my very brief thoughts on.... 'Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis' and 'Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave To The Grave'

When, New Zealand born, Ellory Elkayem made the cult classic 'Eight Legged Freaks'.... he showed potential. What followed, was three crap-tacular failures. These are two of them. Now, 'Return of the Living Dead' 1 through 3 are all pretty good movies. They aren't going to re-invent the zombie genre, but they're entertaining and pretty fun. Part 1 is by far the best. Part 2 uses some of the same actors, but doesn't quite have the same charm. Part 3, goes in a different direction and for some reason it still works. Perhaps it's because it was directed by Brian Yuzna? Perhaps. But when I heard they were making 2 more back to back sequels, I had my doubts. I had good reason to doubt them, these movies are awful. They are boring to watch and the little bit of action in them, is slow paced and not very exciting. I don't feel that they're even part of the franchise. Ah well....

In 'Necropolis', zombies come back due to an accident with the Trioxin containers. Sound familiar? It's what happened in the past movies. In 'Rave to the Grave', it happens a 5th time! At this point, the storyline is a bit tired and over done. I'm not sure why they couldn't come up with something new or original, kind of like the plot in part 3. It's like Ellory Elkayem just made them to use the name.I don't know how many of you have seen the original movies. In them, they re-use some of the same actors and oddly enough.... it works. They don't play the same characters and that makes it that much stranger.... but again, it works. In parts 4 and 5, they try the same thing. They actually use almost the entire same cast for both movies. It is confusing, pointless and a terrible pseudo-tribute to the originals. Also, the zombies still chant "Brains!" throughout the whole movie, but there is no satire or any type of comedy. That's a bit of what the charm was in the first 3. They injected a little bit of humor every so often, to break things up. It worked really well and carried the movies. Also, the zombies in part 4 are all dressed the same(they're test subjects) and it's distracting. (I'm nitpicking now.)

Anyway, both of these are 2 out of 5 star, at best. I don't need to see them again and I'm still wondering why I watched the 5th after finishing the 4th. They're on Comcast OnDemand right now, if you're brave enough to watch them. I strongly advise against it, even for the die hard zombie fans. Stay away and maybe watch the first 3 again, instead.

What to watch instead: 'Return of the Living Dead', 'Return of the Living Dead part 2' and 'Return of the Living Dead 3'

(the trailer for 'Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis')

(the trailer for 'Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave')