Dead Above Ground (2002) User Reviews (26)

my kind of film!

[mhtaylor · 2/10 · 8 August 2005]

OK, first of all, I consider myself to be a fan of B Movies, so I shant write this as if I actually intended to enjoy the film in the least. And Ill tell you right now, this movie didn't disappoint me; a small piece of my soul died while watching Dead Above Ground.

The movie itself takes place in a very rich suburb of California, and nearly everyone around has ties to the film making business. I noticed a sign somewhere that said it was called Bay City, but after a thirty seconds of Google, I couldn't find out if Bay City, CA was real or not. And frankly, I don't care. I will just assume it is in Orange County, because that makes me feel a little less disturbed when teenagers die.

Anyway, the movie starts with some director and his wife being murdered. This is totally irrelevant until the last few minutes of the movie, when weaker souls will have already walked out.

Flash-forward a few months and we meet our main characters: Jeffery, the incredibly angry goth-kid; Zara, the goth chick who adores Jeffery; Mr. Hadden the bumbling teacher/principal; Dillon, the poor jock kid; Kelly, the cheerleader; Monster, the incredibly annoying, incredibly white guy who is really nerdy and acts like a gangsta; some black kid; and a slew of other not noteworthy teenagers. Basically everyone listed follows their respective stereotypes to a T, and don't need to describe any of them further.

Anyway, they are all in a class where they make documentaries, and they watch the Goth-Kids. Surprise, surprise, his film is a fake snuff film, portraying someone else in the class (kelly?...) Everyone gets upset, there's yelling and fighting, and the goth kid says a barrage of random trash. Honestly, every time this kid opened his mouth, I wanted to vomit, just for an excuse to leave the room.

So they decide that hes probably insane, and he tries to fight people. For some reason, it cuts to a party scene at the professors house and Jeffery says something ridiculous, pushes a girl into the pool, then David fights with him for a while, i had a hernia, and then Jeffery drives off in a fury, David follows him, and Jeffery ends up dying.

Some people hold séances, and some ravens fly around, Jeff comes back from the grave and makes people die, and a detective shows up and shoves his fist up other peoples ...

Our detective is so oblivious to the world around him, that I think he would improve his record by choosing suspects out of a hat. For instance, when the coach dies (which is cool by the way because the coach is an ass clown), the killer tapes up a picture of Mr. Hadden. Guess who Detective Dimwit brings in the next day? yeah... the logical choice, Mr. Hadden. I always thought leaving pictures of yourself at the scene of the crime was a very good idea, like a calling card. I know I do it whenever I kill someone.

Anyway, there are some very good one-liners in this film, and they really make the movie. As per usual with most b flicks. Listen to Monsters talk about PMS and pretty much everything Jeffery says closely. The very best part of this movie was when I remembered that I had some juice in the fridge and I went up and got it. Apparently i missed something boring, and I had juice for a while. Tres Sweet.

Also noteworthy is that the actor who portrayed Dr. Boon, Lisa Ann Hadley, was also a character in Infested, which is a great bad flick about bug-spray and bad relationships. Watch it tonight.

what did i just watch?!

[jbarker71 · 2/10 · 1 December 2004]

Stephen Cannell?! The man behind the A-Team? And my favorites "Rip Tide" and "Wiseguy"? This... TURKEY... is an example of what the poorest written low-budget horror film would look like. I mean, a team of monkeys could do better than this.

I've seen many, many horror flicks, and this rates so far down there. It's completely unwatchable. I mean, there's no payoff anywhere. It's an insult to view. Even worse that George Lucas was drawn into this for no reason. Worse, the acting, characters, story, dialog, plot, and everything else just suck, suck, suck.

On the positive side, if you're looking to make a horror film yourself, view this film to see how NOT to do it. If you have an idea that's even a little better than this one, you can be one- up on Cannell himself. Speaking of which, WHY was he even in this film? He looked like this old dude in a film that presents a plot SO implausible... it's an insult. To whit: the coach gets fired, yet hangs around the parking lot to harass a teacher (Cannell), and he doesn't do anything about it. The best part of the film is Sabato, Jr, though you have to wonder why he had anything to do with this piece of detritus.

The original title was "Director's Cut", and according to Cannell's website the movie would allow them to "experiment with new narrative ideas, visual styles and different approaches to editing". Also on the website "We were really stepping out," said Bowman. "So we needed to keep absolute creative control." Uh, yeah. Just promise me never, EVER do it again.

Starts off OK but then it's all downhill

[Stevieboy666 · 4/10 · 9 September 2018]

After the death of troubled Goth student Jeff Lucas a series of mysterious and brutal murders rock a small coastal town. As a massive horror/slasher fan I recently came across a cheap copy of this on DVD & had not heard of it before. Despite it's obvious low budget it starts off with a pretty cool opening sequence. Sadly it then goes downhill with it's poor script, bad acting ( in particular the guy playing the investigating sergeant), silly seance scenes & predictable plot. Its also tame in the gore department. Having said that it does falls into the so bad that it's slightly entertaining category. Check it out if you're an obsessive slasher fan like me, otherwise best avoided.

awful, yet hysterical!

