Review: The Video Dead (1987)
Directed by: Robert Scott
Starring: Roxanna Augesen, Rocky Duvall, Michael St. Michaels
Written by: Robert Scott
Music by: Leonard Marcel, Stuart Rabinowitsh, Kevin McMahon
IMDb
Writer/director Robert Scott’s The Video Dead isn’t exactly a classic of zombie cinema, but it’s got its fans. The VHS box art is fetching — to this day, it’s one of my favorite horror movie illustrations (and it wouldn’t look out of place as an Iron Maiden album cover). Its zombie lore is also pretty intriguing: As sort of a spiritual precursor to Pontypool (2008), the undead rise from electronics — in this case, a supernatural television that’s constantly playing a black-and-white zombie flick called Zombie Blood Nightmare. The fake horror movie is probably the best thing about The Video Dead. It’s very atmospheric and features some pretty stellar zombie makeup (though it looks a little less stellar, but still cool, once the zombies emerge in the full-color real world). In addition to their unique genesis, the undead here exist by a different set of rules. They’re more sentient, which means they’re pretty upset about their half-dead lot in life and hate being reminded of it. Seeing themselves in the mirror really sends them down a sad zombie shame spiral. The only ways to kill them are to trap them until they go crazy and eat each other or convince them they’re dead, through enough grievous injury and intent. This latter part is a really interesting concept and it’s kind of tragic that Scott doesn’t explore it deeper. Unfortunately, The Video Dead is too intent on functioning as some sort of horror comedy, but it just ain’t funny. There’s plenty of silliness, but my mouth never emitted anything more than a bemused “Hmm.” And the movie just never really goes anywhere. The ghouls’ pseudo-intelligence means they spend a lot of time shuffling about, fiddling with things they used to fiddle with when they were alive, instead of just munching on the living in the most sanguinary way possible. Mr. Scott definitely had some fun ideas bouncing around in his head when he concocted this thing, but too few of them made their way onto the screen in a convincing way. Still, there’s some comforting ‘80s atmosphere thanks to the makeup, moody synthesizer score, and woodsy setting, and there are probably worse ways to spend a late Saturday night than with a pizza, a beer, and The Video Dead.
Rating: 5 out of 10