good back-story, and good acting

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

i remember when i saw this in the theater with a few of my friends. we were just kids so i pretty much liked this better then than i do today, but having just recently revisited it after a while, i still like it. it's no Halloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street, but Twice Dead is at least competent while some horror flicks of that time (and most of them today) fell flat. Bert Dragin's haunted house/ghost story may not hold together as a whole, but it gives us a solid setup, better performances than most from its genre, a strong visual mood, and a few very bloody, very satisfying death scenes, delivering everything a horror film needs. an extended prologue shows us 1930s actor Tyler Walker hanging himself in the attic of his home just as he's about to be evicted, but the main story takes place in 1988, with the Cates family, good people who've had their share of bad luck. there's mom and dad, older brother Scott (Tom Bresnahan) and his stunning sister, Robyn (Jill Whitlow), trying to get back on their feet after a bankruptcy. bad luck gets worse when they're forced to move into the Walker home, which they've acquired through an inheritance. they find the place to be a dump in a bad neighborhood with even worse company. right as they walk up to the front door, they have to shake off Silk (Christopher Burgard) and his gang of nasty punk sh!theels who've taken to squatting in the Walker house as a hangout. now add in the outstanding factor that Walker's ghost still haunts the grounds...Yeah, these poor bastards already have more than their share to worry about. as they attempt to settle in, Scott researches Walker's history, learning he was a tortured and broken soul. Robyn has a more difficult time adjusting, as she has becomes the object of desire for the switchblade-wielding Crip (Jonathan Chapin), a very mysterious and arguably the most disturbed of Silk's gang. after enduring fistfights, the slaughter of the family cat, and a creepy attempted rape, Scott and Robyn just want to be left alone and even turn to defensive measures (an altogether ludicrous sequence that would be stupid if it weren't so clever and fun). but Silk, all nasty and vengeful, stirs up his sh!t blizzard of harassment and terror, eventually turning things homicidal. that's where Walker's ghost comes into play. to say anymore would ruin the satisfying rampage in the film's last act when Silk briefly gains the upper hand. the body count is actually kept to a minimum, but needless to say, a few cringing deaths are in order and a few (one involving a motorcycle and another involving an electric blanket) definitely get points for creativity, while two other deaths are enough to make you jump. one death even involves the obligatory (and very gratuitous) horror flick nudity from the gorgeous Charlie Spradlin, the slinky sexpot of Silk's gang. the movie relies a lot on its two leads. Whitlow is so damn pretty, we lecherous scum won't be able to think about anything else and Bresnahan is good as her likable brother. Todd Bridges is okay as the only well-meaning character the Cates come across. It's Burgard and Chapin who take the show, the former eating all his scenes while the latter plays it down. all in all, this is a solid movie. there are some loose ends left hanging and some scenes are perfunctory while others just don't belong, but anyone expecting Citizen Kane with this is overshooting. i won't deny that i have some sentimentality on this one, but there are plenty of flicks i hated when i revisited them and this certainly wasn't that. this won't change the world for anyone, but it's entertaining, quick, and not a massive waste of time. worth a look.

An average 80's horror vehicle, with the protagonists use of movie SFX gadgetry and makeup presumably its hook. There isn't a whole lot else that stands out about Twice Dead beyond this gimmick. The scenes that do involve the protagonists using movie props and makeup effects to play a trick on the gang that has been harassing them are kind of dumb. The extended sequence in the middle of the movie where brother and sister are able to fool an entire gang of scum into thinking they have each been attacked by ghosts and killed off one by one via supernatural means is ludicrous to say the least. Naturally the different members of the gang all act exactly as they are intended to, splitting off at the right times for each trick to work and the SFX used are perfectly convincing to the naked eye. Enough so that each different gang member is convinced they have seen something supernatural or one of their friends killed or dead- all from a bit of fake blood, monster props, gadgets and wires etc. Our protagonists also have access to quick acting, side effectless, movie chloroform. Yes, it's like something from an episode of Scooby-Doo but live action and even dumber for it.As a whole the movie doesn't work and the story and tone are all over the place. There is a supernatural presence in the house where the family has moved into which seems to fluctuate between wanting to kill/spook the family and being on their side with no rhyme nor reason. A back-story is provided to explain the ghostly goings on but it just makes everything seem far more inconsistent. A link is developed later on in the movie between one of the gang members and the story of the house but it comes out of nowhere and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The gang that menaces the family throughout the film is so overt and public in their unlawful, and eventually murderous, behaviour that it is unbelievable that they haven't been arrested and makes the police's inability to help the Cates family when come to them for help for reasons of lack of evidence ludicrous indeed. This is one of those movies where the police have to be non-existent or unbelievably ineffectual for the plot to happen. The Cates family's behaviour is also nonsensical. The parents go off on a trip for a week or two leaving behind their two teenage children in the house alone whilst the family is being menaced by a violent gang. Instead of taking firmer and saner action, such as, I dunno, perhaps going to the police, these two set up an extremely elaborate prank which could only conceivably antagonise the group that wants to kill/rape/harm them even more. The tone of the movie is somewhat inconsistent also. At times the movie seems almost light hearted and goofy- the whole faked death by ghost sequence and at others times like a standard 80's slasher movie with over the top deaths, gratuitous nudity and at times serious- threatened rape and that sort of thing.The dialogue, acting, gore etc, are all pretty mediocre. Only a couple of things stood out for me in Twice Dead. Jill Whitlow who plays the sister is certifiably gorgeous and made watching the film a less tedious experience than it would otherwise be. The other thing is how frequently the boom mike appears in shot, at least in the VHS version I watched. It appears so often it should have got billing (It has more personality than a lot of the other characters) and its appearance would make for a good basis for a drinking game, which could only make for a more enjoyable experience watching the movie.

