| Overall Grade: |
C- |
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| Story: |
D |
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| Acting: |
D |
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| Direction: |
D |
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| Visuals: |
B- |
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You were expecting high art?
by St. Michael (movies profile)
Nov 26, 2003
1
of
1 people found this review helpful
First of all, this title is a misnomer: The movie is simply called "After Death," and for purely exploitational reasons the producers stuck the "Zombie 4" on there just to make you think it is part of the series began by Lucio Fulci, which it is not. It worked, I mean, I paid good money to see it. I was just really bored, what can I say?
The only things this movie has going for it are, one, it's got some good gore scenes, and two, it's got a porno star in the lead role. Not many zombie movies can say THAT. Even more, the dude is a GAY porn star, so that REALLY ups the ante. (Thankfully, the guy keeps his clothes on in this.)
Now, the worst thing about it -- and believe me, you can pick and choose which is the worst for YOU, it's that bad -- is, it's horribly edited. Obviously, someone decided the movie made too much sense, so they had to rectify that, and what's left is nearly unwatchable. It's an incoherent mess. The ending is so ludicrous, so unexplainable, that it makes the rest of the film seem completely different, like another story entirely. (I mean, what the hell happened, anyway? The heroine screams, her hair starts falling out, her eye explodes and she pulls it out, and for what? No explanation is ever provided!)
Aside from some decent gore, obviously done very cheaply, there is nothing for which to recommend this film. The zombies alternately run and then stagger about when they SHOULD be running -- again, no explanation is given as to why they do it. (However, I suppose if I was looking for logic, I should watch another type of movie, for the dead don't rise ANYway and therefore who knows HOW they act?)
The saving grace of this whole DVD is the extras. There are interviews with the two leads, which really don't reveal much (other than how the gay porn star, Jeff Stryker, got the role), and the one with Claudio Fragassi, the director. Fragassi is candid in his interview, laughing and discussing how the film was made and also how disappointed he was the way the producers edited it (and rightfully so). What he has to say about the filming experience is worth listening.
There are also five movie trailers, from "Zombie," "Zombi 3," "The House on the Edge of the Park" (which is badly translated on the trailer as "The House of the Park on the Edge"), and "Eaten Alive!" along with the one for this movie. "The House on the Edge of the Park" is really sick, showing a sadist raping and cutting women; I don't know what the rest of the movie's all about, but from the looks of it I don't WANNA know. "Eaten Alive!" is from that schlockmeister Umberto Lenzi, and it appeared to be really bad. Of course, "Zombie," the original from Lucio Fulci, is still the best of all of these, which is close to being a shame, and "Zombi 3" is so horrible -- I've unfortunately seen it -- it made "After Death" seem GOOD. That's difficult to even SAY.
Final thought: "After Death" deserves to die. Just hope it doesn't come BACK. |
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