THE VIDEO DEAD (90mins, Not Rated - Original uncut version)

Director: Robert Scott
Starring: Roxanna Augesen, Rocky Duvall, Michael St. Michaels, Vickie Bastel, Sam David McClelland, Jennifer Miro,
Distributor:
* Embassy Home Entertainment - Interstate 5 Productions

"THE VIDEO DEAD", now here is a movie that brings back a few memories...
I remember first viewing "THE VIDEO DEAD" when I was but a small youngster (staying at my Grandmothers house for the weekend), one afternoon, whilst driving around we stopped into the local video superstore to rent a couple movies (I got to pick out of course), while browsing the horror section I came upon an interesting looking movie, one which depicted an ugly zombie bursting out of a televison set, witht the immortal tagline reading "Look Whats Living in your Television Set!", I was sold, I knew I had to see this movie (being the age that I was, seeing any such "R" rated movies such as this was something of a 'rite of passage'), so we got back home, popped the movie into the vcr, and.........well, this being somewhat embarassing to admit, I had a little trouble sleeping that night...

Years would pass, and every now and then memories of "THE VIDEO DEAD' would come to me, almost like a telepathic link or something, I suddenly thought to myself "gee, I guess I really liked that movie...or something", and I knew right then and there that I would sooner or later have to track down a copy of the "VIDEO DEAD" to add to my growing collection, and sometime in the early summer of 2001, I FINALLY managed to pick up a previous rental-copy on sale for $5 (along with a few other goodies), needless to say, I stuck it into the vcr as soon as I got it home and.....well, I wasnt at all scared this time around, I was to busy LAUGHING and poking fun at "THE VIDEO DEAD"!
(but enough backstory hijinx, lets take a closer look at the movie itself)...

"THE VIDEO DEAD" opens with a delivery of a large crate to the house of a writer named Mr. Jordan, "I havent ordered anything but pizza in the last six months", claims Mr. Jordan, but the orange suited UPS guy's state that the package has already been payed for by the sender, leaving Mr. Jordan to reluctantly accept the package....
later that evening while racking his brain on the typewriter, the t.v set (yes, the item in the package was a t.v), comes on all by itself, tuning into a black&white "Night of the Living Dead"-style movie entitled "ZOMBIE BLOOD NIGHTMARE", needless to say a man of Mr. Jordans social character wouldnt possibly 'lower' himself to watch such stuff and turns the tube off...but it comes back on...and ON!!!! Finally Jordan just gets fed up and unplugs the darn t.v, then retires for the evening and goes to bed...however, in the middle of the night the t.v set comes back on (unplugged I might add), and several of the zombies from "ZOMBIE BLOOD NIGHTMARE" emerge from the t.v set!!! later in the morning, the two UPS guy's return to take back the t.v set (seeing as how they somehow mixed up delivery to the 'Scientific Research Institute of the Occult' with a Mr. Jordan!?), the UPS guys however find Mr. Jordan very much dead (thanks to careless delivery I may add)

2 months later brother-sister duo Jeff (Rocky Duvall) & Zoe (Roxanna Augesen) arrive in town, it seems Mr. Jordan's house was put up for sale after the unfortunate 'accident', and with their parents off in the middle east (perhaps fighting terrorists?), its up to Jeff and Zoe to unpack and get everything settled for mom and dad's return. Later in the day, Jeff finds a mysterious t.v set up in the attic and takes it to his room, later in the evening (whilst smoking a bag-o-grass), while watching "ZOMBIE BLOOD NIGHTMARE" the show suddenly switches to a drag-queen woman (Jennifer Miro) on televison who attempts to seduce young Jeff (Its quite disturbing actually, if you look at Miro's features she kinda looks like a guy who went through a sex change!), however, the seducing was just a 'tease' and Miro goes back into the t.v to taunt a confused Jeff, suddenly, a man known simply as "The Garbageman" appears on the t.v set and slits Miro's throat revealing her to be a gross-looking zombie, he informs Jeff about an 'escape' from t.v-land by the zombies and tells Jeff to prepare himself for further attacks.

Later the next evening (after several neighbours have been systematically picked-off by the undead, including an overweight lady crammed into a washing machine!), burly Texan Mr. Daniels comes back (he came earlier on trying to warn Jeff of the t.v but got brushed off) to warn Jeff and Zoe about the "VIDEO DEAD" and what they must do if they want to survive the undead menace, Mr. Daniels & Jeff plan a course of action for the next morning which involves going into the forest and killing all the undead goons themselves (a job that might be easier said than done!)

Will the "VIDEO DEAD" be sent back to t.v-land hell?
Why doesnt the "Garbage Man" lend a helping hand?
Since when do you simply have to convince a zombie that he's dead in order to kill him?
Since when do zombies get scared of looking at themselves in a mirror?
If you wish to find out how "THE VIDEO DEAD" ends, you must simply have to see it for yourself......

side_NOTE

* Rocky Duvall (believe it or not) is the son of Academy Award winning actor Robert Duvall!



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older