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MARCH 11 2016 VHS MOVIE REVIEW : THE VIDEO DEAD (1987)
From horrorchronicles.com
Somewhat fun dose of comedic zombie horror sees a handful of undead emerging from a cursed TV set to butcher a few locals. Only a man who lost his wife to the same curse, and a couple of kids, can stop the evil.
It's played very much for soft laughs and that decision is what saves it from being a totally un-memorable experience. The zombies are fairly comical in their looks and actions, and they have a little fun bumping people off in humorous ways. The woman who ends up head first in a washing machine, the zombie who gets an iron stuck in his head when a victim defends herself. The decision to string one of the local kids up a tree and use him for bait. And the scene where a zombie wearing a wedding dress, pink nightgown, and wig chases someone through the woods was funny.
Make up effects are a bit patchy in places although for the most part it does the job, and there are a few gory scenes. Nothing that's going to churn your stomach, but it's effective in a tongue in cheek kind of way. It doesn't look too bad, although was not helped by the grainy quality of the copy I had (this is another minor gem that has yet to receive a DVD release).
Some refreshing changes are evident in the way the zombies act. Yep, they are still slow and stupid, but decapitation doesn't exactly kill them. Physical damage just incapacitates them for a while. They hate seeing their own reflections, but the key to killing them is in trapping them somewhere where they cannot escape, which makes them go crazy and self destruct. And they won't kill you if you don't show them any fear. Taken together, this leads to a charming dinner party scene where one of the kids cooks dinner for the zombies and plans to take them dancing!
All in all, it is a playful little film that is reasonably fun to watch. The humour element helps to keep it from being just another run of the mill zombie, although the pacing lets it down somewhat and much of the action feels contrived and awkward. Still, it's enjoyable enough, not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but lighthearted fun.
MARCH 11 2016 VHS MOVIE REVIEW : BEYOND DREAM'S DOOR (1988)
Ambitious little film, probably inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. College student Ben Dobbs (Nick Baldasare) begins to have a recurring nightmare from his childhood which has long been dormant, but thanks to sleep experiments that he is involved in, it becomes something that cannot be put to rest (no pun intended). Everyone that he tells about the dream ends up dead, killed by a long-clawed demon that rips the flesh from their bodies or squeezes their heads until the brains pop out. They then end up completely forgotten by everyone, except Ben, as if they never existed. Ben, with the help of Professor Eric Baxter (Rick Kesler), uncover the truth behind the dream. It involves a book written years before by a Mr. White (Dan White) who had the same dream as Ben. The demon needs the book to stay in the real world and Ben has the only remaining page of it in his possession. Ben must find a way to lure the demon back to the dream world where it can do no harm to anyone except to give bad nightmares. This is director Jay Woelfel's first full-length film, made with the cooperation of Ohio State University. Woelfel would later go on to direct UNSEEN EVIL (2001), DEMONICUS (2001) and TRANCERS 6 (2002) but, sadly, none of these shows the imagination on display here. Filmed with an extremely small budget, it earns point for actually being shot on film and not on video like most small independents. Sprinkled with nasty bits of gore and nudity to liven up the proceedings (some reviewers say this film is slow, but I think that's the way it was meant to be) and some amateur acting, BEYOND DREAM'S DOOR has a nightmare quality in the visuals and music (composed by Woelfel) that most films can only dream of creating. I liked it and if you give it a chance, I'm sure you will too. My only real complaint is that there's a short film of Woelfel's inserted in here called "Come To Me Softly" that really has nothing to do with the rest of the film. It was inserted at the distributor's request to add to the running time (86 minutes) and will be excised in the Director's Cut (80 minutes) soon to be released on DVD. The short will be an extra on the disk. Also starring Susan Pinsky, Norm Singer, John Dunleavy and Darby Vasbinder. A VidAmerica, Inc. Home Video Release. Not Rated. Note: Jay Woefel's next film is GHOST LAKE, which he promises to be better than the quickie films he had to make for producer Charlie Band and the like, since he had total creative control. I, for one, can't wait to see it. See the EMail Section for more information. For more on Jay Woelfel, go to his website: www.JayWoelfel.com.
{ text from critcononline.com }
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