Raiders of the Living Dead (1986) User Reviews

They are evil. They are dead... ...I'll say!

[Contrarian · 2/10 · 21 October 2001]

As an avid Zombie movie fan, I bought this with hi-hopes of fun, gore and shambling ghouls. I got a shambling movie, no gore, and no fun (with the exception of the kid-hero frying his hamster with a laser gun (made from a cunningly converted laser disc player). That alone saved the movie from a score of 1. On the whole it looks like school kids on a budget of their accumulated paper-round savings put the movie together.

Even as a self confessed zombie fan I could only watch it once. In need of a second opinion I handed it on to another zombie fan. He watched it once too; then threw it in the bin for me.

Dire Excrement

[WOZ inOZ · 2/10 · 21 May 1999]

I've seen some God awful films in my time but this must rate as one of the most dull, then again, there was 'Zombie Aftermath.'

The story as Zombie films go is not particularly offensive, we've got the typical out of town reporter investigating some strange goings on in a run down chemical plant that's become a bit of an urban myth around town. But you know you're in trouble when any 'horror' film begins with an overlong montage sequence of stills from the video cover accompanied by a cheezy eighties soft-rock theme tune. Things only deteriorate from then on. The opening sequence is immensely shaky, with lumbering actors (no, these are not the ones playing the zombies,) crusty library music, jerky camerawork, little dialogue, (though when you actually hear the 'actors,' and I use the term loosely here, it's understandable,) and along with ploddy editing, the whole thing appears clearly worse than it already is. The Direction is so poor in fact, it had me reaching for the box to read the blurb on the back to possibly find out what the hell was going on.

Soon we're 'treated' to a Swat team shoot out (I wonder where they got that idea from?) but it appears no one told any of the cast, because they look like they're rehearsing for a school play. And it's understandable going by the crappy props they're given to 'shoot' with. It's hard not to be critical when a film reeks as bad as this one. Just when things don't look like they can get any worse the story line introduces some irritating school kids who start building Laser guns (ooh how fifties,) from their broken CD players, to help in the fight against the undead. Oh and the laser effects are truly amazing, the FX crew ought to be knighted, and perhaps given crayons instead of the felt pins they obviously used for the film, just in case they injure themselves, or horror upon horror, work on another film! Obviously the creators of this thought they'd make a quick buck from a genre that doesn't necessarily need a lot of capital to produce. But here the cutting of corners and cheapness of the whole production is painfully evident.

Those hoping for a cheap but entertaining zombie outing ought to look elsewhere because 'Raiders...' provides about as much entertainment as watching paint dry. Try instead Jorge Grau's highly recommended 'Don't Open the Window' (known as 'The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue' in the U.K.) or J.W. Bookwalter's rewarding cheapo 'The Dead Next Door.'

Buyers or renters beware, IVS U.K. have put together a half decent cover with clever packaging (unlike the one pictured above) that seems very reminiscent of early 'Evil Dead' and 'Return of the Living Dead' releases that will perhaps lure a few curious but misguided horror fans, but take it from me this was one film I (and many others no doubt,) could have done without seeing.

Crap title, crap film.

[BA_Harrison · 2/10 · 14 March 2014]

Investigative reporter Morgan Randall (Robert Deveau) discovers that crazy Dr. Kapek (Leonard Corman) is bringing the dead back to life; when his friend Shelly (Donna Asali) is abducted by Kapek's reanimated corpses, Morgan launches a rescue attempt with the help of elderly physician Dr. Carstairs (Robert Allen), a useless armed guard, and an irritating kid (porn-star-to-be Scott Schwartz) who has constructed a pair of ray-guns from an old laser-disc player.

I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to Z-grade movies, having seen more than my fair share of absolute stinkers over the years, but I still had to watch Raiders of the Living Dead over the course of several evenings thanks to its incredible ability to rapidly send me off to sleep. Atrocious acting, boring direction, disjointed editing, an over-reliance on The 3 Stooges, and particularly dreadful laser effects all go to make this a truly painful viewing experience that is only spared the absolute lowest rating from me thanks to one shotgun blast to a zombie head (it's not great but it's definitely the highlight of this tosh) and the film's hilariously bad '80s theme song.

"The dee-ee-ead, are after me!"

