If you’re a fan of the Living Dead franchise, then you’ll want to check out the latest entry, Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation. This time around, the dead have been brought back to life by a mad scientist, and they’re out for revenge.
The movie is a lot of fun, and it’s great to see the franchise being revitalized with some new ideas. The 3D effects are well done, and the gore is plentiful. The acting is decent, and the movie is paced well.
It’s worth pointing out right from the get go that this movie has no relationship to George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (except both movie’s have zombies) and neither does it have any relationship to the Re-Animator series (except both have Jeffrey Combs), this is a movie that stands firmly on it’s own.
It’s a fairly tongue in cheek outing that doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet I’d be hesitant to describe this as a full-on comedy. The gore that’s present is really quite gruesome and the zombie effects in general are delivered very well. I’d maybe go as far as to say they’re close to being on par with the effects in The Walking Dead, with CGI-ness kept to a minimum.
There’s no doubt this movie has some political overtones, the writers clearly don’t like Fox News, The Tea Party and especially Sarah Palin (who’s parodied by one of the main cast) so if you’re a strong willed right-winger who doesn’t take to this kind of humour you may wanna avoid.
The movie’s cast is superb. Jeffrey Combs is always brilliant and this time around is no different. His character is a bit scatty, devious and almost reprehensible at times, yet Combs still manages to bring the comedy and likeability through on him. Andrew Divoff’s portrayal of Geral Tovar Jr, the inheritor of the mortuary is great also. Divoff brings his usual quality screen presence to the part and the movie as a whole is better off for it.
NotLD 3D: Re-Animation is not a particularly original movie but it has enough charm and quality gore to make it a worthy recommendation for anybody looking for a quality watch on that lonely night in.
EDIT: For those that don’t know there is a 3D Blu-ray version of this movie and whilst we haven’t seen this version ourselves, we have it on good authority (from the director of the movie no less) that this version is indeed something special. For those of you looking for some 3D gruesomeness, I’d recommend putting this movie on your ‘to watch’ list!
Overall, Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation is a worthy addition to the franchise, and fans of the series will definitely want to check it out.
Synopsis
The film opens with a brief history of the Night of the Living Dead franchise as a whole. A group of scientists are working on a new serum that will bring the dead back to life. However, when they test it on a cadaver, the results are less than ideal.
The cadaver comes back to life, but is extremely disoriented and violent. The scientists are forced to put it down. They realize that the serum is not ready and need to do more testing.
Enter Dr. William Porter (Jeffrey Combs). Porter is a brilliant scientist who has been working on the serum for years. He is convinced that he can perfect it and bring his wife back from the dead.
Porter convinces the other scientists to let him test the serum on his wife. She comes back to life, but is not the same. She is cold and distant, and seems to have no emotions.
The scientists realize that the serum is dangerous and must be destroyed. But Porter is not ready to give up on his wife. He takes her and the serum and goes on the run.
Porter eventually finds a group of people who are also experimenting with the serum. They have had some success in bringing people back to life, but they are also dealing with the same problems. The people are not the same, they are missing something.
Porter is able to perfect the serum and bring his wife back to life. But she is still not the same. Porter is forced to accept that his wife is gone and she is not coming back.
The film ends with the scientists destroying the serum and vowing to never bring anyone back to life again.
Movie Details
Director: Jeff Broadstreet
Writer: Jeff Broadstreet
Actors: Andrew Divoff, Jeffrey Combs, Bill Moseley
Release Year: 2012