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.

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.

In Hinzmaville, the mortician Gerald Tovar Jr. (Andrew Divoff) has inherited the mortuary Tovar & Son after the death of his father. Gerald is not happy with the work of his assistant DyeAnne (Robin Sydney) and his Aunt Lou (Melissa Bailey) hires Cristie Forrest (Sarah Lieving) to be the substitute for DyeAnne.

When Gerald's brother, Harold (Jeffrey Combs), visits him, Gerald discloses to Harold that the corpses delivered by the U.S. Army are reanimating and he shows the crematory to him full of bodies and body parts. The skeptical Gerald believes that his brother is insane and leaves the place. However, Aunt Lou opens the door and is bitten by a zombie, beginning an outbreak in the mortuary.

"Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation" has just been released on straight on DVD in Brazil and I was excited with the expectations of a great zombie movie with Jeffrey Combs to entertain during the interruption of "The Walking Dead". Unfortunately, despite the reasonable special effects and make-up, the story is lame and stupid, with a shotgun that does not need to reload and a ridiculous conclusion. Therefore this Z-movie does not work. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Noite dos Mortos Vivos: Re-Animação" ("Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation")

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.

With a title like this what could probably go wrong? And with two horror icons as main lead what can go wrong? What a great title, Night Of The Living Dead surely will attract horror and zombie geeks. And face it, Re-animator also is a big teaser. This is great.

Sadly the title is the only thing that is great. The acting by Andrew Divoff (Wishmaster) and Jeffrey Combs (Re-animator) was for me okay but the script itself had nothing to offer. There are here and there a few killings that are nice to see like the bashing of a head but most of the effects are pure cheap CGI. Just see for example one zombie being hit with acid, how stupid that CGI effect was. But it is really the story itself, there's too much of talking and there isn't anything happening. The zombies itself did look great in the beginning and looked gory and nasty but once the horde comes alive in the cellar it's as stupid as it good be. No effects or make-up. They did add some funny notes towards the geeks with referring to the Pittsburg outbreak in 1968 and the Romero zombies in the cellar.

On the other hand the scene were they are tripping do offers some necrophilia by Dyeanne (Robin Sydney) but again it is really a let down. I knew Robin from Wicked Lake (2008) and there she shows that she isn't afraid to show some flesh but here it's just a underwear girl sitting a top a zombie.

Jeff Broadstreet, the director, should have known better with already one NOTLD remake on his list, the 3D flop with Sid Haig. It is really weird with those two icons that they couldn't save this terrible flick, even familiar faces like Sarah Lieving (Cristie Forest) and Robin Sydney couldn't add anything towards this turkey.

Still, it will sell due the icons and due the title but be warned that when you see Jeff's name on the list to leave it as it is. This is a perfect example how a title can sell a bad flick.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5