Dead Alive/Braindead (1992)

Dead Alive/Braindead (1992)

- written February 2000

Lionel isn’t having a very good week. He meets this wonderful girl, Paquita, but his mother is just too overbearing. During a date at the local zoo, his mother ends up following the 2 lovebirds and she gets bit by a Sumatran Rat Monkey. The bite causes not only death but actually living in a zombified state. Unable to allow anyone to see this, Lionel tries to keep a lid on this but his mother must feed: on humans. After the local priest and a few others get bit and die in the same horrible way, Lionel locks them all in his cellar. But Uncle Les stops by to take a look at things and discovers the zombies. After some blackmail, he decides to throw a big party and invites the whole town. But Lionel’s Mom and others must crash the party because they need food. Of course, one bite from these zombies can be fatal and soon Lionel is trying to save himself from the town. Question is, can he save Paqauita too?

Overall: Awesome film that is easily the goriest of all-time. It’s a tremendously entertaining film that shouldn’t be missed. But it’s not for the faint of heart. It can be quite bloody and gross. The scene involving the ear in the pudding always gets me to gag. The scene with Lionel and the baby in the park was actually added at the end and was not originally put into the screenplay. The film came in under budget and so they spent it. This scene totally is important and definitely classic comedy. But it’s not just the jokes that make the film great, it’s they way they are used. It’s what Lionel does to protect his mother, it’s the absurdity of the situations and finally, it’s the dialogue (see video below). An enjoyable film. If you do see the film, try and get the 104 minute version. Anything less in terms of time, is missing the scenes listed below.

- Differences between British Braindead (uncut) and the unrated American Dead Alive include:

• Braindead opens with a closeup of the New Zealand flag, which then changes to the Queen riding accross a courtyard, finishing with a close up her on horseback. God Save The Queen is playing in the background. The opening sequence in Sumatra that begins Dead Alive follows.

• After Lionel agrees to let Les have the money and the house, we see the music for the party get turned on and Void breaking free from his bonds. In Braindead a party guest lets Void out of the basement, and for his trouble gets head butted.

• During the party Void enters the living room and attacks a guest. Lionel intervenes by hitting Void around the head with a Jack Daniels bottle and then pours the contents down Voids throat.

• After the Zombies have been let out of the basement, there is a short sequence where a guest with glasses is chased around a room by 2 zombies before he is finally caught and bitten. (In Dead Alive you can see the very end of this sequence just before the camera switches to Paquita stabbing a bag of tomatoes in the airing cupboard.)

• After Lionel has bitten through the intestine and falls onto a zombies head, in Dead Alive we move onto Les killing zombie by "rolling" it to death in a clothes press. In Braindead Lionel is confronted by the vicar & nurse zombies who impale each other on a pitch fork and continue to have sex.

• In Braindead there is approximately 16 seconds of extra gore in the lawnmower sequence where we see Lionel hack up numerous zombies, see the demise of the vicar and the nurse (whilst still in the middle of making love) and see Lional kicking body parts towards Paquita to be put into the food mixer.

• Just before Lionel makes his entrance with the lawnmower, Paquita and friend (the one with glasses) are attacked by Voids legs (cut off in the bathroom scene) and a horde of zombies. Paquita and the girl grab a leg each and rip them apart. They then use these limbs to attack any zombie that comes near them.

• In the original New Zealand release when the zombie baby first appears it attacks Lionel but is unsuccessful as its umbilical cord gets caught up on a nail. This scene is not present in the unrated American version.

Comparison: Night of the Living Dead meets The Simpsons

Links to other sites at The Sinning Room

30 Second Dead Alive WMV

Horror Films A-K Review Page

Horror Films Review Page