Barnes & Noble

Possibly the goriest movie ever made, New Zealand's zombie-fest Dead Alive offers an outrageous combination of extreme violence and black comedy that satirizes motherly love -- all while spewing vast quantities of bodily fluids across the screen. Director Peter Jackson made the transition to Hollywood with this smart and squirm-inducing 1993 cult hit, following it up with more mainstream efforts, including the critical success Heavenly Creatures. A bite from a cursed rat monkey turns smothering Mum (Elizabeth Moody) into a ravening creature of the undead, creating romantic and housekeeping difficulties for mild-mannered mama's boy Lionel (Timothy Balme). Before long, hordes of local citizens have been turned into bloodthirsty ghouls, leading inevitably to the climactic orgy of dismemberment and disemboweling that industriously uncovers new uses for many common household items. The film's sly employment of movie clichés coupled with a subtly retro look heighten the unreality, making the carnage more cartoonish than disturbing. While not for the squeamish, Dead Alive will more than satisfy viewers who like their horror laced with a gross-out sense of humor. Amy Robinson

All Movie Guide

Director Peter Jackson's second feature cheerfully trumps the gross-out quotient of his splatterfest debut, the appropriately named Bad Taste. The tone is cartoonishly comic, and the premise is simple: The village dweeb (Timothy Balme) is trying to maintain a budding romance with the sweet Paquita (Diana Penalver) while concealing the fact that his overbearing mum (Elizabeth Moody, in an amazing good-sport performance) is a flesh-eating zombie. (She owes her condition to a bite from a "Sumatran Rat Monkey" at the local zoo.) Complicating matters even further is Les, a greedy uncle (Ian Watkin), who suspects that his sister has died and is eager to occupy her elegantly furnished Victorian mansion. The climax is a housewarming party Les throws to celebrate his "inheritance;" what he really gets is his comeuppance, thanks to his sister and her similarly afflicted zombie pals, who burst out of their basement prison to turn the guests into appetizers. Our hero finally cuts a wide swath through the zombie party crashers with the help of a rotary blade lawn mower, leaving the house awash in blood and body parts in order to save his romance. Tom Wiener

Product Details

• UPC: 031398684138
• Source: LIONS GATE
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Alternate Wide Screen (1.78:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: stereo
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Español, Français
• Time: 1:37:00
• Sales Rank: 8,135

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