Customer Reviews

The Dead Next Door (Collector's Edition) [VHS]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I bought The Dead Next door because I love zombie movies. Dawn of the Dead is my favorite horror film of all times and I like to hunt down other rare zombie films. If you thought Night of the Living Dead was a low budget film, wait till you get a load of The Dead Next Door. This is perhaps the most low budget film I have ever seen, yet it impressed me. I first watched it with a group of my friends, and we had a great time. The credits to the film are real cheesy, but if you can get through that, the film turns out pretty good. The story has enough plot for ten zombie films and the gore F/X are excellent for it's budget. The picture quality is a let down, but you can get past that by image controls on your television. The acting is so horrendous that it made all my friends laugh their heads off, adding to the fun of the film. Overall, it is absolutly amazing what 19 year old director J.R. Bookwalter was able to accomplish with a shoe string budget. Any zombie fan should hunt this rare title down.

I laughed, I cried, and in the end, I learned a little bit more about myself. The Dead Next Door is a heartwarming tale of a boy and his dog. In this case, the boy is Zombie Patrol 205 and the dog is everything else. The movie seems to revolve around a yellow hat which has taken control of a scientist's mind, driving him insane with lust and power. A motley crew of zombie hunting mercenaries are at the mercy of the yellow hat's whims and fancies. The movie reached its climax eight minutes in when the unfortunate zombie hunters sat back and enjoyed watching Evil Dead in the lounge. Cult icon, Bruce Campbell, is involved in the sound for some reason, yet makes no appearance in the movie causing most viewers spontaneous hives. The movie took an unfortunate downward spiral when the bastardized human zombie cop stole the maniacal yellow hat, but did not put it on his head. The movie has a stellar sing-a-long soundtrack rivaled only by The Little Mermaid and The Sound of Music. The random dubbed insertion of "Damn it" seemed nothing more than a flimsy ploy to distract viewers from what is nothing short of a Shakespearean script. My personal favorite part of the movie was when Terri screamed at the sight of a sudden onslaught of zombies. I have one major criticism with this film other than the fact that Zombie Patrol 205's cumulative IQ is less than 205, and that is ZOMBIES CAN'T RUN! Everyone knows this and the sight of running zombies seemed more like a dream sequence than reality. Kudos to the set designers for a magnificent pine zombie cage. Why the ingenious alien yellow hat would order its minion scientist to hide in this flimsy cage is beyond me. Still it made for bone-tingling thrills watching the bastardized zombie cop threaten to eat the yellow hat symbiotic slave's tongue. I am eagerly looking forward to the exciting sequel Yellow Hat Strikes Back. Hopefully this time the hat will find its way onto the head of my hero Bruce Campbell. "Hail to the king, baby!"

Sometimes things get better with age - wine, cheese... zombie movies. Although I'd never seen THE DEAD NEXT DOOR (or even heard of it, actually) until now - it's still a good zombie film... so good in fact that it almost knocks a lot of current zombie films off their soap boxes. While it can't touch SHAUN OF THE DEAD, although both films share the same obsessive love when it comes to zombie films, it does leave the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake in the dust... more violent, more fun, more in tune with the times (which is itself strange since this film was made in 1986) it packs punch after punch, most of which hit their target.

Granted the budget was low, and most of the money went into the zombie effects (good call) and the acting ranges from "not bad" to "please, please - somebody stop him/her" and the film itself looks as cheap as only Super-8 can look - it actually all adds up to something like gravity and atmosphere that helps to ground THE DEAD NEXT DOOR and gives it some of its power. While the story runs from right to left, it does take some time for a few twists and turns and ends on a highly promising (but downbeat) note. You can see all the parts in this film - from using all the famous names (and famous titles and famous clips from other undead/zombie films), from directors to SFX wizards - to using setups and payoffs of all the zombie films that have come before it. It's a film of parts, of moments, of gags and reflexes that now have become the LAWS of zombie films... and while we can see the jumps and surprises a mile off, it does not lessen the impact of the film. There are flashes of the original here, touches of creativity, and some outright gory SFX (and one all natural man made effect that truly is one of the grossest moments of the film - when it happens you'll know).

This edition comes with all the bells and whistles - touched up print (which looks very nice), commentary (which is fast, funny and informative - great stuff here) and more, more, more - so much more that again, like a lot of zombie films released on DVD, it blows them away. Love and a lot of sweat went into making this the best edition possible for this film.