[Jonny_Numb · 5/10 · 26 January 2006]

"Raiders of the Living Dead" is a low-budget zombie rip-off that is inexplicably and consistently interesting; if nothing else, it has imagination and innovation on its side. A reporter and his partner scope out an ominous locale in the dead of night and stumble upon zombies. A child genius works on his doctor grandfather's laserdisc player and winds up creating a laser. And a zombified Scott Schwartz (the kid from "A Christmas Story"?) hijacks a truck for no reason and tries to blow up a nuclear power plant, only to be claimed by the zombie menace. While slow in spots, and sporting more of a 1980s look than a Sears catalog, "Raiders" exists in some weird limbo between "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Burial Ground," "Return of the Living Dead II," and even "Zeder" (the climax takes place in an abandoned prison). Is it a masterpiece of cinema? Certainly not, and perhaps my generous "5" rating is due to the fact that I watched the atrocious "Reefer Madness" earlier today. Still, it is a diverting item with OK makeup effects, a cheeky attitude, and a toe-tapping, synth-heavy theme song.

Raiders of the Living Dead: As bad as they say

[Platypuschow · 1/10 · 30 October 2017]

Raiders Of The Living Dead is rather infamous and widely considered to be one of the worst zombie movies ever made. I can confidently say, I agree.

It's right there with The Zombinator (2012) and Hsien Of The Dead (2012) It wants so badly to be a Return Of The Living Dead movie but fails every stage of the way.

The plot is bare bones and is pretty terrible, the movie is full of incredible amounts of filler scenes, the soundtrack is laughable and there are barely even any zombies anyway.

Raiders Of The Living Dead would certainly fall into my bottom 100 movies ever made, it has not one single redeeming feature and was a chore to endure.

The Good:

Nope

The Bad:

CGI is awful

Loads of blatant filler scenes

Questionable soundtrack

Too few zombies for a zombie movie

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The 3 Stooges scene was more entertaining than anything the movie creators did

Scooby Doo And The Living Dead

[Iok · 1/10 · 25 April 2005]

If you're looking for one of those "so bad it's good" movies, then ROTLD is the movie you want. Featuring characters with no background or motivation beyond "reporter," "Grandpa" and "child genius," scenes of complete silence and - best of all - a villain "reveal" that makes Scooby Doo's "I would have got away with it, too, if it wasn't for you pesky kids," look complex this film is, quite frankly, an absolute stinker.

Worth watching if you've a few likeminded friends and a crate of beer handy, but other than that, this film is without merit. Zombie or horror fans expecting a "proper" horror movie should avoid at all costs.

Not ready for prime time

[lor_ · 3 May 2023]

My review was written in November 1989 after watching the movie on USA Network.

"Raiders of the Living Dead" is a very minor zombie picture, reviewed here for the record after being cablecast on USA Network's "Up All Night" series.

Picture was begun in 1983 by Brett Piper (credited for "inceptive effects and direction") under the title "Graveyard" and completed two years later by Independent-International topper Samuel M. Sherman.

Hodgepodge relies heavily on library music and weakly inserted verbal exposition to spin a tale of newspaper reporter Robert Deveau, who's stumbled on the mystery of zombies. Befriended by Donna Asali, he tracks the undead down to an island prison, abandoned for 40 years, where a mad scientist is still up to no good in reanimating corpses. Two kids, Scott Schwartz and Corri Burt, come to their rescue with laser guns Schwartz designed- as well as grandpa Bob Allen, sporting a trusty bow and arrow.

Timekiller doesn't make much sense but has a couple of spooky scenes in a cemetery and the prison. Zita Johann, who co-starred with Karloff in Universal's 1932 classic "The Mummy", pops up as a librarian telling Deveau about the prison's history.

high hopes

[john-killalea-1 · 5/10 · 12 July 2006]

Well what can i say?? an hour and a half...gone...out of my life!We got this "classic" off the internet with the high hopes of rolling around the floor in hysterics at, what i remembered from when i was a kid, the worst acting and story line ever. well i laughed....and almost cried too. basically the story starts with a car chase (riviting viewing i do declare) where a "terrorist" has taken hostages and will kill them if certain prisoners are not released. once the very well trained SWAT team takes charge of this misadventure from our terrorist friend, he escapes only to engage in a game of cat and mouse with the unarmed SWAT member. he gets electrocuted, oh dear! all this takes about 20 minutes or so and our lead bad guy/hostages/cops/civilians and SWAT teams have not exchanged dialog yet!!its been a 20 minute journey into the mime era and, holy Jesus, were they crap mimes!!

