House of the Dead (2003)
TOMATOMETER
Critics Consensus: A grungy, disjointed, mostly brainless mess of a film, House of the Dead is nonetheless loaded with unintentional laughs.
Critics Consensus: A grungy, disjointed, mostly brainless mess of a film, House of the Dead is nonetheless loaded with unintentional laughs.
Trailer
Photos
Movie Info
A group of unsuspecting teens stumble upon the living dead in an old house. When one of them dies during a rave at the house, the others band together to get revenge.
- Rating:
- R (for pervasive strong violenc/gore, language and some nudity)
- Genre:
- Action & Adventure , Horror
- Directed By:
- Uwe Boll
- Written By:
- David Parker , Mark A. Altman , Dave Parker , Mark Altman
- In Theaters:
- Oct 10, 2003 Wide
- On DVD:
- Jan 27, 2004
- US Box Office:
- $10.2M
- Runtime:
Cast
as Rudy
as Simon
as Salish
as Alicia
as Casper
as Greg
as Greg
as Karma
as Liberty
as Cynthia
as Cynthia
as Hugh
as Castillo
as Kirk
as Matt
as Johanna
as Lena
as Captain
as Rogan
as G
as McGivers
as Skye
as DJ
as Tyranny
as Raver
as Flashing Woman
Related News & Features
-
Interview: Uwe Boll Talks Postal, Kevin Costner, and Answers Reader Mail
– Rotten Tomatoes -
Five Favorite Films with Uwe Boll
– Rotten Tomatoes
Friend Ratings
No Friends? Inconceivable! Log in to see what your friends have to say.
LoginCritic Reviews for House of the Dead
All Critics (57) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (55) | DVD (13)
The novelty of seeing rampaging zombies get shot in the head wears off after 40 minutes or so.
So willfully opposed to everything that decades of refinement have established as cinematic grammar that I am unable to decide if Boll is a genius or just evil.
This is the first live-action horror movie based on a video game that I've ever seen in which the game's animation is actually used as a repeated special effect. This is not a good thing.
Don't come looking for a story -- this is a hunt.
How do films like these get made for video, let alone the wide theatrical run?
This is one of those rare films that truly manages to get by on unintentional laughs, but otherwise dreadful.
There is an extended sequence in which every individual character goes bullet-time, and [Uwe] Boll must think it's so cool just because they're in bullet-time.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Exhibit A in the evidence that no more video games, under any conditions, should be made into movies.
One of the most astonishingly idiotic pieces of entertainment I've ever had the displeasure of sitting through.
It's so bad it could well go down in history as one of the worst zombie movies ever made.
Resides amid half-remembered fragments of Cinemax soft-core, Turkish remakes of The Exorcist, and third-string Troma releases such as Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid.
Sad to say that after its unpromising opening minutes, the film defies the odds by getting progressively worse.
Boll directs the film as indiscriminately as his characters fire their weapons.
All the subtlety of a horny bull in a china shop and all the style of a street tramp.
A derivative shock-horror exercise desperately in need of an IV.
While not as technically brilliant as some zombie fare, HotD more than makes up for this lack in terms of sheer heart. Sure, it's a low-budget venture, but it doesn't feel forced or contrived, but rather revels in its low-budget restraints.
At first, I was riveted by its awfulness. Then, about 20 minutes later, I just wanted to go home.
The acting is more frightening than the undead themselves and the gore is lacking, simple as that.
If you wait for video, put your finger on the fast-forward button and never let go.
A film that's so bad, so grievously awful in so many ways, that you're convinced that it was meant to be a comedy.
Audience Reviews for House of the Dead
From one of the most untalented directors of our time, comes one of the worst horror films I have ever seen. "House of the Dead" takes everything you know about zombie flicks and completely ruins it. Having absolutely terrible actors and a script as bad as they come, this film fails to impress even in it's action scenes. The most commendable thing in this film are the many 360* shots throughout the final scene, but when they start to go on endlessly it get's to be tedious, even though the movie is already tedious enough. It is some of the worst filmmaking I have ever seen in a film. For a 12 million dollar budget, this crew should be ashamed of themselves. It is not scary and it is unintentionally funny the whole way through. "House of the Dead" is utter garbage.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Uwe Boll's zombie movie is one of the worst films in the history of cinema. Uwe Boll has gotten himself the reputation of being one of the worst Hollywood directors in history. Based on a popular video game, House of the Dead is a poorly made film that is beyond awful. House of the Dead will disappoint harden zombie fans because this is poorly conceived trash. This film has one thing going for it, it's unintentionally humorous. This film is so bad, that it's hilarious. Uwe Boll actually placed video games scenes in his movie to give it a "video game" type feel. Instead, it's hilarious. The use of cinematography is criminal in this film. Now, I'm an epileptic, and whenever the camera started spinning, I had to cover my eyes because it felt like I was going to have a seizure. If you're looking for a good, entertaining zombie film, you won't find it here because Uwe Boll can't write an effective plot to his films (under the very rare occasion, he's managed to direct two or three watchable films). However, House of the Dead is not watchable, this is a film with no plot, and bad acting, bad special effects, and it feel like a sci fi channel made for TV movie. House of the Dead is yet another prime example as to why video game to screen adaptations do not work. Occasionally they do, but not in the case of Uwe Boll's House of the Dead. If you're looking for a good zombie action film, watch Resident Evil instead, and skip this film. You'll be glad you did.
More
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Since its release, I've always written House of the Dead off as a terrible piece of celluloid that should never have been made. I have since gone back on that statement for a couple of reasons. Don't get me wrong though. I don't consider it to be any sort of a masterpiece, or even craptastic. It still falls into the category of being an awful movie, but there are a couple of things about it that brought me around to it a little bit more. First of all, there are, in my opinion, very overt humorous moments built into the movie. You don't catch them the first time through because you're too busy focusing on how terrible the whole thing is. Second, it has Clint Howard and William Sanderson in it, so that's got to count for something. Third, it has Ona Grauer's amazing cleavage bouncing around at every turn. Fourth, it's a very good adaptation of the game. Some might call me crazy for saying that, but if you've ever played the game, you know how terrible the story, the story logic and the dialogue is in those games. This movie matches that successfully. It's not that Uwe Boll knew what he was doing or anything (Alone in the Dark proves that), but his lack of talent makes it all work somehow. I can't say that I'd want to stick this on very often, but I did find it slightly more enjoyable this go round and I guess that's the most positive thing I can say about a movie everybody is so negative about - including myself.
More
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
Discuss House of the Dead on our Movie forum!