On a desolate road, an abandoned school bus with the words 'HELP ME' written on a window, Maria stops to check it out. A killer has left his bloody crime scene in the back. The killer comes back and takes Maria for a ride to a desert location. But is the killer really her enemy or is it someone, or something else (Internet)?
Rating: Rated R for horror violence, language and some sexual content.
Release Date: Winter 2008.
Starring: Ann Henson, Angelica May, Gretchen Busenitz, Thomas Crnkovich, Diego De Vargas, L. Flint Esquera, and Masao Kitamura.
Director: Stephen Goetsch.
Writer: Stephen Goetsch.
"Alive or Dead," is a real test of patience as almost nothing interesting happens in the film until the forty minute mark. Starting off with some comedy and transitioning into a captivity story, this very low budget feature is drearily boring. There is very little conflict between characters until the midway point and with some of the characters entirely mute, the story really focuses on two female characters who might need to revisit acting school. Two red flags early in the film include; no hook to draw audiences in early, and the reliance on sexuality to entertain rather than the story means "Alive or Dead," is going to be a difficult watch with lots of plotholes.
The second act of the film involves two comely females and a silent hillbilly wandering through an interesting set as if giving the viewer a tour of the premises. The castle or fortress set is good to look at for about thirty seconds, but after ten minutes of pointless dialogue, zero character development, and long camera shots of the cinema environment the anger begins to set in as many viewers might find themselves feeling slightly foolish for giving this film a shot. Some forgiveness can be given to the writer and director of this flick as it seems they were given some pocket change to make "Alive or Dead," but please develop some type of story in the first or second acts or you will lose most of your audience.
After reaching the middle the film the premise turns into a chase sequence with a group of cannibals looking to make a soup out of human body parts. This type of a story has been done before and better in films like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning," and "Frontier(s)." For the love of God if you are going to rehash some old material pay homage to the material that came before or make it better at least. There is very little that stands out positively in "Alive or Dead," except for the fact that the film is over in a brief ninety-two minutes.
Initially boring, then shifting to a slightly terrifying cannibal horror flick "Alive or Dead," is a disappointing venture into the independent, horror genre. Please do the world a favour and burn any copies of this film wherever found.
2 Festering Skulls ouf of 10.
Trailer: Thankfully, none available to burn your eyes.
Sources:
Alive or Dead at IMDB
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