Dead Heat (1988)

Williams and a mugging Piscopo are cops who run into an evil plan to bring the dead back to life to do another's bidding. While the SFX are great, especially when all the animals in a chinese restaurant, including half pigs, come to life, the story is mundane. Just ok.

Zombies are big on entertainment value. To be honest, it would be pretty difficult to make a zombie film that isn't entertaining. The subject is just so visual, so visceral, that it embodies the cinematic medium perfectly. So there aren't - or should I say weren't - many crappy zombie films in the history of cinema, and even those that are poor – like Bruno Mattei's efforts – still have an intrinsic entertainment value to them. Conversely, the genre holds lots of classics, and the excellent 1985 film RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD opened the floodgates for zombie-comedy hybrids.This is one of those films. Although it bears superficial similarities to the Dan O'Bannon movie (especially the reanimated creatures), this is closer in plot to the 1950s thriller classic, D. O. A., which was about a detective who took a slow-acting poison and then had a certain number of hours to solve his own murder before it killed him. Personally, I think that's one of the best plots ever, and DEAD HEAT goes for the obvious and takes it one further: a zombie cop has to solve his own murder before he rots away to nothingness.On the face of it, this is an extremely cheesy '80s movie, full of big hair, well-muscled guys and more comic one-liners than you can shake a stick at. All of these come courtesy of Saturday NIGHT LIVE comedian Joe Piscopo, here playing a tough, humorous partner to Treat Williams' more stoic police officer. Piscopo reminded me a little of Roddy McDowall in THEY LIVE: he embodies his larger-than-life character and shines at every opportunity. It helps that the script is also genuinely funny. Williams takes the lion's share of acting duties, and manages to humanise what could have been a lifeless (no pun intended) creation.The plot is action-focused throughout and there are plenty of set-pieces, from the arresting bank robbery opening to the OTT climax. Along the way there are multiple encounters with zombie henchmen and the spectacle of Williams actively rotting before our eyes as the storyline progresses. There are problems, too, like gaping plot holes and continuity issues, but these can be easily overlooked because the main thing is that the film's a great deal of fun. It flies past, funny and quirky, and never stops being enjoyable. As an added bonus, three old-timers join the cast list. These are Keye Luke, an Oriental presence in Hollywood since the 1930s and playing a villain for once; Darren McGavin (otherwise known as Kolchak) as a shady senior doctor and, last and best of all, Vincent Price as a mad scientist. This is one of Price's last movies and he certainly looks fragile, but he invests his dialogue with plenty of his usual aplomb.In the end, DEAD HEAT is all about the special effects. These range from bloody squib hits to zombie make-up, but there are a couple of stand-out set pieces that take this beyond the norm for '80s conventions. An intervention in a slaughterhouse full of the living dead becomes an incredible gross-out laugh riot as our heroes are attacked by joints of beef, severed duck heads and slaughtered chicken carcasses (the highlight is when Williams finds himself the victim...of a sentient liver!). Later, a supporting character has a surprise reveal and ends up literally rotting away to nothing courtesy of some very gross FX work. These moments are as insanely entertaining as the likes of RE-ANIMATOR and SOCIETY and so deserve special mention. They serve to add to the film's appeal no end, making DEAD HEAT a minor classic of the genre and a film that's endlessly rewatchable.

