Director Dave Parker makes a credible film debut with THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING - the latest horror offering from Full Moon Entertainment. While most of Full Moon's recent releases have been tragic misfires (the awful SHRIEKER, TALISMAN & BLOODSTORM: SUBSPECIES 4 come to mind), Dave Parker and crew actually made an attempt to create a quality film that stands out as the best Full Moon release in years!
A ragtag group of low-budget filmmakers are holed up in an abandoned hospital to make the ultimate zombie film. As they begin to explore deeper inside the building, they stumble across an actual corpse and decide to use it in the film. When they accidently revive it, the lines of reality begin to blur as the group suddenly find themselves trapped inside the building with an ever-growing number of the undead.
THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING is low-budget, but Parker obviously tried to get as much mileage as he could with what he had.
Even though the film isn't as graphic as past entries in the zombie subgenre (like the Lucio Fulci flicks of the late 70's/early 80's, from which this film drew some influence), there's still plenty of effective bloodletting and well-crafted zombie make-ups to satisfy horror fans. The film also benefits from a great location, a decently-written script and one of the best ensemble casts ever to grace a Full Moon opus.
However, the film's not without its shortcomings. Fans of zombie flicks may be disappointed with the relatively small number of zombies in this film (I assume due to budgetary restraints). The film generally (and wisely) avoids computer-generated effects, but it occasionally uses them...and they're among the worst I've ever seen. I'm not kidding. They completely destroy the mood and effectiveness of the scenes they're used in. Fortunately, they're sparsely used, so they don't ruin the film completely.
Overall, I was impressed with this one. The film stands out with Full Moon's DARK ANGEL - THE ASCENT and CASTLE FREAK as examples of quality genre filmmaking. I just hope Full Moon doesn't screw things up by turning this into a crappy series!
A ragtag group of low-budget filmmakers are holed up in an abandoned hospital to make the ultimate zombie film. As they begin to explore deeper inside the building, they stumble across an actual corpse and decide to use it in the film. When they accidently revive it, the lines of reality begin to blur as the group suddenly find themselves trapped inside the building with an ever-growing number of the undead.
THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING is low-budget, but Parker obviously tried to get as much mileage as he could with what he had.
Even though the film isn't as graphic as past entries in the zombie subgenre (like the Lucio Fulci flicks of the late 70's/early 80's, from which this film drew some influence), there's still plenty of effective bloodletting and well-crafted zombie make-ups to satisfy horror fans. The film also benefits from a great location, a decently-written script and one of the best ensemble casts ever to grace a Full Moon opus.
However, the film's not without its shortcomings. Fans of zombie flicks may be disappointed with the relatively small number of zombies in this film (I assume due to budgetary restraints). The film generally (and wisely) avoids computer-generated effects, but it occasionally uses them...and they're among the worst I've ever seen. I'm not kidding. They completely destroy the mood and effectiveness of the scenes they're used in. Fortunately, they're sparsely used, so they don't ruin the film completely.
Overall, I was impressed with this one. The film stands out with Full Moon's DARK ANGEL - THE ASCENT and CASTLE FREAK as examples of quality genre filmmaking. I just hope Full Moon doesn't screw things up by turning this into a crappy series!