I used to watch this film all the time because it used to come during the Saturday afternoon horror slot (I have no idea why they would show gruesome horror flicks during the middle of the day when most kids were home, but hey that was the 1980s for ya!).
Back in the day I never really watched the film from start to finish, only glimpsing certain iconic scenes that stuck with me even to this very day. I could never remember the name of this film only specific scenes, such as the end sequence in the morgue, which is still a pretty horrifying and well-shot segment. As well as the movie's most disturbing and eye-catching scene involving a character being choked to death on his own tongue.
The tongue scene was way disturbing back in the day due to the practical effect, and it's still equally effective today. That's the beauty of practical effects!
Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn't quite hold up as well as it's most significant sequences. In short, the sum of its parts aren't quite enough to compensate for the lackluster film as a whole.
I could never really remember the plot all that well, and that's because it doesn't really have a plot. Some stupid kids steal a dead body and then start getting killed off, mostly in dumb ways.
None of the film's plot really makes much sense, nor the character motivations. You'll be left scratching your head the whole way through, especially given that the cops encapsulate themselves in nonsensical trifles while the main character kids just keep going in circles searching for one another. It's really that dumb.
I feel like someone came up with a script for a cool concept of this postmortem villain but failed to flesh out anything beyond his driving force to kill. They don't really explain his powers much, nor if he has any weaknesses. I'm to assume he's beyond the limitations of time and space, somewhat like the Tall Man from Phantasm, but once again the film doesn't really explain anything other than that the villainous actor is back from the dead.
I still ended up giving the film a 4 out of 10 stars because some of the death sequences are still filmed quite well, and the cremation sequence is still kind of harrowing even to this day. I just wish the rest of the film could have been cohesively structured better around some of the concepts the filmmakers brought to the table.
Back in the day I never really watched the film from start to finish, only glimpsing certain iconic scenes that stuck with me even to this very day. I could never remember the name of this film only specific scenes, such as the end sequence in the morgue, which is still a pretty horrifying and well-shot segment. As well as the movie's most disturbing and eye-catching scene involving a character being choked to death on his own tongue.
The tongue scene was way disturbing back in the day due to the practical effect, and it's still equally effective today. That's the beauty of practical effects!
Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn't quite hold up as well as it's most significant sequences. In short, the sum of its parts aren't quite enough to compensate for the lackluster film as a whole.
I could never really remember the plot all that well, and that's because it doesn't really have a plot. Some stupid kids steal a dead body and then start getting killed off, mostly in dumb ways.
None of the film's plot really makes much sense, nor the character motivations. You'll be left scratching your head the whole way through, especially given that the cops encapsulate themselves in nonsensical trifles while the main character kids just keep going in circles searching for one another. It's really that dumb.
I feel like someone came up with a script for a cool concept of this postmortem villain but failed to flesh out anything beyond his driving force to kill. They don't really explain his powers much, nor if he has any weaknesses. I'm to assume he's beyond the limitations of time and space, somewhat like the Tall Man from Phantasm, but once again the film doesn't really explain anything other than that the villainous actor is back from the dead.
I still ended up giving the film a 4 out of 10 stars because some of the death sequences are still filmed quite well, and the cremation sequence is still kind of harrowing even to this day. I just wish the rest of the film could have been cohesively structured better around some of the concepts the filmmakers brought to the table.