By: JWBM
What looks to be some lost and forgotten low-budget horror film that has all of the glaring attributes of the year—hairstyles and clothing included—and plays out to a one-by-one-they-die type of film... is, well, exactly that. If you were expecting less, you won't get it. If you were expecting more, you'll get it in different variations of the genre, rather than something profoundly off the charts. It's not new, per se, but somewhat innovative, and still comes with its own memorable personality. It plays on a formula that works, because it's fun, somewhat daring, and just plain ol' entertaining for one guilty pleasure or another. Take your pick.
The plot is fairly simple: a group of adults with nothing better to do help out one of their pals fix up a mansion in the middle of the woods. Things start out innocent enough, till one of them desecrates a head-stone: from there on out, it becomes a need-to-get-out, fight for survival. This comes with its own rules that don't apply outside of this film. Such as sound doesn't travel, the dead aren't really dead, and old women have the cunning of a vicious predator and the strength of Schwarzenegger in his prime. There's nothing more chilling than an all-too-calm hunched-back elderly lady with a talent for creative violence. Her voice goes from sweet innocence to might-as-well-dig-my-own-grave creepy by the time you see what she's capable of.
This shifts in and out of fairly amateur looking filmmaking—from the acting, story, setups—to other scenes that are somewhat impressive in how simple but effective they are. Often times with shoe-string budget features, you get a redundancy of certain aspects. One of the familiar trappings is forced drama between the group to create tension. In a rare move that does work in its own twisted way, this uses a guy who should rightfully be promoted to the kingpin of jerks. He's a professional smart-aleck that gets I-can't-believe-he-said-that-laughs from his off-the-cuff commentary, or his back-and-forth with the others who look annoying enough to deserve it.
The film wastes little time to step up the ante. In under 20 minutes, blood is already splattered on the walls. Like beaten and battered bowling pins just waiting to be knocked down, the characters get it in unique ways. However, the film does start to lose a little steam and become repetitive when it goes from a kind of haunted house/slasher to a sort of survival horror to give the audience a person to root for. This is the kind of experience that's best enjoyed with a group who can point out its pitfalls while simultaneously going along for the entertaining ride that is "Dead Dudes in the House."
Rating: 7/10
Director: James Riffel
Actors: Victor Verhaeghe
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube link
(Writer's note: the front DVD cover is cringe-worthy, showing six unrelated actors to the film and looking about as trendy and upbeat as an episode of "Saved by the bell." The much cooler looking VHS version, "The House on Tombstone Hill," grabs your attention over this eyesore. Troma needs to get up on showing the real dudes and dudettes involved. There's also conflicting dates: from IMDB's site with '89, Troma's site saying '91, and another version having '92.)
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