“House of the Dead.” Has a nice ring to it doesn’t it? Sounds like the title of either a scary video game or perhaps a horror movie. Well, as a matter of fact it’s both. A few years ago there was a video game with this innocuous title that took the video arcades by storm. Its game play mode was similar to “Carn Evil” as far as the player having access to ‘guns’ that shoot light at the screen in order to ‘kill’ the zombies. It had its own back story involving genetic research and the like, and was popular enough to spawn “House of the Dead II” and more recently “House of the Dead III” (The latest of which I bought recently to play on our Xbox and it is a hoot.) Someone in the entertainment industry got the wild idea to make a feature film based on the game, and under normal conditions that might have been a good idea. Unfortunately, here it might have been ill-advised. Under the direction of Uwe Boll, the film “House of the Dead” has the distinction of being a videogame adaptation that both works, and doesn’t. It all depends on who’s watching.

The plot, if memory serves is quite different from any of the games in terms of back story, involves a group of college kids in search of the biggest rave of the year. It’s being held on a remote island so they enlist the aid of an ornery captain and his mate (not to be mistaken for the Skipper and Gilligan) to transport them. Little do they know that the location of the party was a bad decision as the rave has been overrun with zombies and they’re next on the menu. In their bid for survival, they come across and old building that house the deep dark secret of their plight. Will they survive? Who knows? Who cares?

Technically speaking, “House of the Dead” actually looks pretty good. The lighting, the sets and some of the makeup work are particularly noteworthy. A lot of the action scenes are were shot with a ‘Matrix-like’ look to them, which I don’t remember seeing in a zombie film before. (With the possible exception of “Resident Evil.” Hmmm, another videogame turned movie…) Fro the most part, these action sequences looked pretty cool, but it got a little old after a while and I started longing for some good old-fashioned zombie battles.

Where the film wavered as far as being a good movie was along the lines of the plot, dialogue and general overall acting. Again, this is up to the viewer to decide. The plot was fairly thin and contrived, the dialogue was really cheesy, and the acting… well… I’ll just say it was perfectly suited for the cheesy dialogue. If you’re idea of a good movie involves a lot of blood and gore, and T&A, then my friend this one is an Academy Award winner in your book. There is a ton of gratuitous violence, blood, gore and some T&A throughout the film. However, I my guidelines for a good movie include all of the above, PLUS a good plot and acting. Don’t ask me why, I just a need a good mix of those things to be totally fulfilled.

That said, I’ll move on to comment that while I don’t consider “House of the Dead” to be a good movie, I did find it to be a somewhat entertaining one. Once I realized what I was getting into, I was able to ‘check my brain at the door’ as it were, and sit back to enjoy the ensuing mayhem.

Just to give some horror fans an idea of what they might be in for, keep in mind that one of the ‘stars of the film is Clint Howard. Yes, that’s right, Clint Howard. Brother of Ron, Gentle Ben’s little buddy, and star of numerous low-budget horror films. And sadly, the film also stars Jurgen Prochnow as Captain Kirk (no, not that Captain Kirk, but it is kinda funny, ain’t it). I remember a time when Prochnow was a well-respected actor in films like “Das Boot”, and he’s resorted to roles like this.

In spite of whatever shortcomings the movie might have, Artisan really went all out to deliver a high quality DVD product to whatever fans of the movie might be lurking out there. The transfer is nothing short of amazing, especially in the sound department. I may have quickly gotten tired of the techno music that was used a little too much, but I can’t deny it sounded great. Never had any problems with the dialogue either.

Even the extra features are nothing to sneeze at. There are two full commentaries, one by Director Uwe Boll, Post-Production Supervisor Jonathon Shore, Producer Shawn Williamson, and Actor Jonathon Cherry which is a fairly fun commentary. There’s a lot of technical talk thrown around and occasionally you get to hear how ‘we wish we could’ve done this or that.” It’s fairly laid back. The other is by Executive Producer Mark Altman. His is a little drier, but worth a listen at least for a few of the tidbits he has to throw in. There’s some deleted scenes as well as a behind the scenes featurette. Another featurettes allows us access to a ‘day in the life’ with the chicks (man, did I really say ‘chicks’) from the movie. We catch them getting up in the morning and readying themselves for a day of zombie shoot-em-up practice to prepare for the filming, then finish off the excitement with a dip in the hot tub complete with celebratory champagne.

If you go into “House of the Dead” with low expectations there’s a good chance you’ll be entertained. Horror film aficionados probably won’t think much of it because it’s not made to be a ‘classic’ like “Psycho”, “Halloween”, or any of the other really good horror movies. It doesn’t break any new ground or set any new standards, its simply pretty (gory) to look at. I will warn you though; it helps to know that the film is based on the video game if for no other reason than to understand the shots from the game that you’ll see occasionally edited into the movie. It’s really weird to see the actors shoot at a zombie, then cut to an ‘animated’ zombie being shot. I have no idea why they are in there, but at least I know where they came from.

Directed by: Uwe Boll
Starring: Jonathon Cherry, Tyron Leitso, Clint Howard, Ona Grauer, Ellie Cornell, Jurgen Prochnow
Extras: Deleted Scenes, “Behind the House: Anatomy of the Zombie Movement”, “Stacked for Zom-bat: The Sexy Babes of House of the Dead Prepare for Battle!”, Audio Commentary with Director Uwe Boll, Post-Production Supervisor Jonathon Shore, Producer Shawn Williamson, and Actor Jonathon Cherry, Audio Commentary with Executive Producer Mark Altman, Theatrical Trailer, Sneak Peak of the New Sega Game “Nightshade”
Specifications: 16:9 Widescreen Version, 6.1 DTS-ES Digital audio, 5.1 Dolby-EX Digital Audio, 2.0 Stereo Surround Sound
Studio: Artisan
Release Date: Available
Region 1
MPAA Rating: R (Pervasive Strong Violence, Gore Language and Some Nudity)
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We'll give House of the Dead a C.