Those too new to the zombie genre will find THE DEAD NEXT DOOR a bit hard to take - the jokes will fall flat, and while the gore is top notch, clever and wildy camp, the lack of MTV editing, pop tunes, slow motion, jerky fast motion, running zombies and catch phrases will leave more than a few wondering just what all the fuss is about... while those who've been along for the ride for the long haul time will find a lot here to laugh at and chew over.

THE DEAD NEXT DOOR works - and it's worth watching, owning and turning all the newbies on to.

This is Bookwalter's famous homage to Romero's DEAD trilogy. DND takes basic elements of NIGHT, DAWN and DAY (in particular the last two) and adapts them to fit a slightly altered mythos. It is hard to really criticise such a momentous achievement in low-budget filmmaking -- 1,500 extras, 4 years in production -- the sheer determination to make such an epic for so little is praiseworthy enough but to have actually achieved something of this standard is incredible. The bottom line is, of course, that without this movie I very much doubt the scene would be as vibrant as it is. Anyone who says that THE DEAD NEXT DOOR is not a belting effort (in my opinion better than 90% of the much-loved Italian zombie output) should be very wary before they show anyone their own little horror movie or even say those fateful words 'I could do better!'

When you consider all the mega-budgetted turds that roll out of hollywood, it's refreshing to see a micro-budget movie like THE DEAD NEXT DOOR. No, there aren't any computer graphics, super-stars, or grammy-ready show-tunes to be found. However, this movie is an obvious labor of love and a tribute to all things dead and shambling. Made in Akron, Ohio in 1985 on super 8 film (!!) by a bunch of teenagers, this project could have been infinitely worse (check out the Milpitus Monster sometime). Instead, it's quite watchable, w/ a few actual flashes of brilliance! Backed financially by Sam Raimi himself, TDND is enjoyable throughout, never trying to be anything more than 78 minutes of gruesome, blood-squirting entertainment. The whole Jim Jones-like / living dead worshipping cult idea was original in '85. Sure, the acting is stiff and the dialogue hilarious, yet TDND is a good effort by the wide-eyed kids who created it! I'd choose this movie over most of hollywood's sequels, prequels, and remakes any day...

....as I did. Now let me say one thing b4 I get started ,dont, I repeat do not expect some great plot, cause there isnt, this is also a very low budget flick shot on an awesome 8MM film, well awesome as it works with this film. There is a plot but it doesnt get into much detail.This film only runs 70 minutes long.

This movie rely's on basically large amounts of violence, Gore, tons of Zombies,lots of blood, and plenty of Zombies feasting on humans. And for that this film is awesome. Eery Zombie film fanatic will like this, as not many low budget Zombie flicks rely on plot more or less violence, well in some cases.

The make-up on the zombies happens to be very well done, the acting is ok shockingly not as bad as I would have thought.

Bsically I brought this with never see'ing it and , it was a given to basically have. I brought it and was quit surprised. The element that I love is that there are Zombies constantly and plenty of Zombies and Zombie violence,true Zombie flick and classic at that. So for all you Zombie fans out there who never seen this get it, it is a must for any hardcore Zombie collector to have and being that I have just about 40-50 Zombie flicks I have seen them from huge budgets ( Land of the Dead ) to mediocre budgets ( Shaun of the Dead,Dawn of the Dead 1978,Zombi)low budget it ones like ( Dead Meat, Stink of flesh, Dead next Door). So I can appreciate all types of Zombie flicks and this one is one to love just because of the large amounts of Zombies and like I said Zombie violence this is just a pure Zombie horror. Some other movies I have are ....

1985 Day of the Dead, Zombie Holocaust, Burial Ground, Hell of the Lving Dead, Zombi 2, 2004 Dawn of the Dead,Re-animator,Beyond Re-animator, Return of the Living Dead 1&2, City of the living Dead, Dead Alive etc....

I could go on and on butI have seen them all, and the Dead Next Door is a must to have it it by far is way more violent than any of Romeros flicks and waymore violent than any of Fulcis, this is movie is justone being splatter fest of Zombies getting killed and doing the killing, a must cant go wrong with this . BUY IT.

A virus has accidently been unleashed and changes humans into vicious flesh-eating zombies that begin to attack the nation. The goverment sends out a special zombie killing task squad to elimiate the dead and it's pro-zombie protesters in Ohio where they must try to find out the source of the virus that started it all.

