Dead Alive

Year: 1992

Grade: A-

Country: New Zealand

Director: Jackson

Review

i finally got around to watching this oft-recommended movie. if you have a light stomach or are squeamish then i wouldn’t suggest you read this review, much less watch this movie. okay…there are two kinds of horror movies: the serious ones that build atmosphere and use psychology, music, camera angles, and everything else to get into your head and make you uneasy; like the shining, the ring or dawn of the dead. then there are those like evil dead (a big influence on this film) and reanimator which go completely over the top with gore and play with the horror film conventions in order to (hopefully) make you laugh. dead alive falls into the latter category. there are times in the first 30 minutes where you might be scared or your skin will crawl, but for the most part this is about laughs, pushing boundaries and doing so intelligently. the important part of that point is the last one – intelligence. this movie, like evil dead, has a strong cinematic undercurrent; that is, throughout the film you are aware that the director know what he’s doing – this isn’t an amateur who is just making a gore flick for fun. the screenplay, as well as the cinematography and direction, all confirm this fact. the last 10 minutes or so really shine. in fact in the last 30 minutes of the film the most tame thing we experience is a head in a blender. one of the more funny moments is after a zombie’s intestines fall on the floor they begin to creep along the ground after the protagonist only to take a break and fart mid-chase. priceless film making. anyone thinking at this point that i’m insane or that this film isn’t all its cracked up to be is sorely mistaken. the genius of this film is well-established and certainly contributed to peter jackson being chosen to direct the lord of the rings trilogy. it’s a great movie with a well-established 20 minutes of normalcy at the beginning to offer a great contrast to the last 30 minutes of putrescence that cap off the film. oh and the symbolism and surprise ending further confirm my feelings for this fine piece of work. one last note…it definitely was inspired by evil dead – the gore, the feel and the protagonist busting down the door at the end were all totally out of evil dead, but it’s important to add that it wasn’t too derivative – rather it was its own movie with occasional nods to its mentor.