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Children of the Living Dead

Children of the Living Dead

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: WORTH IT FOR A LAUGH
Review: THIS IS THE FUNNIEST FILM OF THE YEAR. THIS IS JUST RIDICULOUS. THE ACTING IS TERRIBLE. THERE IS NO PLOT. YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF ROLLING ON THE FLOOR LAUGHING ABOUT THIS POOR EXCUSE FOR CASHING IN ON THE LIVING DEAD SERIES. IN ANY SHINY OBJECT YOU CAN SEE THE CAMERAMAN. IN ONE SCENE THEY HAVE A SHOT OF THE SHERIFFS SUNGLASSES AND YOU CAN SEE THE CAMERAMANS REFLECTION. MOST OF THE ACTORS ARE RELATIVES OF THE CREW. THE WRITER KAREN LEE WOLF IS ALSO THE DAUGHTER OF THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER WICH EXPLANES A LOT. SHE MAKES A SMALL APPERENCE IN THIS POOR EXCUSE OF A FILM. THE MAIN ZOMBIE IS CALLED ABBOT HAYES. HOW CAN YOU TAKE THIS GUY SERIOUSLY. HE WALKS LIKE GROUCHO MARXS. HE NEVER ATTACKED ANYBODY EXCEPT FOR THE PERSON TOM SAVINI PLAYED. HE IS NOT EVEN SCARY LOOKING. THE ONLY PART THAT WAS SOMEWHAT INTERESTING WAS WHEN TOM SAVINI WAS IN IT BUT THEN FIVE MINUTES INTO THE FILM HE GETS KILLED BY ABBOTT HAYES. BUT EVEN IN HIS SCENES IT WAS STILL PRETTY BAD. THE PEOPLE WHO HELPED IN THIS FILM ALSO DID THE TERRIBLE 30TH ANNIVERSARY NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. IT SEEMS THAT JOHN RUSSO IS ONLY LOOKING TO CASH IN ON THE LIVING DEAD LEGACY. ONLY BUY THIS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A LAUGH NOT FOR A PERSON WHO IS LOOKING FOR A SERIOUS HORROR FILM. WATCH WITH AN OPEN MIND AND YOU PROBABLY FIND OUT HOW FUNNY IT REALLY IS.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I hope these children NEVER grow up . . .
Review: WHY? This is the question I asked myself after viewing the UK release of this travesty of a movie (actually, home movie is more apt). "Director" Tor Ramsey needs to be fed to one of his own zombies after making this awful excuse, and what is it with the terrible script? Maybe George Romero needs to have a word with his old NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD partners, and tell them to stop ruining the name of that cult classic.

The thought of Tom Savini appearing (in a very minor role) bolstered my hopes, but after seeing him act like he was still in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN only left me more depressed. The special effects aren't very special, the cinematography is dull and lifeless (no pun intended) and the acting is appalling. Actually, I don't know if the acting is that bad, it may just be the way the film has been shot and edited together, thus not really giving the actors much help at all.

However, all in all the movie is unwatchable. I sat down three times to try and sit through it, only giving up the final time as life is too short to watch amateur dreck like this. I just can't believe talented people like Tom Savini (who actually did outstanding work in DAWN and DAY OF THE DEAD, and created some of the most interesting effects work in the 80s) would lend their names to such drivel.

I heard recently that they're remaking DAWN OF THE DEAD (hello, bad move anyone?), if you have to do that, please don't hire Tor Ramsey to do it. After this major disgrace of a movie, I wouldn't trust this guy to direct traffic . . . I just hope 'ol George Romero is watching and laughing to himself somewhere in Pittsburgh. He seems to be the only guy who can bring justice to a zombie movie . . . it's just a pity that the creators of CHILDREN OF THE LIVING DEAD don't seem to have the same respect for the dead that he has . . .

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: o.k for a newer movie
Review: for coming out in the early 2000's, it's pretty cool. starts right were day of the dead left off. rent first

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This is a giant, horrible, stinking, pile of cinematic vomit
Review: First of all, I'd like to correct some of the folks that have reviewed this film below:

1. Tom Savini did NOT DO THE EFFECTS!-he only acted in the first half.
2. This is not Living Dead Part 4 (or three for those of you "fans" who've forgotten about Day of the Dead).

