Children of the Living Dead

This film is the most hideous thing you can imagine. To give you an example of how bad this is, one of the reasons given why the dead are coming back to life is that the zombie king (?) was forced to cross dress as a child.

Yes, forget radiation, disease or nanotech, this time it's transvestitism that brings the dead out of their graves.

There is a scene where a car goes over a cliff. The FX brings to mind that old TV show where marionettes pilot a spaceship. The actors (?) say their line "No ahhh" while they die. This scene pretty well sums up the film.

This is a horrible, horrible film. There are not enough bad adjectives to describe it. You should see it simply because it is so horrible.

From Children of the Living Dead, I have obtained more hours of enjoyment than watching any other movie. I can watch this film numerous times, laugh at how hilariously bad it is and still find something new each time. For instance, when we get a brief glimpse inside the construction site building, why is there gang graffiti on the walls? Or, if you watch the very beginning when Savini and the sheriff are walking towards the house, you can see something from the sheriff's belt make a big shine reflection on the house. Thank you, John Russo and all your cronies for pumping out good quality garbage like this. The bad dubbing, the horrible acting, the horrible script....Oh, and that brings up the end credits. I love how in the end credits, that there is a separate credit for "Abbott Hayes is an original character by" and then they give the screen writer's name. I guess the writer was afraid that people would think that someone else came up with the idea of the great zombie villain Abbott Hayes, or maybe they were afraid that someone would rip him off and that he would become as big as Jason or Freddy Kreugar. Oh, a fun drinking game to play is to take a drink for every time you see someone with the last name "Hinzman" in the end credits. You'll die of alcohol poisoning by the time they stop rolling.

I was even IN this movie (as an uncredited extra) and I knew at the time it was going to be bad. What I didn't realize was how bad bad could be.

I know one of the cameramen and he knew better how bad it was going to be but after seeing the stunning editing job they did, he too was amazed at the appalling disjointed quality of this film. I hesitate to use the word 'film' even. And don't use the word 'professionalism' either, as jelly was spilt on at least one roll of film and things had to be reshot. Why did they bother?

Children Of The Living Dead at time of writing currently has an outstandingly low 2.3 rating on IMDb. It's rare to see something that low but there is a story behind this weak zombie film.

Children Of The Living Dead was setup to be the next great zombie film, the stars were aligned as the cast and crew was packed full of legends within the industry and the film had a modest half a million dollar budget.

Sadly it wasn't meant to be. Nepotism ran rampant, friends and family were brought in instead of genuine talent and were given offensively high salaries. Morale was non-existent, arguments and creative issues were a daily occurrence and the end result was a terrible film that many have publicly slammed despite their part in it.

Tom Savini especially has been vocal, claiming it should have been something special but descended into something he regrets.

It has a real Romero feel to it and our antagonist is actually quite good. Sadly with weak looking zombies, terrible acting/writing and a conflicted tone the film is destined to be infamous for all the wrong reasons.

The Good:

Tom Savini

The Bad:

Gunplay is laughable

Shoddily made

Tone shifts

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

There is nothing to fear but fear itself.....and zombies

I ONLY watched this movie because I have always liked Tom Savini and wanted to see what he was up to. He was OK in his previous cheesy acting roles, like Dusk till Dawn and some Romero films like DOTD and Martin. Obviously his talent lies in special FX and not in acting, but I give the guy a little credit for acting too, just because he's Tom Savini. But why Tom... why?!?!?! I am shocked that he would have been associated with a movie as bad as this... I can't imagine it was for the money. Anyway, this movie is rubbish and I don't know what Tom was thinking when he signed on. I will never get that hour and a half of my life back.