Death and sleaze for The Dead Hate the Living! (2000)

Critically reviewing horror, action, exploitation, or similar genre movies is a wasted effort. Those who love them will watch regardless of quality or opinion, and the allure of these films is because they're short on plot or heavy on violence, death, and sleaze. A "bad" movie is an entertaining movie and the more vicious the death, the more prevalent the sleaze, the more hilarious the ineptitude, the "better" it is. Indexing which films offer "death by sporting equipment" or "sleaze by see-through" can support a thematic marathon, an incredulous double-take, or simply a grin at the questionable effort. Herein I detail the creation of such a reference for THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING! (Amazon • IMDb • Disobiki).

[~01:00] Death by zombie. The first death fails one of the initial ground rules for the Film Death and Sleaze Index: all deaths must be final. If the deceased is seen later in the film reanimated as zombie, as this victim is, their death wasn't permanent and, thus, isn't indexable. UNINDEXED.

[~04:30] Death by zombie, scalpel, throat cut. This is a scene from the film within a film and again violates the "Deaths are final" ruling. Yes, even if a character plays a character who meets their demise in a film's film, you're still not really dead. We're aiming to index "real" deaths, not impermanent simulations. UNINDEXED.

[~05:50] Sleaze by man, man thong. Unlike deaths, it's hard to "fake" sleaze. Even though we're still in the film within a film, a near-naked man with a bulge in his thong is valid. The fact that we're indexing male sleaze is telling: sleaze doesn't have to arouse the watcher, it merely needs perceivable intent. David DeCoteau films (THE BROTHERHOOD, 1313) do nothing for me, but they're clearly beefcaking and, thus, indexable. INDEXED.

[~06:00] Sleaze by sex (unfulfilled). "Unfulfilled" is generally used when a piece of sleaze doesn't "pay out". Sex with an ill-timed interruption or cut, or a shower or striptease without nudity are some common examples. Even though we're seeing two zombies getting frisky, they're still acting in the film within a film, so "sleaze by necrophilia" doesn't apply. INDEXED.

[~45:00] Death by zombie. Victim is later seen reanimated as a zombie. Violates "Deaths must be final." UNINDEXED.

[~49:00] Death by zombie, decapitation, axe (insurance). "Insurance" details "after death" inflictions; here, the headless body is used as a shield against an axe thrown by another zombie. INDEXED.

[~53:30] Death by zombie, decapitation. INDEXED.

[~59:00] Death by zombie (offscreen). Victim is later seen reanimated as a zombie. Violates "Deaths must be final." UNINDEXED.

[~1:03:00] Death by head trauma, hand through head. I spent a healthy amount of time debating "hand" vs. "fist", even though this death is clearly a fist. I ultimately decided there should be parity between "hand through chest" (think a clawed impact with fingers curled on the other side) and that the likelihood of someone wanting to distinguish hand vs. fist was low. I also how like how "hand" removes the emotion inherent in "fist" - we are, after all, trying to be objective (just as we record sleaze that does nothing for the indexer). INDEXED.

[~1:05:00] Death by zombie, hand through chest. Victim is later seen reanimated as a zombie. Violates "Deaths must be final." UNINDEXED.

[~1:09:30] Indeterminate massacre. Maybe. Fast-moving, "endless hordes" style scenes are always impossible to accurately judge, so we usually only index the most obvious of deaths. There are none here. UNINDEXED.

[~1:19:00] Death by television, electrocution. INDEXED.

[~1:20:00] Death by fire (x3). INDEXED.

[~1:22:00] Death by zombie, throat ripped out. The victim is seen again, still dying, at 1:23:30. Detailing death and sleaze is not only about what you see on screen, but also the intent that a non-existent budget or an "all in your mind!" mentality might not afford. When you see a zombie lunging for a character and then a quick cut, you can assume it was "death by zombie (offscreen)". Similarly, if there's a giant piece of your neck missing and you're admonishing your friends to leave you behind, you believe, as we must, that you're going to die. INDEXED.

The final Film Death and Sleaze Index is:

Body count: 8 • Sleaze count: 2

Death by: 1 [~49:00]: zombie, decapitation, axe (insurance); 2 [~53:30]: zombie, decapitation; 3 [~1:03:00]: head trauma, hand through head; 4 [~1:19:00]: television, electrocution; 5, 6, 7 [~1:20:00]: fire; 8 [~1:22:00]: zombie, throat ripped out. Sleaze by: 1 [~05:50]: man, man thong; 2 [~06:00]: sex (unfulfilled).

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