Raiders of the Living Dead

[Andrew]

A reporter investigates a farm with a frightening past and encounters zombies.  Though he survives the night, he then finds that he is hunted by the walking dead.  A nurse picks him up as he hitchhikes and the two go on a date, because what woman wouldn't fall for a guy who they picked up on the side of the road - especially after he disappears and the police find a rotting corpse with its brains blown out in his temporary apartment (yup, she goes looking for him after that).

With the help of a talkative doctor, the reporter delves into the mystery and discovers that a mad scientist is creating zombies and has used them to infest an abandoned prison (actually, it looks like a crumbling WWII military installation).  The reporter has his wits, the doctor has a bow and arrows, and the doctor's grandson has a laser pistol.  Oh, and just when it appears all is lost, the evil scientist is overcome when his pistol is suddenly snatched out of his hand by a character offscreen.  The end.

The best parts of the movie are the doctor's grandson accidentally frying his hamster as he experiments with the laser and the theme song that opens the film.  "The deeaaaaaddddd are after meeeeeeee!" (And I ain't got no privacy!)

Lessons Learned:
Laserdisc players contain weapons-grade lasers.
Zombies can only be killed by having their head blown off, being shot with an arrow, or any contact with a laser.
Lasers look like white squiggly lines.
In the old days, the leading cause of brownouts was the electric chair execution of a criminal.
If you say the right things to a gun store owner, he will immediately reveal and sell you a sawed-off shotgun.

[Menard]

I somewhat liked this movie. Yes, it was corny as hell, and in some places it moved at a snail's pace, but, considering the home video budget they were apparently working with, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

The laser ray was particularly funny, as well the reaction of some of the zombies when they were shot with it.

Normally I wouldn't particularly care for a zero budget attempt at a zombie movie, but this one does, from an entertainment perspective, rise above its limitations.

[Evan]

I liked the zombie in the house-shotgun scene the best. But my favorite thing about this movie is the music. The main title song is great and the song that plays in the nuculear power plant chase is great too. I was really suprised about the DVD realease. So many extras for a movie that was long forgotten.

[Andrew]

I was really suprised about the DVD realease. So many extras for a movie that was long forgotten.

Me too, all three different versions for pretty darn cheap, like $15.  I haven't gone through them all, but having just watched "Raiders of the Living Dead" it is much better than the VHS I had.  Not a "wow, amazing" DVD print, but very clean for a film like this.