Anyway, this is where our story links in with the living dead. the dead "terrorist" is in a morgue, only o be injected with something from a man whose face we do not see. and then he comes back to life.pretty straight forward, yes?? yes. not quite, you haven't reached the end yet! our fine heroes (a photographer and a reporter, i think) decide to go to an abandoned something or other and write a story (neither of which know why they are there by the way) only to come face to face with the most gruesome zombies i have ever seen. they get away and all is well except you never see the female reporter again! (she is not part of the story so don't worry). now to the finest young actor you can be sure Dekota Fanning took lessons from. he decides to try and turn a laser disk player into a LASER! yes, i said it, a LASER! and , hey presto, he does so and kills his hamster. all he had to do to achieve this was fiddle with fuses and explain some nonsense about intertwining the target which is the blah blah blah. so, back to our hero, he is walking along the road and almost gets run over but he was rescued by one of the many trusting, accommodating towns people he meets on his epic voyage. This ex-police officer takes him in, trusts him beyond a doubt and becomes involved with him (all in the space of about 8 hours). So he gets into trouble again with zombies, i think, and the kids grandfather takes our hero to stay with him. he tells all to the gullible towns doctor who is also the grandfather of the kid and the finest archer in the land. and now the spoilers.....they find out the doctor who, in a wild twit of events turns out to be the coroner for the prison back in the fifties which i definitely didn't see coming (considering there was no reference to him at all!!!). With the kids new found death ray they kill the living dead, the grandfather, whose choice of weapon was a bow and arrow, takes the doctor under civil arrest and they all live happily ever after. the end?? this film is the perfect choice for people who want to laugh at true stupidity and it certainly provides that but the fact that shoots, which would only be 2 seconds in any other film, takes at least a minute each time.i cant explain it too well but you will know what i mean when you see this gem. i am telling you now, try and find this film and have a laugh but be patient with the story lines, directing and production. its not quite Bad Boys 2 or even the play schools version of The Miracle Worker but its definitely one which should become a cult classic! i'm going to give it a whooping 5/10 for the laughter i experienced!!

only way it could've been worse is if Uwe Boll directed it

[movieman_kev · 2/10 · 6 June 2005]

A deranged doctor is resurrecting dead convicts as zombie, a insipid newspaper reporter investigate, and it's up to a kid with a weapon he made from a VCR to stop them. If that sounds ridiculously stupid, that isn't the half of it, my friend. The child actors are beyond horrible and the adult ones arn't any better, the plot is awful, the action pretty much non-existent, and just bad in every sense of the word. But sadly I've seen worse movies. I know, I know, even I don't envy me. I kinda dug the cheesy '80's them song.

Eye Candy: None in the main film, but the "Dying Day" version has nudity

My Grade: D-

DVD Extras: Disc 1) Sam Sherman Commentary on the final "Raiders of the Living Dead"; and the 80-minute "Dying Day" (with missing audio and poor quality throughout); that Sherman's company bought from Brett Piper Disc 2) the second version "Dark Night" (with missing audio and poor quality throughout); Stills gallery; "House of Terror" Promo; Theatrical Trailer; Trailers for "Mad Doctor of Blood Island", "Brides of Blood", "Beast of Blood", "Brain of Blood", "Blood of the Vampires", "The Blood Drinkers", and "Horror of the Blood Monsters"

Total Low Budget Cheese-Wiz :=8P

[MooCowMo · 1/10 · 8 May 1999]

