Recent Reviews
DVD Review: The Revolting Dead
By Dave Dreher
Nov 13, 2005, 19:36

Straight to video has become the go to platform for zombie films and the latest choice is an interesting little title called The Revolting Dead.

My interest was originally drawn to this title when I found out that long time Fangoria contributor and director of the recent film BOO Anthony Ferrante was the man behind the make up FX for the film.  I have followed Ferrante’s career for a while and upon recognizing the name was instantly interested in seeing what this one was all about. 

The film take us into the world of the Crains, a family that runs a mortuary and cuts a few corners by digging up those they have buried and reusing the caskets oh and they also rob the graves while they are at it.  Awakened by a druid curse the dead rise from their grave to exact revenge on those that disturbed their graves. 

This film definitely has its share of problems the least of which is some pretty bad acting by a few of the featured cast but the film as a whole is actually kind of fun to watch.  This one has a Sci-Fi films feel to it.  If you have ever sat through one of those Sci-Fi channel film premieres, you know what I am talking about.

This project is what it is, a direct to video zombie shocker that relies heavily on boobs and blood to propel the rather weak story along.  I’m not saying this is a bad thing.  There is a good way and a bad way to make this kind of film and director Michael Su has a lot of fun with this film.  I like the soap opera music score and the film looks great.  Ferrante’s make up FX are few and far between but when they are on screen they are good.  For a zombie film I really expected a lot more zombies.  We actually spend a lot of time hanging around with the whacked out Crain family, a little too much time in my opinion.  I think of one particular scene late in the film when dad and son are digging up a recently buried body that is almost painful to sit through and just when it looks like sitting through all that mind numbing talking might pay off in some zombie grue we instead cut into another scene of the family members sitting around talking.

The ending is pretty fast paced and bloody.  It seems that they saved up all the action and blood for the last 15 minutes of the film, but it is a fun 15 minutes.

The film is not a complete waste; it looks great and has a few moments that are interesting enough to make a viewing worth your time.  

The Revolting Dead is available now at your local Blockbuster.  For all the information on the title you can check out the films official site by clicking here