone talks as if they were reciting bullet points, too bad they forgot to make it entertaining, scary, or even morally sensible." - Ain't It Cool News

External links

• The Life Zone on IMDb