DEAD ALIVE (aka BRAIN DEAD)
PLOT-A scrawny mama's boy is forced to battle the living dead as everyone around him falls victim to a rabies-like disease that quickly turns the infected into monsters.
WHY IT'S A CLASSIC-This movie almost defies description as the viewer is taken on a cartoon-like rollercoaster ride, filled with one disgusting gag after another. It makes an impression on everyone who sees it, and is highly revered among horror fans as one of the goriest films ever made. I'd have to agree: pound for pound, it has more intestines, brains, blood, eyeballs, severed heads, and exploding zombies than anything I've seen. Luckily, its tone is highly comic and thus makes the violent content easier to stomach. New Zealand director Peter Jackson had previously entered gross-out territory with BAD TASTE and MEET THE FEEBLES, but a higher budget and better production value allowed him to pull out all the stops for this one. I still have yet to see another film in which a digestive system goes on a murderous rampage.
MEMORABLE SCENES-Lionel, the main character, attempts to keep the zombie plague under wraps by containing them in the basement of his house. At one point, he gets them all together at the table and tries to feed them dinner. When one cannot eat due to a severed neck, Lionel pulls back the head and dollops the food right into the esophagus.