A fun mix of off the wall humor and gory zombie horror with some action! it happens to be the most expensive independent movie shot on Super-8 film ever with 4 years in the making. Produced by Sam Raimi whom is credited as "The Master Cylinder" in the credits, Bruce Campbell does a dub voice over on a couple of actors and stars "Evil Dead 2" co-scripter Scott Spiegel. It has be a cult film that has gained a small following since it was first released on video, fans of the genre will recongize some of the jokes and references to other horror flicks especially Romero's movies, it's a blast.

This special Edition DVD from Anchor Bay contains good picture and sound quality with some cool extras like an audio commentary, trailer, a featurette, behind the scenes still gallery, auditions, deleted scenes, music video, production still gallery, video storyboards and FrightVision 2000 Reunion.

Also recommended: "Re-Animator", "Night of the Living Dead (1968 and 1990)", "Dawn of the Dead (1978)", "Day of the Dead (1985)", "Land of the Dead", "Diary of the Dead", "Planet Terror", "The Stuff", "Shaun of the Dead", "Versus", "Demons", "Night of the Creeps", "Dawn of the Dead (2004)", "The Return of the Living Dead Trilogy", "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (a.k.a. Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue)", "From Dusk Till Dawn", "Dead Alive (a.k.a. Braindead)", "Night of the Comet", "Hell of the Living Dead (a.k.a. Night of the Zombies)", "Zombie (a.k.a. Zombi 2)", "Nightmare City (a.k.a. City of the Walking Dead)", "Grindhouse", "Fido", "Evil Dead 1 & 2", "Phantasm", "Resident Evil Trilogy", "Zombi Holocaust", "Bio-Zombie", "Dead and Buried", "Bad Taste", "City of the Living Dead", "House By The Cemetery" and "The Beyond".

The Dead Next Door is an extremely low budget zombie film that was made by 18 year olds and successfully delivers all the goods. Now yes a lot of the budget went into the gore and special effects, but if you are a fan of zombie films, isn't that what you came for in the first place? The acting isn't top notch and there are a few poorly done moments, but this film is so low budget that they actually work and make it fun to watch. The film was recorded without audio so people had to then do voiceovers. Bruce Campbell actually lent his voice as the main character (even though he didn't get credited). This film has been only available on VHS until now, and it's great to have it on DVD, it's loaded with special features and even has a somewhat pointless music video. There are a few funny moments like in the beginning when the zombie squad shoves a grenade in a zombie's mouth. Once again this movie is very low budget and that is one of the things that make it so entertaining to watch. I myself plan to make a low budget zombie film for my Film Class, and if you're like me, this film will give you the ideas, techniques, and confidence to make your own, that is, if you have the right amount of equipment. Anyways, the movie is really fun to watch, it has a "bad" ending but you really just don't care, and the special effects are great. Ignore what the naysayers have to say, this film may not be the best in the world but it's definitely entertaining, funny at moments, and impressive for just how ridiculously low budget this thing is. What else can I say about this film? Just pop it in, grab some popcorn and some friends, sit back and enjoy.

J.R. Bookwalter's the Dead Next Door was made on an ultra shoe-string budget, and it shows. However, what Bookwalter accomplished (with a little help from an uncredited Sam "Evil Dead" Raimi) is something to behold when you look at the makeup and gore effects alone, which are reason enough to give this a look and put up with the absolutly horrible acting. That's forgiveable enough when you consider that Bookwalter and the cast and crew (most of which were his friends and worked for next to nothing or free) are having a blast during the entire film, in which a zombie killing squad gets in over their heads when they infiltrate a cult with a horde of undead flesh eaters in the basement. The Dead Next Door is a fun zombie romp that's loaded with some memorable scenes, and all these years later it's still better than any recent big budget zombie film (especially the Resident Evil films and the Dawn of the Dead remake). Anchor Bay has once again assembled a great selection of Special Features for a cult classic on DVD, including a great making of and a commentary by Bookwalter. For zombie fans, this is definitely worth picking up.

ok...i love zombies for whatever weird reason, and that's why i bought this. i was disappointed by the horrendous acting, and the script got kinda specious in many places (or amusingly corny, i.e. the "action" lines). however, the gore effects and the general concept were both good. so...i don't regret buying it. however, if you're looking for something that will blow george romero's great trilogy out of the water, you're in the same stranded boat as me: i've found no movies that even prod Dawn of the Dead with a ten-foot pole, and this is no exception. still, this was written, produced, directed and acted in by one guy when he was 19 or thereabouts. that's pretty impressive. in light of that, i'd keep an eye on J.R. Bookwalter, 'cuz if he ever gets a decent budget behind him, i bet he could make a really good movie (or several).