The Video Dead

The Video Dead
Directed by Robert Scott
Produced by Robert Scott
Written by Robert Scott
Starring
  • Roxanna Augesen
  • Rocky Duvall
  • Michael St. Michaels
  • Jennifer Miro
Music by
  • Leonard Marcel
  • Stuart Rabinowitsh
  • Kevin McMahon
Cinematography Greg Becker
Edited by Bob Sarles
Production
company
  • Interstate 5 Productions
  • Highlight Productions
Distributed by Manson International
Release dates
  • November 1987 (1987-11)
Running time
 90 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Video Dead is a 1987 horror comedy film written and directed by Robert Scott and starring Roxanna Augesen. A paranormal television causes zombies from a never-ending film to enter the real world. The film was released direct-to-video and has been re-released several times since then.

Plot

A writer finds that an unsolicited television has been delivered to his house. The writer discovers that the only program the television is capable of picking up is a seemingly endless, plotless, black and white zombie film titled Zombie Blood Nightmare.[1] Despite unplugging the television set, it nonetheless reactivates and spawns the film's zombies, who attack and kill the writer. The next day, the delivery men arrive to claim the set, realizing that it was meant to go to the Institute for Paranormal Research; they find only the body of the writer, bound in his front hallway and dressed in party clothes.

Three months later, teenagers Zoe and Jeff arrive at the house ahead of their parents, who are moving back to the United States after years abroad. Jeff quickly befriends dog walker April and accompanies her home, where the dog she is watching escapes into the woods behind their neighborhood. It stumbles upon the zombies that had initially escaped the set, and which have been living in the wilderness ever since. The zombies kill the dog, leave it for Jeff and Zoe to find, and follow the pair back to the neighborhood.

That afternoon, a man named Joshua Daniels comes to their front door looking for the television set, claiming that he bought it at a yard sale and mailed it to the Paranormal Institute after it killed his wife. Jeff turns him away, but later that night discovers the television set, which has mysteriously migrated to the attic. A bizarre woman briefly appears on the set, beckoning to Jeff, before a man appears and kills her, revealing her to be a zombie. The man, who calls himself "The Garbage Man", says that the only way to prevent more zombies from coming from the set is to tape a mirror to it.

The next day the zombies arrive in the neighborhood and kill April's father, his maid, and their next-door neighbors before laying siege to Zoe and Jeff's house. Jeff, Zoe, and April hole themselves up along with Joshua, who has returned in another attempt to reclaim the television set. Joshua explains the psychology of the zombies: realizing that they are in a liminal state between life and death, the zombies kill humans out of envy. They are repulsed by mirrors because it reminds them of their own hideousness, and attack when they sense fear. The zombies can be destroyed by severely wounding them, thus "convincing" them that they are dead. The zombie must then be dismembered and left unburied, to be "consumed by mother nature." Joshua warns against burying them. They can also be destroyed by trapping them in an enclosed space, which will cause the zombies to go into a psychotic state and cannibalize one another.

Despite the fortifications, a zombie breaks in and incapacitates April. Zoe and Jeff lock the zombie out of the house after it leaves with April's body. The next morning, Joshua and Jeff head into the woods to hunt down the zombies. Joshua sets traps and takes up a sniper position while using Jeff as bait. Using a bow and arrows, they shoot and incapacitate all the zombies but one, whom they pursue. Joshua is killed when an arrow is shoved through his chest and Jeff gets trapped in a shed, where he discovers April's now lifeless body. The lone remaining zombie wakes the other zombies from their delusions of death, and the zombies rise up. The lone zombie breaks into the shed and faces Jeff. Jeff decapitates the zombie with a machete, but the zombie simultaneously runs Jeff through with the chainsaw, killing him.

The remaining zombies return to the house where Zoe remains alone. Remembering that the zombies only attack when they sense fear, Zoe invites the zombies into the house, where they become docile. Zoe tricks them into entering the basement. She locks them in, but not before uncovering a mirror on the inside of the basement door. The zombies are trapped and go berserk. After they consume each other, their remains are sucked back into the television, and Zombie Blood Nightmare finally ends.

Sometime later, Zoe's parents come to visit her in hospital, where she is being treated for severe post traumatic stress disorder. They unwittingly bring her the possessed television set from the house in the hopes that a familiar item will help her recover. Her parents and the hospital orderly all leave, leaving Zoe alone in the room. The television begins to play Zombie Blood Massacre once again. Zoe looks at the screen in horror as one of the zombies within the TV looks directly at her and starts growling. The screen goes black and we hear Zoe scream.

Cast

Release

The Video Dead was released direct-to-video.[2] Embassy Home Entertainment released it on VHS in November 1987.[3] The film debuted for the first time in widescreen format on MGM HD on November 1, 2009.[4] Scream Factory (a division of Shout! Factory), released the film in a special edition DVD and Blu-ray combo-pack in a double feature with the 1986 film TerrorVision on February 19, 2013.[5]

Reception

David Maine of PopMatters wrote that it "contains a few suspenseful scenes and some over-the-top moments, and might be of interest to zombie fans or zombie completists".[6] Adam Tyner of DVD Talk called it "essential viewing for fanatics of off-kilter '80s horror".[7] Patrick Naugle of DVD Verdict wrote, "The only thing The Video Dead has going for it are above average make-up effects for a film of this ilk."[8] Bruce Kooken of HorrorNews.Net praised the non-traditional nature of the zombies and wrote, "All the zombie lovers in the world need to see The Video Dead. It is a great 80s zombie incarnation filled with little gems of humor that all fans of the genre can find entertaining."[9] Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle said, "This unsung zombie adventure is a nice surprise, offering gripping action as well as thoughtful meditations on zombies."[10]

Bloody Disgusting included the film in their list of Top Ten Most Awesome Chainsaw Scenes.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ A short review at the House of Horrors.Com
  2. ↑ "Video Dead". TV Guide. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  3. ↑ Stevens, Mary (1987-10-30). "Creepy Videos Bring Home Halloween`s Menacing Mood". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  4. ↑ Buckley, Heather (2009-11-13). "The Video Dead (Almost) on DVD". Dread Central. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  5. ↑ Barton, Steve (2012-11-20). "Official Blu-ray Specs for Prison, TerrorVision, and The Video Dead". Dread Central. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  6. ↑ Maine, David (2013-02-25). "The Campy and the Horrible: 'TerrorVision' and 'The Video Dead'". PopMatters. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  7. ↑ Tyner, Adam (2013-02-10). "TerrorVision / The Video Dead (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  8. ↑ Naugle, Patrick (2013-03-03). "TerrorVision / The Video Dead (Blu-ray)". DVD Verdict. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  9. ↑ Kooken, Bruce (2012-06-11). "Film Review: The Video Dead (1987)". HorrorNews.Net. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  10. ↑ Dendle, Peter (2001). The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-0-7864-9288-6.
  11. ↑ "Top 10 Most Awesome Chainsaw Scenes in Horror History!!". Bloody Disgusting. 2010-02-14. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
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