House Of The Dead Review

House Of The Dead
After being ferried to a remote island for a rave, a group of tempetuous teenagers discover the place is infested with zombies. Taking refuge in a house, they attempt to survive the night.

by Kim Newman |
Published on
Release Date:

02 Nov 2004

Running Time:

90 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

House Of The Dead

A hokey spin-off from the cheesy video game, this is more endearing and on-target than the Resident Evil films but runs out of riffs well before its finish. Dimwit teens travel to Isla del Muerte for a rave, hitching a lift from a captain called Kirk (Jurgen Prochnow - "I don't like Captain Kirk jokes"), and run into Romero-style zombies created by the curse of a shipwrecked Spanish devil monk.

Intentionally (?) ridiculous B picture dialogue and many zombie battles (intercut with low-rent graphics from the game) make for shambolic charm if little excitement. A problem is the aggressive obnoxiousness of the characters, who puke on each other and snarl one-liners even before the monsters attack, and the whittling-down of the cast doesn't serve any plot purpose beyond keeping the gore coming.

This is one of those rare films that truly manages to get by on unintentional laughs, but otherwise dreadful. Boll isn't doing anything to quash those rumours about the tax loophole.
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