DEAD ALIVE (aka BRAINDEAD) RATING: 8 / 10 --> Great movie
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Invite George A. Romero, Sam Raimi and Terry Gilliam over for a night of Zombies, Bloody Mary's and some great conversation, secretively slip a few dozen hits of orange-moon-pied acid drops into their respective drinks, stir, serve on the rocks, and you will only be slightly prepared for the bloody onslaught of style, horror, annihilation and gruesomely decorated psychosis that director Peter Jackson has bestowed upon this world in the form of this film. This movie is essentially for the 90's, what NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was for the 60's, and EVIL DEAD 2 (7.5/10) was for the 80's. An all-out disgusting bloody mess of a horror show! All I could say is "wow".
PLOT: A man who has always lived under the oppression of his own mother, suddenly finds himself taking care of her, after she gets bitten by a rare rat-monkey at a local zoo. It turns out that the bite from the animal actually turns people into flesh-eating human zombies, and so his mother slowly but surely crumbles into that state herself. As more and more people get bit, the man's house turns into an absolute slaughterhouse for the dead, the living, and the undead. Blood, carnage, decapitations, and did I mention blood...ensue.
CRITIQUE: A fantastic cinematic achievement, this film has the greatest horror special effects that I have ever witnessed in my entire life. It also has the most gore, the most guts, the most blood, the most style and the most mutilations, that I have ever had the privilege to be completely repulsed by as well. This movie starts off slow, and looks like a highly stylized film ready to thrill you with its eye for the quaint shot, but sadistically turns into one of the most disgusting horror movies to ever greet the screen. This film is gross beyond belief, with bloody murders after bloody murders, followed closely by bloody decapitations, bloody maimings and dozens of other novel shots of zombies killing, chomping and gnawing their way into others.
THIS FILM IS NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED!
This gorefest is filled with shots of body parts being ripped apart from one another, limbs flying all around, and human insides taking on a life of their own. Mrs. JoBlo could not take the whole film, and had to be relieved of her duties as shotgun watcher, as the film progressed with only me holding a barf bag to my side. I really do not know enough about this film's background to know of Mr. Jackson's technique in this film's regard, but suffice it to say that the man does an excellent job of coming up with a plasma-infested horror spectacle that will not leave anyone lest an opinion. Timothy Balme also does an excellent job of playing the straight-guy within this mess of butchered torsos, even as he literally mows through them by the end. His character was just like Bruce Campbell in EVIL DEAD 2. A chunk of straight man material, plenty of black humour and a whole lot of psychological head-trippings. Which reminds me, this film is not meant to be a straight-forward horror extravaganza. It's got its tongue firmly placed in cheek with a lot of off-humour pieces as well, like the one that has the priest kicking some crazy zombie butt in the graveyard, and another one that features our protagonist taking the baby zombie out for a carriage stroll in the park.
This film will never leave your mind once you have seen it, and will most certainly make a sickening impression on you, at first glance. You might change your mind afterwards and respect its style, wondrous craft of filmmaking and overall gruesome effect (as I did), or decide that it's one of the sickest and vile things that you have ever had the indecency to witness in your entire lifetime as an adult on this planet, and regurgitate your appetite for ever taking in another horror movie. But even with a fabricated absence of this film from your memory, you will never be able to forget the fact that you were one of the lucky ones to have witnessed one of the bloodiest, sickest and campiest fiestas of murder ever presented on film!! Trust me, you'll feel better in the morning :)
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: BRAINDEAD was the original title for this movie, but Vidmark changed it to DEAD ALIVE. The mad funeral director's assistant is played by director Peter Jackson himself. He was born in New Zealand, and also directed 1996's THE FRIGHTENERS (7/10). He is presently working on all three parts of THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, which will be shot back-to-back. New Line Cinema has apparently committed more than $130 million to produce this live action, special effects-packed trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's internationally renowned fantasy novel. The filming is scheduled to begin in May 1999 in New Zealand, with the first episode due for Christmas 2000 release. Peter Jackson's favorite scene, in which the "baby" is taken for a carriage ride in the park, was shot on the last two days only, because there was some money left in the budget. The film apparently only cost $3 million to make, with the director not making one cut from his original script. Peter Jackson was one of the first people approached to script the JASON VS FREDDY movie, but had to decline due to other commitments. During the lawnmower scene in this movie, blood was pumped at five gallons per second.
Review Date: January 3, 1999
Director: Peter Jackson
Writers: Stephen Sinclair, Frances Walsh and Peter Jackson
Producer: Jim Booth
Actors: Timothy Balme as Lionel
Diana Penalver as Paquita Maria Sanchez
Elizabeth Moody as Mum
Ian Watkin as Uncle Les
Genre: Horror
Year of Release: 1992
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(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
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