Now, back to the review:

THis movie was awful. I love the living dead series and was curious to pick up this flick, seeing as TOm Savini was in it. Unfortunately, this film is simply John Russo and his other non-successful-folks-who-were-involved-with-making-Night-of-the-Living-Dead-but-not-as-talented-as-Romero pals trying to milk the last penny out of the series. The acting is WORTHLESS, the efx are LAUGHABLE (mostly due to the fact that Savini didn't do them), and the story is STUPID. The main monster-zombie thingy looks hilarious (like a tall skinny guy in really, really bad halloween makeup!)-and he walks like he's stuck in slow motion. Not to mention he spends half the movie waving his arms in the air and making growling sounds...Please!

BOTTOM LINE: THIS MOVIE IS 90 MINUTES I CAN NEVER GET BACK...DON'T BE A FOOL LIKE ME: DO NO RENT THIS WORTHLESS PILE OF GARBATE!!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A historic achievement...
Review: Children of the Living Dead is a film that deserves to go down in history...and flames. With makeup effects rivaling only the most innovative of grade-school musicals, and dialogue dubbing that is matched in futility only by the most obscure chinese kung-fu films, this blatant attempt to cash in on the Romero legacy with the least expense (and apparently, talent) possible is a disgrace to both film, the DVD format, and the western world. Upon only a cursory examination of the film, it is obvious that the production cost less than your average 1974 Dodge Dart. The plot seems to have been structured using a Magic 8-ball, while the film has been edited so as to maximize the confusion and exasperation of the audience. Decades pass with no evident aging of the actors, sets, or relative environment. The only obvious attraction inherent in the project is Tom Savini, who appears (after losing a bet, hopefully) and manages to extricate himself from this obscenity of a film in under 15 minutes. However, also not to be missed are the obviously two-dimensional tombstones, the clips falling out of weapons while in mid-firing, and the amazing mixture of night and daylight shots...in the same scenes. The only bright spot is the swaggering, Travolta-like movement of the "head zombie" who resembles an extra from the "Thriller" video, complete with bad '80's wardrobe. In truth, no words can express just how bad this movie is. Ed Wood himself is probably spinning in his grave right now, realizing that he had barely plumbed the depths of bad filmmaking which have been charted anew by...this piece of crap. Far more frightening than the small group of pastel zombies in this film will be the hordes of angry customers who descend upon their unwary video store owners who will have to face their collective wrath...and vengeance.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: Last night I watched "CHILDREN OF THE LIVING DEAD", the new zombie movie supposedly "starring" Tom Savini...

I enjoyed the first 5 minutes wherein Savini was actually in the movie. At first I thought we had a nice tribute to Romero's vision on our hands. After Savini gets killed off 5 minutes into the proceedings, the film takes a severe nosedive. It makes one wonder if Savini had been giving some helpful film-making hints to the director during his brief time on the set.

Words cannot even begin to describe what an abomination this movie is... but here's the first clue: The same production team responsible for the reprehensible NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (the one where they CHANGED the soundtrack and ADDED NEWLY SHOT FOOTAGE(!!!) to the 1968 classic.)

The film itself tries to combine the walking-dead motif with a sort of Ed Gein like character (The supposed "intelligent" zombie, Abbott Hayes). It's a story combination that doesn't really work... it just doesn't make any dang sense at all.

The dialogue is unbelievably stupid. It was so bad I searched the credits for the writer, just to see if it was Russo... no writer was listed (surprise!). Someone actually gets credit though for coming up with a character that's a rip-off of a real-life ghoul (Ed Gein)... not to mention a character that's been done to death (no pun intended) i.e.: Texas Chainsaw, Psycho, Deranged, 3 on a Meathook, etc. etc. etc...

The zombies looked O.K.... and I mean JUST O.K. The gore was O.K. and I mean JUST O.K. There were no real scares and many of the scenes just didn't make any sense... for example: one scene that takes place in a VW bus, totally ripping off Texas Chainsaw, where the teenagers talk about how "dead people don't just get up and walk around". It's later revealed that one of the teenagers involved in that conversation witnessed a zombie attack as a child... it's as if the writers just weren't even paying attention to what they had already written... it's as if they were just making the movie up as they went along.

