I picked up this movie for $2 when the local video store was getting rid of all it’s VHS. I had it for months and have tried watching it two or three times, but usually lost interest after about a half hour. I finally finished watching it and I’m glad I finally stuck it out.

As you can guess, the story starts out pretty slow as a theater troupe arrives on a cemetery island led by a director, Alan, with flair for the dramatic. Alan has a surprise for his troupe, his “children” as he calls them, who don’t seem to appreciate him as much more than an employer, something he holds over their heads when ever they get too snippy. And they do get snippy. Alan’s surprise is his plan to raise the dead, or at least raise his dead-looking friends from the ground to have a few laughs at his troupe’s expense. But, when the joke’s over, Alan produces an authentic Grimoire, a book of the dead, and recants a summation spell to raise the dead of the cemetery. They soon discover that children shouldn’t play with dead things.

I figured this movie was going to be a total tanker, but I was pleasantly surprised after reaching the end of the movie. Although I was disappointed by the short period of actual zombie time, director Bob Clark was able to deliver quality over quantity. The zombies were actually quite fearsome and relentless, something other zombie movies seem to fall short on.

The zombie make-up was pretty inconsistent. Some of the zombies were detailed and gruesome, some of them looked like they were wearing bad paper mache on their faces. All the zombies were the corroded long-dead type and there was a pretty awesome, classic style scene where all the zombies arose from their graves.

Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things has it’s ups and downs, but it’s definitely worth a look. I think this movie would go over well with friends and beer or with just a few good zombie enthusiasts. It’s not the best zombie movie ever made or even close, but it’s still a classic and I think you should check it out.

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