Live Undead (1991)

Live Undead (1991) - United States

Directed by: Mark Demise

ABOUT THE FILM:

As much as I love German splatter, sometimes I like to kick back and put on a good ol' shot-on-video crapfest. Today's subject is Live Undead, a short film from independent filmmaker/musician Mark Demise.

Live Undead tells the story of two teenage misfits who commit suicide together after being faced with the many troubles of life. They are later resurrected by their friend who happens to be a spawn of Satan, who then appoints them to go on a killing rampage to get revenge on those who have troubled them, resulting in a fun 22-minute lo-fi gory romp.

REVIEW:

Live Undead is a literal backyard production. Mark Demise made it with a bunch of his friends from school in early 1991, when they were only in the 8th grade. For such a movie made by kids, this one was a lot of fun, with hilariously bad acting and lovably cheap gore effects. You get such goodies as kills with lawnmowers, pickaxes, hedge-clipper castrations, fog machines galore, "demons" donning black metal-esque corpsepaint and satanic rituals. The soundtrack is comprised of stolen hard rock and metal tracks, namely from Megadeth, Slayer and King Diamond. 

Live Undead is the perfect example of a movie made by kids. This movie is not pretentious and doesn't exist to tell some great message. It was made by kids for fun, to entertain no one but themselves, although nowadays, a title like this could largely appeal to fans of zero-budget schlock. According to Mr. Demise, when he would make films in middle school, him and his friends would sneak the tapes to school and watch them on the TVs in gym class, which is part of the teenage movie-making spirit. When I made movies in middle-school, I used to make copies and swap them around to all of my friends. I would also screen them at school at any given opportunity.

Live Undead is far, far, far from being a masterpiece, but it's just a lot of fun and I can certainly recommend it to fans of shot-on-video schlock.

RELEASES: 

-The film was released on VHS under Mark's label Atomic Crypt Video and can be ordered directly from him here. The only extra is a trailer for a lost Mark Demise film called 7th Grade Slasher.