Graveyard Alive

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.

The only reason this is being given a two is because I have to give credit to the dream sequences - they were actually quite stylish and had a pretty convincing horror tone to them.

Otherwise, if it was supposed to be silent, they should've kept it silent as the post-production ADR was REALLY distracting throughout the film, which also made the over-acting look absolutely ridiculous. Not looking to blame the actors, they were only doing what they were directed to do.

The movie was pretty painful to watch overall and although I kept hoping it would get better, it only got worse. I was so paralyzed by how horrible the film was that I couldn't even reach for the remote to turn it off.

It makes you wonder how movies like this EVER make it past a high school project, as that's what it felt like. There are so many brilliant independent movies out there that never make it and it's so painfully disappointing that something like this ends up representing Canadian film...unbelievable.

This was one strange movie. It was in black and white, which is OK, but it really felt like a silent film from the 20s. There was very little dialog, and they could have skipped that entirely.

Nurse Patsy (Anne Day-Jones) is a wallflower that is in love with Dr. Dox (Karl Gerhardt), who just happened to be the guy who took her to the prom in high school. He lost his geekiness, but she stayed the same until she was bit by an infected woodsman.

She turns into a hottie that must eat flesh to stay beautiful. This is where the film gets really funny.

The fiancé of Dr. Dox, Nurse Goodie (Samantha Slan) is the only one who suspects the truth and ends up in a sanatorium after trying to expose Nurse Patsy.

The ending was hilarious.

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.