Death Warmed Up

1985 "...You'll Never Want To Change Your Mind Again..!"
4.5| 1h18m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 01 January 1985 Released
Producted By: New Zealand Film Commission
Country: New Zealand
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A kid is hypnotized by a scientist to kill his parents and ends in a mental institution. As a grown up he returns to seek revenge over the scientist.

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Director

David Blyth

Production Companies

New Zealand Film Commission

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Death Warmed Up Audience Reviews

ShangLuda Admirable film.
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Aaron1375 This film was featured in a collection of 50 horror films, that most likely are in the public domain. I had never heard or seen this one before, so it was the third film I viewed. As I watched it, I couldn't help think to myself that this film is almost good. It has a nice idea, the acting is not bad and the settings are good too. Unfortunately, the editing is utterly loathsome, the story has huge gaping holes in it and they did not seem to know quite how to end the film. The bad outweighs the good and thus my score of 4. It is almost a shame, because I did think they had something going, but the editor was most likely Edward Scissorhands and he went to town on the film. Someone frantically tried gluing it back together, but just was not up to the task.The plot has a doctor who wishes to perform experiments to prolong life. A doctor opposes this idea, so the one doctor hypnotizes the son the doctor who is opposed and makes him kill not only his father, but also his mother. The son gets locked away and the doctor is now free to perform his bizarre experiments on an island. Years later, the son is let out of the mental institution and he and three friends go to the island so the son can exact his revenge upon the doctor. Strange people reside on this island as the friends encounter some strange people on the ferry going to it. Well, seems something is happening to those who have received the life prolonging procedure. Soon general mayhem ensues as the young man will stop at nothing to get to the doctor, though honestly the guy could have easily gotten to the doctor upon his arrival as he saw him going into a store.The problems with this movie is that it is hard to figure out what is going on at times, whether it is a bunch of shots sloppily edited in the dark or huge chunks of logic missing from the story. I was completely baffled if the man looking for revenge had told his friends that he was going for revenge. The man's girlfriend seemed to know, but I was not sure about the other couple. They go into some tunnels, but I have no idea why. Once again, getting to the doctor did not seem to require them doing this. Just a bit to jumbled, then a final showdown seems to be brewing between the son and this villain named Spider, but instead of showing this, they cut away to the son and his girlfriend driving away.The film almost had something, I enjoyed the idea behind the story. The film just lacked execution in certain areas. Not acting, the acting was pretty good for a low budget horror film. I really enjoyed the character named Spider, which is probably why I really did not enjoy that a final showdown was omitted. I was also kind of rooting for Spider at the end, because the son looking for revenge had done so much to put his friends into harm's way. Also, son and his friend kind of started the whole mess with Spider and his buddy anyway. So, while it was not a good horror film, it almost was.
Coventry Personally I'm convinced "Death Warmed Up" was completed by a clique of people suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder (the infamous A.D.D. syndrome)… Either that or a bunch of mushroom-addicted guys with a permanent overdose of acid in their blood. How else would you clarify the film's total lack of narrative structure, the exaggeratedly high amount of nonsensical plot-twists, the overzealous editing, the demented characters and the copious number of grotesquely over-the-top grossness? "Death Warmed Up" is a wildly incoherent and thoroughly bizarre horror effort from New Zealand – reputedly the country's first full-blooded genre outing – that more or less describes itself as a demented and very loose interpretation of the legendary "Island of Dr. Moreau" tale. But then again, Dr. Moreau at least had a clear mission he wanted to achieve whereas Dr. Archer Howell, the lunatic scientist in this film, seemingly just surrounds himself with a large collection of genetically altered freaks for his own personal amusement. Throughout the entire film, his motivations for performing medical experiments on random island people remain unexplained. He has freaky half-man and half-monster guinea pigs working for him, creepy guys without eyebrows running loose and an entire army of deformed abnormalities locked away in a basement. The predominant storyline, however, revolves on one of Dr. Howell's very first victims seeking vengeance for the agony he cost. As a teenager, Michael got brainwashed and shotgun-massacred his own parents under the malignant influence of Dr. Howell. He spent the following seven years in a mental institution, but now Michael's back (with a new and Blade Runner type of hairdo) and unstoppably furious. Along with his girl and a befriended couple, Michael ferries to Dr. Howell's island resort, but they'll have to face his creations first before they can get to him. "Death Warmed Up" is, well, shall I say … completely bonkers! The script makes very little sense (or even no sense at all) and leaps from one subject to another all the time. Michael & C° supposedly come for revenge, yet they start their trip by going to the beach and during several situations it's actually Michael's friend Lucas who proves to be the most courageous one of the bunch. There are plenty of odd homosexual undertones in the film, as well as some misplaced attempts at humor (the Indian store clerk) and a bizarre type of ambiance I can't possibly categorize. One thing "Death Warmed Up" does deliver plenty of, however, is gore and bloodshed! The aforementioned shotgun killings are supremely nasty, and they're just at the beginning of the film. Furthermore, there are repugnant brain surgeries, impalements and gooey zombie make-up effects aplenty. The zombie creatures are quite menacing, particularly the bloke without eyebrows (displayed on the cover-image) and the typical New Zealand accents and slang are a joy to listen to. The acting performances are below average and insignificant, still devoted horror fans should keep an eye open for a brief appearance by Ian Watkin (awesome, arse-kicking uncle Les from "Braindead") as Bill the ferryman. "Death Warmed Up" is far too unbalanced to be considered as a worthwhile horror outing, but it's still a fun and gore-soaked excuse to spend 85 minutes of your time.
