Product Description: A son tries to keep the neighbors from finding out that his mother has turned into a murderous ghoul. Genre: Horror Rating: UN Release Date: 17-AUG-2004 Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com essential video: If you're not a connoisseur of graphic horror and gruesome gore, you'd better steer clear of this wicked 1992 horror-comedy from the demented mind and delirious camera of New Zealand-born writer-director Peter Jackson. However, if nonstop mayhem and extreme violence are your idea of great entertainment, you're sure to appreciate Jackson's gleefully inventive approach to a story that can judiciously be described as sick, twisted, and totally outrageous. The movie's central character is a poor schmuck named Lionel who's practically enslaved to his domineering mother. But when ol' Mum gets bitten by a rare and poisonous rat monkey from Skull Island and is turned into a flesh-eating zombie, Lionel has the unfortunate task of keeping Mama happy while fending off all the other zombies that result from her voracious feeding frenzies. If you've read this far, you'll either be crying out for censorship or eagerly awaiting your first viewing (or second, or third...) of this wildly clever and audaciously uninhibited movie. And while director Jackson would later achieve critical success with his fact-based drama Heavenly Creatures, his talent is readily evident in this earlier effort. If you find this kind of thing even remotely appealing, consider Dead Alive a must-see movie. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com: Peter Jackson proves that if gory is funny, then excessive gory is downright hysterical. As our hapless hero wades through an ankle-deep puddle of blood and entrails, brandishing a lawnmower like a portable Cuisinart at the climax of this zombie-fest, you'll either be screaming with laughter or fleeing in disgust. Timothy Balme stars as the shy mama's boy Lionel, whose controlling shrew of a mother (Elizabeth Moody) starts rotting away, literally, with a vague supernatural disease. Mother dies but refuses to stay down, rising as a flesh-eating zombie infecting everyone she bites. Lionel tries to hide her in the basement, but the victims keep piling up and finally break out when Lionel's blackmailing uncle (a grotesque, leering Ian Watkin) throws a party in the house. It's snack time as the guests become undead hors d'oeuvres and rise again as hungry soldiers of the new zombie army marching on Lionel and his girl Pacquita (the lovely Diana Penalver). New Zealand goremeister Jackson pulls out all stops in this truly outrageous sanguinary comedy, from gross-out gags of oozing puss and rotting body parts at a formal dinner to slapstick antics as Lionel tries to keep his flesh-hungry mother sedated during the funeral to the final Freudian showdown between a now-monstrous mother and the newly liberated Lionel. If you like your horror with a sense of humor or your comedy with gristle, then wade through this taboo-busting bucket of blood. --Sean Axmaker
The 15-year-old boy in you will be delighted ^ Basically if you thought EVIL DEAD 2 was an over-the-top hysterical gorefest, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Imagine a 3 Stooges movie where instead of getting hit with pies or poked in the eyes, people got their legs pulled off or intestines tugged out. Interested yet? The fact that it's A) made in New Zealand and B) set in the 1950s work in its favor: the whole outing feels like a bizzare, separate reality, better than if it were set in a suburban American shopping mall. Technichally speaking, it's crudely done, with choppy editing and awful synth score. Every resource available obviously went into the gore budget, to better create headless eviscerated zombies and mammoth monster mommies. The 15-year-old boy in you will be delighted. 4/5.
Give Me a Lawn Mower Now, Please! ^ I think Dead Alive has to be the goriest zombie film I've ever seen. My boyfriend made me watch it twice. Then I made him watch it again!!! Some of the effects are pretty cheezy like the little trolley cars moving through town, but apparently Peter Jackson shot this for just a few bucks, so really it's pretty impressive. The story is great and the acting is pretty good, too. Lots of twists and turns. I really liked the heroine because she's smart and committed and tough. The hero's a dork but he means well, so you root for him. And you can't go wrong with lawn mowers for anti-zombie weapons! Flying guts! Yuck!!! This movie is hilarious at times and totally over the top.
Hilarious cult movie ^ One of Peter Jackson's films before he got big with Lord of the Rings. Hilarious, cultish, and downright absurd. Equally enjoyed by horror film and comedy film fans.
Best zombie movie ever !!! ^ I've seen this movie 1000x and it still never gets old. If you liked Shaun of the Dead or Evil Dead , you'll LOVE this film. Honestly, what are you waiting for ? :)
Dead Alive-The most disturbing and disgusting of all zombie movies. ^ Dead Alive has to be the most disturbing and disgusting of all zombie movies, of Any movie I have seen so far. Blood,guts, Lawnmowers! what was the creator(s) thinking? this flim has no plot, just plain silly. silly kiwis.
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