Die and Let Live

Director - Justin Channell (Raising the Stakes, Winners Tape All: The Henderson Brothers Story)

Starring - Josh Lively (Bleeding Through, Faces of Schlock), Zane Crosby (Knight of the Living Dead, Raising the Stakes), and Sarah Bauer (Basic Slaughter)

Release Date - 2006

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "A zombie movie in the tradition of Return of the Living Dead, Superbad, and The Sandlot"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

  

     I absolutely love nothing more than coming across a movie that was shot in West Virginia.  I grew up just a few miles from War, West Virginia which is known as the southern most town in the state.  I was born in West Virginia, lived here my whole life, and I will probably be buried here.  Been in this state for 30 years and a fan of horror for well over 15 years but it still blows my mind when I discover an indie filmmaker in the state.  When I first started writing reviews for my little blog I was introduced to Eamon Hardiman and his Porkchop trilogy who was based out of Charleston, WV.  I met him at Shockacon and we became friends.  Not long after that I came across Brad Twigg and his Ghoulish Tales and Milfs vs Zombies films.  Twigg was based out of the northern portion of the state.  A few months back several friends shared news on a new mockumentary called Winners Tape All: The Henderson Brothers Story.  The film looked fun and after doing some digging I learned that the director and two of the film's stars were from the mountain state.  This really excited me so I pulled the trigger and ordered a copy for myself.  I creeped the director Justin Channell and learned that he directed two films that I had owned for sometime but never watched - Die and Let Live and Raising the Stakes.  Winners Tape All is a modern masterpiece in every sense of the word so it was only a matter of time before I ventured into his other films.

     The film follows pals Benny (Lively) and Scotty (Crosby) who are inseparable.  The two have been friends for years and plan on having a party, inviting some friends over, having a little booze, and Benny plans on asking out his crush, Stephanie (Bauer).  Sadly, she has a new boyfriend who is a big douche and very territorial.  To make matter worse, the undead have escaped a local testing facility and make their way to the party.  Now Benny, Scotty, Stephanie, and the other party goers must fight to stay alive or become zombie shit.

     I love a good, no budget zombie movie especially if they were released before The Walking Dead.  Now zombie films try to mimic the drama of the zombie apocalypse and not the zombies themselves.  Zombie films before 2010 had a decent amount of humor, memorable characters with charm, and zombies.  Die and Let Live is a fun film that has it flaws but delivers on the entertainment.  The acting in this one is fun but has plenty of room for improvement.  The film's stars, Josh Lively and Zane Crosby, work extremely well together which makes me believe they were actually friends before the film.  They feed off each other and their casting is perfect.  The remainder of the cast is great as well but they showed their inexperience.  They had the charisma and on screen talent but still needed the experience that so many great actors have used to their benefit over the years.  The story for this one is nothing new.  We have seen so many other zombie flicks following escaped zombies from a scientific testing facility who escape and raise chaos.  We have also seen several zombie flicks that pit zombies against partying teenagers.  There is very few films that follow a story line that combines the two but it still happens.  What makes this story so fun is the characters.  We get the film's main characters, Benny and Scotty, who are very relatable.  Viewers, for the most part, will easily associate with these two.  We then get a Bluto like party character in Todd who brings in some laughs.  We also get a small role from director Henrique Couto as Adam who ends the film with a good laugh.  The character's are this film's crowning achievement.  Finally, the film has plenty of blood but it does show the film's budget.  We get some really graphic bite scenes that are once again restricted by the film's budget and the zombies are not the best to look at.  Overall, Die and Let Live is a fun pre-Walking Dead zombie flick that has some laughs.  The film is far from perfect but we don't watch indie horror for perfection.  We watch it for dedication and heart.  Check it out.