As you likely know, if you're reading this, Dead Alive is fairly widely regarded as the goriest movie ever made. Having not seen every movie ever made I'm not prepared to declare it as such, but it's certainly the goriest movie I've ever seen. By far. To give you a bit of perspective, I would say Day of the Dead and Riki-Oh probably come closest of the films I've seen, and Dead Alive has got to be at least 5 times gorier than either of those films.(And that's probably a conservative estimate) This fact alone should make it mandatory viewing for anyone interested in Horror films.(Of course, this isn't actually a horror film; I don't think it genuinely tries to be scary even once. But, the gore-comedy is primarily of interest to horror fans, naturally)As one would expect, this film has it's roots in Re-Animator and the Evil Dead films, but it manages to find it's own style and tone. Evil Dead II was wildly over-the-top and energetic while Re-Animator was pretty subdued and deadpan much of the time. Dead Alive, directed by the now highly famed and lauded Peter Jackson, is somewhere in between, certainly not as controlled as Re-Animator, but nowhere near as flat out weird and kinetic as Evil Dead II.(at least not from beginning to end.) And yeah it's pretty funny, though perhaps the majority of the non-gore related humor tends to fall flat. It's also more purely good-natured and fun-loving than any of those films.(Perhaps this is related to their New Zealand accents) I don't know if it's necessarily better than any of those films, it's a tough call, but they're all in the same league, and fans of one ought to like the others.
Inspiration is frequently in short supply in the non-zombie related scenes, but their are enough zombie scenes that it doesn't matter too much. The characters are extremely broad caricatures, including the cute, naive love interest, the dorky, buttoned down hero, the evil controlling mother and the conniving, greedy and chauvinistic uncle. Naturally characters don't matter a whole helluva lot in this film, but, for what it's worth, both Paquita and Lionel are reasonably likable as the protagonist. The film ain't much on plot either, as it's pretty much just a series of comic scenes involving Lionel's attempts to keep the zombie outbreak a secret, and then their collective attempts to simply destroy them. Personally, I find this structural format to be perfectly fine. The less plot the better, when it comes to this sort of film.
The gore is so ridiculous and over-the-top that it's hard to imagine how anyone could be offended by it, though it is quite gross at times. The gore itself particularly reminds of the original Evil Dead, as it emphasizes goo and moistness, and the zombies look fairly reminiscent of the demon-possessed individuals from that film. Although the gore isn't nor is it trying to be realistic, the execution is often more professional and well done than I would've anticipated. Going into too many specifics would be terribly time consuming, but their are a few things that demand pointing out. The single best gore effect would have to be towards the beginning of the film, when the nurse gets her head ripped off. (most of the way, anyway) And, the much famed lawnmower massacre towards the end of the film is classic, and has some surprisingly nicely done effects to go along with the sheer over-the-top insanity of the scene.(The effects I'm referring, in specific, to some of the shots of the limbs getting shredded into nothingness) And, the stop-motion animated sumatran rat monkey is quite fun as well.
Yeah, this movie is pretty great. Not quite the all time highpoint in gore, in my mind, however. I think that Riki-Oh is funnier on the gore front, and am more impressed by some more serious films that display more realistic gore. But Dead Alive still does what it does very well.
You'll enjoy this movie if the following apply to you:
1) the phrases "karate priest", "baby zombie", and "rat-monkey" piqued your interest.
2) You liked Evil Dead II and Army Of Darkness, and are definitely not in the camp that the series went downhill once Sam Raimi started adding in comic elements
3) You're not at all squeamish about blood and relish completely over-the-top bordering on implausible gory death scenes.
4) You have a general taste for cheesy b-movies.When you think of blood and gore, movies such as, Hellraiser, From Beyond, Evil Dead and Re-Animator may come to mind. These movies, however, are merely kindergarden class to this blood drenched classic. All the reviews I've read say this is probably the goriest movie in history. I'd have to agree with that sentiment.
The story about a young, shy man named Lionel(Timothy Balme) who takes care of his domineering mother. Lionel meets up with a young woman in a little store named Pakita. She persues Lionel and gets him to accompany her to the zoo. While spying on the couple Lionel's mother is bitten by the Sumatran Rat Monkey. After being infected with the bite she becomes a hideous undead creature. Lionel, however still takes the time to care for her and all of the others that will become infected with this disease.
