Video Dead Movie Review (1987)

I know zombie movies are a dime a dozen, but I am really surprised 'The Video Dead' is so grossly overlooked and neglected in the conversation of standouts in the genre. The makeup and visual effects are top notch and the story itself is pretty interesting and doesn't fall into the category of another zombie outbreak due to a virus, radiation or even voodoo. Here, the zombies already exist and we are not explicitly given a backstory to their existence, leaving it to the viewer's imagination.

So what makes these walking dead so special? Well, they're contained within a television that acts as a gateway from their world to ours. Unfortunately, this television was delivered to a home instead of the Institute for the Studies of the Occult and from there they escape and wreak havoc. They end up killing the homeowner and then we fast forward to Jeff and Zoe whose parents buy the house and they move in and help get it in order before their parents get back from out of the country. A mysterious man named Daniels comes to the house and tries to explain to Jeff what is happening, but is blown off. Everything is fine until Jeff finds the accursed idiot box in the attic and it starts talking to him. The "Garbage Man" introduces himself to Jeff through the television where he tells him about the zombies and to lock it in the basement and cover it with the reflective side of a mirror covering the screen.

The zombies that had already escaped the screen continue killing people throughout the neighborhood until Daniels returns stating that he's their only hope. He explains the reason mirrors are important is that the dead cannot stand to look at themselves and that they're envious of the living which is why they kill them. This is also where some zombie lore is divulged in that if they are trapped in a place that they cannot escape they will eat each other. With that in mind, Zoe leads them downstairs into the basement where they begin cannibalizing themselves and are ultimately transported back into the television that Jeff had placed there previously.

This movie absolutely deserves more love. It's interesting, creative and most importantly adds to the zombie lore, which is not something many of these films can say. There's also plenty of iconic scenes and gore. What else could you want?

~TJ