Twice Dead

One of the better examples of the 80's on how to mix the horror and comedy genres successfully. This film is about a family moving into a house that is haunted by the ghost of a once great actor. A few neighborhood punks cause trouble though and eventually try to take the house over and kill the family, but the ghost helps them out and dispatches of the punks in violent and creative ways.

Very low budgeted, but fast paced thriller with only average to poor performances and ok direction. It is extremely entertaining though with some very good f/x and an especially exciting finale.

Rated R; Graphic Violence, Nudity, Sexual Situations, and Profanity.

As I'm writing this, in 2025, there's still a huge 80s horror-revival going on. Since several years already, in fact, and it looks as if it's becoming a subgenre on its own. Either the movies and TV-series supposedly take place in this great decade, OR the style and themes pay tribute to the wild & glorious horror flicks of the era. Many of these movies are great, or fun at least, but when I then see a genuine effort of the 1980s - like "Twice Dead" - I realize that nothing beats the real thing!

Some typically 80s guff can never be equaled, like an allegedly "tough" LA street gang of which the leader has a Flock of Seagulls haircut. Another member is a complete weirdo, and yet another one is a fat and clearly overaged guy who never steps off his bike. And, of course, there's the ravishing babe who gratuitously takes her top off for casual sex. Only authentic 80s movies can provide real 80s entertainment; - and that is that.

Okay, enough whiny nostalgia and misplaced romanticism, because "Twice Dead" obviously isn't a big masterpiece. It's a forgettable but more than fun enough combo between slasher, supernatural horror, and street gang action. A financially struggling family is relieved to move into an old and dilapidated mansion in Beverly Hills, which they inherited from an uncle. The house has a dark and more sinister family background, though, as we witnessed in the intro. Stage actor Tyler Walker committed suicide here in 1935, because the love of his life chose to be with another man, and his tormented - and excessively theatrical - ghost still haunts the place. But hey, since a violent gang of street thugs claimed the house as their own and terrorize the new owners, the bloody help of a vengeful ghost might even be useful!

There's zero tension, atmosphere-building, or plausibility. However, this gets widely compensated via a few brutal deaths, the presence of the cherubic Jill Whitlow (in love with her since "Night of the Creeps"), the perfect breasts of Charlie Spradling, and - once again - the authentic 80s vibes.

This movie was definitely cheesy. I saw this movie a long, long, long time ago on cable television. I enjoyed the movie because I was a child watching a rated R movie. It was a typical B-rated movie with blood and gore and sex and drugs and violence. You know, the essence of the 80's.

A bankrupt family are forced to move into an abandoned home in Los Angeles that they have inherited, only to find it occupied by a street gang when they arrive. The gang is ousted, but that doesn't put an end to the conflict. Complicating matters ... the house is haunted. While I admire the attempt to mix two genres here, neither genre is done particularly well. Still ... between the two, there's enough here to keep you moderately entertained. The actor and actress playing siblings in this film seem to forget these characters are related and play them as disturbingly flirty. The only actor you'll recognize here is Todd Bridges, which says volumes about the quality.

Sometime around the depression, film star Tyler Walker is dancing in his home with a lifeless-seeming woman. Two policemen and a man in furs arrive to take his home. While in good shape, the house is largely empty due to Tyler selling most of the contents. The three men burst into the third-story room Tyler is in, finding that he has stuck a knife in the woman, who is just a mannequin, and Tyler has hung himself.

Years later, a couple with a son, daughter and cat named "Meow" are moving into a house they've inherited from their Uncle. The neighborhood is not so nice, and as they arrive there's a gang hanging out on their front lawn. The cops chase them off, but it's clear they'll be back and that one of them has an unhealthy attraction to the daughter. The cops call the house the "old Tyler place," which is a bit odd; usually people call a house by the *last* name of the owner. It's now in pretty bad shape, and they set about fixing it up. It had at some point over the years been used as a funeral home, and there is an empty casket in the basement, and a broken-down hearse.

The son and daughter have several run-ins with the gang, who are pretty set on hurting people for fun. One of the women in the gang isn't too bad, and two of the members are mainly interested in making out with each other, but the rest would be perfectly happy to even kill someone.

The son and daughter glimpse Tyler in mirrors in the house, but aren't sure what they saw. Tyler's noose snakes itself around the son, but later in the movie Tyler helps protect the two from the gang.

The gang stages a couple assaults on the house. One time, the siblings scare them off with a combination of booby traps and special effects. Another time, Tyler starts killing people, including using a dumbwaiter.

There are a couple false ends to the movie, and it is unclear what might happen next. Pretty good movie, though.