150 Movies You Should Die Before You See - Miller Steve [48]
Why It Sucks
Mummies are great, but here we have to have one that looks like a guy in a rubber Halloween mask, wearing tan coveralls with some bandages glued on? This costume ties with 2002's Mummy Raider for Worst Mummy Costume to Ever Appear on Screen (and if there's not an award for that, there ought to be!).
Thumbs Down Rating:
The Crappies
The Worst Actor Award goes to … Roger Delgado for his lackluster performance. Mummy guardians are supposed to be sinister and evil — not booooring.
And the Worst Director Award goes to … John Gilling for making a horror movie with only one (one!!) scary scene, the one in which a delirious Sir Basil stumbles upon the lair of a creepy gypsy woman. As a matter of fact, the scene may be scary, but it's also completely illogical.
They Really Said It!
Haiti: You will soon be dead. Then you can rest. Ah death, death can be sweet. Sweet death, I pray for it because I am old and tired, you pray for it because you are sick. There is nothing left for you but death.
Betcha Didn't Know
John Elder was the pen name used by Hammer Films executive and co-owner Anthony Hinds.
This was the last Hammer production to be shot at Britain's legendary Bray Studios, ending a fifteen-year association.
Trivia Quiz
What cast member was a regular on the long-running BBC science fiction series Dr. Who?
A: Michael Ripper
B: Roger Delgado
C: Andre Morrell
D: Elizabeth Sellars
Answer: B. Roger Delgado played the Doctor's foe, the Master, from 1971 to 1973, when Delgado was killed in a traffic accident in Turkey. John Pertwee, who played the Doctor, quit the show because he felt it couldn't be the same without Delgado.
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: RAVE TO THE GRAVE
Aurora Entertainment/Castel Film Romania, 2005
PRODUCERS Vladimir Dostal, Tom Fox, and Nikolai Makarov (executive producers), Anatoly Fradis and Steve Scarduzio (producers)
WRITERS William Butler and Aaron Strongoni
DIRECTOR Ellroy Elkayem
STARS John Keefe (Julian), Jenny Mollen (Jenny), Cory Hardrict (Cody), Cain Mihnea Manoliu (Jeremy), Claudiu Bleont (Aldo), Sorin Cocis (Gino), Catalin Paraschiv (Skeet), and Peter Coyote (Uncle Charles)
Dimwitted college kids unleash a zombie plague after making a designer drug with chemicals used to reanimate dead tissue.
Why It Sucks
The cheapness of the film wafts from it like the smell of urine from a drunk bum passed out in a doorway. It's inconsistent with the zombie lore established in the first two Return of the Living Dead movies and, to make matters even worse, very little in the film is funny. There is even less that is scary. The key to the movie is to realize if there's an idiotic and illogical thing to do, one of the characters will do it.
Thumbs Down Rating:
The Crappies
The Worst Writing Award goes to … William Butler and Aaron Strongoni for a script so lazily written that it gets the name of the zombie-creating drug wrong and is inconsistent with Return of the Living Dead 4, the film it's a direct sequel to.
And the Worst Actress Award goes to … Jenny Mollen for her role as Jenny. Sigh. So cute. And so, so untalented.
They Really Said It!
Skeet: Listen, if you can't trust your drug dealer, who can you trust?
Betcha Didn't Know
Executive producer Tom Fox produced the original Return of the Living Dead film. He has been involved with the production of all films in the series so far except the third one.
This movie was released twenty years after the first film in the series debuted in movie theaters.
Trivia Quiz
What is the main difference between the zombies in this film and most other installments in the series?
A: The zombies are animated by Trioxin.
B: The zombies create other zombies through their bites.
C: They aren't unstoppable killing machines, but can be brought down with a single gunshot.
D: The zombies are obsessed with eating brains.
Answer: C. They can be killed with one gunshot. In the first three movies, the zombies are virtually indestructible.