Dir: Peter Jackson
Cast: Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth
Moody, Jed Brophy, Stuart Devenie
Unrated, Approx: 97 Minutes
85 Minutes (R-rated edit)
104 Minutes (overseas "Braindead" cut)
Lionsgate DVD
down...even after they die."
no introduction...
I've worked myself into a nice little paradox in the first sentence, I'll go from there. Dead Alive is probably one of the
most recent landmarks in horror cinema. It has quite a reputation, and deservedly so. Peter Jackson delivers the
goods in every single department, once again proving that he is one of the best storytellers working today.
masterpiece Bad Taste, Jackson set out to make the zombie movie to end all zombie movies. Unfortunately, he
didn't have the budget to pull off his vision, so he turned his attentions towards one of the most twisted and bizarre
puppet films ever. After a heroic, if not somewhat unscrupulous, battle to complete an unfinished film called Frogs
of War (which eventually became Meet the Feebles) he finally returned to the zombie idea. To make a long story
short, that movie eventually became Braindead, and was retitled Dead Alive for its US release.
want to take up the space here though. Since Jackson is finally getting some of the attention he deserves with his
epic Lord of the Rings adaptation, information about him and his career is relatively easy to come by.
completely gives his all to every movie he's involved in. He's the
kind of filmmaker that probably wouldn't do something if he
wasn't going to do it right. His career, thus far, has no missteps.
Dead Alive is just another example of his tour de force
storytelling that takes no prisoners and leaves the viewers
exhausted. I know that last sentence sounds like part of a
generic crappy review that is found all over TV and
Entertainment Weekly, but I mean it nonetheless. Dead Alive is
the first movie to come along since Evil Dead 2 that can match
the overall energy and entertainment value of Re-Animator.
and respect for the genre that it practically oozes
out of the film stock.
Cosgrove and his oppressive mother Vera. When Vera hears Lionel making plans to go on a date to the zoo with a
Spanish store clerk named Paquita, she decides to go along and spy on them. Everything is going as planned until
Vera is bitten by a Sumatran Rat Monkey. From here on in, the movie just spirals out of control getting crazier and
crazier with each scene. Vera has apparently been turned into a zombie. Lionel tries to keep her secret and keep
her safe, but that proves to be easier said than done with the undead. As Lionel's relationship with Paquita
progresses things become quite complicated as she is buried for a short period and makes a gaggle of zombies for
Lionel to care for in the process. With Vera's untimely 'passing' a host of Lionel's family arrives, including his greedy
uncle Les. Les tries to blackmail Lionel out of his substantial inheritance from his late mother.
though, is the story telling is even crazier. Like all Jackson's
films, the photography is beautiful and the setpieces are
incredible. With every scene I was sure that they weren't going
to be able to top the previous one, but the always did and with a
finale that will probably be long remembered as the bloodiest
thing ever rendered on celluloid! I don't feel right saying that
without explaining that no matter how great the scenes towards
the end were, the beginning of the movie holds its own fine.
gore and that's what
you're going to get.
working with here, and plays it up in every way possible. The characters are as colorful as the gore being splashed
from wall to wall. The highlights for me included an ass kicking priest, his mischievous little zombie offspring, and a
glob of malevolent intestines. Overall this is a loud and hilarious movie that makes for an excellent group watch.
startling plot revelations after the first time, the movie is pretty straight forward. There is plenty to watch for in the
backgrounds. Of course, there's Jackson's obligatory cameo (as the undertaker's assistant), a lawn decoration later
seen in The Frighteners, and of course Isildur from Lord of the Rings, Harry Sinclair as the cocky rival for
Paquita'a affections, Roger.
more satisfying title of Braindead. It was changed and cut for its
US release. It was never given the theatrical run it so obviously
deserved, but was instead dumped unceremoniously straight to
video. What is widely available on DVD and video is a relatively
complete unrated print running 97 minutes. Some stores like
Blockbuster carry an avoid-at-all-costs R rated print that cuts
virtually all of the cartoonish gore out of the movie, rendering it a
laughable (in the bad way) incoherent mess. The only reason I
would recommend seeing this would be as a good comparison
piece. It also reflects badly on the MPAA which insisted upon some
of the most pointless cuts on some of the most unrealistic violence
version haven't seen the 'real' thing. Well, they have too! The international cut does clock in at 104 minutes, but
that also has to account for the difference in tape speeds (PAL vs NTSC). Really, the unrated version makes a very
nice collectors piece for completionists and that's all. There is very little added to this final print, and there is no
NTSC version of it available. If you have a code free DVD player though, there is a nice region two version of the
disc available. Again, I would only recommend this for collectors though. Until a better company wrestles the DVD
from second rate Trimark the DVD should suffice (I mean, it's still light years ahead of anything released by the
hacks at Dead Alive productions - their Meet the Feebles DVD doesn't even have chapter stops!).
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