(1988)
Reviewed BY-Sean Patrick Dolan Director: J.R. Bookwalter Cast: Pete Ferry, Bogdan Pecic, Michael Grossi, Jolie Jackunas, Robert Kokai, Maria Markovic, Joe Wedlake, Floyd Ewing, Jr.
A few weeks ago an Internet buddy sent me a copy of a film he thought I’d be interested, mainly because it was filmed in Akron, Ohio (about an hour south of Cleveland, where I reside). He warned me that it was a b-flick, and that it was heavily inspired by other zombie genre films, including the mother of them all, DAWN OF THE DEAD. The film turned out to be THE DEAD NEXT DOOR, the first effort by J.R. Bookwalter- who wrote, directed, produced, edited, composed music for, and played a minor role in the film.
The opening of the film made me very skeptical, as I immediately saw shades of DAWN OF THE DEAD, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and even some EVIL DEAD style exterior camera shots all in the first five minutes. As zombies swarmed the streets of Akron, one group invading a video store and carrying a large stack of horror movies to the counter (DAWN OF THE DEAD prominently on the top of the pile) I grew even more wary. When the inevitable TV reporter came on the screen announcing the plague and the fact that the government had declared martial law, I nearly turned the thing off. The only thing that stopped me was the hilarious last line of the report- "‘The Jeffersons’ and ‘Sanford and Son’ won’t be shown at their regular times this evening." If not for that one well-timed joke, I would have missed a great indie film.
The film starts off by introducing us to the "Zombie Squad", a group of police officers whose purpose is to rescue survivors and capture (yes, capture, not kill) zombies. The living dead are taken to the nearest research center, in this case Washington, D.C., to be examined, vivisected (hmm, maybe not the right term here) or just generally experimented with by Dr. Moulsson (Bogdan Pecic) and his colleague Dr. Savini (Joe Wedlake). Moulsson’s research has hit a wall, so the squad of Raimi (Pete Ferry), Mercer (Michael Grossi), Kuller (Jolie Jackunas), and Capt. Kline (Flowd Ewing, Jr.) are sent to Akron, Ohio to find the laboratory of Dr. Bow.
Dr. Bow is the scientist who unwittingly let loose the zombie plague five years earlier. He was working for the military on a serum that would temporarily revive the cells of corpses so that they could be harvested for organs (or some such nonsense). The serum did not work as planned, zombies were the result, and the contagion quickly spread because, of course, anyone bitten or killed by a zombie became infected. The Zombie Squad quickly locates Bow’s laboratory and finds samples of his original serum. But they also run afoul of the local religious cult, headed by Rev. Jones (Robert Kokai), who believes that the zombies are God’s punishment for man’s sins.
These psychos are actually rounding up zombies and keeping them caged (and fed, no less!) inside the abandoned high school where they have set up their church. They plan or releasing them when the "time is right". When a cult spy informs them of the squad’s quest to adapt Bow’s serum in order to destroy all the zombies, Jones declares war. In the course of a skirmish, Mercer is bitten by a zombie. With time running out before he changes into a flesh-eater, Dr. Moulsson injects him with an untested variation of Bow’s serum which he has just whipped up. The cult and the undermanned military squad battle again, and Mercer is kidnapped by the zealots. The remaining squad members plan a final attack on the church compound, but they have a surprise waiting for them. Moulsson’s serum didn’t work and Mercer has changed into a zombie, the only difference rendered by the new serum being that he has retained his intelligence.
Despite a shaky start, this movie quickly finds its legs. The homages to its predecessors are gotten out of director Bookwalter’s system in the opening scenes, the exception being the references in the names of the characters both major and minor (Raimi, Savini, Romero, Carpenter, King). The film’s main plot is straightforward and no more derivative than any other zombie film made after DAWN OF THE DEAD, with some interesting subplots thrown in to add depth: Moulsson’s overwhelming arrogance and blind faith in science; Jones’ prior conflicts with Dr. Bow, including his kidnapping of
his daughter Anna; Mercer’s struggle to retain a shred of his humanity after his transformation. There are moments of truly inspired humor- protestors in Washington D.C. rally outside the research center for an end to the mistreatment of zombies, only to be attacked by a horde of the undead themselves- and a dark, wicked twist ending in true genre style. The zombies themselves are a somewhat contradictory lot- some are lightning fast- in Lenzi’s NIGHTMARE CITY style- and others are the more common bumbling Romero types. The makeup and special effects are surprisingly good for a very low-budget film (THE DEAD NEXT DOOR came in at a mere $75,000). Only in scenes with a great number of extras are there any corners cut. There are plenty of neck bitings, gut rippings, decapitations and shots to the head here to keep most zombie fans happy. While I don’t want to sell Bookwalter short, I suspect that the presence of Sam Raimi (credited as "The Master Cylinder") in the role of executive producer had a lot to do with the high quality of this film. THE DEAD NEXT DOOR is a highly recommended b-flick that deserves its ever growing cult following.
I reviewed the 1989 Electro Video VHS release of THE DEAD NEXT DOOR- thanks again to Jeff both for sending it to me and especially for bringing this film to my attention. This film also received a 1997 Collector’s VHS release by the studio Tapeworm. According to the official THE DEAD NEXT DOOR website(http://www.deadnextdoor.com/), Anchor Bay Entertainment announced just last week that a Special Edition DVD will be released in the first quarter of 2005.
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