The Dead Hate the Living! (2000)

When a renegade band of young filmmakers break into an abandoned hospital to make their horror epic, they stumble upon a real dead body and decide to use it in their movie. They ... See full summary »

Director:

Dave Parker

Writer:

Dave Parker

Stars:

Eric Clawson, Jamie Donahue, Brett Beardslee

Cast

Credited cast:
Eric Clawson	...	David Poe
Jamie Donahue	...	Topaz
Brett Beardslee	...	Paul
Wendy Speake	...	Shelly Poe
Benjamin P. Morris	...	Eric
Rick Irwin	...	Marcus
David Douglas	...	Chas
Matt Stephens	...	Dr. Eibon
Kimberly Pullis	...	Nina Poe
Andre 'Doc' Newman	...	Maggot
Matthew McGrory	...	Gaunt
Ariauna Albright	...	Ellie Eibon
Anthony C. Ferrante	...	Store Customer
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Brooke Bund	...	Zombie Corps (as Jeff and Brooke Bond)
Jeff Bund	...	Zombie Corps (as Jeff and Brooke Bond)

Storyline

When a renegade band of young filmmakers break into an abandoned hospital to make their horror epic, they stumble upon a real dead body and decide to use it in their movie. They accidentally bring it back to life, open a portal to a dead world that releases dozens of other zombies, then struggle for their lives in a desperate attempt to flee from the creatures who apparently have them hopelessly trapped in the hospital.

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Plot Keywords:

brother sister relationship | b movie | scientific experiment | blood | movie director | 

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Genres:

Horror | Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence/gore, language and some sexual content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 2001 (France)

Also Known As:

Les morts haïssent les vivants

Box Office

Budget:

$150,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the director on the DVD commentary, the maggots that get rubbed onto the face of the bratty sister are real. However, they didn't tell her that. It was their way of getting back at her for not showing up for filming on the previous day, due to her booking a higher paying job on that day. This made them angry since the film was on an amazingly short 10-day shooting schedule.

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Quotes

Paul: You want me to throw a TV at them?!

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Connections

References Day of the Dead (1985)

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Soundtracks

"Now"
Written by Dinah Cancers, Lucifer Fulci, Elvorian Von Spivey and Hal Satan
Performed by Penis Flytrap
Courtesy of Bloody Daggre Records

User Reviews

The lack of originality spoils the fun

I'm a big fan of zombie movies, but this low budget fan-made stuff doesn't tend to appeal much. It's not that I don't enjoy the splatter, it's that recycled ideas can only go so far before you're completely watching someone else's film; albeit regurgitated. The Dead Hate the Living isn't a complete dead loss, and it's easy to see what the filmmakers were trying to achieve - but it suffers from the common problem with films like this, in that it doesn't have enough ideas in it's own right to be fun enough to completely keep the audience going with it. The film definitely has it's moments, though, such as the ending which brilliantly pays tribute to Lucio Fulci's "The Beyond". The constant name-dropping gets tired after a while. It's not bad at first, as you can see that the film is made by fans of this sort of stuff (people like me and, probably, you) but once the point has been made; it doesn't need to be made again. And again, and again. The plot is typically thin, and it follows a film crew making a no-budget zombie movie in an old abandoned hospital, which also happens to be a resting place for a doctor that wants the dead to take over the Earth.

This plot probably took about five minutes to think of, and the same again for script writing time; but funnily enough, the plot is what gives the film it's main point of originality in the way that the characters are making a film, which turns out to be about what's happening to them. What makes this idea fun is the way that the film almost spoofs itself with the way that we see the crew making their film, and then ending up getting butchered for real. While the plot isn't bad, the plotting will no doubt get on many people's nerves. The gore doesn't turn up at all in the first half of the movie, and even when it does it isn't thick or fast and the result isn't all that fun to watch. It's also ironic that you spend the first half of the film waiting for the zombie mayhem to start, and when it finally does; you realise that the first half of the movie was actually better! The Dead Hate the Living is a film that I would recommend to zombie enthusiasts only. There isn't enough about it to appeal to people who aren't zombie fans, and in that respect even zombie fans may be a little disappointed. A note to everyone; beware of the truly awful CGI towards the end!