DVD Review: Masters of Horror: Dance of the Dead
Masters of Horror: Dance of the Dead (2006)
Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Directed By: Tobe Hooper
Cast: Jonathan Tucker, Jessica Lowndes, Ryan McDonald, Robert Englund
Review By: Brian McNail
For two seasons the television show Masters of Horror took a famed horror movie director and gave them about an hour to make a television show that resembled a more Rated R “Tales From the Crypt”. One such episode was Tobe Hooper’s Dance of the Dead. I stumbled upon this episode while trying to find the 2008 movie of the same title which George Newton (reviewed here).
While I had not exactly meant to rent this flick I am kind of glad I did. The plot of the movie surrounds a post World War Three doomsday environment. Our main character Peggy played by Jessica Lowndes witnessed her friends die at her childhood birthday party due to a chemical/biological weapon attack and it left her mother and sister unharmed (though very emotionally scarred). Flash forward ten or so years and her sister has left home venturing into the city that her mother states is a haven for destruction and should have been burned to the ground years ago. What does any teenager do when told by a parent that a place is a den of evil and to stay away from a group of three delinquents? You’ve got it, run off to the city with said delinquents to visit Robert Englund’s Dance of the Dead club, where sex, drugs and zombies are always on hand for a good time and who should our heroine find that’s right her drugged zombie sister!
The nudity in this movie is awesome and the acting is awesome but there is just one thing really lacking, and that is action. Fifty-four minutes go by rather quickly but only in the last five minutes does zombie action take place. I realize there is very little a television series could get away with gore but the many scenes of human on zombie sex could have been edited out for just a taste of a zombie attack. Though it was interesting to watch Robert Englund get a blowjob from a zombie… If you can get this on DVD pick it up as a rental (It is also available to watch anytime on Netflix). It’s worth a watch on a rainy day or in my case a day when there is nothing on television and the sun is too bright outside.
Brutal As Hell Rating:
2 out of 5
