Customer Reviews

Shatter Dead

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

Yippy! A new zombie film! I'm always up for another terror filled two hours of flesh ripping, blood soaked mayhem and madness. Isn't everyone? Well, you won't be after watching "Shatter Dead." I think I've made the following point several times before, but I'm going to repeat it again for those unfortunate souls unaware of how important it is. "Shatter Dead" carries the dreaded Sub Rosa imprint, and if you don't know what that means you could be in a heap of trouble. Sub Rosa only distributes the absolute worst films on DVD; atrocious, lower than low budget shot on video dreck that barely classifies as film. With the exception of one or two DVDs, everything I have had the misfortune to watch from Sub Rosa reeks in the worst way possible. And one of the worst is Scooter McCrae's "Shatter Dead." Actually, I should have known before renting this one that I was in for a disaster. One of my college professors, a self-admitted horror aficionado, declared this movie one of the worst he's ever seen. Since this scholar is one of the smarter professors I encountered during my school career, I knew he wasn't exaggerating. Nonetheless, as a lover of bad movies I plunged ahead anyway. I've no one to blame but myself. Don't make the same mistake.

"Shatter Dead" tries to come up with a new, winning formula for the crowded zombie genre by introducing us to a world where a plague's ravages lead to a most unusual event. Anyone who dies doesn't die, but ends up wondering around the blasted streets of a decaying world just like the living do. In fact, it's hard to tell who is dead and who isn't unless they the deceased have visible marks on their bodies. Enter into this horrific world Susan (Stark Raven), a woman who prefers to stay alive. She spends most of her time ambling around city streets or driving through the countryside in an effort to get back to her boyfriend. Along the way she encounters a lot of annoying dead people who want money from her. Since she possesses firearms, she ends up shooting a lot of these "zombies" even though doing so won't have long lasting consequences. Susan ends up in some halfway house where she meets a living dead girl (Sorry, Jean Rollin) who takes a shine to her. That's before a group of zany nuts, one of whom looks like Howard Stern in tights, launches a home invasion and blows away a bunch of people. But hey! Before all that happened Susan took a shower with this zombie! Sounds great, doesn't it? That's because you haven't seen Stark Raven.

Anyway, the movie also introduces us to some weird guy known as the Preacher Man (Robert Wells), a bloke that essentially stumbles around spouting a bunch of apocalyptic mumbo jumbo in a stilted, staccato style that will numb your brain if you listen to it for more than a minute. I'm still mystified as to what his role meant in the larger context of the film. Was he on the zombies' side? I think so, but I refuse to mull over his importance any longer since it's an exercise in futility anyway. Eventually, after much gnashing of teeth and beating of chest on my part, Susan finds her boyfriend. Then she discovers that the yutz killed himself and is now one of the living dead. What follows confuses the viewer even more: endless rounds of inane chatter between the boyfriend and Susan, a nasty scene involving a handgun (yuck), and a completely banal ending that left me insensate on my couch for hours afterwards. "Shatter Dead" does succeed in one important way: doctors discovered that this movie induces a deep, and often irreversible coma, in anyone unfortunate enough to watch it. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering a law labeling McCrae's film a public health hazard equivalent to eating lead tainted paint chips.

Oh, where to start with the travesty that is "Shatter Dead"! Arguably the biggest problem is Stark Raven in the lead role of Susan. I hate to denigrate her looks, but the woman left me feeling cold and disconnected. She's unpleasant looking in the extreme, hardly the sort of lead a filmmaker would willingly choose to serve as the centerpiece of his production. Her acting skills, if I dare put those two words together, leave a lot to be desired. A bag of hammers can express themselves better than this woman does. Of course, the dull script doesn't help her out much. Nor do the special effects, which are on par with what you might see in a kindergarten after school production. I think it's safe to say that we all expect a gory experience when we watch a zombie film, even when the production suffers under budgetary restraints. Brian Clement's "Meat Market," another Sub Rosa pick of the week, succeeded in working up some effective gore. Why "Shatter Dead" failed to do so is a question for the ages, and I for one am trying to quit asking because I don't want to think about this atrocity any longer.

