Twice Dead (1988)

Thanks for the memories!

hyped garbage

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I got this film as a double feature pack...the other film was called "The Evil" and like this one was a bit of a haunted house film. That one was a better film than this one, this is mainly due to the fact that this film did not really seem to know what kind of film it was trying to be. At times it seems to be playing out like an after school special on bullying. There are points it seems like a comedy and finally at the end of the piece the horror elements finally come into play. Sure there are a few things here and there before that, to suggest that something supernatural is going on, but all the really good stuff is confined to like a ten minute stretch at the end of the film. "The Evil" took some time to get started too, but nothing like this one. So it kind of disappointed, though I should have known it would not be anything great when Todd Bridges of Different Strokes fame is the only actor of note I recognize! The story has a number of clichés one associates with a haunted house film. A family moves into a new home after some turmoil in their lives and said new house has some strange secrets. The new addition they add though is a street gang that constantly harasses the brother and sister of the family. Though they are a very odd brother sister pair as they are kind of Angelina Jolie and her brother creepy. Well, dad's solution is to threaten them with a shotgun which at one point keeps said gang at bay for a couple of months. The son's strategy while mother and father are gone is to poke and antagonize said gang to the point of angering them into a murderous frenzy. At one point you think the movie is finally getting its act together, but this is just the son being idiotic. Finally, near the end, there is some stuff going down at the haunted house! So the film has some things going for it. I was kept wondering what the heck was going to happen. I kept wondering when something was going to happen and there were a couple of nice kills near the tail end of the film. Though this is the second film I have viewed that implies that if a woman is having sex, she will not notice that she is being electrocuted! The problem with the film to me, is the tone. It just needed to go all in and be a horror. It just does not have a good atmosphere and to many times I forgot I was watching a rated R horror and then someone would drop the F bomb and I am like, "Yeah, that's right, this is R." So in the end, the film takes to long to get going, but for that brief ten minute span it does deliver some of the goods. Not as good though as the film that it was paired with, though that one had kind of the opposite problem in that it kind of ended weakly, while this one took forever and ended on a strong note. Well, strong is probably to positive a word, it ended a least in a horror movie fashion. Which again, is the film's weakest point, the overall tone which seems to do to many different things.

An average 80's horror vehicle, with the protagonists use of movie SFX gadgetry and makeup presumably its hook. There isn't a whole lot else that stands out about Twice Dead beyond this gimmick. The scenes that do involve the protagonists using movie props and makeup effects to play a trick on the gang that has been harassing them are kind of dumb. The extended sequence in the middle of the movie where brother and sister are able to fool an entire gang of scum into thinking they have each been attacked by ghosts and killed off one by one via supernatural means is ludicrous to say the least. Naturally the different members of the gang all act exactly as they are intended to, splitting off at the right times for each trick to work and the SFX used are perfectly convincing to the naked eye. Enough so that each different gang member is convinced they have seen something supernatural or one of their friends killed or dead- all from a bit of fake blood, monster props, gadgets and wires etc. Our protagonists also have access to quick acting, side effectless, movie chloroform. Yes, it's like something from an episode of Scooby-Doo but live action and even dumber for it.As a whole the movie doesn't work and the story and tone are all over the place. There is a supernatural presence in the house where the family has moved into which seems to fluctuate between wanting to kill/spook the family and being on their side with no rhyme nor reason. A back-story is provided to explain the ghostly goings on but it just makes everything seem far more inconsistent. A link is developed later on in the movie between one of the gang members and the story of the house but it comes out of nowhere and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The gang that menaces the family throughout the film is so overt and public in their unlawful, and eventually murderous, behaviour that it is unbelievable that they haven't been arrested and makes the police's inability to help the Cates family when come to them for help for reasons of lack of evidence ludicrous indeed. This is one of those movies where the police have to be non-existent or unbelievably ineffectual for the plot to happen. The Cates family's behaviour is also nonsensical. The parents go off on a trip for a week or two leaving behind their two teenage children in the house alone whilst the family is being menaced by a violent gang. Instead of taking firmer and saner action, such as, I dunno, perhaps going to the police, these two set up an extremely elaborate prank which could only conceivably antagonise the group that wants to kill/rape/harm them even more. The tone of the movie is somewhat inconsistent also. At times the movie seems almost light hearted and goofy- the whole faked death by ghost sequence and at others times like a standard 80's slasher movie with over the top deaths, gratuitous nudity and at times serious- threatened rape and that sort of thing.The dialogue, acting, gore etc, are all pretty mediocre. Only a couple of things stood out for me in Twice Dead. Jill Whitlow who plays the sister is certifiably gorgeous and made watching the film a less tedious experience than it would otherwise be. The other thing is how frequently the boom mike appears in shot, at least in the VHS version I watched. It appears so often it should have got billing (It has more personality than a lot of the other characters) and its appearance would make for a good basis for a drinking game, which could only make for a more enjoyable experience watching the movie.

This movie is so horrid it is hard to put into words.It starts off okay, introduces the characters and sets up the situation. A family moves into a house that is haunted. Duran Duran has turned to the dark side and formed a biker gang.The weirdest biker falls in love with the family's daughter (Jill Whitlow). I don't blame him.After this, the movie starts to disintegrate. The couple leaves their children alone in the house for some reason.The daughter goes out alone, at night, wearing lingerie and yelling "Meow" to attract her cat. The brother gets beaten up very badly trying to rescue her when the bikers get her. He is so badly beaten he can't stand and has trouble breathing, yet there doesn't appear to be a mark on his body.After this the parents leave the kids alone.The bikers invade and try to kill everything. At this point, the film gets the look and feel of a troma film.After the killing, the surviving biker girl comes up and is now best friends with everyone. She provides the missing pieces of the plot.

When your main exposure to a movie is at 3 a.m. on Cinemax, that's not a good sign.So it is with "Twice Dead", the old "family-moves-into-a-haunted-house-and-battles-vicious-gang" plot with the only twist of having "Diff'rent Strokes" vet/parolee Bridges in the cast.This hack job (get it? Yuk-yuk.) is so cheaply made as to have you believe the ghost in this house uses fishing line to levitate objects and that actors don't really need acting classes when there's the direct-to-video market. 'Nuff said.Any good parts? The girl playing Tina (Spradling) was cute; too bad she plays her last scene electrocuted while astraddle her boyfriend (don't even go there).Other than that, "Twice Dead" is dead on arrival; call the morgue.One star, for Spradling's charms. Now playing in the discount bin at your local video store.