Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Caleb Zero Being a kiwi myself, I have never appreciated New Zealand movies. There have been a very small handful of movies I actually enjoyed, but mostly, the writing is terrible, and the acting is even worse. Dead Alive, or Braindead though. Holy sh*t. I put off watching this movie for so many years. I don't know whether its because I don't generally enjoy kiwi movies, or because I didn't think I could give it the watch it deserves, but now that I have seen it, I think it is maybe the best movie New Zealand has produced. As a gore fan, I rarely see a movie that makes me uneasy. Sure, a lot of the movies in the 80s were pretty gory, but nothing like Dead Alive. This was an absolute gore-fest, and probably the goriest movie I've ever watched. Aside from that though, the actors, the writing, and the photography are all brilliant. Will definitely watch again, and will definitely recommend.

jfcameron This movie is hilarious, it is so over the top that it actually becomes both funny and intense at once. You really want to see these characters make it out alive. Despite being a horror comedy, it is not formulaic and has a very unique story. The gore effects are so convincing and awesome. This is by far Peter Jacksons best film, LOTR 3 was good, but no zombies take a lawnmower to the face. The twist at the end is actually really emotional and gives the film more depth. The shots are beautiful and so is the editing. The acting is so good and is both convincing and funny which should be impossible. The pacing is perfect, this movie is never boring. The soundtrack is great. The graveyard scene is one of the funniest things I have ever scene. This movie is a must-see even if you are very skeptical you need to give a try.10/10 best horror movie ever.

RaspberryLucozade Five years after Peter Jackson's blood splattering hit 'Bad Taste' churned the stomachs of cinema goers, the young director went even further down the gore route and came up with 'Braindead' ( known in North America as 'Dead Alive' ), set in 1950's New Zealand.It was disgusting to say the least. Not one moment goes by without gross, blood and gut letting violence going by. It was all about the life of a young mummy's boy whose life is turned upside down when his mother is transformed into a flesh hungry zombie. Lionel Cosgrove is a well mannered, well intentioned though dim witted and spineless young man who has not yet managed to break himself free from the apron strings of his malicious, conniving mother Vera.Eventually, Lionel strikes up a relationship with beautiful Spanish shopkeeper Paquita and one day takes her on a day out to the zoo where a hideously deformed creature known as a rat monkey is known to reside. Lionel soon discovers his mother is spying on him and Paquita when she stumbles against the cage containing the deadly animal which bites her.The venom from the bite causes Vera to mutate into a zombie. Eventually, Vera's appetite for human flesh spirals out of control and before long all of the city has become overrun by the undead.'Braindead' is certainly not one of the best comedy films around, it's not even great but it is fun, if sick and vile. The acting is nothing too special ( apart from Elizabeth Moody, who played Lionel's nasty mother ) but for a film like this that is probably to be expected. Timothy Balme, who played Lionel, more recently has appeared in the dreadful New Zealand drama 'The Almighty Johnsons'. Diana Peñalver, who played Paquita, I suspect was hired for her looks alone and not her acting ability.The funniest moments in the film included a slowly zombifying Vera trying to host a dinner party which ends in gory disaster, a zombie priest and zombie nurse having sex and giving birth to a baby zombie, a female zombie having her head impaled on an active light bulb thus alighting her head like a Halloween lantern and the zoo keeper announcing to Lionel and Paquita that the rat monkey creature came into existence after a plague of rats raped all the tree monkeys of Skull Island. Only the scene at the end where Lionel massacres the zombies with a lawn mower doesn't work. I personally found it horribly overdone.Whilst the special effects used for their time would have been pretty impressive, I suspect now they probably wouldn't stand the test of time. As I said previously, 'Braindead' may not be great, but it is still fun.

Gustavo Silva In 1992, Peter Jackson gave us this. For modern moviegoers it may seem odd (having in mind the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy), but before his Hollywood stardom, Peter had this bizarre propensity of creating extremely gory pictures where everything is, I dare to say, "disgustingly funny".Let me give you a super quick synopsis of the story: A "Sumatran Rat- Monkey" (google it, it's a thing) is a hybrid creature - that "according to legend", is the result of the rape of tree monkeys on Skull Island by plague carrying rats - is captured and shipped to a local zoo.Lionel Cosgrove (Timothy Balme) lives with his insanely scary soon-to- be-a-monster mother, Vera (Elizabeth Moody). Lionel, on a casual visit to a market, meets Paquita (Diana Peñalver) and helplessly falls in love with her, to his mother's dismay.While peeping on the two during their date in the zoo, Vera is attacked by the hedious creature. By raising the "impossible love" cliché to a whole other level, Vera turns into a ear dropping zombie, that will be the great obstacle between Lionel and Paquita's love.But it gets worse. Vera infects other people and the number of zombies starts to grow. The only solution that Lionel sees is to keep all of them concealed in the basement, giving them repeated injections of a so called deadly poison, that turns out to be an "animal stimulant". You see where this is going, don't you?Now, let's give a more technical analysis of this scorned flick.The narrow shots (close-ups) in this movie have a switched effect. Normally they are used to emphasize dramatic scenes, where tension reigns. But in this movie, these shots are used to accentuate the comical expressions of the characters, and also to show the viewer in detail all the disgusting stuff along the movie."Braindead" is completely waggish. From the music to the dialogues. And these are quite priceless: we have quotes like "That's my mother you're pissing on" or "Your mother ate my dog!".Everything about this movie is designed to make you sick (yeah, keep this in mind, don't watch it after a heavy meal). But in a good way. It's hard to find a scene without any gore in it. Peter Jackson takes everything to the limits and that's one of the keys of comedy: exaggeration.When the movie was released in 1992, it was a commercial failure but over the years it earned a cult status, in great part thanks to the success of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.According to experts, "Braindead" is placed in the "trash" movie category. Oh, if all the movies were "trashy" like this one, the world would be a cinematic paradise.Visit my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/scornedflicks