ridiculous rating

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis as far as zombie movies go is not as bad as House of the Dead, Vampegeddon, Zombie Night, Vampires vs. Zombies and Zombie Nation, and I do remember Rave to the Grave being slightly worse, but it is a disgrace to the Return of the Living Dead series (the previous three movies vary in quality, but never to the same level of badness of Necropolis and Rave to the Grave).There is hardly anything good to say about it, other than that the zombie make-up was pretty good and the use of Alice Cooper's Cold Machines was cool and used appropriately. That's where any redeeming merits end. Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis is poorly-made, there is a distinct lack of atmosphere and everything just looks drab and cheap from the haphazard camera work, cheap and sometimes gratuitous gore and incomplete-looking effects. Apart from Cold Machines, the heavy rock soundtrack is over-bearing and takes one of the movie completely.The movie's direction is so flat it completely undermines any tension or suspense, while the script is so awkward-sounding and intelligence-insultingly dumb, tension and suspense is replaced by rapidly tiresome unintentional humour and the story is thin, dull, mind-numbingly stupid and often leads nowhere. The scary moments are all predictable and come off cheesily, and Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis does a poor job with the zombies, they should be the stars and heart of their movie but are severely under-utilised and when they do appear they are very goofy, lifeless and not menacing at all.Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis' characters are as thin as paper and so incredibly dumb they come off irritating, while the acting is a bad mixture of over-acting and going-through-the-motions, I found myself most annoyed by Peter Coyote. To conclude, there are worse zombie movies around but Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis is a disgrace to the series. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Veteran director Ellory Elkayem is at the top of his game with this dark but comedic entry in the Dead series. Starring a cast of exciting and talented young people, the action never lets up and the thrills keep coming without let-up. From the discomforting opening scenes, filmed in the haunting locale of Chernobyl itself, to the darkly hilarious zombie battles, this is a motion picture made to please both the fans and casual audiences of the zombie genre. Especially effective is superb actor Peter Coyotee who gives a memorably inspired performance as a scientist bent on world domination. Coyotee is deeply menacing with a touch of humor in a portrayal that breathes new life into the mad scientist cliché. Most refreshing are the strong female characters in this film, very able to hold there own or more while facing the horror unflinchingly. The dialog is sharp and witty as the script incisively explores metaphorically the threat of the giant corporate mentality permeating American society. While not for the squeamish, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis is a thoughtfully produced and at times brilliant film that is well worth the time of the most discriminating student of cinema and genre fan alike.

Necropolis...a great name for film title but I'm afraid the franchise has lost its impetus with this next installation. Again naughty people are trying to use the deadly toxic gas to reanimate the dead and use for military weapons but once again it all goes wrong and the undead run amok...oh geez.We are now firmly in B-movie land with this one, the acting is quite terrible from all members including Peter Coyote and the plot is just a rehash against a different backdrop. The only thing going for this is the well done makeup effects which is just as good as the previous films and makes the film better than it deserves to be. These films are all about the cool hands on makeup effects lets be honest, and they all deliver consistently. This is the one thing these sequels manage to pull off despite the fact they rehash everything else. In that aspect they just about hold your attention if you're a monster/gore lover but the rest is usually pants.Nice idea and design for the undead Terminator style soldiers, a small plus point in a sinking film. One has to ask ones self how many more of these can they do? they are clearly trying to utilize every possible backdrop for the zombie outbreaks, I guess a desert setting will be next, haven't seen that yet.3/10

