Dead Alive

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Dead Alive

R

1993

1h 41m

Horror

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

89%

Tomatometer

45 Reviews

87%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Overprotective mother Vera Cosgrove (Elizabeth Moody), spying on her grown son, Lionel (Timothy Balme), as he visits the zoo with the lovely Paquita (Diana Peñalver), is accidentally bitten by the fearsome Sumatran rat-monkey. When the bite turns his beloved mother into a zombie, Lionel tries to keep her locked safely in the basement, but her repeated escapes turn most of the neighbors into the walking dead, who then crash a high-society party thrown by Lionel's boorish Uncle Les (Ian Watkin).

Critics Consensus

The delightfully gonzo tale of a lovestruck teen and his zombified mother, Dead Alive is extremely gory and exceedingly good fun, thanks to Peter Jackson's affection for the tastelessly sublime.

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Scott Tobias

AV Club

10/05/2019

[O]nce Lionel stops trying to cover up the zombie threat and starts fighting it, Dead Alive becomes a delirious showcase for molds, squibs, and other old-fashioned horror effects.

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Peter Rainer

Los Angeles Times

10/19/2016

After you see it, you want to race out of the theater and recommend it to your sickest friends right away.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

10/19/2016

Ordinarily I don't care for this kind of thing at all, but something must be said for Jackson's endless reserves of giddy energy, which are clearly meant to be silly.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

10/27/2024

3/4

A film so excessively gory that it makes the Pacino version of Scarface look like a vintage episode of Reading Rainbow by comparison.

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Kristy Strouse

Wonderfully Weird and Horrifying

10/26/2022

Dead Alive has killer effects and eccentric hilarity, and it thrives through Jackson's passion. This is a must-see for any horror-comedy fan.

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Tim Brayton

Alternate Ending

04/06/2022

4/5

Made with extraordinary, obvious joy by a filmmaking team besotted with the idea of making a movie.

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Steve Y

@Cubby65 Dec 15

This isn't merely dark humor, it's downright pitch black. They must have had a ball making this.

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Maksim S

@MaksimusMovies Nov 1

Braindead (1992) reigns as the king of over-the-top splatter, second only to Evil Dead II. Peter Jackson’s film fuses slapstick comedy and unrestrained gore with remarkable precision, turning every exaggerated death into a theatrical spectacle. Its simple narrative merely scaffolds a series of increasingly outrageous set-pieces, making the film viscerally thrilling, absurdly fun, and a masterclass in cinematic excess. Slapstick gore at its absolute finest — not to be taken seriously, but impossible not to admire.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Oct 22

Scary funny in 1 hour and 41 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ages 17 and older!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Ed .

@RT01276001 Aug 29

I know this film by its title BRAINDEAD. The title makes me curious as the undeadizens in this movie relied on all body parts and innards except for their brains. While no medical doctor would ever sign off on the accuracy of the storyline, it was quite entertaining and, at times, humorous for the right reasons. The most dynamic and appealing character? That bratty-ratty monster baby had me do an almost 180 degree turnaround to the point of almost rooting him on. It's a shame this wasn't a breakout character for a franchise where they could, one day, throw out this baby with the bath water.

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Luis G

@RT10347640 Aug 5

This movie is dumb, cheesy, disgusting, over-the-top,gore fest......and I love it.

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Erik B

@Atma-X Jul 28

The follow-up to Bad Taste is even more gory and horrific...but it's also more of an actual film. Worth checking out...if you've got the stomach!

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Peter Jackson

Director

Timothy Balme

Lionel Cosgrove

Diana Peñalver

Paquita Maria Sanchez

Elizabeth Moody

Mum (Vera Cosgrove)

Ian Watkin

Uncle Les

Brenda Kendall

Nurse McTavish

Dead Alive: Official Clip - Baby Face

1:24

Dead Alive: Official Clip - I Kick Ass for the Lord

3:00

Dead Alive: Official Clip - You Don't Scare Me, Mum

3:02

Dead Alive: Official Clip - Party Crashers

2:51

Dead Alive: Official Clip - You've Got the Bite

3:00

Dead Alive: Official Clip - Rat Monkey Attacks

2:46

Dead Alive: Official Clip - You're Not Well

2:45

Dead Alive: Official Clip - Your Mother's Dead, Lionel

2:59

Dead Alive: Official Clip - Hyperactive Baby

3:00

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Synopsis

Overprotective mother Vera Cosgrove (Elizabeth Moody), spying on her grown son, Lionel (Timothy Balme), as he visits the zoo with the lovely Paquita (Diana Peñalver), is accidentally bitten by the fearsome Sumatran rat-monkey. When the bite turns his beloved mother into a zombie, Lionel tries to keep her locked safely in the basement, but her repeated escapes turn most of the neighbors into the walking dead, who then crash a high-society party thrown by Lionel's boorish Uncle Les (Ian Watkin).

Director: Peter Jackson
Producer: Jim Booth
Screenwriter: Stephen Sinclair, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson
Distributor: Trimark Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 12, 1993, Original
Release Date (DVD): Sep 8, 1998
Box Office (Gross USA): $70.5K
Runtime: 1h 41m