The living dead are here, and they're lusting for blood – yours!
The Video Dead is a 1987 American Direct to Video zombie horror film written and directed by Robert Scott.
Zoe and Jeff Blair are siblings who've just moved into a new house ahead of their parents. However, the house has a secret: there's an old TV set in there, which can summon zombies from the screen; said zombies killed the previous owner. As the Blairs try to survive, an agent from the Department of Occult Warfare arrives to save the day.
The film has developed a cult following over the years and has received home video releases from MGM and Shout! Factory.
This film contains examples of:
- Antagonist Title
- A Degree in Useless: Zoe is preparing to major in aerobics.
- Chainsaw Good: Daniels dismembers zombies with a chainsaw to convince them that they're dead. Jeff cuts one in half.
- Downer Ending: Zoe manages to trick the zombies into destroying each other, but her brother is dead and everybody thinks she's insane. Her parents, who were absent for all the madness, wheel the cursed TV in. Last shot of the film is Zoe screaming as the TV turns on and the zombies prepare to escape once more.
- Fright Deathtrap: One of the zombies frightens a poodle to death.
- Gory Deadly Overkill Title of Fatal Death: The Show Within a Show the zombies come from is called Zombie Blood Massacre.
- Hunter of Monsters: There's a brief scene where Jeff is nearly killed by a zombie seductress, but a dude from inside the screen known as the Garbage Man kills her. Meanwhile, there's a much more prominent hunter in Joshua Daniels, whose wife was killed by the zombies and shows up to stop their current rampage.
- Mirrors Reflect Everything: One way to stop the zombies from showing up is to tape a mirror to the TV's screen.
- Our Zombies Are Different: These are shamblers released from a cursed television. They don't speak, but are still sentient and think they're still alive. When they see the actual living, they fly into a homicidal rage at the reminder of what they can never be. They can only be killed by being attacked in such a way that they actually think they're dead, or being locked in a room to tear each other apart. However, they rise again if they're ever buried.
- Refugee from TV Land: The main antagonists are zombies spat out of a horror film by a cursed television.
- Saw Star Wars 27 Times: Jeff has seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) six times.
- Summoning Artifact: The TV can turn itself on, even when not plugged in, only plays Zombie Blood Massacre, and regularly spits the undead out to terrorize the real world.
- Tomato in the Mirror: The zombies think they're alive, and are therefore repulsed by their own reflections, which remind them of what they've become.
- The Vamp: Jeff is seduced by a zombie who managed to somehow take a human form. Luckily, a monster hunter cuts her throat.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: The zombies are undead because they refuse to believe they died in the first place. The easiest way to kill them is to inflict an injury they believe is fatal.