Hitchcoc These revenge, gore-fest movies are all a little the same. It starts with no real motivation for the initial actions. The mad scientist is just mad. Still, he seems to have plenty of money for his sick research. What is his product? A bunch of zombie characters. Do we really need some of these? Anyway, the hero(?) drags his pals into his effort to avenge his father and mother's murders (actually, he committed them under the doctor's influence). Then there's the agony and the pain that goes on and on and on. People are dismembered, stabbed, burned, one after the other. I don't get the attraction. Why do audiences want so much of this? In the end, we're left wondering about a lot of things. There are no real answers. Maybe it's just obsession. Who knows.
ChiefGoreMongral Guess what folks I'm back again I'm really in that reviewing mood here lately. Today I only have one movie, its a little flick from the 80's called "Death Warmed Up", since Death is always best that way have you ever tried it cold...that stuff sucks. Anyway lets take a look at this little New Zealand horror romp.The movie starts us off with a teenager going to see his father at a research center/hospital. He sees his father arguing with another man who has created a way to prolong lives. His father is against it saying that the experiments have not been full proof as some of the lab experiments have had side effects. The other scientist gets irate and begins to tell him that he will not ruin his dream. His son runs away from the room only to be caught by the doctor who advises the boy to take a shower. A very gay sequence ensues involving the doctor walking in on the boy staring at him for awhile and then sticking his bum with a needle that has some of his secret recipe in it.We next see the boy with a shotgun in tow blasting his mother and father to death in their bedroom after a love session. The boy is institutionalized and apparently messed with during that time by the Doctor. 7 years pass and the doctor has been approved to do his experiments on a small island town where we see him drilling through some heads and putting a machine over them that apparently creates the mutation in their genes. They then flash forward to what they call "Now" which we know it is not now as the fashion sense screams 80's pastel easter colors. The young man has grown up and wants revenge so he is off to the island with 2 friends that do not suspect his revenge motive and the girlfriend who knows but does not tell anyone.From here the movie begins to show some of the experimentees(is that a word) as one in particular tries to do in our foursome with his buddy in their bright yellow truck of doom. When that does not work they try motorcycles and that does not entirely work either...these guys are the Coyote to the foursomes Road Runner. Eventually they get inside the facility as all hell is breaking loose. You see some of the experimental patients have been locked away from everyone else as they have went loco which leads to a finale that looks like it was left open for a sequel that never happened.So what did I think of it....uhh not much to write home about. It has some OK gore scenes here and there (exploding head, surgery sequences, etc) and the story would have been OK with alittle more fleshing out and more of a budget wouldn't have hurt either but there is some things that this movie just does not do right and it makes it fall to an unsatisfactory level. For one the movie tends to get boring, in the beginning even though the acting wasn't the best they had me but as the movie progresses it tends to become a labor of love as some of the sequences were just not good enough payoffs for me compared to the lulls in the middle act that really hurt this film.As I watched this movie I couldn't help but see some slight comparisons to Island of Dr Moreau and Night of the Living Dead but that side of it never surfaces either or completely. The Doctor's character though we know is suppose to be mad is never fully fleshed out as much as they could have as again a lot of the middle act meanders around with the main character (played by Michael Hurst) and his friends running from madmen and getting captured for a brief moment. The finale really is lackluster also and really brought the movie down as well, it just seemed like they ran out of idea and ofted one of the main characters in a rather stupid way just to do it or because they had no more money to use I guess.Really the movie isn't utterly bad its just not good either. I liked how some of the characters died but there was just not enough of it. All in all if you do not have nothing else better to watch you could do worse but there is also a lot better stuff you could be watching as well. With some OK gore and some weird 80's style I can only merit the lackluster score of: 4/10: Below Average, If you want to see a New Zealand Horror film see Dead Alive or Bad Taste (I know I know they are splatter comedies whatever) otherwise despite the cool VHS box cover (you know the one with the skeleton with a doctors mask on with the bloody words Death Warmed Up over top it) there really isn't too much cool about it.Sidenote: check out the boat captain in the movie its none other than Ian Watkin aka Uncle Les from Dead Alive (aka Braindead) Death Warmed up has not received a Region 1 release however if you own a region and format free player there is a PAL release by Arrow (that looks like it was taken directly from a VHS transfer) that is out. So until next time if you see someone yelling it hurts and they have a giant pulsating goose egg on the side of there head please stand back 50 feet and do not try to help them unless you want to get brain all on yah!!! I'm Out!!