Back from the Dead

Here was a surprise release for the horror fan community. When Dragon announced the impending release of the new Tasmanian terror flick 'Back From the Dead' many folk had no idea what was coming their way. So when the disc arrived here at SGM I slapped the film in to my player, dimmed the lights (grabbed some beers!) and settled in for some fresh new entertainment...

Craig Godfrey's 'Back from the Dead' is the latest in a line of home grown low budget gory comedys in the vein of the king of schlocko fun Peter Jackson. The story follows a young couple (Ruby and Corbet) on their trips to the local (ex nazi) mad professor's clinic where poor Corbet is being treated to a course of hypnotic regression in order to track his past life experiences. The unfortunate thing is that back in the 1830's Corbet was in fact a cannibalistic psycho killer called Kavendish, and the more hypnosis sessions Corbet has the more like Kavendish he becomes!

Everything from downright stupid to gory as hell can be used top describe 'Back from the Dead'. Godfrey's direction is great fun throughout the movie, with some moments of class when he tips his directorial hat to folk like the aforementioned Pete Jackson and Sam Raimi alike. Working with what was obviously a very limited budget Godfrey makes the maximum use of what he has, and it works very well too. The cast (including some of Godfrey's own family) do their best, with Tim Aris in particular acting his pants off in the split lead role of Corbet and Kavendish to great effect. Aris must have had a hell of a fun time in the hilarious finale where we see him act like a demented mixture of Jack Nicholson ala The Shining and an insane Bruce Campbell ala ED2 when he faces off against Ruby's wheelchair bound mum (another fun performance by Josephine Lee) and they both frenziedly stab each other over and over again.

At times the humour, which is strongly influenced by 70's Monty Python, can be downright puerile but there's nothing wrong with that. Farts and shit humour can be funny when dealt (ahem) with properly, and the Pythonesque songs that pop up are amusing also. The gore on the other hand is top notch indeed - when the killing begins it continually delivers the goods with the old red stuff flying everywhere and the brain munchings, gougings and so on are no holds barred in some very extreme scenes. Though veggy animal lovers be warned of the graphic slaughterhouse scene.

So, all in all, a fun low budget slice of gory fun that will wash down nicely with the late night beer drinkers amongst us ! But how about the disc ? Well, no complaints here - the picture quality is perfect, though for a new film that looks like it was shot on Digital Video you wouldn't expect anything less. The audio also is good, though you will be thankfull for the English subtitles option for the first 10 minutes or so as you get used to some of the accents from our Tasmanian friends.

If you fancy taking a risk with something fun and new, then check this one out. Godfrey will be a director you'll be hearing more of in the future and kudos to Dragon for taking a chance with an obscure release like this one. Get the beers in and have some gory fun! Check it out!