Twice Dead

As a double feature (they’re both on the same DVD), Twice Dead works pretty well with The Evil. Not only do they both have plots about people moving into old houses that are being haunted (a demon in The Evil, as opposed to a more standard ghost here), but between the two of them they have about enough good parts to make one good movie. Unfortunately for people like myself that watch the two in the DVD’s suggested order, today’s movie is easily the weaker of the two, leaving this double feature to fizzle out pretty harshly.

The film opens in the past with legendary stage actor Tyler Walker (Jonathan Chapin), a very dapper-dressed man who barricades himself in his bedroom from the police, before killing his blatant mannequin girlfriend and hanging himself. We then cut ahead to the present day of the late 80s, where Scott (Tom Bresnahan) and his family are overjoyed to move into the old mansion, only to find that Walker’s ghost does not exactly appreciate them being there. Also unappreciative is the local gang of high school bullies, who look and act as though they’ve just wandered out of an astonishingly 80s post-apocalyptic film, beginning with their leader sitting in a chair that everyone treats as if it were a throne, and ending with the gang deciding it has no alternative but to invade Scott’s home and try to kill him for his imagined slights against them.

Not only is this movie mostly really boring, with long, loooong stretches where seemingly nothing happens, when something does happen it’s pretty goddamn stupid. The villainous gang is so over the top that they stop being fun and start being irritating, and the ghost seems to keep switching whether he wants to kill Scott and his family, or protect them from the gang. The kills are alright, though not exactly memorable, with the most standout moments being due to hilarious incompetence in filmmaking. Perfect example: at one point a girl is in her room alone, and the camera freezes on the light switch, frantic music suddenly starts playing, and…..THE LIGHT SHUTS ITSELF OFF!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!

This movie really is the pits. If you bought this DVD set, and feel you need to watch both movies to justify your purchase like I did, then I would recommend that as a favor to yourself, you watch the movie on fast forward, only watching it at normal speed when you see something potentially interesting, which shouldn’t be too frequent. You’ll have a much more pleasant time than I did.

Rating: *