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[BD Review] ‘War of the Dead’ A Grimy, Action-Packed Zombie Fix
When eventually ranked in the annals of zombie war flicks, War of the Dead will earn a place somewhere alongside the gritty militarism of Romero’s Day of the Dead. But not really. Marko Mäkilaakso’s debut feature certainly delivers what it promises––it‘s a grimy, action-packed zombie war spectacle…that creaks under the weight of a silly-ass screenplay. It may not be a perfect film, but if you’ve got a jones for zombies in uniform, War of the Dead has got your fix.
When a squad of Allied soldiers assaults a Russian bunker during WWII, they inadvertently stumble into a horde of ravenous zombies, the result of some heinous Nazi experimentation. And these aren’t the moaning, lumbering undead of Romero’s world; Mäkilaakso’s zombies sprint, snarl, and have more than a passing familiarity with hand-to-hand combat. It’s like Ip Man meets Dead Snow.
The assault on the Russian bunker decimates the squad, and they mourn each other’s deaths with enough hand-wringing melodrama to overstuff a 1950s B-grade war picture. The cheesy dialogue frequently threatens to mortar the entire movie, but Mäkilaakso always manages to redeem these missteps with some sweet, sweet zombie action.
As our remaining heroes are compelled to infiltrate a second, super secret bunker (spoiler alert?), the zombies come at them in waves, like swarming insects. There are few solo encounters in War of the Dead; these wartime zombies are all or nothing. If you hope to stand a chance, you’d better brush up on your jujitsu.
One of my personal favorite horror movies of all time, 1987’s gateway horror classic The Gate is opening back up on May 14 with a brand new Blu-ray SteelBook release from Lionsgate!
The new release will feature fresh SteelBook artwork from Vance Kelly, seen below.
Special Features, all of which were previously released, include…
- Audio Commentaries
- Director Tibor Takacs, Writer Michael Nankin, and Special Effects Designer & Supervisor Randall William Cook
- Special Effects Designer & Supervisor Randall William Cook, Special Make-Up Effects Artist Craig Reardon, Special Effects Artist Frank Carere, and Matte Photographer Bill Taylor
- Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview
- Featurettes:
- The Gate: Unlocked
- Minion Maker
- From Hell It Came
- The Workman Speaks!
- Made in Canada
- From Hell: The Creatures & Demons of The Gate
- The Gatekeepers
- Vintage Featurette: Making of The Gate
- Teaser Trailer
- Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spot
- Storyboard Gallery
- Behind-the-Scenes Still Gallery
When best friends Glen (Stephen Dorff) and Terry (Louis Tripp) stumble across a mysterious crystalline rock in Glen’s backyard, they quickly dig up the newly sodden lawn searching for more precious stones. Instead, they unearth The Gate — an underground chamber of terrifying demonic evil. The teenagers soon understand what evil they’ve released as they are overcome with an assortment of horrific experiences. With fiendish followers invading suburbia, it’s now up to the kids to discover the secret that can lock The Gate forever . . . if it’s not too late.
If you’ve never seen The Gate, it’s now streaming on Prime Video and Tubi.
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