This cowflop is easily the worst, moost pathetic attempt of a film that I have ever seen - and MooCow has seen 'em all. The lowest of low-grade production ranks with Manos, the Hands of Fate, and Crater Lake Monster. For example, there is almost no dialogue during any "action" sequences; this is because they obviously could not afford to use mobile microphones, and what little dialogue there is when people are moving is dubbed in. The fx are laughable and idiotic; one SWAT team member (there are only two) is equiped with a plastic gun and an apron. Some of the cheesiest incidental moosic you'll ever hear is a constant, annoying presence. The acting is almost incidental, and probably could not be produced from this group even at gun point. The "zombies" are cheap and boring, and nothing interesting happens at all. This turkey grinds on and on and on and on. It's moovies like this that make Edward D. Wood Jr. look like the cinema genius he thought he was. I think a kindergarden production would have moore professional production, acting, and directing. MooCow says if you spend moolah on this turd I have a few acres of swampland in Moo Jersey to sell you... :=8P

The worst movie I have ever seen

[hig912 · 1/10 · 21 January 2005]

I am a movie lover, and I really like horror films. This movie however, is the worst movie I have ever seen. The acting, plot, script, and director are terrible. The movie is so slowly paced that you could not pay me to watch it again. The opening seen alone takes practically 10 minutes to state it's purpose(it doesn't make much sense any way, so technically it doesn't even do that). The effects are virtually non existent, the dialogue is wretched, and anybody who is not brain-dead would be able to make a better film than this one.

Somebody told me it was going to be on TV for Halloween. It was reported that it was " the worst movie ever". I was excited to watch it, thinking that it would be bad in the way that classics like The Toxic Avenger or the myriad of slasher films from the 80s were. I was dead wrong! The only reason I watched the whole movie was because I didn't believe how incredibly terrible it was. There is a scene leading up to the "climax"(ugh!)that shows a man walking from one end of a wall or something to the other on-screen for practically 10 minutes in the dark.

Don't even waste your time with this movie and if you do,I guarantee you will never forget it. How this movie was ever produced is the 8th wonder of the world.

Better than it should be

[slayrrr666 · 8/10 · 26 January 2009]

"Raiders of the Living Dead" is a fun, if cheesy zombie film.

**SPOILERS**

Using his instincts, reporter Morgan Randall, (Robert Deveau) figures out a story lead near an old farmhouse, only to narrowly escape a zombie attack instead. Receiving help from Shelly Goodwin, (Donna Asali) and she helps him get back to town. After managing to develop a social life, he lets her in on his story, but is soon ravaged by a series of zombie attacks that leads him into the hands of Dr. Corstairs, (Robert Allen) and discovers the connection between the attacks and a closed down prison island that was closed down years earlier due to inhumane treatment on the prisoners. Realizing that she's been taken captive and is guarded there by a horde of zombies created by a mysterious Man in Black, (Bob Sacchetti) he races to the island to break her out and stop the zombies before the evil plans can be enacted.

The Good News: There was some good stuff to this one from time to time. The fact that the zombie attacks are pretty enjoyable is a good thing, as it means that their scenes come off well. This one is no exception, as the attack in the motel room and the first scene in the farmyard are quite exciting, with the farm being slightly better. From the sneaking around the locale securing some mild tension to the confrontation with the zombie, complete with an exciting chase and a couple action-movie passages thrown in, manages to ingest some momentum into the proceedings as well as a second zombie to make for even more thrills. There's also a fiery climax where the zombie burns to flames in an impressive visual to really make it end nicely. The attack in the house is brief, but it's still fun for it's among the first time gore is introduced into the film. Other action scenes, such as the rather fun opening car chase that turns into a stand-off in a nuclear plant straight out of other action movies. It's quite fun and really exciting as they both lead into each other. The film also manages to sport some really nice suspense scenes here and there, from a few already mentioned to the zombie resurrection in the graveyard to the first scenes out on the island. There's two really nice ones, where one sneaks around the facility while the other concerns a brutal zombie attack on the unsuspecting victim. The zombies themselves don't look terrible, with the desiccated, falling-skin variety that looks really nice, and they look really good at times. The last plus is the fun gore, as there's some nice gags in here. One has their head blown apart by a shotgun blast, another is set on fire, there's a variety of bites, an exploding arm, laser burns, an impaling through the chest on a wooden plank and more, leaving it feeling really bloody at times. Add in the fact that it's just so cheesy it becomes a bunch of fun over time, this one isn't that bad.

