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from Jim's Real Detroit Column SHATTER DEAD |
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Horrible acting. Grainy and very often shaky cinematography. Bad sound effects. No sound effects. Less gore than some zombie flicks. And yet, any true fan of horror films, or even independent film for that matter, should see Shatter Dead (1993), directed by Scooter Macrae. Macrae also scripted the film, and that’s the real reason to see this ulta low--budget effort. Shatter Dead may well be the best-written zombie film ever made. The tagline alone should make you want to see this one: “God hates you! There’s no room in heaven either!”
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As the movie opens, we’re to understand that for some reason, a lesbian being impregnated by the Angel of Death causes people to be immortal...sort of. Now, when someone bites the big one, they remain animate, thinking beings. The bad news is that they can be shot, dismembered, crushed, or whatever, and what’s left of them continues to exist. Even the traditional bullet to the head has no effect. These zombies exist because of their soul, not their brain and cranial destruction has no effect. Once their veins are empty, the living become the dead and, as unmotivated slobs, have no other desire than to hang with this preacher guy who spreads the word that “Something beautiful is about to happen.” Talk about your real-like situations: zombies entranced by evangelists. Most people can’t wait to get in on the idyllic zombie lifestyle, and suicide is rampant. Luckily for gore-hungry viewers, many were obvious screwups while alive, and there are plenty of puss-oozing zombies roaming about who have done a half-ass job in offing themselves. The result is that, as a good zombie film should, Shatter Dead has enough uglified corpses walking about to ensure that the proper atmospheric level of creepiness is attained. In to this Utopia comes Susan, who has no desire to quit the living, struggling to get home to her boyfriend Dan (Daniel “Small” Johnson), where she feels everything will be all right. As played by Stark Raven (fully utilizing some of that aforementioned horrible acting), the wooden Susan is at times hard to distinguish from the living dead. She does perk up a bit whenever she gets to put a bullet or two into a pushy zombie. She also gets to take a nudely gratuitous shower with a very sexy girl-zombie, so hey, there’s something for everyone. Once home, Susan finds that Dan was feeling lonely and killed himself. “Sorry about the mess,” Dan says about the bathtub full of blood. This sets up one of the weirdest and most graphic sex scenes in all of zombiedom as Dan’s lack of blood causes the ultimate in erectile dysfunction. Susan still wants the relationship to work, so Susan lends him the gun that she’s been a-totin’, and we soon get to see if Dan’s new strap-on is shooting blanks. |
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| In addition to proving that it’s the writing that makes the difference in a film, Shatter Dead intelligently injects a little theology into the script that makes you think a little differently about the meaning of death and life. Despite its shortcomings, this is one hell of an entertaining (and disturbing) movie. Awarded Best Independent Film USA at Rome’s Fanta Film Festival in 1995. |
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