Night Life

"Archie Melville" (Scott Grimes) is a high school student who works at the local mortuary during the night for his uncle "Verlin Flanders" (John Astin). Unfortunately, this severely impacts his social life and the girl of his dreams "Joanie Snowland" (Lisa Fuller) wants nothing to do with him. Not only that but two jocks at the high school have made it their mission to harass him endlessly as well. To make matters even worse the only friend he has named "Chary Dorn" (Cheryl Pollak) tells him she is leaving town permanently. But things change quickly after a fatal car accident involving a toxic spill sends his two tormentors along with Joanie and her friend "Roberta Woods" (Darcy DeMoss) to the funeral home where he works--and then lightning strikes! Now rather than reveal any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a peculiar zombie film which had its ups and downs. For starters, there were some parts which I thought were extremely slow and I didn't think the humor was all that keen either. But the gore factor was quite high and having 3 attractive actresses like the aforementioned Lisa Fuller, Cheryl Pollak and Darcy DeMoss certainly didn't hurt. In short, while I didn't think this was a great zombie movie by any means it was okay for the time spent and I rate it as about average.

Another poster called it the Citizen Kane of zombie movies. They were right. It's got some magic in it.

If you heard the premise you'd judge this film in advance and in doing so you'd be missing a real horror classic. There's something about it that follows you out of the end. It's scored in a very interesting way, shot in a very interesting way and the whole thing has a dreamlike quality. Scott Grimes was superb in the lead.

The very last bit really makes the film. Clever. The whole thing is well written. The dialogue is not hackneyed or trite, it's literate.

Watching it I thought the director must have been really hungry because he spun this simple story into something gold.

This movie is by no means Shakespere material, but compared to the other stuff on the market..it's gold! I have to admit I enjoyed this movie because it was offbeat yet not total out of the atomsphere! Scott Grimes ( a favorite actor of mine!) is what really made this movie. If this movie had been done with a "pretty boy type" like Johnny Deep, it would have lost all value! The charecter of Archie, had to be played by a guy that had an unconventional look yet was not butt ugly! Scott was prefect for this role. As for the rest of the castings...perfect! Acting was very good, it helped move the sort of slow start of the movie to flow better. Everyone was prefect for their role. Sure, the story was a bit slow, but the directing ( especially for a horror flick) was subtle, quirky, and unobtrusive. I really like this movie, esspecially because of the mind tricks it plays on you in the second part of the movie! I urge you to rent this movie!

17.1 NIGHT LIFE (horror/comedy, 1989) Archie (Scott Grimes) works with his domineering uncle Flanders at the local mortuary. Though he hates the job, he needs the money to go to college. At school Archie is constantly bullied by the local 'jocks'. In one of their many pranks they get him fired. If that wasn't enough his only love interest is leaving town. But Flanders offers him a second chance when he asks his help with some new corpses. Archies' assignment is made all the more difficult when they unexpectedly come to life.

Critique: Horror comedy mixes youth exploitation plot with good dozes of zombie fun. In fact, the whole film seems geared at a 'Revenge of the Nerds'-type audience; as Archie gets repeatedly bullied, has failed romantic exploits and so on. The difference being that our hero turns out to be more resilient, tougher and smarter than your usual self-pitying film geek.

Film has good special effects, spooky atmosphere, action and humor. Above all it's a fairly surprising showcase from an otherwise unknown, capable cast. Particularly appealing is Scott Grimes' Archie. A cross between Michael J. Foxs' 'Marty McFly' from the 'Back to the Future' trilogy, and Macauley Caulkins' 'Home Alone' kid. He is funny, charismatic and exhumes a surprising leading man-type appeal. A fun but otherwise gory film.

Night Life is something I stumbled upon one night while haunting old video stores in search of a descent flick. I found something better. I found Night Life. Scott Grimes of Critters fame stars as the underdog hero is this unheard of horror comedy. I have never even heard anyone talk about this film, which really surprised me after watching it. In it, four super jackasses turn into four super zombies by a mixture of electricity and chemicals. It sounds like the usual, but it's definitely got it's own flare. The scene of the accident is bizarre stuff, it's weirdly shot. It feels more like a dream than a movie. It's my favorite of the film. There are some truly grotesque parts in the mortuary too. If you've never seen this movie, find it. You'll be in for a treat.