Reviews (283)

Dead Alive (1982) d: Jackson, Peter
Stop: If you haven't seen this movie yet, go to your local video dealer and get it right now, and please avoid the R-rated version. This film single-handedly created the Splat-Stick genre with more on-screen gore than the original Evil Dead (1982), and it has become a treasured favorite in my collection. Originally released as Brain Dead (1992) in New Zealand, the title was changed in North America by Vestron to avoid confusion with Adam Simon's (1990) horror / thriller by the same name. Peter Jackson spent most of his $3 million dollar budget on Pork Fat, Latex, Sisal, Polyfoam, Human Hair, Ultra Slime, Hundreds of gallons of maple syrup, and managed to create an amazing comical, gore feast, zombie flick which sent him on his road to stardom. It is great to finally see this classic released in it's original uncut version on DVD. While Lionel [Tmothy Balme] visits the zoo, a legendary 'rat monkey' bites his mother. As days go on the deadly bite turns Lionel's mum into a walking corpse, who zombifies anyone who crosses her path. He hides his secret from the town and his new love by keeping his mother and her recent victims sedated with animal tranquilzers in the basement. When his Uncle Les throws a wild house party, all the guest are turned into zombies. Realizing that things are now getting out of hand, Lionel straps a lawn mower to his body, in a climatic scene censored from most versions carried by the major video chains, he cuts the zombies into pieces with his lethal lawn care equipment. 300 liters of blood were used in this scene alone. A must for lovers of splatter and gore.

Gore Galore and Whole Lot More!
Peter Jackson's Dead Alive is an exuberant roller coaster ride of a movie. I have never, in my entire life of movie watching, ever seen so much gore so enthuasically shown in a film. This movie makes the Evil Dead series look like Disney movies in comparison. Dead Alive is an unbeleviable spectacle of wickedly over-the-top special effects and Peter Jackson's very dark sense of humor. This 1993 Austrailian film, begins as hilarious spoof of Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark and then turns into one heck of homage to Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead. Once poor Lionel's mother is bitten by a very rare and ferocious rat monkey, she turns into a very one-track minded zombie, and the maddness just gets worse from there. Expect to be impressed by overflowing body parts, squirting ligaments, a holy warrior kicking a## for the lord, zombie sex, zombie babies, blended zombie heads, and one weird Oedipal relationship gone terriably terriably wrong. A must-see for any horror fan with strong stomachs. Dead Alive is unsurpassed in film disgust. The DVD doens't have very many options, but this gem of a cult film is a necessity for those addicted to biazarre, sick, and twisted movies. A horror milestone. P.S. Watch out for the gas emmiting entrails.

Hyperactive
This has got to be one of my all time favorite movies. Camp, blood, ass kicking priests (who turn into lecherous zombies) and hyperative monster babies. It's just awesome. My only complaint is that it's edited all to hell, compared to the original New Zealand release, titled "Braindead."

SWEET JESUS!!!!
First of all it angers me to read reviews that state how it is not at all clever when it comes to the lawn mower scene. Come on, what more would you want from this genre of movies, if you guys dont think this is the least bit scary, rent the Care Bears movie, that might suite your likings. It cant get much gorrier then this, and definately graphic I might add. I will admit that the blood did look like pudding with red dye but thats to be expected. I could not ask for more. Peter Jackson, you rule.

Peter Jackson's Career Is Tainted!
I cannot believe that there are people who love this movie. I cannot even believe that there are people who put it in the so-bad-it's-good category. This movie is just worthless. Yes, if you want to be repulsed, it will probably succeed -- for a while at lest. But for me, by the time the VERY bloody finale arrived, I was too bored by the gallons of fake blood and slimy mucous that resembled vanilla pudding. And no, I did not find the way that the lawnmower was put to use to be funny, either.

If some friend of yours tries to convince you to watch this movie, refuse. And be aware that your friend has no taste. If for some reason you are forced to watch this movie, fast forward to the kung fu priest part (slighltly funny) and the zombie baby part (actually funny). But other than those scenes, this movie has nothing to offer except for evidence of the pathetic state of Peter Jackson's career before Lord of the Rings. ... Read more