The Dead Hate the Living (2000)

dead-hate-livingWriter/director Dave Parker is a big fan of Lucio Fulci, and, by God, he wants you to know it so he hits you with a reference, an allusion, an in-joke, a “Fulci Lives” bumper sticker, or a rip-off of/homage to the Italian horror legend approximately every three seconds here in his directorial debut. It can get a little irritating and there are episodes of Charles in Charge that are scarier and more suspenseful than this, but it’s a decent 90 minutes of straight-to-video, helped immeasurably by a good sense of humor and a cute heroine (Jamie Donahue) who runs around in tight pants.

A tiny film crew is shooting a no-budget zombie movie in an abandoned factory. Along the way, they happen to stumble across the work of a deceased mad scientist who’d previously been hiding out there working on creating an army of the undead. One thing leads to another and flesh eaters are soon chasing after the crew. The tone here is light and campy and a bit like Return of the Living Dead. There’s a zombie “interrogation” scene here that feels inspired by a similar scene from that movie.