The "hero" of the film is an annoying yuppie frat guy. Guys like that are supposed TO GET KILLED in movies like this!!!

The whole thing seems as if they had one guy wanting to make a zombie movie and one guy wanting to make an Ed Gein movie and so they just threw the two together with no rhyme or reason.

BE AWARE: THIS FILM HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GEORGE ROMERO'S CLASSIC ZOMBIE FLICKS. DON'T GET SUCKERED INTO THINKING THAT TOM SAVINI REALLY HAS MUCH OF ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS MOVIE... He's in it for like 5 minutes.

If you want a good zombie movie look for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (not the "30th Anniversary edition" though), DAWN OF THE DEAD, DAY OF THE DEAD, ZOMBIE (Lucio Fulci), THE BEYOND, CEMETERY MAN, heck... even DR. BUTCHER M.D. is better than this garbage!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Hunk Of "Living Dead" ...
Review: Can't George Romero stop John Russo from perverting his classic "Dead Movies" If you thought nothing could be sillier than the scenes he "added" to the Night of the Living Dead 30th Anniversery addition, you'll be intrested to know it can. Very much so. Even Tom Savini only appears for ten minutes, He must have taken his money and ran quick. For all my fellow zombie fans out there THIS IS ONE BAD MOVIE!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't take the time to watch, rent, buy, borrow, steal....
Review: This movie was complete garbage. I can't believe how bad it was. The plot was inane (Abbott Hayes, the head zombie does little more than growl a lot and stand in a cloud of 'fog' looking menacing), the dialogue sounded absolutely made up on the spot ("Zombies aren't interested in children"), the cinematography was laughable (in one scene, there is a close up on the door of a truck. It was a shiny door. The cameramzan was smiling. Not just for that truck but for 4 trucks where you could see the crew clearly in every door).

The action was absurd. All zombie bites were lunges with fast cutaways to bad blood makeup.

Not only isn't this a sequel to Romero, this isn't even worthy of someone that once knew him.

John Russo, if you are reading this...how could you sell this swill to the public????

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: How NOT to do a zombie movie.
Review: Let's see... what's wrong with Children of the Living Dead? The answer is: just about everything.

Although the opening scene is pretty cool, the remaining 80 minutes are absolutely terrible. In that afformentioned good scene, Tom Savini kills a bunch of zombies in cool ways (at one point, he kicks one zombie into another, pulls out a gun, and blows both of their brains out with one shot). Savini also shows off a few of his cools stunts (he is credited as the stunt coordinater). But Savini dies early, and, from then on, we are forced to watch a bunch of "actors" try to deliver "dialogue" to advance the "plot." After Savini's death, nothing in this film is done well. The cast is ridiculous (even the zombie actors are bad), there probably wasn't a script, the gore effects are lame and infrequent (free advice: if you're gonna make a gory zombie movie, the zombie attacks should be the showcase, not window dressing), the cinematographer must've been blind (several boom mikes are visible, and the film really likes to expose the camera crew in reflective surfaces), and the direction is totally inept.

In short, rent Dawn of the Dead instead. You'll be much happier with the transaction.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: ...
Review: CHILDREN OF THE LIVING DEAD starts off as a promising zombie movie, nostalgic in many ways of the good old days of zombie movies such as DAWN OF THE DEAD and other classic "Living Dead" fare. For a brief moment, I thought maybe, just MAYBE it was possible for the filmmakers to craft a good old fashioned zombie movie like they used to. But once you get past the exciting opening prologue which harks back to the day of DAWN with the lynch mobs of zombie hunters, and a campy yet scary moment involving a group of teens on a road trip, what follows is just a poorly acted, poorly scripted and un-orginal movie. The low-budget is no excuse...many great movies have been made on low budgets. The problem lies completely in the script. The story takes us NOWHERE, tells us nothing, shows us nothing new, and resolves nothing. It's just 90 minutes of goofy flesh eaters roaming around doing their same old thing. In fact, there are not even that many zombies in this movie to pose a real threat. The only stand-out make-up effects are that of the lead zombie....a crazy old man who used to kidnap young girls. The only thing worth seeing is a cameo by Tom Savini. And if you don't know who he is, then the movie isn't worth seeing at all. Although the DVD is nice and loaded with extras, it doesn't do much to save this mess.


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