Twice Dead starts in the 1930's as stage actor Tyler Walker (Jonathan Chapin) is having a hard time, firstly he's skint & to add insult to injury his large Beverly Hills house is about to be taken away from him by Harry Cates Sr. (Bob McLean) the man who stole his one true love off him. It's all too much for poor Tyler & he is found dead having hanged himself... Jump to the late 80's & Harry Cates Jr. (Sam Melville) has inherited the house from his uncle, in an uncanny resemblance to past events Harry is also dead skint so decides to move his family into the house to ease their financial burden. Unfortunately when they turn up they find a local gang of punks have decided the front garden is theirs, after a stand off involving the police the gang moves on. Scott (Tom Bresnahan) & his sister Robin (Jill Whitlow) have an ugly encounter the gang at school & a feud begins to develop. The gang, lead by Silk (Christopher Burgard), lie in wait for Robin & one of them tries to rape her but Scott saves the day. Silk & the rest of the gang are really annoyed now & decide to have their revenge by breaking into the Cates house but a supernatural presence lurks that start to kill the intruders off one-by-one...Co-written & directed by Bert L. Dragin I thought Twice Dead was a pretty decent film & much better than I had any right to expect. The script by Dragin & Robert McDonnell moves along at a reasonable pace & provides a fair amount of mindless entertainment. It mixes revenge film with a little bit of a ghost story & finally adds a touch of teenage slasher film to round things off, for the most part it works quite well as it's balanced & no one single theme overly dominates the running time. The character's aren't as clichéd as one may expect, apart from the stereotypical punk gang consisting of leather wearing, flick knife wielding, motorbike riding tough guys sporting bad attitudes wherever they go. There is a great twist about halfway through that I must admit I didn't see coming & succeeded in surprising me which isn't easy after you've seen as many of these low budget horror films as I have. No explanation is given as to why Tyler is a ghost, don't people commit suicide all the time? Do they all come back as vengeful spirits? I don't think so. The place is haunted by Tyler & thats it we have to accept it. The ending & various events throughout the film seems to indicate that history is repeating itself including something about a coffin in the basement but these plot threads are never really tied together that well & it comes across as a bit of an afterthought.Made by the Roger Corman owned Concorde Pictures Twice Dead was director Dragin's second & to this point in time last film which seems a bit of a shame because he turns in a throughly decent & credible horror film, it has that late 80's look & feel while it also has a nice atmosphere to it as he films everything with minimal use of colour. There is even a nice little car chase in here as well. I could have done with a bit more blood & gore but what we get is OK, there are a few decapitated heads, a squashed head, death by motorcycle, a couple electrocuted while having sex & someone shooting themselves with a shotgun.Now, one thing I have to mention is the boom mike. I have never seen a film where the boom mike is in shot as many times as it is in Twice Dead, I was thinking that it should get some sort of recognition in the credits as it has more screen time in the film than some of the character's! I counted at least six times when it was painfully visible, all in wide shots. Other than that Twice Dead is generally well made with decent production values. The acting was OK as well.Twice Dead was a bit of a pleasant surprise as I didn't think I would but I liked it. If your a fan of these types of low budget horror films then you could do a hell of a lot worse than this, personally I think it's well worth checking out if you lay your hands on a copy.

This movie was definitely cheesy. I saw this movie a long, long, long time ago on cable television. I enjoyed the movie because I was a child watching a rated R movie. It was a typical B-rated movie with blood and gore and sex and drugs and violence. You know, the essence of the 80's.