#25 -- The Dead Hate The Living (2000)

Director: Dave Parker

Rating: 4 / 5

If I haven't made it painfully obvious, I am a huge fan of zombies; and this movie, in my opinion, is a great one. There is a man, Dr. Eibon, who obviously has been conducting experiments in order to bring the dead back to life. Later, during a flashback of a newly risen-from-the-dead Dr. Eibon, it seems that he is doing this because of his wife, Ellie. She was killed by cancer, and he soon after began his experiments. It seems that he is desperately trying to bring her back. It is made clear later, though, that he is trying to create an army of the undead, and to rid the world of all life. 

The movie starts off with Dr. Eibon video-taping himself. There is a commotion outside his door, and he eventually grabs a gun and holds it to his head. Before he can kill himself, one of his "legion" breaks in and kills him. 

Cut to a scene of a woman who is performing an autopsy on a young man. She comments on how she doesn't get to meet the cute guys until they're dead. She turns around to get tools, still talking into her tape recorder, and when she turns back, the body is gone. She looks around for a while, and the corpse shows up behind her. He slits her throat with a scalpel and drags her onto the autopsy table. Somehow, having her throat slit did not kill her. He rips her shirt off and they start making out, smearing her blood all over the both of them. Just when it's getting good and steamy, someone yells "Cut!"

A group of people have broken into an abandoned building (it is never made clear what the building actually is; but I assume it was some sort of hospital) to make a zombie movie. We have David, the director; Shelly and Nina, his sisters; Eric, the leading man; Marcus, an actor; Topaz, who seems to be David's assistant; Paul, the special effects guy and David's best friend; and Chas, the cameraman. After some exploring, Topaz discovers a back room full of jars of organs and such. The others meet her there, and they discover a large coffin-like structure. It appears to be hooked up to some cables, and there was a medallion with it as well. There is a corpse inside it: Dr. Eibon. David decides to use the coffin (corpse included) in his film. They film Eric turning on the coffin-machine, putting the medallion in place, and talking about an army of the dead. What they don't know, though, is that it is very real. The door opens, Eibon grabs and kills Eric, and his army emerges (which, at that time, is only two zombies: a very, very tall lurch-like zombie, and a large muscular one). 

Topaz speaks with Eibon's wife, Ellie, who has been reanimated. She says that they want to kill them because they (quote The Misfits) "hate the living, love the dead." Topaz kills her. Eibon is not happy. He takes Topaz prisoner and tells her that, since she killed his wife, she will take her place. He wants to experiment. Usually, he puts a corpse in the coffin-machine, and it reanimates them. He wants to try a living subject: Topaz. He hopes that this will bring his world (the world of the dead) and the living world together, so that hey can rid their world of all the putrid life. He says that is is "salvation, not damnation." He believes that life is a waste and that, through death, all pain and suffering is gone. It is obvious that he feels this way because he lost his wife. He attempted suicide, and really it's quite a noble thing to do (if you have a sick mind, like I do, that is). He wants to help the world by ridding it of the pain and suffering it must endure on a daily basis. 

Eventually, the two people left standing realize that there is no escape other than death. So, with no other choice, they go into the coffin-machine and enter the world of the dead. One states that the only thing they can do now is try to live. 

I do believe that this movie was very well done. The acting was fine, and the effects were amazing. I especially liked the big muscular zombie, whose mouth looked somewhat like a bird's beak. Dr. Eibon himself was wonderfully spooky, and somehow the only of the living dead able to think and speak coherently. I enjoyed this movie quite a lot. I thought the storyline was interesting and unique, and the execution was good as well. I would definitely recommend it to any fellow zombie lovers.