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Dead Alive

Original title: Braindead
  • 1992
  • R
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
107K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,778
596
Dead Alive (1992)
B-HorrorBody HorrorDark ComedyDark FantasySlapstickSplatter HorrorZombie HorrorComedyFantasyHorror

A young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.A young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.A young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.

  • Director
    • Peter Jackson
  • Writers
    • Stephen Sinclair
    • Fran Walsh
    • Peter Jackson
  • Stars
    • Timothy Balme
    • Diana Peñalver
    • Elizabeth Moody
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.5/10
    107K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    3,778
    596
    • Director
      • Peter Jackson
    • Writers
      • Stephen Sinclair
      • Fran Walsh
      • Peter Jackson
    • Stars
      • Timothy Balme
      • Diana Peñalver
      • Elizabeth Moody
    • 641User reviews
    • 131Critic reviews
    • 54Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 14 wins & 7 nominations total

    Videos1

    Dead Alive
    Trailer 1:47
    Dead Alive

    Photos214

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    Top cast64

    Edit
    Timothy Balme
    Timothy Balme
    • Lionel
    Diana Peñalver
    Diana Peñalver
    • Paquita
    Elizabeth Moody
    Elizabeth Moody
    • Mum
    Ian Watkin
    • Uncle Les
    Brenda Kendall
    • Nurse McTavish
    Stuart Devenie
    Stuart Devenie
    • Father McGruder
    Jed Brophy
    Jed Brophy
    • Void
    Elizabeth Brimilcombe
    • Zombie Mum
    Stephen Papps
    Stephen Papps
    • Zombie McGruder
    Murray Keane
    • Scroat
    Glenis Levestam
    • Mrs. Matheson
    Lewis Rowe
    • Mr. Matheson
    Elizabeth Mulfaxe
    • Rita
    Harry Sinclair
    Harry Sinclair
    • Roger
    Davina Whitehouse
    Davina Whitehouse
    • Grandmother
    Silvio Famularo
    • Father
    Brian Sergent
    Brian Sergent
    • Vet
    Peter Vere-Jones
    Peter Vere-Jones
    • Undertaker
    • Director
      • Peter Jackson
    • Writers
      • Stephen Sinclair
      • Fran Walsh
      • Peter Jackson
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews641

    7.5107.2K
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    Featured reviews

    6grantss

    Silly and gross but also funny and fun

    Wellington, New Zealand, 1957. Lionel and Paquita are at the zoo on date when Lionel's domineering, oppressive mother, Vera, appears, trying to prevent Lionel from seeing Paquita. Vera is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey and overnight becomes a zombie. Soon she infects others and Lionel is struggling to contain the zombie outbreak.

    Written and directed by Peter Jackson who later went on to direct Heavenly Creatures, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Braindead, his third film, is nothing like those movies. If, however, you've seen his first film Bad Taste, Braindead will be no surprise.

    Bad Taste relied heavily on a silly plot and gross-out special effects but was quite funny and generally quite fun. Braindead is similar but has a more solid plot, including a set up - Bad Taste just launched straight into the humans-vs-zombies/aliens action. There is still a lot of gross-out visual effects, many of which are silly and gratuitous, but some of them are really clever and funny. Some great laugh-out-loud moments.

    On that note, in Bad Taste the silliness pipped the funniness but here the laughs win out. Not by a huge margin but enough to make the movie watchable and fun.
    DJ Inferno

    Faster! Harder!! BRAINDEAD!!!

    I LOVE THIS FLICK!!! Probably the greatest splatter comedy ever made, because "Braindead/Dead Alive" is a fast-paced, gut-wrenching, disgusting, adrenalin-pushing and ultra-funny cult movie!!! The nightly martial arts-performance on the cemetery is as great as Lionel´s baby sitting-trip on the playground and the final zombie massacre at Uncle Les´ party beats everything you´ve seen before!! "From Dusk Till Dawn", "The Evil Dead 2"... just peanuts in comparison to the galore of blood´n guts that is featured in this film! I´m also a huge fan of Peter Jackson´s elder shots "Bad Taste" and the weird Muppet Show-parody "Meet the Feebles", but with this masterpiece the director was able to excel himself!! Not to forget the great performances of Timothy Balme as mummy´s darling Lionel, Diana Penalver as resolute Spanish chica Paquita, Ian Watkin as Lionel´s rockabilly-like Uncle Les, Elisabeth Moody, Brenda Kendall, Stuart Devenie... all great!!! "Braindead/Dead Alive" is one of the best party-movies you can imagine! Watch this together with your friends and you will laugh your heads off, I promise!!!
    10el_anarchy

    All time best horror-comedy? Could be.

    Crazy, visceral, over the top, quirky, violent, gory, silly, extreme and (in it's own way) sweet, are just a few words that can describe this visual extravaganza.

