Remember The Return of the Living Dead (1985), when Frank tells Freddy that George Romero's zombie classic Night of the Living Dead was based on real events? Well, the same idea is used in writer/director Jeff Broadstreet's Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-animation; however, Broadstreet is no Dan O'Bannon and his film is a worthless pile of crap - an insult to horror fans, disrespectful of Romero and his legacy, and a total embarrassment for horror icons Andrew Divoff (Wishmaster) and Jeffrey Combs (Re-animator), who I know have bills to pay, just like you and I, but seriously guys... have some dignity (just attend a few more conventions and sign autographs, while you still have fans left).
Divoff plays mortician Gerald Tovar, Jr., who has inherited his father's business, and Combs is his poverty stricken brother Harold, who arrives at the Tovar Mortuary looking for a handout. While there, Harold learns that Gerald has been hiding a terrible secret: bodies stored in the crematorium have been exposed to toxic waste and are returning from the dead!
I paid a pound for this film on DVD, reasoning that even if it wasn't very good, the pairing of Divoff and Combs should still provide some entertainment. Plus, I'm a sucker for 3D. Unfortunately, not even the gimmick of an extra dimension can save this film from being a waste of time and money (if, like me, you shelled out hard cash to see it). The writing is awful, as is the direction, with extended talky scenes that really drag, and an uneven tone: it can't decide whether to be scary or funny, or both, but manages to be neither. The absolute nadir is a dreadful drug scene where Cristie (Sarah Lieving), the new employee at the mortuary, shares a spliff with a corpse and hallucinates that DyeAnne (Robin Sydney), her goth co-worker, is riding the stiff in her underwear. I hope and pray that Romero never got to see this film, which actually makes me appreciate Survival of the Dead just a bit more. Just a bit.
2/10. Narrowly escapes getting the lowest possible rating from me thanks to a few practical gore effects that aren't terrible (although there are more than a few CGI visual effects that are).
Divoff plays mortician Gerald Tovar, Jr., who has inherited his father's business, and Combs is his poverty stricken brother Harold, who arrives at the Tovar Mortuary looking for a handout. While there, Harold learns that Gerald has been hiding a terrible secret: bodies stored in the crematorium have been exposed to toxic waste and are returning from the dead!
I paid a pound for this film on DVD, reasoning that even if it wasn't very good, the pairing of Divoff and Combs should still provide some entertainment. Plus, I'm a sucker for 3D. Unfortunately, not even the gimmick of an extra dimension can save this film from being a waste of time and money (if, like me, you shelled out hard cash to see it). The writing is awful, as is the direction, with extended talky scenes that really drag, and an uneven tone: it can't decide whether to be scary or funny, or both, but manages to be neither. The absolute nadir is a dreadful drug scene where Cristie (Sarah Lieving), the new employee at the mortuary, shares a spliff with a corpse and hallucinates that DyeAnne (Robin Sydney), her goth co-worker, is riding the stiff in her underwear. I hope and pray that Romero never got to see this film, which actually makes me appreciate Survival of the Dead just a bit more. Just a bit.
2/10. Narrowly escapes getting the lowest possible rating from me thanks to a few practical gore effects that aren't terrible (although there are more than a few CGI visual effects that are).