Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-animation

A prequel to Night of the Living Dead 3D, Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-animation has one of the longest film titles ever. This film boasts two well-known horror film actors and a loose connection to the father of all modern zombie films. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do anything good with those benefits.

Gerald Tovar (Andrew Divoff; Wishmaster, Air Force One) is the current owner and head mortician at Tovar and Sons mortuary (having inherited it from his father). He struggles to manage his team of employees and seems to be working extra hard to keep control of himself whenever he faces an obstacle. These come in the form of state inspectors, a money-seeking brother, a couple of incompetent employees, and the living relatives of his customers. Gerald also houses a dark and disturbing secret in his cremation room. A room he keeps locked and everyone out of. Things slowly begin to break down though and his secret is about to walk out the door of the crematorium and ravage the world.

The premise of Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation really excited me. A more explored explanation of the origins of the zombies in Night of the Living Dead 3D (and maybe a new headcanon for the original Night of the Living Dead). Unfortunately, the film suffers from dullness and poor plot development.

Unlike the suspense that is built up in the original Night of the Living Dead (hey, if you are going to title your film the same, it is fair to compare), Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation is just boring. It feels like there was an attempt at suspense, even the incidental background music would try to convince you, but it never builds. Night of the Living Dead 3D was even more suspenseful than this movie (although its plot is based on the original so I don’t really give the credit to the film).

If you buy this film on DVD, you get both the 3D and 2D versions on one disc (yay). It is typical anaglyph 3D and some of the shots are framed to take advantage of this effect (weapons and zombies attacking the screen and such). I am a sucker for the old-school 3D effect. If you are like me and enjoy wearing those red and blue glasses in your living room, this is a positive note for you. If not, you can switch over to the 2D easily. 

Andrew Divoff does a decent job as a character who is trying to hold it all together, but in doing so is being driven insane by everything occurring around him. The chemistry between him and Jeffrey Combs (Re-animator, From Beyond) is really the only reason to watch the movie. While their dialogue is not Shakespeare, they still deliver good performances that are the most entertaining in the movie. They even have some entertaining lines throughout the movie.  

Everyone else comes across as wooden in their performances though. I don’t know if that was a director’s choice to set a mood or the actors’ own abilities.

Speaking of the secondary characters, Jeff Broadstreet gives them way too much screen time. The way he focuses on the new employee Christie (Sarah Lieving; Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, The Amityville Terror) and the other cast leads one to believe they will serve a large purpose in the plot. They really don’t and that is disappointing. Their character development is little to none. Their roles could have been reduced to nearly background characters and been just as effective. The plot could have focused on the Tovar brothers more, showing their interactions handling the zombies, their friction working together, and maybe a betrayal at a crucial moment. I think that this would have been a much more enjoyable film.

Can we also address the drug/necrophilia scene midway through the movie? The whole segment served no purpose and wasn’t entertaining. 

One character to point out is the political caricature of Sarah Palin (Denice Duff; Subspecies 2: Bloodstone, Northern Exposure). In the original Night of the Living Dead, we see commentary on our society cleverly woven into the story. This film just makes a parody of a political figure of the time. It was unnecessary and outdated even when the movie was released. Not clever nor funny. 

The zombie effects in the film are actually not the worst I have seen. There is a decent amount of gore and mutilated corpses with a combination of practical and computer effects. Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation also introduces the third zombie baby I have seen in this genre. The green screening though is horrible. The lighting is all over the place, but rarely is it any good. All the post-production processing gives a very muted effect in most of the scenes. 

It saddens me to say the Night of the Living Dead 3D is not worth your time. Even with talented veteran actors like Jeffrey Combs and Andrew Divoff, the movie is dull, poorly plotted, poorly directed. It contains a climax so predictable and mediocre that there won’t be a moment that you will be excited. It is not even bad enough to joke about it with your friends.

Rating:

Jack Savage:

“Never a goddamn zombie around when you need one.” – Gerald Tovar

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