Product Description

It's spring break and these college kids just want to party. When they charter a boat to take them to a rave on a nearby island, they find it completely deserted, except for the bloodthirsty zombies that have taken it over. A frantic search begins for weapons to use against the encroaching killers because, as nighttime falls, they realize that their only hope for survival is to witn the final battle...in the HOUSE OF THE DEAD.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95668 in DVD
• Brand: LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT
• Released on: 2008-09-09
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Customer Reviews

Directors Cut (comedy version) as bad as original (horror version)
This new directors cut is there attempt to take a bad horror movie and make it a comedy. Only it fails to be funny, just like it originally failed to be scary, or entertaining.

It has on the cover "you will die laughing".... false advertising, to say the least. There is nothing funny about those speech bubble/info facts popping up every 10 seconds saying something not even remotely funny.

And then the fart gags, a fart joke can be hilarious, but not when it's a fart sound effect thrown in for the hell of putting one in there. Even 3 year olds wouldn't be laughing at it, maybe a 2 year old might find it funny, but this is not a movie for a 2 year old.

Take my word on it, you will never kick yourself for avoiding this movie, I wouldn't even watch this again if it was on TV or someone paid me 100 bucks to view it.

Uwe Boll may be a bad director, but at least he knows it
There are some movies that are so bad that they can only be made watchable by gathering a group of friends and heckling the movie for its entire running time. "House of the Dead" is one of those movies and director Uwe Boll (who is often labeled the worst director ever) realizes it, which is why he came up with "House of the Dead - the Funny Version" (well, that and, presumably, the desire to make more money - but I'm not going to hold that against him). "House of the Dead - the Funny Version" takes the original "serious" version of "House of the Dead" and adds in out-takes, alternate scenes and pop-up captions throughout, turning what many consider to be an ordeal of a movie into the equivalent of a night of heckling. Boll may be a terrible film-maker, but he has a great sense of humour and is prepared to make jokes at the expense of his work. The captions that appear throughout the film are absolutely hilarious (for example, at the commencement of the far-too-long fight scene: "Thus, begins the longest fight scene in film history. You might like to go get some refreshments now... or hang yourself). For some people, there is nothing that could make this film watchable, but for those with the right (or should I say wrong) sense of humour, watching this film is a great experience.

Keep it dead!
Uwe Boll is a director who pushes the boundaries, and makes viewers ask themselves serious questions. Specifically, he pushes the boundaries of just how wretched a movie can be, and makes viewers ask, "Why is this guy allowed anywhere near a camera?"

"House of the Dead" is the perfect example of this, as the first of Boll's still-going stream of video-game adaptations. Put simply, this movie is a perfect example of everything that is wrong in video-game adaptations, zombie movies, and trashy action movies in general. And despite the label, the funniest thing about this edition is that Boll thinks he can salvage this disaster.

A gang of twentysomethings are planning the Rave of the Century, and for some inexplicable reason, they decide to have it on a remote island called the Island of the Dead (ooh, foreshadowing! Subtle!). The boatman warns a gathering of eight young people that they are all utterly doomed, but when they show him the money, he takes them anyway.

But when they get to the rave site, they find that someone has wrecked it and is presumably lurking nearby -- and they find a mysterious house in the woods. Of course, they go inside. And then they are attacked by hordes of zombies, who are at the beck and call of an evil creature living in the House of the Dead -- an immortal conquistador. (Oooookaaayyyy....)

No, it doesn't make sense, and it never STARTS making sense. You know a movie is doomed when it doesn't make sense from the get-go. Why would they host a rave at a campsite... on a remote island... with only a few people? That's pretty brainless, even for a low-rent game-adaptation/zombie flick. But sadly, the illogic isn't the worst thing about it. Boll is.

To be honest, Boll could not have made a worse movie if he had tried. He inserts bits of the video game, seemingly at random, and tries to make up for the limp plot with lots of Matrixy slow-motion and spinning camerawork. If that doesn't make you sick to your stomach, the dialogue will: "You did all this to become immortal. Why?" "To live forever!"

And the action scenes are the worst -- not a single fight looks real, and the zombies are distinctly unscary. At times it reminded me of King Arthur's fight with the dismembered, blood-spurty black knight... except Boll is utterly serious. He's also serious when he has our spoiled brats suddenly turn into hardened swordsmen, capable of defeating an ancient conquistador.

As for this edition, you know it must be a spectacularly worthless pile of tripe if the studio acknowledges that a horror movie can only work as supposedly "sidesplitting" comedy. Specifically, it would work as a full length episode for MT3K, with all the mockery they can muster.

Unfortunately putting out a mildly edited "Funny version"/director's cut shows that they have no idea why the original was so funny -- it was because the people involved were all dead serious, and no amount of after-the-fact adjustments can change it into "Shaun of the Dead" or "Dead Alive." It apparently has different takes, cut dialogue, pop-up commentary, and even more footage spliced in from the original game -- which is like putting a band-aid over a bazooka-related injury.

Want a decent zombie movie? Try the wittier cult movies by people like Peter Jackson and Edgar Wright. "House of the Dead" isn't witty -- it's witless, from start to finish.