The DVD comes packed with extras and a really annoying thing I've rarely seen on other discs. Every time you skate around the menu screens, a lengthy bit of the film runs before letting you access the features. This little trick soon becomes massively annoying as you can't skip through it and thus must wait for the clip to run to its end before moving ahead. I ended up just skipping the extras and watching the film. Frankly, I could care less about the extras after watching this sludge. Don't pay a whit of attention to anyone who hypes this movie; I can direct you to dozens of other zombie films far better than this one.

I wish I could recommend this film. I honestly like low budget wacky films but SHATTER DEAD is simply uninspired and hugely unlikeable. I thought I was going to get a "Jess Franco Lite" film from the description on the sleeve. Hoo-boy, was I wrong!

From the looks of things, this would appear to be one of those films that the cast had a great time making. Unfortunately, none of that fun translates to the audience through the actual movie. The script is so heavily pun riddled that the director must have considered himself to be an evil genius - it's just that remarkably pretentious. And nobody likes a pretentious horror/schlock film.

You have a plot (the dead won't die) that isn't very new or inspired and it never really develops into anything beyond stating the this is the plot.

Nothing interesting ever happens. It starts. It goes on. It ends. Unfortunately...not soon enough.

It's not even a worthwhile time-waster. Go watch some real Jess Franco films instead and at least grovel in your guilty pleasures and enjoy yourself.

I originally got the VHS version of this after reading about this movie in Fangoria almost ten years ago. I was interested in filmmaking and horror so I checked it out. The video look was very hard to digest and to be honest I couldnt get past it enough to even see what the director/writer Scooter McCrae was trying to say. My filmmaking aspirations died shortly after due to economics and emotional immaturity.
Years later my interest was rekindled due to a number of factors(digital technology, mundanity of the working world) and I revisited the movie. I finally got what Scooter was trying to get at and what went into the production.
This movie is intelligent and extremely nihilistic. The heroine is attractive and has these expressive eyes that convey the anger, weariness, and hope she has to return to her boyfriend. The carnage is almost cartoon like and hopeless. No one will ever die again no matter how mangled they are. Truly hell on earth!! Shatter Dead is not an escapist or popcorn flick, its also not pretentious or artsy. Its a satisfying experience that is almost an anti-movie. Its understandable that few would enjoy this but those few exist and should get this.
Oh yeah and for all those who say "I coulda shot a better movie than this with a camcorder and my friends" why not try? Youll see the planning, equipment, and execution of shooting rather difficult and challenging. Ive seen too many good SOV flicks to rip on someones format choice. Also recommend: At Dawn They Sleep and Meat Market.

Well, there isn't much more I can say about this that hasn't been covered by the other reviewers. I feel I'd better put in my two cents since I just watched this a few hours ago, and it's still fresh. I live for low budget horror films, and I usually support them all the way. I really do hate to say this, but sometimes the budget can have a direct impact on the film. This film had a decent idea going for it, but maybe Scooter should have saved Shatter Dead for his third film, where he could have done more with his idea, coz the price of this dvd is most likely higher than the budget to make the film. Ya see, in the land of horror films, there is low budget and LOW BUDGET-I mean a budget so low that the film automatically falls into the category of comedy. You're on guard immediately after the film starts because it has that camcorder-ish/soap opera/public access television look to it. To me, that eliminates any potential scares the film might have. Naturally, the "actors" are terrible(probably just buddies and lovers of the crew). You get many nude shots of the very unattractive leading lady, perhaps done to add to the horror of the film. The gore is nothing short of laughable, and I mean LAUGHABLE(see the birth scene to see what I mean by this). The plot? An interesting twist on the whole "living dead" formula, where the "zombies" aren't mindless, stumbling flesh eating machines, but more like a second class citizen. They're looked upon as a nuisance that must be eliminated even though they really don't seem to do much other than steal cars and gasoline. Religious zealots work both sides, some defending the undead and some encouraging their destruction. These ideas are merely touched down on and not given any real depth. The film focuses on one woman on her journey to her lover's house and getting caught up in little undead delays along the way. It all ends tragically shortly after she reaches her destination. Again, I hate to dump on the kind of film I normally love, but not every D-movie can be a good one. I haven't lost faith in Scooter McRae however, coz I think he had a good idea, and you can tell this was a labor of love for him. But, it was a true case of imagination being limited only by budget. Better luck next time.

