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Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave » User review

It really looks like this franchise has been canned after this. Yay!

  • Oct 26, 2012
Rating:
-4
After a brief transaction goes berserk, which leaves a canister of Trioxyn 5 empty. Two Interpol agents are on a mission to retrieve the remaining canisters. Trioxyn-5 is a deadly chemical that turns the living into zombies, plus re-animates the dead into zombies craving human brains. The agents trace them to Julian Garrison(John Keefe), who is the nephew of Charles Garrison(Peter Coyote)

Julian finds the canisters hidden, with no clue on the canisters content. He contacts his friend Cody(Cory Hardrict) to examine one. After one of his friends taste test the chemical. He receives a buzz like no other. They soon decide to sell the chemical on their college campus as a drug called Z. Many hits are sold days before a rave, which is about to take place. During this time, many students become zombies and start to devour others. While more are on their way to becoming zombies in time for the party -summary.


Well here we go. The fifth and hopefully final installment to the Return of the Living Dead franchise, Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave or ROTLD 5. I have to admit, that it really hasn't been a fun ride for yours truly. Just as its predecessor, ROTLD 5 directed by Ellory Elkayen seems to revel in its sheer stupidity and loving it the entire time.

I couldn't help but laugh in a mocking way at the very beginning of this shlockfest. The writers practically copied and pasted the opening act from the last movie to start off this one. As a matter of fact, there were other reused scenes, and they were very easy to predict. I know it's hard to be original, but these people hit a new low. This is a fine example of creative laziness.

ROTLD 5 surprisingly, isn't completely horrible but it's very close. When the zombie mayhem finally does begin. It never really stops and there's a bit of fun to be found. The gore scenes are decent and the final act was put together rather well. I think it was a clever idea to utilize the chemical in the form of a drug. College students and teens were a great choice to drive this story element. Mainly because the pop culture crew is so quick to go along with whatever is cool, but I think a director with talent should have filmed this one.

This sequel takes place about a year later and the survivors reprise their roles. The zombie outbreak almost appears new to them, which means this movie is a stand alone story. The thing I find bizarre, is that those who panned this movie, also used the lack of continuity as a reason to label it as trash. However, these same individuals give the second movie a free pass for using the same concept as well. Despite it being just as ridiculous, to include, the second movie brought back characters who clearly died in the original. This movie is incredibly flawed and its issues are in your face. Therefore, I think it's absurd to dig for additional reasons to slam it.

The characters of course, are annoyingly stupid beyond belief and they compliment the movie well, but I still can't stand them. The two Interpol agents are suppose to be the comedy relief, but they're about as funny as tricking your best friend into drinking Clorox with tragic results. At least most of the characters die, so smiley faces all around.

This time the movie has a pretty solid soundtrack made up of techno, which really carries the personality of the movie, and is the only effective element you will find here. There's a good amount of female nudity to go with it. You just can't leave home without it. Also, in relation to its predecessor, this is an action movie with zombies in it. ROTLD 5 is very far away from horror. There is no suspense, no atmosphere or tension. Things just happen to continue pushing the thin as needles plot. The acting is very shallow as well with absolutely no standouts in a good way. This especially means the agents with their fake Russian accents.

ROTLD 5 does not help the franchise in any way shape or form. As far as I'm concerned, this series was dead and buried after the 1985 original, and this only continues to bury the franchise. I really hope they finally put a fork in this series. But in all honesty, being the zombie lover that I am; I will definitely waste my time, money, and self respect on another sequel if there is one. No matter how bad I hear it is. I saw these last two sequels with everybody telling me they're terrible. I will only skip the sequel if it's directed by Uwe Boll or those two dickheads behind Edges of Darkness. I love the zombie genre, but not that much. I recommend this sequel only to hardcore zombie fans, fans of the franchise, and fans of very bad movies.

Pros:
-Nice concept, humans and zombies killing each other, annoying and stupid characters die!

Cons:
-Rehashing scenes, stupid characters in very large doses, not funny, horrible practically all around

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October 26, 2012
ROTLD # 3 is still my fave just for fun!
October 26, 2012
I prefer the original over all of them.
 
October 26, 2012
I am so glad some one else noticed the opening being the same basically, and why do the kids in this act as if the last one never happened.
October 26, 2012
The only thing that annoys me about it is how the fans give the second movie a free pass for doing the same thing yet trash this one. It's pointless because there are more than enough reasons to smash this one.
 
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About this movie

Wiki

Return of the Living Dead: Rave from the Grave was filmed immediately after Necropolis using the same locations of Romania and Ukraine. Both Peter Coyote and Aimee Lynn Chadwick return from the previous installment. The film takes place one year after Necropolis and the returning teenage characters, from the previous film, are now college freshmen. They discover that Trioxin can be used as a recreational drug named 'Z', but the drug will eventually turn the user into a zombie. The speed of "zombification" depends on the dose of Trioxin consumed. An edited version of the film aired along with Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis on the SciFi Channel on October 5, 2005. As was the case with Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis switching to Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis, Return of the Living Dead: Rave from the Grave was advertised as Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave To the Grave before removing the number 5 from the title. The R-rated version of the film was released on DVD on March 20, 2007 by Lions Gate.

  • The film also features a cameo appearance by Tarman from the original movie and its first sequel. However, it is not the same zombie because the name "Tarman" is just the name for different zombies coming from canisters with rotten appearances.
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Details

Director: Ellory Elkayem
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Fantasy
Release Date: October 15, 2005
MPAA Rating: R
Screen Writer: William Butler
Runtime: 1hr 26min
Studio: Denholm Trading, Inc.
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