In a movie named (The Big Picture - 1989) a young director of photography says to a friend that he's about to work in his first movie. A little shy he says the title (Coffins From Hell). And when the friend finds it strange, the guy smiles embarrassed to repeat the same title, indicating that he's talking about a cheap horror movie. Since that remark, every single cheap horror for me is Coffins from Hell !(Dead Heat) has many original ideas that do impress. For instance, it's a buddy-cop movie, the era's fashion, yet not wholly the usual type; it uses the lovely frame creating something unexpected with sci-fi horror. We have 2 different cops, one is a dead on a mission to know who killed him, limited by just 12 hours rest in this life (a D.O.A effect, with already dead lead !). Plus it's the only buddy-cop movie I know where the 2 leads are dead by the end ! There is so precious side in which we follow a dead lead that didn't succeed at having a wife, son, or love, and now the salvation that he has is dying not before catching whoever killed him, and destroy his evil. I was about deeming it some reading for the contemporary age's human, as he's materialistic, desperate and excessively degenerating (meeting the skeleton in the mirror was inspiring moment). The thing is all of these ideas do impress.. however separately.There is no production, or decent one at the least. The direction is shameful at times, delivering mostly a C movie. The somewhat diligent special effects were wronged between both the production and the direction. Casting (Treat Williams) was devastating, stripping the movie from its power; giving it such an emotionless mood. He looked, moved and talked like a REAL DEAD MAN. Thank god that he became less dead in his next works. (Vincent Price) was painful, being a corpse in a suit. (Joe Piscopo) was in the wrong role; the man is a comedian, a very good one, so what is he doing here in the first place ?! See how he must constantly show us his *sudden* arms' muscles even by taking his jacket off, for no reason, at the villa ! I laughed at the moment of "Kill this guy, would you?" at the end; (Piscopo) there performed the zombie whether unconvinced or mocking at himself !I didn't catch exactly how this movie kills the already killed people (by electricity ?!). The script's third act was a hoax; the lead's friend, (Piscopo), disappeared suddenly, (Lindsay Frost) died hastily, the lead discovered the killer forcedly, and the killer just confessed everything easily ??? And guess what, the movie's title is terrible, it fits more a buddy-action parody ! Hence, with all of the above, this luxurious, so proud of itself, orchestrated music score represented a weird irony, deepening the movie's campiness !The already realized seriousness fits comic strips. And compared to the story's potentials, it's woeful. Furthermore, while the movie mourns for its hero's dilemma at certain scenes (like in the library), or moments (seeing a meteor), the characterization exerted no effort to do it effectively. Think what if he was made as Mr. Do Right from the start, who understood too late that he must be irrational insensitive and crazily violent to get justice done in this world, or leave it with a bang anyway ?! Here's an entertaining movie, that wants to be a bit serious, but doesn't know the way how !It tries to evoke some lovely points in its references; (Darren McGavin) from the TV milestone show, concerning supernaturalism, (Kolchak : The Night Stalker - 1974), and (Vincent Price) from endless B movies as an icon of horror. (Lindsay Frost) was a sweet beauty from the 1980s. I loved couple of funny lines. Though, remember a scene like the Chinese restaurant's one. It has grandiose idea and atmosphere; "Zombie duck heads ? What a concept !". It's supposed to gather the whole movie's formula of action/comedy/horror smartly. But the final result was gross. It was the moment where I asked, pretty protesting, "what the heck am I watching ??!!"This is original great movie thrown in absolute cheese. Every good thing was being attacked by unstoppable Coffins from Hell I presume. So, if you wait for that great movie, you'll be disappointed. But if you love odd cheese; then (Dead Heat) entertains in its own way.

Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo are two, now get his, mismatched cops. Joe Piscopo is Bigelow, a macho, insensitive lug who only cares about himself...maybe. Treat Williams is Mortis, a kind, intuitive detective with a promising career ahead of him...until his latest case lands him on a slab. Fortunately, the case provides them with a means to bring Mortis back. Now, Bigelow and an undead Mortis race to find Mortis' killer before it's too late...(or perhaps it already is) The film tries hard to be funny, and it is, in certain moments. The two lead actors have a kind of chemistry and the cast of character actors are dynamite (including Darren McGavin, Vincent Price, Robert Picardo, and Key Luke) but it is the genre-mixing which steals the show. The butcher shop scene is hilarious and sick, a good indication of where the movie would have went if more freedom had been extended toward the filmmakers. But it remains a neat little flick for the horror lovers and the action buffs everywhere.Hopefully more and more people will discover this title, but until then, it has a small cult audience. Don't let that stop ya, seek it out. It won't change your life, but it ought to give you a diverting way to spend an hour and a half.