ALIEN
DEAD (1979)
Directed by Fred Olen Ray
Retromedia DVD
Reviewed 04.19.04
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
Don’t be ashamed! I realize
that this can be a hard thing to
do. Ok, fine -- we’ll make
a go of it together. Gather up all
of your precious film standards.
Wave them a final goodbye (at least
for the next 75 minutes). Open the
window, take a deep breath, and
with one fateful swoosh, throw ‘em
right out.
Yeah, it hurts, but that’s
all you can do when confronted with
the $12,000 schlock magic of Alien
Dead. Caught somewhere between
a Super 8 home movie and Invasion
Of The Blood Farmers, Alien
Dead paints the fascinating
portrait of bad obscure filmmaking
at its thinnest -- no money, rubber
masked monsters, and ridiculous
dialogue (“This swamp used
to be ass-deep with ‘gators”).
In other words, it’s time
to soak in the fact that a film
like this was made for one purpose:
to sit back, relax, and enjoy the
par-tay.
Following the tradition of most
backyard movie productions, the
plot of this film is nonexistent
and it's filled with scenes that
make absolutely no sense. Essentially,
a meteor has crash landed in a hick-filled
Florida swamp and its contents have
caused a gaggle of tourists to become
flesh eating zombies. A hard-assed
sheriff (Buster Crabbe, continuously
boffing lines with hilarious results)
refuses to believe that anything
is amiss. He attributes all the
killings to ‘gators. Frustrated,
a reporter and his new girlfriend
decide to take matters into their
own hands. That’s it. Inbetween
the “plot” development
scenes, you’ll be treated
to comedy relief in a convenient
store, zombies and actors cracking
smiles at the camera, and town hall
poker games. Oh, and some sound
effects lifted from my childhood
“Incredible Hulk” LPs.
Alien Dead is the kind
of no-budget riffraff that can prove
to be quite hilarious and entertaining,
given the right mindset. It’s
infused with a late 70s/early 80s
“let’s go out and shoot
a horror movie” immediacy
that sadly, no longer exists. You’ve
got zombies in 80s short shorts
and baseball jerseys, some totally
fake gore, grainy 16 millimeter
photography, and all the scares
of a jaycees spook house. While
the film tends to drag at times,
I found plenty to keep me hooked
after the brief bits of downtime.
Ok, you’ve made it through.
It was fun, no? Now go out to the
lawn and pick up your mise-en-scene.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
According to the liner notes, the
print utilized on this DVD was struck
from an unopened canister, sold
by its original distributor back
in the day. No wonder. We’ve
got a virtually spotless print presented
in widescreen, which is very out
of the ordinary for a film of this
nature. The movie itself is dark
and inconsistent in color, but like
many films from this era, it all
adds to the charm. The mono sound
was nice and crackly.
EXTRAS
Not too bad. We’ve got a brief
behind-the-scenes still gallery,
a bland six minute video “reunion”
from 1992 featuring three cast members,
and a fantastic commentary track
from director Fred Olen Ray. Mr.
Ray entertains pretty much non-stop
throughout the entire film, touching
on the nitty gritty technical aspects
of of no-budget filmmaking and every
tiny detail regarding the film itself.
I enjoyed the commentary just as
much as the film, if not more. Well
done.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Alien Dead isn’t
for all tastes. Stay far away if
you can’t stomach mindless,
home grown trash films. However,
if the enchantments of Don Dohler,
Nathan Schiff, and Ed Adlum tickle
your fancy, you won’t be disappointed. |
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