Death Warmed Up is a pretty crazy Island of Dr. Moreau/zombie mash up that's surprisingly entertaining. The hit-to-miss ratio on this Pure Terror Budget set has been solid enough that I'm starting to expect good movies - or at least entertaining ones. And Death Warmed Up fits the bill - not "good," but a fun enough time. While the overarching story is relatively simple and easy to follow (dude goes to island for revenge on a crazy doctor), it's not a particularly well-told tale - it feels a little sloppy at times, but not enough to derail what is a mostly good time. It's a high-energy New Zealand import, made several years before Peter Jackson brought the New Zealand horror-comedy to international fame. Like Jackson's early films, there is mad-cap craziness to Death Warmed Up that is hard not to enjoy. While it's not as intentionally humorous as Dead Alive or the like, it's got some solid WTF moments/effects that will have you half-covering your eyes and half-laughing.
The film is about a young man named Michael who is hypnotized by Evil Doctor Archer Howell (I think). Dr. Archer claims to be doing very risky brain surgeries in the name of bringing immortality to his patients, but he seems to be more cut out to make psycho-zombies. Anyways, Michael's Father is a rival of Dr. Archer - i.e. he believes in being responsible and the scientific method and all that boring stuff. So Dr. Archer hypnotizes Michael and makes him kill his parents. Micheal is found guilty of the crime and sentenced to a mental institution.
Fast forward eleven years. Archer has moved his base of operations to an island off the coast (always a promising place for a *legit* medical practice). Here, he performs his shady procedures that seem to only result in turning people into vicious, post-apocalyptic looking mutants with giant exploding pustules on their heads. Whether or not this is part of his master plan to achieve immortality is never mentioned.
Michael has now been released from the medical institution, and is hungry for revenge. In the guise of a vacation with his girlfriend and another couple, he ferries out the the island in search of Dr. Archer. Who should be pretty easy to find - his picture is up everywhere and he's treated like he's president or something. But like any powerful person, Dr. Archer has henchmen to protect him. Will Michael and his friends manage to get revenge on the maniacal Archer? Or have they bitten off more than they can chew, trying to break into the psycho-zombie laden compound? Tune in to find out!
I guess the best thing about Death Warmed Up is the kitchen sink approach it has. At first, I was a little unsure if it was even a horror movie - for the first 15 or so minutes (featuring Michael getting hypnotized) it feels more like a crime thriller. And once the action moves to the island, there's a big-time post-apocalyptic feel to the thing. But once you get to the surgical gore and the zombies, there's really no question as to where this would be shelved in the video store.
And the film has a pretty solid sense of forward momentum - while not all of it is terribly well done (it's almost certainly a very low budget film), it flies by fast enough that you don't really have time to dwell on anything - good or bad. This means the story often suffers - the characters aren't really notable other than some superficial traits, and their motivations are never particularly clear. (I'd still like to know just exactly what the doctor is up to.) But it's the kind of film where such shortcomings are easy to look beyond. It's got enough madcap energy going for it that you just kind of have to enjoy it for what it is.
The action isn't great, but it's serviceable for a low-budget mid-80's indie film. And while the gore isn't memorable, there's a lot of it. Some of the reviews on imdb have it labeled as the first New Zealand Splatter film - and while splatter isn't the first thing that comes to mind, the blood does flow quite easily when the violence does happen.
The film doesn't look polished by any means (and the poor transfer on the Pure Terror budget set doesn't do it any favors). But I don't think it would be as successful if was a really slick film - Death Warmed Up has an appropriately grindhousey vibe and washed out look. Everything just seems a little grimy, which fits with the whole faux-post-apocalyptic vibe they seem to be going for.
Anyways, Death Warmed Up was a pleasant little surprise for me. Not a must see, but it's interesting enough to be worth a look if you're in a budget set mood.
I would recommend this film.
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