    What makes it such a good movie? It's fast paced, it's witty, it's charming... and it is GROUNDBREAKING,it's an important movie of the genre.

    Lionel is a loser who lives with his dominant mother. Lionel finds a way out, by hooking up with Paquita (a beautiful Diana Peñalver), but soon Lionel's mother gets bitten by a RAT MONKEY and she gradually starts to decompose (it's hilarious) and turns into a living dead... Lionel like a loving son he is, tries to hide the fact that her mother is a zombie, keeping her sedated with drugs... until, naturally, all hell breaks loose.

    Timothy Balme is genius as Lionel, I mean; HE'S SO UNDERRATED, he gives a truly comedic performance that's top notch and really entertaining, so is the rest of the cast.

    This is my favorite Peter Jackson film, and maybe one of the best horror comedies EVER. It's so f***ed-up, crazy and over the top it's almost poetic.

    Everyone who considers himself (or Herself) a Horror Lover, a GoreHound, a rare-movie seeker or a Three Stooges fan should get their hands on this unusual flick.
    george.schmidt

    Good grisly fun!

    DEAD ALIVE (1993) ***1/2 New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson made his mark in horror cinema (and for himself as a talent to be reckoned with) in this incredibly gory, funny and altogether sickfest zombie flick about a young man's shrew mother getting bit by a Sumatran Rat Monkey rabid with a truly nasty disease that turns her (and all that she infects with a bite) into a crazed/ravenous thing that can't be stopped in its rapacious wake of terror. The scattershot breakneck pace makes fellow monster maven Sam Raimi look like Busby Berkeley! Classic cult film that will have you laughing at the putridness of it all. Look for Jackson's homage to "King Kong" with Skull Island reference at film's precredit sequence.
    8mstomaso

    Perhaps the best horror comedy of all time

    Peter Jackson's gore-fest "Dead Alive" - AKA Braindead- is a very funny, very bloody film. The story is pretty simple, but includes some ingenious plot elements - such as a budding romance between two very likable characters (Balme and Penalver), a psychologically distressing relationship between Balme and his mother and well scripted dialog.

    Balme plays Lionel - a troubled, more or less housebound young man who has been forced to spend most of his time taking care of a domineering and psychologically damaging elderly mother. Penalver plays Paquita - his romantic destiny. Paquita is a charming young woman for whom English is (perhaps) a second language. Soon after they meet, Paquita notices some odd quirks in Lionel's behavior, and slowly begins to realize that there is something besides the usual male fear of commitment. Perhaps Lionel's cannibalistic zombie mother is to blame? Soon enough Balme is babysitting a whole family of living dead who he has to constantly inject with animal tranquilizers, and trying to fend off a despicable uncle who is trying to muscle in on his inheritance. Then the fun really starts. It's the Dead Alive Series with extra gore, infused with brilliant slapstick and just a pinch of Monty Python.

    Balme is amazing! - an excellent physical actor with great slapstick pacing and manic anxiety. And Penalver is delightfully pretty and sincere yet gives a nice campy performance. Dead Alive is one of the films in which Jackson began to blend detailed ecstatic and fantastic elements into his plots and cinematography - later culminating in the disturbing Heavenly Creatures and the spectacular LOTR trilogy. In Dead Alive, he finds his formula and makes it work without a tremendous budget. The film is well shot and grotesque, but remarkably amusing.

    More like this

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    6.5
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    7.7
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    The Return of the Living Dead
    7.3
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    6.9
    Hellraiser

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      On its initial release in its home turf of New Zealand, this movie earned more per screen than Batman Returns (1992).
    • Goofs
      Despite being absolutely drenched with blood during the zombie massacre, Lionel's sweater and pants are completely dry in all the following scenes. His pants are amazingly clean, too.
    • Quotes

      Father McGruder: I kick arse for the Lord!

    • Alternate versions
      In Hungary the complete, original uncut version was released both at cinemas and on vhs. As of 2022, the film has not been released on dvd nor blu-ray.
    • Connections
      Edited into Heads Blow Up! (2011)
    • Soundtracks
      The Stars and Moon
      Composed by Peter Dasent and Jane Lindsay

      Performed by Kate Swadling

      Published by Mana Music/Central

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    FAQ28

    • How long is Dead Alive?Powered by Alexa
    • Wait, isn't this movie called "Dead Alive"? What's with "Braindead"?
    • Is this really the "goriest" movie ever made?
    • Does the Sumatran rat-monkey really exist?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 12, 1993 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • New Zealand
    • Languages
      • English
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • Muertos vivos
    • Filming locations
      • 12 Hinau Road, Hataitai, Wellington, New Zealand(Lionel's house)
    • Production companies
      • WingNut Films
      • New Zealand Film Commission
      • Avalon/NFU
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $3,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $242,623
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $23,765
      • Feb 15, 1993
    • Gross worldwide
      • $242,623
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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