Review : DEAD HEAT (1988)

Originaltitle : Dead Heat

Country : USA

Year : 1988

Director : Mark Goldblatt

Cast : Treat Williams, Joe Piscopo, Lindsay Frost, Vincent Price a.o.

Story :

Detectives Roger Mortis and Doug Bigelow  are walking, talking police partner stereotypes. 

Roger (Treat Williams) plays the straight man…all calm, cool, and collected. 

Doug (Joe Piscopo) is his wisecracking, loose cannon of a partner. 

Called to a jewel heist in progress, Roger and Doug join the fracas as two thieves with Uzis unload on what appears to be the entire Los Angeles Police Department as they’re exiting the store with the goods. 

Roger and Doug, along with the rest of the good guys unload back with a flurry of gunfire, only to see the thieves take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. How can these thieves survive such a barrage? That’s the million-dollar question.

The thieves aren’t dying because they’re already dead! 

It looks like someone in town is resurrecting the criminal element and using the zombies to do their dirty work. It takes a grenade and a well-placed sedan to the midsection to finally dispatch the two undead evildoers, and detectives Mortis and Bigelow begin their investigation into just who might be behind this bizarre new crime wave. 

When Roger bites the big one in a doggie euthanasia room while fighting a hefty undead two-faced biker and is resurrected shortly thereafter, it becomes a race against time as they try to find Roger’s killer. Can Roger find his killer before his body decomposes and he turns into worm food? Can Doug keep from becoming a walking corpse himself?

Rating :

DEAD HEAT is a classic 80s Midnight Movie.

The movie combines some popular Genres of that Decade : the Buddy-Cop-Movie and the Zombie-Movie.

Perhaps the only time zombies, cops, and a generous dose of humour have been infused together on film. 

Dead Heat is a fun, Drive-In type feature. 

Writer Terry Black(who is the brother of Shane Black who wrote Lethal Weapon) and director Mark Goldblatt grabbed the opportunity with both hands and they cheerfully combine all the clichéd situations and stereotypes both genres have to offer. 

The formular of this flick works damm well with his great Actors Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo.

They know how to make jokes to the point and even can satisfy the viewer in the Action Scenes.

Some of the greatest one-liners in Horror Comedies i've ever heard came out of this film.

So many scenes in this movie are priceless because of the utterly stupid humor!

You also will meet again with Vincent Price in one of his last Movies before he died(after DEAD HEAT he only did 5 other Movies in hi career).

I am sure that makes it very interesting for all the fans of him to watch the movie, even when he doesnt have that big of a part.

Price is a delight - it's nice to see that he was still embracing the horror genre and working steadily late in his life and career. 

The Special FX(done by Steve Johnson,who also did the FX in SPECIES) and the Sets look great - they are done in a way that could only be done in the 80's!

Most memorable is a scene where a Chinese restaurant is resurrected... causing chicken, duck and cow carcasses to attack.

The Score from Ernest Troost may is not anything special or remarkable but it enhances the atmosphere and suspense in DEAD HEAT.

Seeing as 1988 was the same year that brought Horror Fans Chucky's debut film (CHILD'S PLAY) and the fourth installment of Freddy and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, I can see why DEAD HEAT was easily overlooked. 

Interestingly enough, the similarly titled buddy cop movie RED HEAT (with Schwarzenegger and Belushi) actually did well in theaters that year!

The other Problem DEAD HEAT was not that succesful and overlooked  would have been :

It's a horror comedy made at the end of the eighties. 

A time when horror was in trouble, the Slashers were out of order, SF Horror were over - nothing really happened, so it was a problem to find Producers and Distributors for Horror.

The MPAA didn't like the used effects, cause they considered them to gory - so the movie sadly was cut in his best parts.

So the gore was cut out and it failed at the Box Offices and it also meant to be the end of New World Pictures. 

On VHS it became a bigger success and even went on to became a cult classic. 

Due the ending of NWP the film was never again released Uncut.

Luckily "Anchor Bay" released DEAD HEAT almost 15 years later.

The film is still cut, but they were able to add in an extra feature : the parts that were cut out! 

DEAD HEAT is a light-headed and fairly engaging spitfire of gags and grotesque action sequences and I have yet to meet someone who regrets watching it.

To sum it up for you   :

DEAD HEAT is a great Mix of Action,Horror and Comedy, which doesnt bore the spectator at all over the full lenght of the movie.

Sure you cannot expect an Award Winning Masterpiece, but if you are a fan of 80ties Midnight Movie Horror-Comedies, you will be very pleased with DEAD HEAT.

Let me close this Review with the words of Det. Doug Bigelow :

You are under arrest. You have the right to remain disgusting. 

8.5/10 Biker-Zombies