Sally the Zombie Cheerleader's A Ghoul's Guide to Horror takes on an amusing entry from the 1980s: The Video Dead.
The 1987, MGM/Embassy release, written, produced and directed by Robert Scott, was, in fact, dispatched straight to VHS, which suits its premise just fine. Its Twilight Zone/Poltergeist/Friday the 13th: The Series-esque slant features a cursed television that pushes a Night of the Living Dead knockoff into our reality, with all the gnarly, flesh-eating mayhem one might expect.
As with any zombie flick worth its salt, the tale's thrust is a survivalist one, and like the best of 'em, this submission makes excellent use of its undead designs. (My favorite zombie is the David Bowie-ish one, though I also dig the stumbling fellow with a clothing-iron in his head, the shriveled bride, the scarecrow gent and the one-armed chap with an exposed, grinning skull. Yep, cuties one and all!)
Sally, an authentic zombie if ever there was, knows her subject well and covers the creative ins and outs of Scott's production, enough to make her fleshie followers appreciate this macabre, low-budget labor of love all the more.
It's been years since I've viewed The Video Dead, but Sally's rundown inspired me to revisit it. The movie meant a lot to me back in the day, and I'm happy to report that my fondness has been restored. Thank you, Sally, for the scholarly nudge!
One may study Sally's prolific, Video Dead "guide" at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uaouCSVoa0&t=442s
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