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House of the Dead
Score: 80%
Rating: R
Publisher: Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Region: 1
Media: UMD/1
Running Time: 90 minutes
Genre: Horror
Audio: PSP Stereo; English and Spanish
           subtitles


Features:
  • Behind the House - Anatomy of zombie movement making-of featurette
  • Stacked for Zom-Bat - The sexy babes of House of the Dead prepare for battle!

House of the Dead tries to bring back the style of the 1980's horror movie, but ends up showing exactly why that particular movie style hasn't been used for many years.

The movie follows a group of spring breakers as they try to get to a rave conveniently located on an overgrown wooded island. When the group arrives, they find that the only people partying are the zombies that have suddenly decided to sprout out and eat all of the ravers.

Well, when your zombie-killing group find themselves surrounded by the living-dead, they take to the woods and eventually end up in a decrepit, dilapidated house. At this point, the characters run from room to room shooting zombies and throwing grenades in a fashion befitting of the classic arcade, rail-riding shooter games.

So besides the "run around and shoot zombies" angle, how does this movie tie into the game? Well, not really a whole lot. There's the occasional reference to SEGA or a banner that has SEGA's logo on it and the splicing in of gameplay movies between scenes.

House of the Dead has a simple, basic plot, is lacking in twists, bad acting and the occasional boob shot common to the 80's horror scene. Unfortunately, that means this movie doesn't really fit very well in modern times. Like High Tension, House of the Dead just feels out of place in the horror movie market. Had the film been made 15 years ago, it might have been better.

This UMD also contains two featurettes. The first one, "Behind the House" covers a lot of behind-the-scenes happenings that go into making a "modern" zombie flick. The other film, "Stacked for Zom-Bat", talks about each of the female characters and how they prepare for zombie fighting.

Basically, the only people who should think about getting this film are those that really love 80's horror and don't mind seeing the name of a classic game series get dragged through a couple of mud puddles.



-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

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