Children of the Living Dead

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 wouldn't necessarily call myself an expert, but I like zombie films. A lot. I watch any and all zombie films I can get my hands on. This is the first time I've ever thought "What the heck did I just waste an hour and a half watching?" I've even suffered through Shatter Dead and Bruno Mattei's Hell of the Living Dead and didn't think that.

The sound is atrocious...who in the world thought that looping almost the entire movie was a good idea? How did they afford to have Savini back to ADR ALL of his lines?! Was the make-up artist a student of his?! Geez...at least Savini looks better in this than he did in From Dusk Til Dawn. When I saw that, I started to fear for his life...

Handheld is fine and dandy...but why not spend the money for the "explosions" on SteadyCam rental? Or use a dolly more (wheelchair and a tripod, baby...read Stanley Kubrick's biography (the beige one) and Robert Rodriguez's Rebel Without a Crew!)?

The direction was...not so bad. Tor Ramsey has potential. Hopefully, his next movies will be better.

The script. Don't even get me started. I was intrigued to see that a woman wrote it...but it sucked. The dialogue was stilted and sounded like this was the first draft, the exposition was too bloody long and repeated too much, and that first scene needed to be cut a little. I began to wonder if Ms. Wolf had ever watched any horror films, much less any zombie movies.

Go watch Bio-Zombie...Lucio Fulci's The Beyond...Return of the Living Dead...geez, watch that Mattei crap, but just do yourself a favour and DON'T WATCH THIS.

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

Approx 1 year ago, I rented this film......Why you ask? Because it was a zombie film, Plain and simple. When the DVD arrived in the Mailbox....(Quick Netflix Plugin)I went inside inserted the DVD grabbed some Micro Popcorn a beer and nestled in on the couch hoping to at least catch a Decent Low budget Horror/Zombie Film. What Did I get? NOTHING but an upset stomach.

Some say this film is BAD, I believe BAD is too good a word for this piece of $#!^. I read a comment on the net someone made about this film, The director responded back.... agreeing with the reviewers assessment of the film. There are many reasons this film failed, The Director noted every single one of them, and he hit it right on the nose.

If you are looking for just a simple zombie film.....RENT SOMETHING ELSE.

If your looking for an ED WOOD type film..... RENT AN ED WOOD FILM.

If your looking for a bad film...... RENT SOMETHING ELSE

Until a term can come up to describe this film..... Just keep walking by it. This is not something to add to your DVD collection just for completist reasons.

They say let's Recycle...... Well gather up every copy and let's start there.

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.