Legion of the Dead

The ancient Egyptian High-Priestess Aneh-Tet awakens from her 4000 year sleep to rule the world.

The biggest draw for this film is the appearance of horror icon Zach Galligan ("Gremlins"). Someone else wrote that the only redeeming thing about his film is the brief nudity. I guess I do not see that as a highlight... I would rather see Galligan than a random topless woman.

What is so great about this film is how they treat the ancient Egyptian language. We have to wonder, how does the college girl (or anyone besides the mummy) speak a dead language? Unlike Latin, it is not like you can learn to pronounce things by looking at the old glyphs. Likewise, I love the literal translation of hieroglyphics, even with the name "Molly". While I am not fluent in Egyptian, I am pretty sure that is not how the language works.

A real shame of a movie. Spiritless and full of clichés. What really got me angry was the inconsistency of the soldiers' ability to fight. They acted like powerless zombies when they fought the good guys, but pulled the backbone of some victims in one firm jerk! I mean, c'mon! It's the kind of movie you cannot watch even for laughs. Well, I did. And that only because I kept waiting for something to happen. It was so lame I could throw up. Even if you are a horror movies fan - trust me, this is an outrageous kitsch. It's the type of production that one does for money only, not because one has a real story or a genuinely artistic view to a story. It looks like five-year old kids playing in the backyard - although this remark may be offensive to the intellect of any five-year-old, or two-year-old for that matter! Omaldy.

I have made no secret of intensely disliking most of The Asylum's movies, but there is something about their awfulness that intrigues me into watching more of their movies, also to see if they'd make a decent movie. So far there has been four of their films that are better than you'd expect, but they are still average. Which is more than I could say for Legion of the Dead, which is down there with their worst. The two leading ladies are beautiful and there is one mildly amusing line, other than it is utter drivel from start to finish. It is very poorly made, I have seen better camera work from our camcorder at home, while the scenery is tacky, the lighting dull and the special effects really fake and cheesy-looking. The music and sound effects have a tendency to drown out the dialogue and they are far too obvious, when something "scary" happens they single-handedly ruin the suspense and scare-factor these scares ought to have. The dialogue apart from one line is so corny it makes your ears cringe with embarrassment, while the story, aside from that it is very formulaic- takes far too long to get going and never gets exciting or suspenseful. The characterisations of the mummies are frustratingly inconsistent, either make them rip out body parts with one hand or make them annoyingly ineffectual, but please don't make them have both, with more emphasis on the latter. The human characters are stereotypical and are not likable in the slightest, and beautiful eye-candy unfortunately doesn't equal good acting, which is what is severely lacking in Legion of the Dead. In conclusion, the only thing really that is scary about Legion of the Dead was how truly awful it was. 1/10 Bethany Cox

LEGION OF THE DEAD www.theasylum.cc with Bruce Boxleitner and Zach Galligan Written & Directed by Paul Bales

…Having interviewed Paul Bales and seen this is on Theasylum Top Three DVD sellers, This critic was curious about LOTD !

When you watch the "Making Of.." it gives away some of the secrets to how production came together, Theasylum has the second best BEHIND THE SCENES after Charles Band's FULL MOON . The cast is great ,Of course Boxleitner and Galligan one expect their best, But the lead villain is a Female Mummy- Claudia Lynx and she is perfect. Rhett Giles again turns in a journeyman effort, Except as a right arm to mummy henchman.

Once you accept this is happening in US, Not Egypt then you enjoy all the mummies running around and unusual deaths.

Paul Bales (look for our interview) is still writing and producing, But could direct again.

I know these movies are supposed to be stupid--but they must always provide marginal entertainment. Unfortunately, this movie is worse than just its formula plot, commodity script, laughably sad production values and stupefying nature (brain cells will be lost). It is a FRAUD.

You CANNOT give Bruce Boxleitner and Gremlins-boy billing on the box as the featured actors, and have both of those characters die, complete with perhaps 20 minutes of worthless screen time for both combined. I do not give one Piece of Cr*p about the no-name actresses who become the heroes of the mentally challenged story. The marketers behind this film, and any knowingly involved in this scam should be ashamed--and they owe me money!