Vengeance Of The Dead [2001] [DVD]

VENGENCE OF THE DEAD

You know I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Charles Band and his FULL MOON production company. And when I first had seen this movie at blockbuster [were I bought this movie] I could not help myself when I noticed the Full Moon logo on the back, I had to have it. Once I got home and had the chance to see it, I didn't. for some reason I put it on the shelve and that is were it stayed for about a year. I have no idea why that happened but I did not view this film for a while. Then one day there it was right in my face and I realized "wow why don't I remember seeing that". So I grabbed my girl popped the popcorn and was ready for my Full Moon experience. What followed was no were near what I expected.

I was expecting the great low budget over the top b movie madness that Mr. Band and crew were known for. What I got was a film that was much better then expected and to my surprise had nothing to do with zombies. The film is all about a young man who comes to visit his Grandfather and ends up having dreams about a dead family that had once lived in that house. From here he goes on to a sleep killing [sleep walking is how he gets around] spree to avenge the deaths of these visions, one of which is in love with him. Now I know you are saying to your self "how is not over the top b movie madness", the answer is that this film takes it self seriously compared to a lot of the other Full Moon releases [to be fair there are good serious films from Full Moon].

Michael Galvin portrays the grandson Eric well and is some what believable as a sleep walking arsonist. But I would say that it is Mark Vollmers who is the over all best actor in this film. The rest of the cast are good in their roles, whether it is victims, the ghosts, or just towns people, every body does a good job. Writer/director/producers Don Adams [who co wrote "SPECK" which is another Full Moon distributed film I have reviewed] and Harry James Picardi came up with a very original film that while not a classic film is still a decent enough film that fans of this genre will enjoy. There is to my surprise a good audio commentary provided by Don that gives good insight into this film. And also by the way this film was released by Full Moon Releasing and was executive produced by Charles Band.

Over all this is a pretty good movie if you give it a chance, I thought it was ok even though it all started because of a spoon. I like the story Don tells on the commentary about how him and Harry got hired to work for Full Moon. Also even if you didn't like the film watch it again with the commentary, Don is great on it and gives a lot of info on how to make a low budget independent film. The commentary alone gets 5 stars.

I picked this movie up at a local video rental store for $9.99. WHAT A WASTE! The copy I picked up had no artwork so I couldn't read what it was about, I bought it solely based on the title. I shouldn't have done that...

The movie is as follows, Im not going to go into too much detail because its not that interesting.

A kid goes for a visit to his grandfather and stumbles upon an old spoon (Yes, a spoon) in a pile of rumble near his house, he brings it back to the house, cleans it up and finds some writing on it. Since, bringing it back to the house he starts dreaming of a ghost, first appearing as a little girl, then as an older woman. Soon after he starts sleepwalking and murdering people by lighting them on fire. *Yawn*

I have several complaints about this movie.

1. There's very few killings in this movie, and everybody dies by being lit on fire, which means no blood.

2. The movie seems to drag on and on, even though the runtime is 72 minutes, and most of the movie is a sleeper.

3. The only possible reason this movie is rated R, is because there is a naked woman shower scene and a "wet dream" scene. Its definitely not rated R because of the "horror" element.

4. The movie has a lame ending, and too many dream sequences that could put you sleep.

Overall, this is a crapper. No blood, long boring scenes throughout the movie, and rated R for the wrong reasons! Don't waste your money like I did.

I have no idea how good the movie is, but the music by Graphic Nature was great!