Dead Alive (1992)

A young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.

Director:

Peter Jackson

Writers:

Stephen Sinclair (story), Stephen Sinclair (screenplay)

Stars:

Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody

13 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Timothy Balme	...	Lionel Cosgrove
Diana Peñalver	...	Paquita Maria Sanchez
Elizabeth Moody	...	Mum (Vera Cosgrove)
Ian Watkin	...	Uncle Les
Brenda Kendall	...	Nurse McTavish
Stuart Devenie	...	Father McGruder
Jed Brophy	...	Void
Stephen Papps	...	Zombie McGruder
Murray Keane	...	Scroat
Glenis Levestam	...	Nora Matheson
Lewis Rowe	...	Mr. Matheson
Elizabeth Mulfaxe	...	Rita
Harry Sinclair	...	Roger
Davina Whitehouse	...	Paquita's Grandmother
Silvio Famularo	...	Paquita's Father

Storyline

Lionel, a Mama's boy has the unwanted honor of having to look after his overbearingly evil mother. He ends up falling in love with a local woman who believes that they're destined together. In a moment of intentional sabotage of one of their dates, his mother is bitten by a mysterious creature that ends up zombifying her. It's only a matter of time before she rises from the dead a powerful, bloodthirsty zombie. It's only a matter of time before she starts infecting residents of the town and Lionel has to stop her...and them.

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Plot Keywords:

love | zombie | monkey | new zealand | zoo | 

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Taglines:

Some things won't stay down... even after they die.

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for an abundance of outrageous gore

Details

Official Sites:

NZonScreen listing

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

12 February 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dead Alive

Filming Locations:

Botanic Garden, Wellington, New Zealand

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$242,623 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

WingNut Films, New Zealand Film Commission, Avalon Studios Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 85 min (R-rated) 97 min (unrated) 80 min (FSK 16) 92 min (1992) (1993) (cut) 85 min (heavily cut) 99 min (DVD edition)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie is said to be the bloodiest of all time (measured in amount of film blood used during the production).

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Goofs

The first Aleister Crowley "Thoth" deck appeared in a monochrome edition published by the Simpson Printing Company of Dallas, Texas, in the early 1960s. Llewellyn, in conjunction with the Ordo Templi Orientis, published the first color version in 1969.

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Quotes

Uncle Les: Christ! What a stink!
Lionel Cosgrove: Uh... yeah. A dog must have uh, crawled under the house and died.

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Connections

Referenced in Hide and Creep (2004)

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Soundtracks

The Stars and Moon
Composed by Peter Dasent and Jane Lindsay
Performed by Kate Swadling
Published by Mana Music/Central

User Reviews

Good grisly fun!

DEAD ALIVE (1993) ***1/2 New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson made his mark in horror cinema (and for himself as a talent to be reckoned with) in this incredibly gory, funny and altogether sickfest zombie flick about a young man's shrew mother getting bit by a Sumatran Rat Monkey rabid with a truly nasty disease that turns her (and all that she infects with a bite) into a crazed/ravenous thing that can't be stopped in its rapacious wake of terror. The scattershot breakneck pace makes fellow monster maven Sam Raimi look like Busby Berkeley! Classic cult film that will have you laughing at the putridness of it all. Look for Jackson's homage to "King Kong" with Skull Island reference at film's precredit sequence.