> More than 20 years have passed since John Russo's feud with George Romero finally spawned his uniquely comic take on the zombie genre; but whilst 1988's Part 2 kept the spirit of the original alive, and the third instalment took an unusual but welcome departure that in essence paved the way for smoulderingly sexy undead-anti-heroines in the early 90s (not least Resident Evil's Alice), the most recent additions to the franchise would well leave anybody that may have questioned the quality of Romero's work in light of Diary of the Dead feeling that their criticism was groundless when this is what's being produced as an alternative. > It's literally only minutes before we get our first glimpse at what we're all eagerly anticipating from a series that last got a sequel when plaid was still in fashion, and surely enough the characteristically B-Movie approach to horror storytelling is present and correct as those ill-fated barrels fall once more into the hands of a malevolent weapons developer whose intentions are for his paymasters world domination at any cost. The predictable narrative focuses around Julian (John Keefe), a High school student who in the company of his arson obsessed younger brother (Alexandru Geoana), have lost both their parents during their employ at Hybra Tech: a veritable Walmart meets the Soylent Corporation amalgamation whose unhealthy yet secretive interest in the undead inevitably leads to trouble for all concerned. Of course what nobody could have possibly seen from a mile away was that the same malevolent weapons developer just happens to be Uncle Charles (Peter Coyote), the primary care giver to the unfortunately doomed orphans who fall into his care. > However despite this perfectly acceptable, albeit far-fetched re-introduction to the series, the request for "brains" from cloudy eyed monsters begins to fade like a distant memory while we, the viewing audience, are pushed back from the edge of our seats and are forced to endure the monotonous antics of a predictably clichéd menagerie of practically indistinguishable teenagers as they attempt to sloppily lay down the building blocks of a decidedly familiar world permeated in all facets by the series unscrupulous answer to Resi's Umbrella Corporation. Queue one minor motorcycle accident later involving Julian's bestest bud (Elvin Dandel), and his reportedly suspicious death leads our hapless heroes to dig a little deeper, finding that he is in fact alive and well in the custody of Uncle Charles. Sure enough this leads them to discover the nature of his ungodly "research", and to Necropolis, as well as the realisation that the death of Julian's parents may not have been so accidental after all. > Of course what I have failed to mention thus far is that the story is excruciatingly slow to get started, and despite an initial offering, it feels like some considerable time before we really get another glimpse of any action; a tremendous downfall for a movie that has one primary responsibility in that it should be ready to deliver hordes of zombies from as early as feasibly possible. Even when the so-called action can be said to begin when the startling gravity of the situation first strikes our heroes, a moment that most films of the genre share, the resulting confrontation left a questionable taste in my mouth as what is usually a tense and horrifying moment as moral deliberation by usually peaceful everymen is quickly outweighed by the need to survive, was instead replaced by an eagerness to seemingly murder two eccentric hobos in a sewer without ascertaining the danger they posed. Even this moment was fairly lacklustre however with no member of the cast looking remotely fazed by exploding heads or the possibility of walking corpses. Their reactions here were largely indicative of their portrayal throughout the entire piece, and left me yearning for the over-the-top and cartoonish frolics offered by O'Bannon's original. > Even quicker than a reanimated body can suck out the innards of a skull, it became painfully clear very early in proceedings that everything that was so lovable about the original instalment has been entirely lost; replaced instead with a moodier and more serious atmosphere that not only feels artificial and ultimately prevents an audience from being drawn in, but that fans simply do not expect. However even this unsuccessful change in style and execution thereof does nothing to distract from rudimentary problems stemming from the bland and mediocre dialogue as the cast of forgettable no-names, with as much acting prowess on screen as your average High School drama class, go through the motions as they churn out their lines without an iota of impact. > Overall what we see on screen is dull and predictable, and what action there is on offer is largely samey and unimpressive. Attempts to cover up this failing and educe some tension with a heavy-metal soundtrack are laughable, and not unlike the amateurish offerings from 17 year olds found in almost any Media class. It is only fair to say that for what was clearly a low-budget production many of the special effects were passable if not a little underwhelming, and the zombie make-up was to a far greater standard than I had expected. I even managed to squeeze out an otherwise suppressed titter when an homage to the original reared its head when one of the ghouls used a radio to request that someone "send more security guards" as the outbreak finished snacking on the clerk at the front desk. In short however, Return of the Living Dead IV: Necropolis can be described as nothing more than a thoughtless by-the-numbers Resi knock-off executed by a director with limited experience and stunted vision as attempts are made to cash-in once more on a tired series. I get the distinct sense that the fifth instalment, filmed simultaneously as its numerical predecessor, will be just as disappointing. I dare say I will find out shortly enough as much like the waning zombie genre itself, I am a glutton for punishment