Children of the Living Dead is another attempt to cash in on the monumental legacy of “Night of the Living Dead”. This is what I would call “D Grade” horror. It could have easily made it into the realms of “B Grade” horror if the people involved had put a bit more work/time into it. Especially with special effects maestro Tom Savini as part of the crew. The acting is a bit hammy (well not just a bit) most of the way through the film. Some of the zombies are quite reasonable and look fairly convincing, some just look like they’ve been covered in grey blue paint. Tom Savini takes an early role in the film and also looks pretty convincing. One thing I have to say is Tom Savini had a great look in this film. I could easily see him acting in other action (Especially mobster / mafia type films).
THE PLOT
On first viewing I wasn’t sure what was going on to be honest. On a second look it’s basically set in a time when the zombie plague has taken over to some degree and the the police and mercenaries are called in to do some zombie culling. Maybe the mid 80’s. The zombie cull is completed, then the movie jumps forward 14 years. Now we have a bunch of teenagers on the way to a concert who get roped into all of this as well as one of the zombies is still hanging around. Basically there’s zombies and stuff, and its a really “Paint by by numbers” script. I got distracted by some off colour production work, very unprofessional (Not sure if thats just my DVD or the production). The movie seemed in focus for a bit and then went an off colour yellow then back in. This where I started to focus on finding fault with the movie rather than focusing in on what was going on.
THE VERDICT
As you could imagine. I couldn’t make it through to the end, the first time. Years later on second viewing I was able to get through to the end of this, but the sequencing of the film seemed out of chronological order. Maybe they were trying to do something tricky. Either way it failed and basically ruined the end of the film. I’m glad I didn’t pay much for this one (again it was a flea market punt) but it is a shame to see the “…Living Dead” name dragged through the mud. It’s also a shame to see Tom Savini wasting his time on such crap. To be fair there was some reasonable horror effects at times but I can’t honestly give this one any kind of recommendation. Unless you’re some sort of “Living Dead” completist or you compulsively collect horror down to this level this is best avoided.
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