The Bad News: There's a couple flaws with this one to hold it down. One of the main ones is the incredibly jumbled early sections of the film. This completely all over the place, and it's like trying to sit through three short films badly edited together. The first fifteen minutes of the SWAT-plot just really show the changes it's going to have, as the SWAT team deals with him, and then this is just abandoned in favor of a move to the plot with the kid fixing his granddad's laserdisc player, turning it into a laser beam, then this too is abandoned and we go on to the newspaper reporter plot for a bit. Then back to the kid again. There is a good thirty minutes before we even get a hint of a zombie film, and then the zombies make cameo roles every now and then. The film is almost over by the time we see the zombies start to attack people and then we find out what is going on. But this is around the hour mark when everything falls into place as best as it can, but for the first hour it's just a series of images with absolutely no meaning or value at all. It goes on like this for the majority of the time, leaving for a very disjointed feeling and hard to get into. The entire angle with the children and the laser beam was just irritating and didn't need to be there, and quite easily could've been skipped out without too much harm at all. Eliminating these would also rid the film of some of it's lamest special effects, the laser guns that look positively atrocious and should've been skipped out. The last flaw is the cheapness surrounding the movie. It really doesn't seem very high-budget at all, and quite simply looks like a homemade movie at times, with all the cheap-looking special effects in here. These are the film's flaws.

The Final Verdict: A real definition of a guilty pleasure, this is definitely one that already has a built-in audience for it on sheer principle. This one is really only for those who have to see every badly-made movie ever, or those who can make fun of a movie as it goes on, while those who have standards should ignore altogether.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language

Samuel Sherman masterpiece

[lorddrewsus · 7/10 · 2 April 2020]

The first 15 minutes are worth the movie run time. Kick ass montage of unrelated zombies. Theme song written for the movie, dated. Awesome. A seemingly unrelated gasoline transport tanker highjacking. Complete with magic cop call from nowhere, and a literal high speed chase down what seems to be an old logging road. Ended by a well placed dump truck in reverse. Just in time. Followed by gratuitous cop modeling scene radio call, about a power plant containing hostages that look both hungry and bored. Maybe in need of a bathroom break. Then the guy with the bomb in the plant gets tased by something, pulls them out, then struggles with the cop until escaping while running through a basement doing an oddly pleasing tribute to "footloose". There is no way those laser disc turned laser pistols the kid make wouldn't kill the zombies.

This movie took an hour and a half of my life. And i want it back

[KrankorVsPrinceOfSpace · 1/10 · 19 December 2004]

Wow... The only thing i could recommend from this "movie" is the absolutely hilarious open titles theme track. It is without doubt the most inane, lazy and downright stupid song i think i have EVER heard in a film. If cheesy, half arsed 80's rock, with lyrics from a ten year old is your bag baby, then try and track it down. Please let me have a copy too!

Other than that, uh....stuff happens, some boy makes a laser gun from his grandpa's Laserdisc player to rule his neighborhood and i guess, murder bullies with. Some intrepid reporter ( WOAH! reporters? zombies? in the same film? Revolutionary! ) seeks out some other boring stuff about some guy trying to do some stuff to take over the world with some zombies, or something ...uh OH I'M ALREADY BORED!. And if you forgive these kinda movies their awful plot, dialogue and acting because you only "watch it for the gore anyway" YOU WILL BE SORELY Disappointed. i think there are about..............3 zombies, who kill one guy who was stupid enough to deserve it. No gore in that scene. They then get shot by the geek with the laser. No gore. One gets its head blown off by the reporter. about 2 seconds of bad gore. and thats about it really. People run around for a bit, say stuff to other people you really don't't care about, and it ends. I'm surprised that i gave it the time i have, but hell it's 12.30 a.m. and i have nothing better to do. Don't think this will fit into the same style zombie category as movies like Zombi 2. Zombi Holocaust, Creeping Flesh ( ad infinitum ). It isn't really a living dead movie. It's really a waste of everyone's time. Except the title track. THAT'S FAB!!!

Maby Im The One That Likes It?

[zombi4life · 15 December 2003]

Well for starters it is a bad movie but it is fun.The score was great in the movie.Also the song that plays before the movie starts was so 80s and it was cool THE DEAD ARE AFTER ME YEA!Its a cheesy song alright I think also it was campy to, the Bad acting cool looking zombies. The zombies look like the dawn/day of the dead look going on there.There are a few fulci looking ones to you see them early in the film they are from another movie a better zombie movie Brett Piperer's DYING DAY!Well I say check it out if your in the mood for a campier not that bloody of a zombie film do see The DVD is great movie 6/10 DVD 8/10 thanks!