I wanted to give a different opinion since several reviews were negative.

Shatter Dead is NOT a zombie movie like the Romero movies or 28 Days Later or the Dawn remake. All those are GREAT movies, but this one is different.

This is an artsy movie. The opening segment supposedly explains things, but if I hadn't read the box, I wouldn't have understood. Don't expect horror. Expect creepiness and bizarre stuff, but I don't think anything in this acually scared me.

Why four stars? It's weird. And weird like too many bigger-budget films are not willing to be. I recommend it.

"I'm a die-hard zombie fan," you tell yourself, "I thrive on low budget."

Not this low of a budget.

"Looks like it was handmade in my backyard with a bunch of 'actors' who can't even stand around convincingly? That sounds cool!"

Trust me, you'd think so, but not really.

SHATTER DEAD is a thing of torture for the zombie film fanatic. On one hand, you've got a great idea - something to breathe new life into the genre. On the other hand, this is SO low budget, you'll never get past the first thirty minutes. And if you do, you'll never watch it again.

As you know by now if you've read up on this flick, the zombies in SHATTER DEAD are not menacing, mindless monsters, just second-class citizens who don't stop moving after they die. Lead "actress" Stark Raven is a zombie-hating living human on a quest to get back to her boyfriend whilst shooting (and showering with) zombies along the way. If only it was a better film.

Once she reaches her boyfriend, he's already slashed his wrists and joined the undead (why would anyone attempt suicide if it was well-known you wouldn't die?) - and so she's stuck in a conundrum - one that isn't solved until she straps a pistol to his groin and makes gross, hardcore love to it. Enough to make you buy the movie? Not after you've seen it.

SHATTER DEAD is an incredible idea rendered absolutely unredeemable by poor production, abysmal acting, and indulgent, extraneous scenes like that described above. Sure, we zombie fans love a little useless nudity - demand it, even - but this is just useless. Still, I can't say "don't buy this film," because it has to be seen to be believed and if you've made it this far, I won't be able to change your mind anyway.

The other day i saw this movie sitting on the shelf. It looked kind of cool, so i bought it. After watching the movie i decided that i would rather be punched in the face for 82 minutes than watch this movie again. For 3 reasons......1. The video quality is at its lowest, it looks like it was filmed with a VHS-C camera. 2. The zombies in the movie are pointless, they basically play the parts of hobos. 3. The story is rediculouse, and so is the acting.


Bottom Line: DONT BUY THIS MOVIE!

What was I thinking?! Whatever you do, do not get this film. I really shouldn't call this a film. It's like a home shot video, from someone who has never seen a movie before! I watched the first 4 minutes and fast forwarded thru the rest looking for something, anything to make my purchase worthwhile, alas, I was sorely disappointed. In case you missed my earlier rant...Do Not Get This Film!!!

I'm the biggest zombie movie fan ever and i also love a good ... movie, but this film fails in both respects. It's not even funny bad, just annoying and so low budget, the film looks like a home movie. And if this doesn't scare u away from the film, i think the fact that the zombies talk and beg for change on the street might keep zombie fans away. A huge waste of money.

I read about this long ago in fangoria magazine.they said it was great,they were wrooooooong.I love low budget movies that have style or story,this flick has nothing.It does have lots of nudity by some people who honestly do not need to be flashing there stuff.you would be better off renting a dumb b movie than ...this.