From the pre-LOTR mind of director Peter Jackson comes this 1992 zombie bloodbath comedy that is one half Dawn of the Dead (1978) and one half Monty Python. Thanks to a Sumatran Rat-Monkey bite(a stop-motion one at that), a domineering mother who is spying on her son and his current love interest transforms into a flesh eater and the collision course to wackiness begins.
As the townspeople assume she is dead, Lionel tranquilizes the still-kicking zombie for her funeral. After she is buried, he returns to the graveyard to administer more anesthetic, but is accosted by a gang of hoodlums. His mother bursts from her grave, resulting in more deaths, and zombies.
As their numbers grow, Lionel manages to keep the zombies under relative control with repeated injections, and tries to keep them concealed in his home. However, Lionel's uncle Les (Ian Watkin), arrives to try and wrangle with Lionel over his mother's estate. Uncle Les discovers the corpses and blackmails his nephew into giving up his inheritance in return for his silence.
Lionel reluctantly administers poison to the zombies and buries them, just as Uncle Les and a crowd of his friends arrive for a housewarming party. However, the poison turns out to be an animal stimulant, and the zombies burst from the ground to attack and infect the party guests in a gory finale.
Wow! This movie is much better than it should have been. What makes this work is not necessarily the gore(I thought it was really, really over the top), it's the laugh out loud, tongue-in-cheek moments that are the centerpiece of this film. "I kick ass for the Lord!", a zombie baby, it just doesn't get any better horror/comedy wise than this, except for maybe Shaun of the Dead or the ancient early-80's slasher parody Student Bodies.
8.5/10
2 comments:
I KICK ASS FOR THE LORD!
Greatest line ever. I love Dead Alive. The lawnmower scene is just aweinspiring.
Laughed my ass off through this whole movie the first time I watched it. Still awesome.
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