When a Sumatran rat-monkey bites Lionel Cosgrove's mother, she's transformed into a zombie and begins killing (and transforming) the entire town while Lionel races to keep things under control.
The finale, in which Lionel reduces a horde of flesh-eaters to a mulch of blood, flesh and offal with the aid of a flymo, is probably the goriest scene ever.
– ,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
fresh:
Horror films used to be primordial spook shows, tapping midnight-dark fears. Now they tap bodily goo: rivers of blood, dripping limbs, eyeballs that go pop in the night.
– Owen Gleiberman,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Feb 1993
rotten:
Because all of this looks blatantly unreal, and because the timing of the shock effects is so haphazard, Dead Alive isn't especially scary or repulsive. Nor is it very funny.
– Stephen Holden,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
The best to date from Kiwi gore specialist Peter Jackson.