The Crawling Dead

Director - Eamon Hardiman (Zombie Babies, Porkchop)
Starring - Lindsey Davis, Elvis McComas (We Are Marshall, Porkchop 3D), and Brian Gunnoe (Vampire Whore From Outer Space)
Release Date - 2013
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "The dead wear diapers"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     Eamon Hardiman is a man that has earned every ounce of respect I have for him.  I discovered Hardiman's flick Porkchop around this time last year and was shocked to learn that he is a filmmaker from West Virginia.  I ordered his film Porkchop and loved it so I looked into his other films.  The next film of his that I was able to see was Zombie Babies.  This movie was utterly amazing but did suffer from poor audio problems.  I loved the way the film looked, the completely ridiculous story, and the crazy amount of humor in it.  I soon befriended Hardiman on Facebook and started following his films closely and soon enough he announced he would be filming a sequel to Zombie Babies.   He titled it The Crawling Dead and I contributed to the film's indiegogo campaign.  The film was released as a web-series and each webisode was released once a week.  I watched half the series and decided to stop because the film had a lot of the blood, gore, and nudity removed to be put on Youtube.  So it waited on my copy of the film...and it finally arrived. 
     The film follows Rachel (Davis) and Eric York (McComas) who buy a home from the infamous Burt Flemming (Gunnoe).  Eric is a writer and plans on using the basement of the new home as a place to complete his next book.  However, Burt was very adamant about not touching his stuff in the basement.  Eric reluctantly agrees and leaves his stuff undisturbed.  Things quickly go from picture perfect to super shitty when Eric's in-laws come over to visit and a young fan breaks into his home and opens Burt's trunk in the basement.  The boy unleashes centuries of aborted babies because Burt is actually immortal.  He has been drinking "piss" for centuries which prolongs his life.  Eric and Rachel's family falls prey to the crawling dead and they are forced to team up with Burt to put an end to the diapered terrors.

     I had no idea what to expect from The Crawling Dead before I watched the first episode on Youtube.  However, after that first episode I knew this movie would be nothing like the first film.  In fact, this movie is more like a stand-a-lone film which is why I suspect Hardiman changed the name.  The original was more dark and gothic in style and relied on sleazy humor and quick wit.  However, this film did not have the same look and feel.  This film actually felt cheerful and was definitely more vibrant in comparison.  I personally liked how the first film looked but I also like seeing horror films that are not dark and gritty.  The film also was not as sleazy as the other film but it is still raunchy in it's own way.  The acting is probably the best I have seen in any film from Razor Sharp.  McComas and Davis were great leads and the rest were just as good.  On the other hand,  Razor Sharp favorites Stephen Hensley and the beautiful Missy Dawn are only in the film for a short time.  I would have liked to see them on camera more but the film still worked out great.  The story is by far the best to come out of Razor Sharp and the mind of Hardiman.  The back story for Burt Flemming is finally revealed and I fucking loved it.  It is so in depth and thorough that I was completely submerged in it.  I cannot wait to see where the character of Burt Flemming goes now that this back story is in place.  Finally, the film has a slew of special effects and some great kills.  The special effects in this one rivals any other indie horror movie I have seen and they only add to the kill scenes making some really memorable moments.  Also, the zombie babies look great.  Hardiman was able to take something so absurd and make it scary while retaining some humor.  Before the film was released Hardiman asked me what I thought of the series.  I told him that I did not finish all the episodes but from what I saw the series was raunchy, bloody, and funny as hell.  That still stands but the film is also very well written, acted, and all around entertaining.  I highly recommend it.