Pointless piece of crap

[jari-p-puranen · 1/10 · 28 June 2005]

I am a fan of bad movies and regularly buy more movie waste, but this was just too much even for a freak. I'm not even sure if this was worse or better than Manos but in my opinion these two should be the bottom two! First 15 minutes is just random stuff happening. There is a truck and then there is a nuclear power plant. And some guys. There is also a car chase. Here is where you take the DVD-cover and look at it again and check the name of the movie. "Raiders of the Living Dead", OK. Then you want to check if the disc you put in your player is the correct one. And these scenes actually were the best this movie has to offer. Basically the rest is just a big plot hole. If you aren't on a mission to watch through all of top 100 Worst of IMDb, do not waste your time with this.

ohhhhhh my!!!!!!!

[erickerin · 1/10 · 1 March 2006]

This is truly a movie for the die-hard B-movie fan. The camera work, dialogue, and everything else looks like it was done from the goodwill store prop and makeup department. Oh my what were they thinking here? There are people who look like they have on old Halloween paint on their faces. An old man who thinks he's playing cowboys and indians and two kids who invent a death ray from an old laser disk player…wonder if he put the plans on the internet…I have use for such a gadget. This review is as disjointed as the movie…but its sooooooo bad!!! I have seen better things and I have seen some worse things and this will have to be up there in the worse category. I don't know how to say it anymore than that!!! If you're just Looking to waste some time or want a movie that just runs in the background of a Halloween party for noise, this is the movie for you!!! radiofreetech.com!!!

Not worthy to have the words "living dead" in title!

[Hopkins-3 · 1/10 · 9 March 1999]

A useless film, hardly any gore, no suspense, very bad acting, especially from the children and the plot is just so lame I can´t believe it. This film had no redeeming qualities whatsoever and no horror-fans can like this boring stinker. A given "1" and a film I shall never forget for its worthlessness. In fact the only worse movies I have seen are "Sister Act 2" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2".

Amateur zombie dud

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 22 October 2016]

Oh, I thought, that's an interesting title. It's guaranteed to be some cheesy rip-off of the Romero films. When I received the film, though, was I in for a letdown. I think this film was shot on a video camera, it was so wretched. A guy investigates murders at a local factory and finds out that it is due to zombies or something. I didn't know. The clip they showed from THE THREE STOOGES was better than the entire film in this case. Endless shots of a guy walking around or driving his car do not a movie make.

It was so hard to sit through, I nearly had to stop it, but I battled it through to the ending, where the film nearly redeems itself by having a fight between humans and zombies at an abandoned factory. Even this falls flat by having atrocious camera-work. The one good thing in the film is the incredibly bad special effects of a laser gun a young boy has (which, incidentally, fries his hamster - something I wasn't too happy about). I think they drew on the film. This no-budget dud is one of the most wretched films you'll ever see.

NO ! Dont subject yourself to this ! only watch this if you want to get a cheating Girlfriend/Boyfriend back, this is the ideal tourture !! Trust me!

[sexy_sexystud · 1/10 · 1 August 2002]

This film without doubt is the worst film I have ever seen in my life, this is even after I have seen titanic !! The plot is absolutely non-existent e.g.. one minute our "HERO" lol is out side a barn and being chased by a zombie (which by the way are a poor excuse for a zombie) the next he wakes up after being knocked unconscious (from what I don't know and I don't think the actor does either, he probably realized how bad the film was) and runs back to where his assistant and the car, and surprise surprise the car didn't start !!!!!! OH DEAR what a classic cliche.. and moments later she get caught and eaten ?? The next time we see our "hero" he is by a road and he gets picked up by a woman and taken back the her place with no mention what so ever of his assistant. And did I mention the kid with the laser gun, first he discovers his laser gun making abilities when he is trying to fix his granddads CD player and when he switches it on to test it a laser bolt shoots out and fries the hamster?? :-s god knows what this is doing in it, u should see the laser bolts :-s All in all a VERY VERY POOR FILM. Not even second, third, forth, fifth any number that springs to mind near

Night of the Living Dead (1968)George A. Romero Dawn of the Dead(1978) George A. Romero Day of the Dead (1985) George A. Romero

A bad way to waste 86 minutes

[I_Ailurophile · 2/10 · 23 October 2021]

"I killed Felix with a laser beam from my granddad's video player!"

