Dead Alive (1992)

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81%
Overall Rating

Ranked #1,649
...out of 20,698 movies

Genres: Horror Horror Comedy Zombie Film

When a Sumatran rat-monkey bites Lionel Cosgrove's mother, she's transformed into a zombie and begins killing (and transforming) the entire town while Lionel races to keep things under control. --TMDb

Review by Christopher
Added: March 10, 2004

If you're familiar with the movie "Dead Alive" then you know all about this title. For those of you who aren't, Braindead is the original title for Dead Alive and includes ten minutes of cut footage. For those of you curious about the running time, Dead Alive is 97 minutes and Braindead is 107 minutes. Braindead has never gotten an American release and from the looks of things, it never will. Instead of going through and reviewing the actual movie, I've decided to go through the scenes that were taken out of Dead Alive.

From the top, instead of "Dead Alive" being splattered on the screen when the zoo expeditioner's head gets a slice from one of his helpers, "Braindead" appears dripping blood on the screen. Head over to the zoo sequence. While Vera is following Lionel and Paquita through the zoo, a father is taking a picture of his son while he has his head in this cardboard cut-out of a monkey. Right before he snaps the picture, Vera pushes the kid aside and sticks her face in the cut-out. When the picture is finished, Vera is gone.

After the whole Vera dying scene is over and Lionel locks her and the nurse in the basement, Paquita comes down with his mothers things. When Lionel is laughing at the radio, it's actually a small comedy bit he's listening to and now just some news broadcast. Once she leaves, Lionel takes off to get his tranquilizers for the two zombies. Instead of him just showing up in a building, you see him walk past a sign that reads "Veterinarians." There's also a few extra words exchanged between Lionel and the vet.

When Vera's funeral is taking place, Uncle Les sits behind Paquita and asks her out for a drink. She tells him off and takes a seat else where. Skip forward to the graveyard scene. The punks call Lionel a lot more names and tease him a lot more. Skipping again to Lionel's first encounter with the baby. The baby ends up attacking Lionel, as he's crawling up onto his chest, his umbilical cord gets stuck on a nail and Lionel puts a bucket over him.

As Uncle Les's party is going on and one of his lady friends asks Lionel if he has anything else she can nibble on, Void comes out into the living room and starts dancing and then picks a fight with one of the guests. Since Lionel is out of tranquilizers by this time, he jams a bottle of Jack Daniels into his mouth and Void drinks until he passes out and is thrown back into the basement.

Lionel finds out the truth about his dad and then Void's bowels attack him when he gets stuck on the electrical wire. While he's hanging from the wire, Father McGruder and Nurse McTavish start walking torwards him. Instead of attacking, they start kissing. The rake that Uncle Les put through McGruder earlier, was still in him and goes straight through the gut of McTavish. They fall to the floor with McTavish on top and they start doing the dirty deed.

When the wire Lionel is hanging from snaps and flys through the window, it leaves Paquita and Rita to fend for themselves on the top of the stairs. As Void is making his way to them, they grab his legs and rip them apart, then starting fighting off the other zombies with his legs. And to finish it all off, Lionel's lawnmower rampage lasts at least an extra minute, which is just more chopping scenes and blood. If you can get your hands on a copy of this release, I suggest you get it/buy it/borrow it/copy it/do whatever you have to. It's worth seeing the original cut.

Final Conclusion: 10/10

Review by Chad
Added: March 20, 2004

We start out with some zoologist on Skull Island, who has just captured the rare rat monkey. The natives aren't too happy about this, and chase them away. Luckily, the zoologist and his helpers manage to escape with the monkey, which they ship off to a New Zealand zoo. Cutscene over to Lionel, the bumbling idiot of a momma's boy. He goes down to the local grocery store, and meets Paquita. Love is in the air for the two, and they end up making a date to visit the zoo. There, they see the rat monkey, and at the same time, Lionel's mum bursts onto the scene and gets bitten by said monkey. The bite turns poor mum into a zombie, and anyone she bites also turns... including the nurse, some graveyard thugs, and others. We even get to see the ninja priest, who "kicks ass for the lord" in easily the funniest scene of the movie. Lionel tries to keep things quiet by stuffing the zombies in his basement, but this does not fare too well when a big party is to be had later in the final scenes of the movie.

Normally, I'm not a fan of horror comedies, but this one was marvelously done. There was just the right mix of horror, romance, and comedy. And the gore... wow. This easily ranks in the top five goriest movies of all time, especially in those last twenty-thirty minutes. We get to see death and mutilation via food processors, cleavers, garden gnomes, hedge clippers, scissors, and even a lightbulb... but none compare to the main weapon used at the end, which I shall not spoil for the two or three kids who haven't seen the movie.

The storyline was solidly done. It focused mainly on Lionel trying to have a relationship with Paquita, while at the same time trying to keep the zombies under control without her finding out about them. This led to some hilarious scenes, especially when Lionel decides to take the youngest of the zombie folk to the local park. Though there is romance, it's more of a comedy-romance deal, not piss-break-scenes as with so many other movies. Nope, every chunk of this movie is interesting and keeps you wanting more.

Too bad Peter Jackson had to drop this style of movie in order to focus on gnomes and trolls, as he is quite talented in the horror department. 10/10.

#1: spookychild - added September 12, 2004 at 12:46am
One word-CLASSIC

#2: KaOTiK - added February 8, 2005 at 8:45am
a true classic of modern horror.. definite must own!

#3: Kari Byron's Sex Cyborg - added September 12, 2005 at 8:33pm
I guess some people usually get the wrong idea about this movie; it's a [comedic]-horror film. I hope once someone starts watching it they realize that early on and don't continue through looking for some scares or chills to pop up and freak them out (I mean, it's pretty obvious). Now, when people speak of the gore involved, they're usually always correct in their place of saying so. But of course, don't expect it to make you cringe and wince since it's not really suppose to as it's more so done for comedy (and in my opinion, it's damn funny). And hell, if you get the chance to see Braindead instead, your viewing experience of this already hilarious movie should be better enhanced.
9/10

#4: Ginose - added December 26, 2005 at 10:02pm
One word-OVERRATED I am the master of horror movie viewing and this movie often gets far more credit than it deserves! I rented it from my local Holywood thinking, "Wow! How lucky am I! Everyone talks about how great this movie is, I should watch it. Only to be sadly disapointed.... oh so sad... I even looked for Braindead thinking, certainly this will be better...

#5: Ginose - added December 26, 2005 at 10:04pm
I bought this on DVD and I can safely say it was MUCH better than Dead alive. it was very gory and provided alot of hilarity. I don't have much else to say about it, but I really liked it (you can tell compared to my review of Dead Alive) 9/10

#6: Cryptorchild - added January 26, 2007 at 4:54pm
This movie is beyond great. "I kick ass, for the Lord." One of the best lines EVER.

#7: Nirrad - added September 27, 2007 at 8:58pm
I haven't seen this since I was a kid, but I remember liking it. I loved the part where one individual gets his rib cage ripped out, and of course the "I kick ass for the lord" part. One thing that I didn't like was that it wasn't scary, and at times it seemed like a comedy. I was hoping that it would have taken itself seriously and maybe be scary. I'll give it 8/10, but as soon as I find a copy ill give it another score because I'm just going off of memory.

#8: Tristan - added October 9, 2008 at 7:32pm
Finally found an uncut copy of this. Italian import, who'd have thunk it? I've only ever seen Dead Alive until now, and I can honestly say the few minutes of extra gore is totally worth it.

10/10

#9: Lucid Dreams - added November 2, 2009 at 11:38pm
10/10 That last scene with the lawnmower was perfect.

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