The Video Dead is a film that has always stuck with me. I remember renting it from the video store all the time as a kid, and being completely terrified of the zombies portrayed in the film. I was even scared to venture out into my backyard of a night in fears that The Video Dead zombies would be waiting for me in the dark! Now that I am older, I am nowhere near as terrified, but this movie will always have a strong place in my heart.
The story begins with the delivery of an old TV set to famous writer Henry Jordan (Michael St. Michaels , who is puzzled because he has not ordered anything "but pizza in the last six months". However, he accepts it, and that night, he is continually annoyed when the TV keeps automatically turning itself on and showing an old black-and-white horror film called "Zombie Blood Nightmare", which is a seemingly plot less movie about the undead rising from their graves and wandering through fog-covered woods.After turning on a few more times, Henry gets mad and unplugs it. Later that night when he is asleep, the TV again turns on (without being plugged in) and outcome our rotting main villains of the movie......THE VIDEO DEAD! all of whom seem to be their own character like a rotting bride, a James Dean varsity jacket-wearing blue fellow, a curly dark-haired redneck dude dressed in rotting flannels, and the leader of the pack, Jack, who bleeds and drools a lot. During the night, they kill poor old Mr. Jordan while he sleeps.
3 months later, two teens move into his old house while their parents are out of the country. They were apparently told nothing of Mr. Jordan's murder. The brother, Jeff (Rocky Duvall)finds the old television set in the attic after being drawn to it by the voice of a mysterious woman (Jennifer Miro) who lives in the TV. Later, he helps his sister Zoe (Roxanna Augesen) get the house in order before Mom and Dad move in. Jeff meets his new neighbor, April(Victoria Bastel) who is walking a poodle for some other neighbors. The dog manages to get away from them and runs off into the woods where he meets Jack! When Jeff and April later find the body of the poodle (who Jeff insists died from a heart attack), Jack follows the couple back to the neighborhood.
After a Texan (Sam David McClelland) shows up and warns Jeff about the cursed TV, Jeff meets the mysterious Garbageman (Cliff Watts) after being seduced by The Woman, who turns out to be a zombie in disguise. The Garbageman tells Jeff to put a mirror on the TV to prevent more rotting nasties coming out.
Meanwhile, April is leaving for school when Jack arrives in the neighborhood, and has now brought the whole gang along. They enter April's house and begin investigating. April's sleazy father (Garrett Dressler) is in bed upstairs with his much younger maid, Maria (Libby Russler) who awakens to the sounds of the zombies rummaging downstairs. She comes downstairs, only to be confronted and violently strangled by the redneck zombie. During the struggle, she manages to plunge an iron into his head before he breaks her neck, henceforth, he is known as "Ironhead" (and he is my favorite zombie in the film). The zombies then go upstairs to finish off April's Dad, who managed to sleep through all of Maria's desperate cries for help. They quickly kill him and move onto the other neighbors,killing them all in unusual ways, including one victim being thrown upside down inside a washing machine! That night, the news is out about the murders, and the Texas, Joshua, returns to the house. During the night, a zombie kidnaps April, and the following morning, Jeff and Joshua head out into the woods to do battle. However, both are soon killed, and the zombies make their way back to Zoe, who is now the only survivor in the neighborhood. I won't spoil the ending for you, as it is pretty entertaining to watch, and will keep you both amused and scared at the same time.
To this day, this is my favorite zombie film. Director and write, Robert Scott, attempted to make the zombie legend a little different that we all know. His zombies don't eat flesh, but rather just kill for the fun of it (which is truly terrifying). I give credit to Mr. Scott for his creative skills, and I think he made a fantastic movie. Some might say that the acting is poor, and in some areas it may well be, but that is half of what makes The Video Dead a classic! It's just a shame Mr. Scott couldn't go on to do a sequel, because I would have loved to have seen another Video Dead film with a bigger budget and follow-up to this original.
All-in-all, The Video Dead is a classic to me, and I make sure to watch it AT LEAST a few times a year.
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