gwnightscream
This 1987 horror comedy features zombies that are magically transported from a mysterious TV that's a gateway. What can I say? This has a somewhat interesting premise, but doesn't quite deliver. The acting is poor, especially from the teenage boy, the make-up effects aren't that impressive and there's dumb humor most of the time. The film obviously references "Night of the Living Dead," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Demons 2." You could give this 80's cheesefest a try maybe once
if you're into zombie flicks.
simonconnolly72-467-863881
The Video Dead was a nice little idea and genuinely creepy and amusing for the first half hour or so. It pre-dates The Ring which it has a particular similarity to, and gives us a slightly different angle within the zombie genre. Unfortunately it wears thin fairly quick. Amateur camera-work can be forgiven but unfortunately not the terrible script and acting which let it down, along with the stories descent into a nonsensical plot. With a bit more care and imagination to make a coherent story and make the characters talk as real people, not the contrived dialogue it otherwise offers, it could have been a whole lot better. But still.....they went out and made it so fair play.
timmyross
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.
Paul Magne Haakonsen
Well for a 1987's zombie movie, then "The Video Dead" wasn't all that bad, but... It wasn't overly interesting either.The effects were actually pretty good considering the age of the movie, and the zombies do look nice, I will give them that much. Of course, compared to the stuff in todays movie, then sure it is out of date, but still it was good to see.Story-wise, then "The Video Dead" failed to deliver a properly entertaining one. The storyline was fairly weak and uneventful, bordering on being overly predictable. Truth be told, then I was dozing off every now and then throughout the movie. The story in "The Video Dead" is about two teenagers who are looking after a newly bought house, waiting for their parents to return from abroad. And a mysterious old TV on the attic have unleashed a vile evil upon the world in the shape of shambling zombies that have broken through from the movie world into the real world.The acting in the movie was fairly adequate, nothing spectacular or captivating though.All in all, then "The Video Dead" is a slightly below average experience in the zombie genre. It may be worth a watch if you enjoy old zombie movies and have nothing better to watch. But if you are on the look-out for something unique and impressive, then you are better off with something else.
