New Jersey-based ei Independent Cinema is one of the most ambitious production companies around. And God love ‘em for it. They have their hand in almost every type of genre/exploitation film imaginable – thrillers, softcore, erotic classics from the ‘60s and ‘70s, crazy cult fare and, of course, horror.

Shock-O-Rama, the 2005 offering from one-man moviemaking machine Brett Piper, is practically an amalgam of all that ei Cinema does. An anthology-style horror movie, the experience of watching Shock-O-Rama is comparable to being at a triple feature drive-in movie. First up is a zombie film, followed by an alien invaders movie, with a schlocky sci-fi flick closing out the evening. All that’s missing is the popcorn and heavy petting.

The first segment, "Zombie This," stars the wonderful Misty Mundae (aka Erin Brown) as a B-movie scream queen named Rebecca Raven. Showbiz has not been kind to Rebecca. A career of bad scripts, no respect, and even less pay has worn down her soul. Facing an existential crisis, she finally decides to demand better-quality material from her sleazy studio chief, played by Michael Thomas, and he summarily fires her. This turn of events inspires Rebecca to take a break and do a bit of soul searching at an isolated, rustic inn that, coincidentally, is just like something out of one of her many scary movies…

While Misty–I mean Rebecca–tries to find some inner peace, her boss is busy trying to find a new star for his next low-budget epic. His assistant suggests he watch a movie that features a starlet with potential, and this takes us into Shock-O-Rama’s next segment, "Mecharachnia."

"Mecharachnia" is an interesting mix of screwball comedy and science fiction, kind of like My Man Godfrey meets Spaced Invaders. Rob Monkiewicz and Linda Callahan play ex-lovers defending themselves against an angry little alien who’s crash-landed on Earth. This segment features some impressive stop-motion effects and is a lot of old-fashioned fun. While "Mecharachnia" ends rather suddenly, that’s okay because it gets us back to Misty Mundae that much faster.

You see, back at the inn, Misty’s…I mean Rebecca’s soul searching pays off–in ways unexpected. It seems she accidentally resurrects the zombie of a notorious local Satanist. I won’t spoil the end of this storyline, but I will give you a hint: it involves a bathtub, blood, and a chainsaw.

The last segment of Shock-O-Rama, titled "Lonely Are the Brain," is another interesting combination of genres. Hmmm, let’s see, there’s bitchy sorority girls, unethical medical experiments by a hot female doctor (Julian Wells), and a talking brain–with a face, no less–that is the embodiment of the whole human race and has come back from the future to, uh…well, I don’t know what. But all you need to know is that there are naked coeds, flesh-eating coeds, lesbian coed encounters, and beating hearts being ripped from the bodies of naked coeds. ‘Nuff said.

I have to say I really enjoyed Shock-O-Rama. It’s a smart, fun, popcorn flick for cult film lovers, with more than a little tongue in its cheek. Oh, and did I mention it stars Misty Mundae?