DEAD HEAT: Not bad, quite entertaining

[Chris K.]

Of all the zombie films that I have spent my precious time viewing, I never thought their would be any more out there to see. That is, until I heard about DEAD HEAT. Overall plot: Wacko scientist creates a machine that (suprise, suprise) can bring the dead back to life and two cops (Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo) are gonna stop it all.

One thing this movie has been criticised for, besides it's heavy 80's dated themes, is the appearence of Joe Piscopo. To be honest, I have dished out plenty of insulting comments about Piscopo's "career" after seeing some of his work. And even shows like MARRIED WITH CHILDREN have made fun of the guy as well. And yet after viewing DEAD HEAT, I felt a bit bad about making fun of Piscopo. Why? Because he actually put in a pretty good performance in the film. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the guy or saying he's a great actor. Yet, Piscopo's performance easily beats out Mel Gibson's overdone LEATHAL WEAPON character to the punch. I beleive he made the film a fun ride and gave it his best shot. Yet I will say Piscopo really needed to get rid of that terrible mullet that he had. Also Darren McGavin and Vincent Price are also on hand and do a good job as well, so all the good talent is not wasted.

When released in theatres by New World Pictures, DEAD HEAT was originally submitted to the MPAA and was threatened to be given an 'X' rating due to it's graphic violence (i.e., I originally thought it was because of Joe Piscopo. Sorry, just had to sneak that one in there. No hard feelings, Joe?). Therefore, New World cut some of the good stuff out and was able to secure an 'R'. Anchor Bay Entertainment, who has purchased the remaining New World film vault, is planning to release a DVD of DEAD HEAT with all of the original gore back in the film. As for extras, not too sure about it. But I would like to see Anchor Bay get Piscopo to do a commentary track or video interview as I am quite interested as to what he thinks about the film today.

DEAD HEAT my be a low budget film with a dead-end Piscopo in it, yet it turned out to be quite good and entertaining. And Piscopo was not as bad in the film as most people claimed he was. He did a good job and this remains to be the best thing he has ever been in, which is saying alot folks.

DEAD HEAT is nicely paced and yes even funny at times. I know I'll be picking this one up when it comes out.

[Steven Millan]

         Yeah,I'm also waiting for that longer,special edition of "Dead Heat" once it arrives on video,since it has a great Dick Miller cameo(cut out from the original version),the debut of Steve Johnson as a solo FX maestro,and this being the final horror film of Vincent Price's glorious career.

[Chadzilla]

It also features an explosive performance by Darren McGavin! :-D

"He's faking!"



Post Edited (07-03-03 01:57)

[JohnL]

>a DVD of DEAD HEAT with all of the original gore back in the film.

Hopefully, they'll also include the Deathday party scene.

[Foywonder]

Wow, actual praise of DEAD HEAT. Now I've seen everything. God, I hate this movie. Joe Piscopo is so nails-on-the-chalkboard annoying that he single handidly makes the film hard to sit through. Also, even a loony movie like this has to have some semblence of logic. If there is a longer version of the movie out there hopefully it has all the stuff that connects the disjointed crap together.