If your looking for a frightful movie then this movie would not be for you. The storyline is weak but when you have so much blood, gore and guts on the screen do you really care about a story? This is definitely the goriest movie ever made. Scenes include a rib cage being pulled out, plenty of body dismemberment and the best scene, chopping up dozens of zombies with a lawnmower plus much more. This movie splills more blood than the elevator scene in Stephen King's The Shining. Just describing these scenes and talking about the movie gives it no justice in just how gorey it is. You gotta see this movie for yourself. The dazzling special effects are courtesy of Richard Taylor.
Read Best Reviews of Dead Alive (1992) Here
When I first rented "Dead Alive," I got it from a Blockbuster store. A critic on the front of the box was quoted as saying "This is the goriest and funniest film I've ever seen!" I watched the movie, and wondered how anyone could have found the film "gory" OR "funny." To me, it just didn't make sense, and it seemed just plain stupid and boring. Of course, what I didn't know then was that the movie had been cut, and almost 10 minutes of additional gore was missing. If you think about that, that's a LOT of gore (a death scene takes what, 5 seconds?). SO, since I couldn't find the unrated version anywhere, I ordered it and watched it last night. NOW I see what the critic was talking about. Ironically, by taking out all the gore, Blockbuster simply made the movie more disturbing and strange. WITH all the gore, it's nothing short of hysterical. Here's a small comparison between the R and unrated versions:1) right away, the first man to be bitten is practically mutilated in the unrated version. He right hand and left arm are seen chopped off. In the R version, neither scene is shown, just him screaming.
2) the "lunch" scene is MUCH funnier in the unrated version. Lionel's mother squirts blood into the guests pudding. We watch him eat the pudding. Then her ear falls off into her own pudding, and she eats that, too, sending another guest running to the bathroom. In the R version, we have to imply that she has squirted blood into the pudding, and the ear never falls off (which makes for much confusion later when it's quite apparently missing).
3) when the nurse comes to check on Lionel's mother in the unrated version, the zombie grabs her face. Mother's fingers meld into the nurse's face, and eventually put it backward at a 90 degree angle. This makes for some hysterically disturbing scenes later where she just can't seem to keep her head on straight. In the R version, we see the Mother pop up behind the nurse, but see nothing of the gore. By cutting that violence, though, any future reference to the nurse's head problem is therefore not funny--just confusing.
4) The Party at the end: Where to start? In the R version I saw, the party is a totally confusing, strange, and illogical event. Zombies suddenly pop to life, people run, people fall, and then suddenly Lionel shows up with a lawnmower and everyone dies. In the UNRATED version, I watched in horror and amusement at some of the most grisly, but way over-the-top death scenes I've ever seen. People are beheaded, disembowled, and mutilated. One man's ribs are pulled out while he watches. Another woman is punched so hard from behind that the hand comes through the back of her head and out of her mouth. It's powerful stuff--but much funnier when shown.
Bottom line: UNRATED VERSION: 5 stars R Version: 1 star Stay away from the Rated R version!
Want Dead Alive (1992) Discount?
First, let's get one thing straight: This is not a horror movie, and it's not intended to be a horror movie. It's a comedy, ok? Yes, it is probably the goriest movie ever made, but it's use of blood and violence is so completely over the top, it crosses into the realm of hilarious by fifty Sumarian rat monkeys' heads.I generally try to avoid overly gorey movies myself (I'm not particularly sensitive or anything, it's just that 99.9% of 'em [... stink]), but "Dead Alive" sort of goes beyond that. If monsters in the basement, kung-fu priests, zombie-babies and alternative uses of lawnmowers seem like your kind of thing, you could do far worse than watching this.
On the other hand, those of you looking for high drama and a thought-provoking plot would be best adviced to search elsewhere. The original title, "Braindead", is a bit more appropriate I think.
Speaking of original, the American unrated version on sale here is not uncut. My copy, subtiteled "Red Edition" (wich speaks for itself, I guess) runs about 10 minutes longer than this version. Probably nothing vital to the plot, but you gore-hounds out there might want to check it out. It was released by a German company called Laser Paradise, and it's plagued by the cheesiest (unskippable) CGI intros I have ever had the misfortune of viewing. Apart from that, it comes highly recommended.
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