Post by Superheidi on Jan 5, 2004 18:02:02 GMT -5
The Dead Hate The Living (1999)
An independent, low budget film has never looked so good. “The Dead Hate The Living†is an exception to the rule that having a low-budget, bad special effects, and ripping-off classic horror films cannot be a good thing. Directed and written by Dave Parker “The Dead Hate the Living†is a beautifully crafted, artfully designed, and d**n entertaining zombie flick.
The Story begins at the scene of a low-budget horror movie made in an abandoned hospital by several young and avid horror fans. The main character, the director, is making a zombie film and using the abandoned hospital as a set. His special-effects artist and best friend is equally dedicated to the horror film and to becoming the next “Romero and Saviniâ€. Along with some loyal friends and siblings, the director has set all his hopes on making this film the best it can be. Which is why, when they discover a dead body in an abandoned basement in the hospital, they think it’s such a great idea to use it in the film! They unwittingly bring back the dead man’s soul from beyond the grave and open a portal to another demonic dimension when they stumble across a coffin-like contraption and put the dead body in it for a scene in the movie. The coffin is actually a gateway to the netherworld, and allows the resurrected man (a mad scientists who was killed by one of his ‘subjects’ while experimenting with reanimating the dead) to create an army of the dead. This undead, and most certainly evil, man kills members of the film crew and revives them as zombies in his army. These zombies patrol the hallways of the hospital searching for their victims: the living. Because, you see, the Dead Hate the Living, and desire a world where death is the only form of existence.
This film could have fallen victim to that usual malady suffered by low-budget independent films: Stupidity. This film is actually very clever. The plot starts out slow in order to develop the characters and their relationships to one another. Despite the dragging beginning, the viewer actually does get to know them, as well as enjoy some references to their favorite horror films. Once the characters are firmly established the plot picks up very quickly, and zombies and gore abound. This film plays special tribute to the “of the dead†series by Romero, Fulci’s zombie flicks, and Evil Dead. Many references are made to the films through comments made by the characters and in the many plot twists. This film was definitely made for horror fans. Someone who hasn’t seen any of these films will have a problem understanding the jokes, and in fact, the entire plot. This could be a bad selling point for this film, but it seems deliberately made this way. Fortunately most people who see this film are most likely series horror fans.
In the beginning of the film the special effects are pretty bad. This soon becomes apparently deliberate; the “film†the characters were shooting is much worse than the film we are watching. The blood and gore is done very well. This is a very bloody movie: severed limbs, torsos, and maggots figure prominently. The special effects that aren’t done that well are the computer generated ones. There are only two scenes where this is painful to watch: an electrocution scene and a burning-horde-of-zombies scene. Perhaps the director was too ambitious in attempting these scenes: they look very phony and detract from the rest of the film. They are short, however, and the realism of the rest of the effects makes up for it by the end of the movie.
The best thing about this film is the abundance of horror references. Not only are Romero Raimi mentioned, their styles are used throughout the film. The zombies look like they are right out of Evil Dead, and they act as if they are in a Romero film. So much emulation could have turned into a cheap copy of these films; it didn’t. It comes off as a well thought-out tribute. The end is spectacular in accomplishing this.
This movie is still a low-budget horror flick; so don’t expect spectacular scenery and a soundtrack you’ll hear on the radio. It is enjoyable and intelligent, though. It’s worthy of the films the director obviously loves so much. It’s what cheap rip-offs like “House of 1000 corpses†by Rob Zombie should have been. I highly recommend this film.
An independent, low budget film has never looked so good. “The Dead Hate The Living†is an exception to the rule that having a low-budget, bad special effects, and ripping-off classic horror films cannot be a good thing. Directed and written by Dave Parker “The Dead Hate the Living†is a beautifully crafted, artfully designed, and d**n entertaining zombie flick.
The Story begins at the scene of a low-budget horror movie made in an abandoned hospital by several young and avid horror fans. The main character, the director, is making a zombie film and using the abandoned hospital as a set. His special-effects artist and best friend is equally dedicated to the horror film and to becoming the next “Romero and Saviniâ€. Along with some loyal friends and siblings, the director has set all his hopes on making this film the best it can be. Which is why, when they discover a dead body in an abandoned basement in the hospital, they think it’s such a great idea to use it in the film! They unwittingly bring back the dead man’s soul from beyond the grave and open a portal to another demonic dimension when they stumble across a coffin-like contraption and put the dead body in it for a scene in the movie. The coffin is actually a gateway to the netherworld, and allows the resurrected man (a mad scientists who was killed by one of his ‘subjects’ while experimenting with reanimating the dead) to create an army of the dead. This undead, and most certainly evil, man kills members of the film crew and revives them as zombies in his army. These zombies patrol the hallways of the hospital searching for their victims: the living. Because, you see, the Dead Hate the Living, and desire a world where death is the only form of existence.
This film could have fallen victim to that usual malady suffered by low-budget independent films: Stupidity. This film is actually very clever. The plot starts out slow in order to develop the characters and their relationships to one another. Despite the dragging beginning, the viewer actually does get to know them, as well as enjoy some references to their favorite horror films. Once the characters are firmly established the plot picks up very quickly, and zombies and gore abound. This film plays special tribute to the “of the dead†series by Romero, Fulci’s zombie flicks, and Evil Dead. Many references are made to the films through comments made by the characters and in the many plot twists. This film was definitely made for horror fans. Someone who hasn’t seen any of these films will have a problem understanding the jokes, and in fact, the entire plot. This could be a bad selling point for this film, but it seems deliberately made this way. Fortunately most people who see this film are most likely series horror fans.
In the beginning of the film the special effects are pretty bad. This soon becomes apparently deliberate; the “film†the characters were shooting is much worse than the film we are watching. The blood and gore is done very well. This is a very bloody movie: severed limbs, torsos, and maggots figure prominently. The special effects that aren’t done that well are the computer generated ones. There are only two scenes where this is painful to watch: an electrocution scene and a burning-horde-of-zombies scene. Perhaps the director was too ambitious in attempting these scenes: they look very phony and detract from the rest of the film. They are short, however, and the realism of the rest of the effects makes up for it by the end of the movie.
The best thing about this film is the abundance of horror references. Not only are Romero Raimi mentioned, their styles are used throughout the film. The zombies look like they are right out of Evil Dead, and they act as if they are in a Romero film. So much emulation could have turned into a cheap copy of these films; it didn’t. It comes off as a well thought-out tribute. The end is spectacular in accomplishing this.
This movie is still a low-budget horror flick; so don’t expect spectacular scenery and a soundtrack you’ll hear on the radio. It is enjoyable and intelligent, though. It’s worthy of the films the director obviously loves so much. It’s what cheap rip-offs like “House of 1000 corpses†by Rob Zombie should have been. I highly recommend this film.