La nuit des morts vivants: Re-Animation

Pure crap ! I'm a zombie fan and I remember Jeffrey combs in "From Beyond" and "Re-Animator" (that I actually saw in Avoriaz Horror Festival in France when released...that's a while back) but I would have preferred to keep this old memory of him ... intact ! This is nonsense horror ! The acting is not that bad but this is just pure boredom...the effects are way beyond average and there is no tension at all. I don't always look for scare but zombies can be really scary when well directed...this isn't the case ! I actually deleted the movie after watching it (something that I rarely do). I rated 3 because 1 is for garbage...this is only useless crap and the effort is worth a 3 ! The biggest question is: why make such movie ? I think it's only direct to DVD attempt to make a few bucks using a marketing title and the presence of the old actor of Re-Animator ! It's sad to see Horror taking such path these days.

A man (Andrew Divoff) who inherited a funeral home from his father and who has some kind of phobia about fire or incinerators fails to dispose of bodies scheduled for cremation including a body bag of toxic refuse left over from his deceased father's side business of toxic waste disposal. You got it. Dead bodies + toxic materials = reanimated dead bodies. Zombies.

Well who doesn't like zombie movies? It's such a creepy idea. One appealing to a primitive fear: the return of the dead. Unfortunately this one is a late bloomer; and too little, too late, to make it worth your time. It's a "horror comedy" and runs about 1hr 20mins --or so-- and doesn't really get going until close to an hour in. Nothing much happens before then. The man, suspecting something is going on with his pile of stinking dead bodies (Maybe he saw one move?), sets up a camera in the crematorium to confirm his suspicions. There is 1 minor zombie incidents involving a SINGLE zombie within the space of the first 53 mins, or so, of this movie.

Filling the afore mentioned void are the antics of weed smoking employees and a visit from the man's brother (Jeffery Combs) who needs mucho dinero and who thinks his brother is bats when he tells him about what's going on in the funeral home. He wastes no time getting on his mobile pronto with his lawyer to get the wheels rolling for his brother's certification so he can sell the place and collect said dinero. Sara Palin is parodied in the movie and appears on TV in it. Later, in the better part of the movie (the last 25mins or so), she makes an appearance at the funeral home. I think 4 stars is very generous. Do you want to see a 4 star (or less) out of 10 movie? Your choice. Love, Boloxxxi.

I must say that I was rather excited when I first saw the information about this movie being in the making and I was anxiously awaiting it. Why? Well first of all, I am a huge fan of zombies and "Night of the Living Dead" is the groundbreaking milestone within the genre. Plus it also have Jeffrey Combs on the list of cast, and I admire his work in the horror genre.

Having seen the movie, I sit here somewhat baffled. I have a terrible sensation of having been disappointed and cheated out of something grand. Perhaps I just had way too high expectations for this movie, because it fell short of delivering anything that I was expecting.

I wonder why the movie got the title that it did, because it really didn't have much to do with the original "Night of the Living Dead" movie, except for tossing the occasional reference that true zombie fans will pick up on. Sure, it was taking place at the same location, but in overall, this movie might as well just had been titled "Re-Animation", because it didn't really bring enough with it to be worthy of a place in the Romero series.

Storywise, "Night of the Living Dead: Re-Animation" didn't really offer much of a solid story to hold on to. There was given a very vague explanation to the cause of the zombie outbreak, but it wasn't a very plausible one, and I didn't buy into it. Plus, I would have liked to seen a more thorough tie-in to the original "Night of the Living Dead" movie. But hey, I had perhaps just too high hopes and expectations for this particular movie.

As for the cast. Well I was thrilled to see Jeffrey Combs in a zombie movie, although I have to say that his performance in this movie is far from his best. A second iconic horror actor, Andrew Divoff, has the lead role in the movie, and he actually does keep the movie afloat. Without him, the movie would have been less than the mediocre result it was.

There wasn't really a lot of zombies in the movie, and the ones that was there had far from enough screen-time, and you hardly got to see any cool zombie make-up and special effects. Which was a major disappointment, especially in 2012 where effects and CGI should be almost a household item. And as for gore, well there was very little of that too in "Night of the Living Dead: Re-Animation".

One of the better parts of this movie was the various hints and references to other zombie movies. Some were blunt and in your face, while others were more subtle, leaving it up to real zombie aficionados to locate and point them out.

Oh, and you just got to love the scene where Gerald Tovar, Jr. is shooting zombies in the crematorium with the shotgun. Classic Hollywood moment there, as he doesn't reload, and the shotgun fires off way over 20 shots. Actually I counted 29 in total, so that was pretty awesome. Hooray for Hollywood firearms.

For a 2012 zombie movie, "Night of the Living Dead: Re-Animation" was a rather dull and mediocre experience. My hopes and expectations for this movie was shut down pretty fast. Having seen it, I am fairly certain that this particular zombie movie is not one that I will be making a second watching of.

This was beyond awful. There is absolutely nothing worthwhile about this film. The tactic of including "Re-Animation" in the title—as if tying it to Re-Animator along with the inclusion of Jeffrey Combs—is nothing but a shameless money grab.

The effects are so bad they can't even be considered "camp". Ridiculous green-screening, choppy transitions between live actor and gaudy special effects dummy take you completely out of what little "moment" they've built up.

Combs is wooden and not at all his usual creepy self. Kinda digging the moustache, but that hardly carries the film.

This is not destined for a cult following of any kind. It's not that kind of bad. Skip it entirely.

Well, where do you start with these types of terrible movies as you can spend all day pulling apart the actors, the script etc? For me, to summarize the whole film in a sentence it would be to say that if the movie didn't have 2012 tag on it I'd have guessed at somewhere in the 1980's such was the poor production, wooden acting and frankly awful dialogue. The only hint it was a 21st century movie was the obvious CGI in it. I mean, in this day and age how can this dross be made. From the opening lines in the movie you knew how bad it was going to be. The laboured and wooden performances, the terrible plot line and the excruciating dialogue that made me blush with embarrassment for the actors themselves. A very poor effort indeed for all concerned.