Graveyard Alive

A homely nurse is attracted to the head doctor (who she had previously dated in high school), but he is in love with Nurse Goody Two-Shoes. After getting bit by a zombie, the nurse starts to become more attractive.. but to maintain her youthful skin, she must devour human flesh. Good thing she works in a place with plenty of freshly arriving corpses.

Another reviewer says, "The movie was pretty painful to watch overall and although I kept hoping it would get better, it only got worse." This sums up the problem with this film, I think. It started off actually pretty good. The overacting and soap opera antics were amusing, but these became less apparent as the film went on and the plot just unraveled. I can't even explain how, but all of a sudden it was so bland that nothing could save it.

Granted, the Ukrainian guy was pretty cool. He could have used a bigger role. But that was about it. Everything else just bored me. You'd like to think that after the nurse becomes "hot" that maybe her hotness would hold my interest. Well, no, because she wasn't hot. She had nice shoes and stockings, but she was still just as plain as ever (see movie cover).

The flesh-eating scenes were minor, the gore was decent but nothing special. The nudity was basically not even there (maybe I saw some cleavage, or something). Anything that could cover for a weak plot was absent. How many times can I watch her carve strips of flesh off a corpse? The ending was decent, but I don't know if it made up for the rest of the movie. Actually, I know it didn't. It was so non-shocking. I can't say what it is, of course, and I don't suggest you watch the film to find out. But if you must watch it, just don't hold your breath for the finale, because it's nothing clever at all. Actually, let me beg of you -- please don't watch this film.

"Patsy Powers" (Anne Day-Jones) is a young but lonely nurse working at a hospital who is called upon to assist in a special case involving a patient with an axe buried into his head. The operation appears to be a success and as he is recovering he and Patsy begin to have feelings for one another. However, when they try to get intimate the patient bites Patsy--which results in her slowly becoming a zombie. Meanwhile, as this transformation is going on Patsy loses her shy inhibitions and begins to attract the other male doctors and staff who happen to work with her. Anyway, so much for the plot. As far as the movie itself is concerned I will just say that it definitely had some weaknesses. For example, if this ultra low-budget film was intended to be a comedy then it failed miserably as the humor just wasn't that sharp. Likewise, if the movie was meant to be a horror film then it wasn't very effective at that either. On the other hand, the director (Elza Kephart) was quite imaginative and used a number of tricks and gimmicks to keep this film somewhat interesting. But it just wasn't enough. Accordingly, I rate this film as below average.

I saw this at an all night horror marathon the other day where the director was present (I was the guy in the Godzilla T-Shirt), I wasn't sure what to make of it to start with, maybe it was because it was the first full length feature of the night and b&w with a strange style. But as the film went on I got more and more into it, although I couldn't decide if the lip syncing (or not) was intentional or not.

The plot is that there's a nurse in a hospital who is the dorky one who nobody likes and doesn't have a boyfriend, but when a patient (who happens to be a zombie) shows an interest she falls in love but gets bitten and turned into a horny zombie, and so the plot commences.

Anyway there's plenty of zombie related comedy and a good share of gore in here.

Overall I would watch it again, and would recommend people who like low-budget film-making, it kind of reminded me of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. 8/10

This is a true rarity in the genre, if only because it was written, directed, and produced by women. Horrors created exclusively by men are a dime a dozen, but women's involvement behind the scenes has been sadly lacking. This one took four years to get made, and then another four years (post-festival circuit) to finally get a DVD release this month. That's all very unfortunate, because this unique low-budget zomromcom is an overall success. It tells the story of frumpy Nurse Patsy, who isn't over her love for former beau Dr. Dox. Unfortunately, he's getting married to Nurse Goodie Teuscheuze, who taunts Patsy in the workplace like a little brat on a playground. While caring for a woodcutter with an ax in his head (!), Nurse Patsy gets bitten. She soon finds her appetite for sex increasing, her self-esteem raising, and her skin falling off. Unfortunately, a craving for human flesh comes with her new-found sex drive. This movie is a total hoot. It plays out like a 50s b-movie mixed with a "hospital soap opera." The lead actress plays it straight-faced, but all of the other actors ham it up like they're in a horror spoof of "General Hospital." It works better than it sounds. The dialogue is witty and the delivery is spot-on. The narrative feels a bit predictable at first, but it twists into unique and surprising territory. It's very funny in places, though feels a little thin in spots. Overall, it's better than most indie zombie movies. Thumbs up, though the amateur cast interviews in the special features are best left unwatched for various reasons...

Yes, there are better zombie movies out there. However, there are also much, much worse. Graveyard Alive has a lot of heart and humor behind it, which sells it despite its shortcomings and sets it apart within the genre. Keeping in mind that the budget for this movie was very small, the money was spent where it should have been - on actors and actresses who primarily worked in stage productions and had a strong control of their expressions, on securing a real hospital as a set, and on a decent technical crew. The editing and cinematography are actually pretty pro, and when your genre is so infested with hand-held camcorder affairs in backyard fields, you appreciate a good sense of lighting and photography.

The movie is also notable for the fact that the zombie starlet is your main, sympathetic character - something we don't often see done with zombies, even zombie comedies (and this movie was not intended to scare you, so if you're looking for a frightfest you really should have looked more closely at the description). You find yourself rooting for her transformation, and you want her to succeed - if only so that you can see what she does next.

It's campy, flawed, and I strongly recommend it -- especially to genre fans who have seen one too many disappointing, cookie-cutter low-budget zombie movie in the hopes of catching something different. This is definitely different, and definitely worth a watch. And don't be afraid to smile at the overacting and odd, sparse dialogue - you're Supposed to.