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A fairly ambitious, ultra-violent and ultra-low budget homage to George Romero's zombie films. It was shot on Super 8mm by J.R. Bookwalter in Akron, Ohio around 1986; and partially funded by an uncredited Sam Raimi. It has the distinction of being the most expensive Super 8mm film ever produced, clocking in at around $125,000. The movie follows a "Zombie Squad" in search of a serum that will reverse the zombification process. Along the way, they run into a religious cult led by an insane reverend who's trying to control a commune of the living dead. One member of the "Zombie Squad, Dr. Moulsson, seems to be modeled after the "Dr. Frankenstein" character in George Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD. The names of most of the characters in the film are blatantly obvious to horror fans: Mr. Raimi, Dr. Savini, Commander Carpenter, King, Romero, Reverend Jones (you get the picture). The low budget shows, but the film still manages to achieve some great splatter moments; zombie gutmunching; head explosions; gunshot squibs (all the proper ingredients for a zombie film). There are also some inspired and memorable scenes in the film; zombies trying to get to the White House lawn; zombies popping up in front of the Washington Monument; the opening credits with zombies pulling people out of their cars and causing general mayhem; zombies attacking a "save the zombies" protest group; and a zombie-on-a-leash acting as a "bloodhound". Bruce Campbell also has an uncredited, off-camera, role in the film. He did the voice-over dubbing for the Mr. Raimi character played by Pete Ferry. In short, this is a must for all diehard zombie fans. How do you know if you'll like DEAD NEXT DOOR? Well, if you find Andrea Bianchi's BURIAL GROUND and Bruno Mattei's HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD a rewarding cinematic experience, then you should certainly enjoy this film. If on the other hand you think the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake and the RESIDENT EVIL films are the ultimate in zombie cinema, you'll probably find this movie cheap, boring, and uninspired.
6/10
