Twice Dead

Sometime around the depression, film star Tyler Walker is dancing in his home with a lifeless-seeming woman. Two policemen and a man in furs arrive to take his home. While in good shape, the house is largely empty due to Tyler selling most of the contents. The three men burst into the third-story room Tyler is in, finding that he has stuck a knife in the woman, who is just a mannequin, and Tyler has hung himself.

Years later, a couple with a son, daughter and cat named "Meow" are moving into a house they've inherited from their Uncle. The neighborhood is not so nice, and as they arrive there's a gang hanging out on their front lawn. The cops chase them off, but it's clear they'll be back and that one of them has an unhealthy attraction to the daughter. The cops call the house the "old Tyler place," which is a bit odd; usually people call a house by the *last* name of the owner. It's now in pretty bad shape, and they set about fixing it up. It had at some point over the years been used as a funeral home, and there is an empty casket in the basement, and a broken-down hearse.

The son and daughter have several run-ins with the gang, who are pretty set on hurting people for fun. One of the women in the gang isn't too bad, and two of the members are mainly interested in making out with each other, but the rest would be perfectly happy to even kill someone.

The son and daughter glimpse Tyler in mirrors in the house, but aren't sure what they saw. Tyler's noose snakes itself around the son, but later in the movie Tyler helps protect the two from the gang.

The gang stages a couple assaults on the house. One time, the siblings scare them off with a combination of booby traps and special effects. Another time, Tyler starts killing people, including using a dumbwaiter.

There are a couple false ends to the movie, and it is unclear what might happen next. Pretty good movie, though.

A bankrupt family are forced to move into an abandoned home in Los Angeles that they have inherited, only to find it occupied by a street gang when they arrive. The gang is ousted, but that doesn't put an end to the conflict. Complicating matters ... the house is haunted. While I admire the attempt to mix two genres here, neither genre is done particularly well. Still ... between the two, there's enough here to keep you moderately entertained. The actor and actress playing siblings in this film seem to forget these characters are related and play them as disturbingly flirty. The only actor you'll recognize here is Todd Bridges, which says volumes about the quality.

I had the chance to get to sit down to watch the 1988 movie "Twice Dead" for the very first time here in 2021, just 33 years after the movie was released. I hadn't heard about it prior to watching it, so I didn't know what I was in for here, aside from it being a late 1980s horror movie.

And boy was it a late 1980s horror movie in every meaning of that phrase. This movie was so stereotypical for a horror movie from the end of the 1980s in every way. But hey, if you enjoy the movies back then, then you should feel right at home when you sit down to watch "Twice Dead" from writers Bert L. Dragin and Robert McDonnell.

The storyline told in "Twice Dead" was pretty straight forward, sort of thing "Return of the Living Dead", except you exchange the zombies with a vengeful ghost, and replace the cemetery and factory with an old, run-down mansion. Then you have a delinquent band of miscreants hellbent on wrecking havoc upon the new youngsters that just moved into town.

Visually then the movie was definitely a late 1980s product, and the passing of time has not been overly kind to the effects in the movie. I am sure that back in 1988s then the effects here were adequate, but today, well, not so much.

The acting in "Twice Dead" was adequate.

My rating of this stereotypical late 1980s horror movie settles on a mediocre five out of ten stars, as the movie doesn't really bring anything to the horror genre that hadn't been done already back in the day, and more often than not, done better even.

I recently watched Twice Dead (1989) on Tubi. The storyline follows a family that moves into a haunted house once owned by a deceased actor-or is he really gone? Meanwhile, a local gang takes a disliking to the kids in the family. When the parents leave the kids home alone, the gang breaks into the house to harass them, possibly with worse intentions. However, the gang doesn't realize they've intruded into a haunted house with a ghoul that might be deadlier than they are.

This film is directed by Bert L. Dragin (Summer Camp Nightmare) and stars Tom Bresnahan (The Kingdom), Jill Whitlow (Weird Science), Jonathan Chapin (Sixteen Candles), and Christopher Burgard (Border).

Twice Dead saves all the "good parts" for the end. It features classic 80s horror characters, attire, dialogue, and circumstances. The gang's outfits are hilariously fun. The acting is just okay, but the film makes good use of lighting, shadows, and colors to create intensity. For most of the film, kills and gore are limited, often showing someone about to die, then cutting to a corpse with blood. The motorcycle scene is hilarious and fun, and there's a memorable sex sequence kill. The film includes classic 80s horror nudity, and the absolute final scene is the best part of the movie.

In conclusion, Twice Dead is a fairly cliché and straightforward 80s horror film that doesn't stand out in the genre but is a must-see for fans of horror from this era. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend it only with appropriate expectations.

Scott (Bresnahan) is an FX genius (as opposed to an actor) who needs to call upon all his skills and more upon when he and his sister find themselves in their home at the mercy of a group of scumbags who have obviously watched STRAW DOGS once too often!

Further help comes courtesy of a resident ghost in this low rent piece of garbage that barely saw a theatrical release. A few fleeting laughs at the occasional fx employed but the highlight of the flick remains the electrocution scene. Warning folks: don't try this at home, it may be dangerous!

Mega bomb!