The theme song that plays over the opening credits is catchy, yet cheesy and hardly encouraging for the movie we've sat to watch. (The fact that this song and its chords turn out to reflect the majority of the soundtrack is not a point in anyone's favor.) The opening sequence, taking us to the 14-minute mark of the runtime, is wholly unnecessary. The film then exasperatingly dates itself with a grandfather's jocular dismissal of his grandson's "rock music," introduction into the story of a LaserDisc player - which as we will learn is a somewhat crucial plot device - and a plucky teen's ingenuity which we'll soon learn marks him as a hero of the picture.

Scene writing, and the connective threads weaving together story beats and plot development, are at best extremely sketchy and tenuous - specious, weak, and flimsy. The narrative as a whole is plainly dubious, and the pace is agonizingly sluggish; what few promising ideas there are in the story aren't enough to save this. Samuel M. Sherman's direction is as questionable the screenplay he co-wrote with Brett Piper. I don't want to make any assumptions about the assembled cast - it could very well be that they've simply been forced into performances that are beneath them - but suffice to say that the acting here is frankly a chore to sit through. And the movie may actually have been improved by dispensing with sound altogether, if for no other reason than that the dialogue is atrocious. This is essentially true from start to finish, but most painful of all in an entirely superfluous scene of gun fondlers waxing poetic over their mutual anti-life fetish and shared alarmist beliefs and conspiracy theories. Blech.

Special effects are perhaps best described as hideous, especially those depicting young teen Jonathan's "death ray." The makeup for the "living dead" is decent, at least, but that is hardly sufficient reason by itself to watch a movie. With that said, the only reason I stumbled onto 'Raiders of the living dead' in the first place, and to my great regret decided to watch, is that I discovered this to be the last film role of Zita Johann, best known for her role in the 1932 Universal classic 'The mummy.' I suppose that's also a reason to watch this, but her inclusion is more lamentable than gratifying: Johann appears in a single scene that accounts for only 3 minutes of the runtime, just shy of the 1-hour mark. I don't know how she got roped into this, but I feel bad for her.

In all fairness, this is clearly a very low-budget production, made by folks who just wanted to tell a story and have a good time, in an era when independent film-making was truly limited by the power of the studio system. I can appreciate that. Yet all the obstacles in the world can't absolve poor writing, direction, and sequencing, and 'Raiders of the living dead' overwhelmingly bears more flaws than it does value. Finding out that this movie exists was unfortunate happenstance; finding a place to watch it was bad luck; the actual viewing experience was all but torturous.

Even if you're a diehard fan of zombie flicks, or an especial admirer of Zita Johann, there's no reason to watch this. I pointedly recommend against giving it a try. 'Raiders of the living dead' is tiresome, unconvincing mediocrity through and through, and just isn't worth your time.

Zombies+Laser Gun+Cheesy 80's Original Song= Good Movie?

[JB1865 · 2/10 · 21 August 2009]

I have seen a lot of movies, I have even seen a lot of sci-fi original movies and this BY FAR is the absolute worst piece of trash I have had the displeasure of wasting and hour and a half of precious time on.

This is one of those movies that as you are watching you are just thinking to yourself "could this be real, did someone actually think this was a good or even okay movie?" It started out fun and I could laugh at every ridiculous nuance of this sorry movie but around the hour mark I was completely lost and completely miserable.

The actors appear to be people related to the director or just someone he grabbed off the street, large portions of the plot go unexplained and the movie jumps from half baked idea to the next, some scenes are so dark you can't hardly even tell what is going on, and every scene is filled with gaping grand canyon sized plot holes. I just watched it a few hours ago and it would be hard for to explain to someone what exactly it was about.

The nonsensical knockoff title doesn't help either, I can just see the directors now "let's take the titles of two good movies and combine them." Raiders of the Lost Ark + Night of the Living Dead= Raiders of the Living Dead. Brilliant, forget the fact that No One actually raids the living dead in this movie.

