The Dead Next Door 1988

This is a little breather in between all the slasher films I've referred to during this little stint as a 'blogger'. I DO feel accepted now. I DO feel loved, and in some respects, I DO see the light. But, I don't think it's the blog within itself that's the big draw, but for simple fact that it's an easy, simple way to put your thoughts on your own website. Blogger.com does all the web work for you. All you have to do is come up with the content. Too bad that 80% of the blogs out there are entertainment related. Makes it hard to come up with your own niche' if your wants for a blog warrants those expertise.

Dead Next Door is one of those zombie lover needles in a haystack. You've played in the hay a thousand times, but then the needle ends up sticking you in the ass. This is one of those occasions that you just wanna go out and blow all your money on beer and pot, grab a few buddies and have a riot.

First off, this little gem took almost four years to fully complete. (Production actually beginning in 1984 IIRC) JR. Bookwalter, for those of you who don't know, is somewhat of a low budget guru in the cult film industry. He started his snit as a director, with this film being his most well known, but later went into the field of actually producing low budget horror films such as, Skinned Alive and Ozone (which he also directed, just to name a few.)

I've got loads of respect for Bookwalter. I've actually conversed with the guy on more than one occasion and he's one of the most down to earth guys you'll ever meet. Unlike some people, just because I like the guy, and respect him for the dedication it took to make this film, I'm not going to give it a biased review. It indeed has it's flaws (especially if your cursed with a non remastered vhs copy) and is obviously a poor mans Dawn of the Dead.

Shying away from any further talk on Bookwalter or any of his cool production team, The DeadNext Door is somewhat of an enigma. There's loads of zany gore, goofy characters, and so many in your face Dawn of the Dead and Evil Dead references that it isn't even funny. It's obvious Bookwalter was, and still is a big fan of 'DOTD' and The Evil Dead. He goes so far as to prove his love for the films that during the opening scene, we have some zombies throwing down Creepshow, The Evil Dead,.Dawn of the Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the counter in a Man and Pa videostore, just before devouring the clerk. All the fanboy worship could have been strenuous, making some people despise the film simply for those reasons, but for some reason or another, it actually works here.

We jump ahead two years. The zombies have pretty much taken over things - invading residences and well stocked homes and shelters, tearing them to bits in a zany comic book fashion. There's a group of police officer's turned Zombie Squad who's job is to go out daily and kill as many zombies as they can. With this premise, you know that there's something a little different. By this short time, the whole feel to the movie brings a very homely and welcomed familiarity along with the normal actors and settings. You even have a bunch of red neck zombie killers all balled up into one room watching The Evil Dead on an old television set, sort of taking notes on how to deal with the zombie outbreak.

It seems as if the Zombie Squad aren't the only ones rounding up zombies. A crazed religious cult are rounding them up for ceremonial purposes, giving them human sacrifices to devour. This is not your average zombie film, folks. Aside from all the Dawn of the Dead and Evil Dead references, this is one of the most original horror/zombie films ever made. I have the Anchor Bay version which is remarkably remastered aside from its counterpart, the old shoddy video. Even in the Anchor Bay version, you can see some grain in places, but considering the shape of the original print, it's a miracle we got what we get.

In some ways, I prefer the grain, but the original print was so bad that there's still that old horror movie feel to it, even behind all the digital renovations that have been done to it.

Religious cults, a crazed scientist who wears a yellow white ball cap, zombies walking on the White House Lawn (this could never be done today), zombies singing the American anthem by the help of our deranged scientist (Day of the Dead anyone?), a reanimated cop corpse who's one of the coolest mofo's you'll ever see, car kills, zombie massacres, head's exploding, arms being eaten, guts being ripped out....I could go on and on . All this (and more) make up the wonderful low budget entertainer, The Dead Next Door.