The Video Dead (1987)

This movie was only three years old when I first watched it. I laughed at then. I mean, really laughed out loud. The entire movie is made with such low cost, piss poor production, and yet it delivers the goods as well. What goods may we be discussing here? Well. None of the zombies in the film are exactly frightening, however, The Video Dead passes with flying colors in my book. In order to film a great zombie movie, you need two things: at least one really good gross out scene, and you absolutely need to have the * CHAINSAW* !! Check, and check. Bad acting. Lousy script. Porn music. 70's looking production. You are all forgiven. They knew, when filming The Video Dead, that this was not going to be a blockbuster. That's sort of the idea of sending it direct to video. ( Heh heh, get the pun? Oh, forget you!) The Video Dead, simply put, was designed to go for the next big thing: a cult following. So what you are going to see, if you decide to proceed with caution, is at least three great looking zombies ( giggles), three great kills ( giggles even more), and a lot of B rated dark humor. The zombies, for example, thinks its funny to discard a body into the washing machine, legs up, and turn it on. The plot is basic: a TV is sent to the wrong address, turned on, and the undead cast of an old zombie movie is emerging through the TV screen, entering the real world to perform some...real kills. Due to the fact that this movie looked cheesy even then, I seriously doubt this has aged well. If you can't overlook piss poor production, this won't be for you. The movie leans a little more on the gore hounds side. By that, strongly warn you, there is a scene where a zombie is cut in half by a chainsaw, and the aftermath? I almost vomit. Joke you not. However, those are the rules....you need a good gross out scene, and you need the chainsaw. If you are looking for a great humorous, zombie flick, I steer you away from this, and please check out Zombieland if you haven't already seen this title. MY GOD! I'm still laughing after all these years.

IM NOT HERE TO PRAISE THE VIDEO DEAD.. BUT BURYING WOULD BE OF NO USE.. BECAUSE MUCH LIKE THE TITULAR ZOMBIES THIS FILM ITSELF WILL RISE AGAIN AND AGAIN.. AS SOME REVIEWERS HAVE NOTED THE SILLY SPOOF HAS A NICE BALANCE OF SELF AWARENESS BUT ALSO .. SOME WONDERFUL CANDID MOMENTS THAT ACTUALLY DO A BETTER JOB OF REPRESENTING THE GENRE THAN SOME OF ITS MORE SERIOUS MINDED CONTEMPORARIES. THE ZANINESS HITS A ZENITH AS JEFF WATCHES HIS "UNDEAD" TEMPTRESS RETURN TO THE TV SET MOCKING AND LAUGHING AT HIS BLUE BALLS ONLY TO HAVE HER THROAT SLICED BY AN UNKNOWN ASSAILANT THAT PROCLAIMS HIMSELF SIMPLY TO BE "THE GARBAGE MAN" WHO TAKES CARE OF 'HUMAN GARBAGE'.. LEAVING OPEN THE GREATEST PLOT HOLE IN THE HISTORY OF HORROR. VIDEO DEAD IS ACTUALLY KIND OF FUN.. I WOULD HAVE RATED IT EVEN HIGHER BUT I DONT GET ANYMORE STARS.. IF I HAD ONE COMPLAINT IT IS THE TECHNICAL PROBS WITH AUDIO DO TEND TO MAKE THE DIALOGUE (WHILE AT TIMES ALMOST WITTY) TO EASY TO OVERLOOK.

"The Video Dead" its a very original zombie movie, just when I thought the zombie genre couldn't offer much new to me, I watch this and it amazes me. Too bad it didn't come out in theaters in its original release (but I suppose that being a direct to video movie makes more sense), this movie should have gotten more attention, thank god it became a cult movie over the years.I was somewhat hesitant about watching this, I was expecting something along the lines of "Burial Ground" or "Zombie Holocaust" (and I think those movies are charming in their own way), however, it was better than a cheap Italian zombie flick, don't get me wrong, it was cheap and it had some dull and silly moments but it was mostly a fun time.Overall, a really entertaining movie, it has some good elements and its quite interesting. I think I would have find it a little bit scary if I would have seen this as a child, mainly because of the concept and the ending (endings like that always made me feel uncomfortable and I suppose that's the intention).

The Video Dead is just another stupid 1980's horror flick! The Video Dead concept of a haunted T V is cool. I noticed the movie The Ring copied a few scenes from the movie. Dead's characters are interesting! Great comic relief between the blond kid, and the guy with the cowboy hat. What does not work is the low budget, and silly script. Blair Witch resembled Dead's low budget campy feeling of people running around in the woods. I found scenes of Dead resembled production quality of an local cable access shows. When a script has dancing with zombies in the basement is just too silly for me. Lame movie. Four out of ten stars.