Dead Alive Movie Review

     "Dead Alive" is the story of a simple man, the lonely, downbeat Lionel. Lionel is bound by an entirely different ball and chain, his oppressive mother. Mum is the demanding sort, always requesting Lionel to clean up for her and every area of the house in preparation for the constant presence of Mum’s political focus group, the WLWL. However, love finds Lionel in the form of meek Pacquita, a shopgirl who is smitten when he trips into her store one day.

     Unfortunately, Mum is none too pleased when she hears that he is out on a date with the lovely lady. She follows them to the zoo, where she is bitten by a vicious, possessed Sumatran rat monkey. Frightened and angry, she rushes herself and Lionel back home. By the next morning, her body is slowly decomposing, bits and pieces of her flailing about. It soon becomes clear that the bite has given her a hunger for human flesh.

     As Lionel struggles with this discovery, he soon realizes that he will have to care for his flesh snacking mother even more, doting on her every flesh rip. Soon, it is unavoidable as she is ripping the flesh of any bystander, benign or otherwise, amassing a bloodthirsty army of zombies eager to dine on flesh.

     It is at this point where "Dead Alive" distances itself from zombie flicks both homegrown, as in Cronenberg’s "Rabid", and epic, in the vein (no pun intended) of "Dawn of the Dead." Using perverse humor, grotesque, gruesome slapstick and a goofball lead performance by Timothy Balme, "Dead Alive" achieves the unthinkable: it tops every zombie picture ever made.

     I must segueway from this review simply because I cannot extol the virtues of this film enough. I don’t think people understand when I say this quite simply may be the GREATEST FUCKING MOVIE EVER!!! Each action set piece tops the next until we are treated to the film’s final third, a gloriously no-holds barred explosion of guts and gore previously unseen by anyone on the screen. The final third of this film will have your eyeballs hanging from their sockets. It’s preposterously funny, like watching a fast forward version of the goriest unmade installment in the "Evil Dead" series, over and over again, each second.

     There are films available in the mainstream that feature tons of blood. "Ichi the Killer" features bodies cut in half. "Evil Dead" features eyeballs being annihilated. The "Guinea Pig" films feature listless dismemberment. But none of these films reach the delirious heights of, quite simply, the bloodiest film anyone will ever make. Unbelievable, hilarious and stunning, "Dead Alive" can lay claim to this title as well: possibly the most kickass movie Peter Jackson, the Oscar nominated director of "Lord of the Rings," will EVER MAKE

Editors Note: Written by Gabe Toro, many thanks, outstanding review as always!