I am not exaggerated one bit. This is undoubtedly the worst movie I have ever seen and the only reason I would ever even try and watch it again would be to prove to someone I wasn't lying about how bad it really is.

Dying day had a baby and it became Raiders of the Living Dead

[zombidad · 8/10 · 26 November 2023]

Super cheesy movie with a ridiculous plot a kid makes a laser gun out of a laser disc player. A mysterious guy is evading zombies from some dude who's creating them. I remember watching this on USA long time ago and I've had the elite entertainment DVD for many years now looking forward to the Blu-ray that's coming out thanks to Severin films. What's cool about this movie it's actually another movie called dying day by a guy named Brett Piper and apparently Sam Sherman who directed us and owns independent International pictures wanted to make a family-friendly zombie movie and it delivers because it's ridiculous I give it a solid 8 because it's so laughable remember it's not a serious zombie movie If you're looking for the Day of the Dead George A Romero you won't find that here.

DVD set is fascinating to see the film's changes

[udar55 · 1/10 · 10 January 2010]

Oh sweet merciful Video Gods, why have you done this to me?

Okay, so here is the deal - Independent International head Sam Sherman buys Brett Piper's cheap-o zombie flick DYING DAY and decides to shoot new footage for it (featuring Scotty Schwartz!) to create RAIDERS OF THE LIVING DEAD, a film so convoluted that cut-n-run producer Godfrey Ho probably saw it and said, "What the hell is going on here?" Naturally, two story lines are working here. Storyline #1 - reporter Morgan Randall (Robert Deveau) is working on a story about experiments involving the living dead. Storyline #2 - young Jonathan (Scott Schwartz) builds a ray gun out of his grandpa's (30s western star Bob Allen) laserdisc player (!?!). The two scenarios crash together when grandpa picks Randall up off the street and he tells him his wild story and they all decide to attack the zombies. Confused? I hope so.

If you think trying to mix two films together is this film's biggest problem, you got another thing coming. Wait until you see the laser effects, which consist of scratching the actual interpositive according to Sherman on the commentary. It is not because they are incompetent he pleads, it is just that they had no time. All of this pales in comparison to the logic on display from Piper's section where Randall is attacked by zombies but survives. He is saved on the roadside by a female cop the next day and what does he do? Does he tell her what happened? Hell no! He goes into town, buys a sawed off shotgun, rents a room and then asks his female companion to accompany him to a screening of some THREE STOOGES movies. Do whhhhhhhhat?

Image Entertainment felt the need to release this in a 2-disc super special edition that contains 3 versions of the film. You bastards! One extra is DYING DAY, the original version of the film. This has Morgan Randall (Deveau again) on the run cross country from zombies for the past two years trying to escape a family curse. He ends up in New Hampshire and, after being hit by a car, ends up shacking up with a nurse before heading into town to buy a shotgun and hit the flicks for some THREE STOOGES (not seen this time). The nurse has feelings for Randall though and urges him to get to the root of this family curse since he is the last of the line. Turns out Randall's Great Great Grandfather had some sugar cane fields in Cuba. When ol' Grandpa got frisky with a slave's wife and she spurned his advances, he had her whipped to death and her husband when to Haiti and got this curse placed upon his boss. Damn you Great Great Granddad!

It is really fascinating to watch DYING DAY right after RAIDERS and almost made the experience of sitting though that one worth it. Almost. Brett Piper's initial film is decent enough and has a slight Lovecraft "Lurking Fear" vibe to it with the cursed family and all. It is kind of confusing as to why Sam Sherman went out of his way to re-shoot and eventually re-shape nearly the entire picture. This clocks in at 80 minutes and I'm sure he could have just shot some filler of zombies killing someone to crank it up to 90 minutes. Instead, Sherman junked most of the footage and I would say roughly 25 minutes of this appear in RAIDERS OF THE LIVING DEAD. It is a much more serious film and, while it wasn't a classic by any means, it could have been decent. Plus, it features more gore and nudity, which RAIDERS sorely lacked.

A Fairly Decent Film

[butturff · 5 February 1999]

An eerie film, not really too much in the way of horror. It is suspenseful. There is not much gore at all, actually I can only think of one person being devoured. It had some interesting plot points. If you are an avid collector of Zombie movies you will like this flick.