The Dead Next Door

If you have a love of godawful horror movies, unending patience, and a large supply of alcohol, watch The Dead Next Door. "The Most Expensive Super-8 Film Ever Made." Need I say more? If so, how about the fact that Bruce Campbell--Ash himself--makes an uncredited voice appearance? Or...how about the fact that the movie really has absolutely zero redeeming qualities? That must surely make it a winner!

Title: The Dead Next Door (1988)

Director: J.R. Bookwalter

Cast: Pete Ferry, Bogdan Pecic, Michael Grossi, Robert Kokai

Review: When I was starting out as a horror fan, I tried to get myself up to date with as many horror films as I could. I wanted to become an expert so I quickly rented/bought as many horror films as I could get my monkey paws on. In my research across the net for films that I had not seen, one name constantly came up whenever zombie films were mentioned: The Dead Next Door. So boy was I ever happy when I head this film would finally make its way on to DVD! My curiosity for this hard to find zombie flick would finally be quenched!

As in many if not all zombie movies, the world is being inexplicably overrun by hoards of the undead. As a counter measure the government of the United States creates a "zombie squad". A group of heavily armed government funded soldiers who's mission is to go around destroying as many zombies as they can. But hold on. Not everyone in this world wants zombies to be destroyed. There's this religious cult who wants nothing more then to let the zombies roam free in the world. And if God wants to exterminate humans by sending the zombies to do the job for him...then so be it!

OK, first off. This movie is low budget. And I'm not talking House of the Dead low budget, where a director gets a few million dollars to make his zombie opus. I'm talking really low budget. The type of low budget were everybody works for free (even the actors!) and the extras are all your friends. I'm talking about those independent films where one ambitious fan boy (in this case director J.R. Bookwalter) will do anything to make his own horror film as a homage to all his horror heroes. Its very similar to other ultra low budget horror fare like The Deadly Spawn and Leif Jonkers Darkness. Films that were made solely because there's people out there who love horror films, want to have some fun and have tons and tons of imagination.

The fan boy element can be seen right from the get go, where the movie opens up with an actual zombie going into a video store...selecting Dawn of the Dead, The Evil Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Creepshow from the store shelf, going up to the video store clerk and eating him alive. Also most of the characters in the film are named after a famous horror director. Be ready for most of the characters calling each other Raimi, Carpenter, King, Jason, Vincent and so on. So its obvious that the makers of this film are horror buffs.

In spite of its meager budget the film managed be very interesting. There's a lot of cool little ideas thrown here and there that I had not seen on any other zombie flick. For example before Land of the Dead ever came up with their own little zombie killing squad, this movie had already thought it up. I loved the idea of that. I also loved the idea about a religious cult who think that zombies should be left alone since they were sent by God to destroy humanity and make them pay for their sins. And I had never seen zombies with restraints in their faces so they couldn't bite you! Cool ideas even though you have little money to make your movie.

I also liked the make up effects which were actually pretty cool. He is uncredited but director Sam Raimi secretly funded this movie pitching in with a little money...and its obvious that that little bit of money went to the zombie effects. There's some cool looking rotting corpses in here and I gotta give the movie kudos for that.

On the downside the film looks like if it was lit with a flashlight. And I'm not exaggerating, sometimes actors are on the scene and they don't even show up because its so dark! The quality of the lighting was what really messed up this film. If only it had been well lit, it wouldn't feel so amateurish. As it is, you can tell that these were just a bunch of kids learning how to make a movie. Which isn't bad because as a result the film has a certain energy and imagination that other films lack, but on a technological level the movie suffered.

The acting is pretty bad as well. I'm not going to go into just how bad some of the performances are cause it kind of gives the film a certain fun element of goofiness. I actually dug the bad dialog and the bad acting.

All in all, not a bad zombie film. There's a lot of gore and zombie action to keep any zombie fan happy. I mean every five seconds there's a zombie related incident that usually ends up with some one getting their throats ripped off in a very Tom Savini kind of way. You know, lots of tendons and muscles. So anyhows, even though this film is so very low budget, the love and energy and imagination put into it shows. And it translates into an enjoyable and fun (yet cheap) zombie film.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Based on many of the other reviews that have been posted, you may think that this movie sucks. In a way, you're right. If you're looking for a good scary movie to add to your collection, this movie is not for you. However, if you're in the market for an unintentionally hilarious flick disguised as a zombie-bomb, then look no further. This movie had my friends and I laughing every few seconds throughout. The dialog in this movie is rib-ticklingly awful, but the execution of the dialog is even worse. One member of the zombie squad unconvincingly tells a zombie to "have a nice day" before cutting its obviously puppetish head off with a machete. I think Bookwalter must have made this movie so hilariously bad intentionally. Mr Bookwalter, if you're reading this, I just want to tell you that you're a genius and that I appreciate your skill and sense of humor.

I really enjoyed this film. I watched it once or twice before I hit the special features and watched the featurettes with interviews from the cast and crew. I think those interviews really helped me appreciate this film more. The director had no budget and no idea how to really operate a camera (it seems the first time they shot a lot of the effects and various scenes, the light meter was trusted less than the untrained eye, and many shots came out so dark that they were unusable). With some creative and sometimes silly, schlocky ideas for gore and effects and an interesting, even compelling follow-up to both Romero's Dead films (the original three which had been released by that time) and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead I and II, I really think this film had some interesting points to it. There are no incredible special effects, the acting is silly (the main character's voice has now been replaced with Bruce Campbell's), the budget was extremely low (though it was funded by a "Mr. X," who kept his identity a secret... do a little research on that one, the answer is surprising), and I think they made something campy, fun, and even, at times, creepy. I liked it a lot for a no-budget midnight flick.

Promising miniscule-budgeted zombie piece heavily influenced by George A. Romero's apocalyptic films.

Sometimes hailed as 'the most expensive Super 8 film ever made,' The Dead Next Door's apparent lack of funds, acting resources and running time can be overlooked, as 'Night of the Living Dead' was for the same faults, because both of these films excel due to the creators energy and balls to produce something entertaining DESPITE the budgetry restrictions.

From it's punchy opening scenes of hungry ghouls stalking the streets and highways of America to the introduction of the comic 'Zombie Squad,' a mixed young bunch of gun-toting federal agents who'll be the heroes for the next seventy minutes or so as we see them try to evade the onslaught of the walking dead and attempt to find a cure for the outbreak.

As to be expected in a zombie-flick, the film delivers respectable make-up effects, tense set pieces and large quantities of black humour, all of which are captured on screen with relish. Even J. W. Bookwalter pulls one up on Romero with shots of zombies outside the Whitehouse and the aforementioned ghouls on the highway, showing the director obviously had a lot more audacity and extras than he had dollars. Low budget film-makers should take note and try to produce something as inventive and lively than the usual pap that clogs up the shelves of the local video store.

But let's not get too carried away here, for this is no horror masterpiece that 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'The Evil Dead' can truly claim to be. At the end of the day this is a small film with big ideas. The plot is familiar, as are the undefined characters and the sound and picture quality let down the entertainment. The energy of the script and pace of the film is undeniably invigorating though and recollections of how John Carpenter and George A. Romero once made films come to mind.

Let's hope Bookwalter's new productions improve with a budget he seemingly deserves here.