[bombsaway814 · 5/10 · 24 June 2005]

while this movie is marketed at a horror film, let me just say right out that is in fact the exact opposite. it is so funny in its awfulness. you know how ed wood movies are funny because they are so bad? well dead above ground is right up there. you can tell that the crew had good intentions of making a scary movie but it is so forced and benign. actually the movie is quite painful to watch at first. i finished it floored and amazed at the stupidity of it all. Cliché characters, zero plot continuity, unrealistic dialogue, cheesy special effects... it's got it all. BUT after watching it again, this time with a group of friends... it has now become one of our most quoted movies! As a group, we found it hysterical! It is so rotten, it's fantastic! Who could forget such memorable lines as, "KABOOM! Coach scores!" or "Stop laughing! You're all dead above ground!" A ridiculous portrayal of goth kids, an inept tough-guy cop with feathered hair, a completely unromantic 5 second sex scene, and a cliff-hanger ending! What's great is we still sit around talking about how much we hate this movie yet we still talk about it! Prepare for hilarity with this piece of cinema!

Should be Dead. 6ft Under ground!

[RareSlashersReviewed · 8 March 2004]

Well, it all kicked off authentically enough, with stock footage of people turning up in limousines to the (fictional) ‘All-American Motion Picture Awards' in Los Angeles. Director Chuck Bowman intercuts the baying crowds with a decent credit sequence, in which a robed killer slices through the screen with a steel axe! In my review for Killer Instinct, I said that Corbin Bernsen was really slumming it. Two years down the line and still nothings changed! Here he plays Mark Mallory, a director that has just won a prestigious award (yeah, that'll be the day) for his Western. He returns home with his girlfriend, telling her that he's going to use his statuette for… well, I'll let her reply paint the picture, `If you think I'm gonna let you use that as a dildo, you've been hovering up some bad sh*t again!' Charming! Their night of questionable methods for passion is ruined when they reach the front door of his house to notice that it's been vandalised. Someone has painted a bizarre satanic emblem around the knocker and written the words ‘dead above ground' in blood-red paint underneath. Instead of calling the police, Mallory decides to search the place himself and after a fumble in the dark and a smart trick by the caped killer, he discovers that offering to make his assailant a ‘movie star' really isn't going to save him from a fitting demise!

Afterwards, we head over to a school field where we're introduced to our obvious victims and two forsaken Gothics. Dressed all in black (naturally), they prove their joint-weirdness by talking about, `Escaping into the Kelt world to be with the dark gods' because the `Malevolent entities don't ask for photo-ID!' My sentiments exactly! Then we discover that the guy's name is Jeff Lucas and apart from being a credible Gareth Gates look-alike, he's a budding film director too. (Hardly the best surname for a ‘good' director!) The other Goth is his faithful girlfriend, who also worships all things Pagan. For their media studies course, all the kids have made summer video documentary projects, but Lucas has just ignored all that and helmed a gory slasher film, much to the distaste of his grumpy lecturer. He screens the short anyway, and it invokes laughter and insults from the jesting teen-audience. (Perhaps he does have something in common with his namesake after all!) This makes Jeff loose his rag and he warns everyone that they `…will die on the seventh equinox of Maven' (?) He really dislikes his frumpy old teacher and tastefully informs him, ‘his end is nigh'. By now, I was beginning to wonder if the screenwriter had swallowed an encyclopaedia of Shakespeare works before writing this script! Jeff is carted off for a visit with the attractive Doctor Brenda Boone for a psychic examination. She's the kind of counsellor that would make most Hi-school boys pretend that they're hearing voices, just so they could share a room with her for ten minutes! She thinks that he's not crazy and it's just a cry for help, but after he talks a lot more gibberish about ‘cutting eternity into time and space', everyone agrees that he's ‘certifiable' and ‘a real nut job!' (And a really bad actor!)

Surprisingly enough, later that evening he's invited to a pool party with his classmates, where Dr. Boone and his principal discuss his crazy fits and we also find out that he actually *is* the nephew of George Lucas. (I wonder if old Georgie knows about this?) Jeff dreams of being a big-time director just like his uncle, which would lead me to suggest that he gives up the trench coats and eyeliner and invests in some of those ‘stylish' flannel shirts that Lord Skywalker loves so much! It doesn't take long before he blows a fuse again and he slaps a girl with considerable force, knocking her into the swimming pool. Her boyfriend, Dylan, flaws the spiky haired anarchist and he curses everyone again before legging it to his car. Unsatisfied that he's taught him a tough-enough lesson, Dylan takes off after him and after the most leisurely paced car-chase ever filmed, Jeff's brakes conveniently cease to exist and he drives off the edge of a cliff. The car drops about 3000 feet and then explodes into a ball of flames, making survival a patent impossibility. Don't forget that this is a slasher film, and it's unlikely that people are going to be allowed to get away with that kind of punishment, without some loony or another coming back to seek revenge…!

Twelve months down the line, a new student has moved into Jeff's old house at Moss Point and is knocking about with his old ‘friends'. Chip reckons that he keeps having nightmares about someone warning him that they'll come back to kill off everyone that was involved in the accident. The Gothic chick suggests that they attempt to contact Jeff's spirit through a séance and she'll be the medium. Later that night, they all sit in a circle and she tries to conjure a spirit guide with the rip-roaring speech, `Spirits of the South that are warm and bright like Atlantis'. Chip starts moaning the words ‘dead above ground' and generally begins looking deranged, so everyone breaks the circle and the séance ends. Before long a hooded killer with a steel axe begins chopping up the teens and their teachers in the exact same ways that were depicted in Jeff's movie one year earlier. It looks as if he's come back from the grave to settle the score…

Television director Chuck Bowman has made such a sloppy mess of Dead above Ground, that I'm surprised he can still get work on the small screen, let alone in the movies. Instead of using operatic themes to create suspense and tension, he's chucked in cheap and junky heavy metal that's genuinely painful to the ears. The cast looks as if they'd struggle to get bit parts dubbing a video game and they must've generally believed that expressing an emotion would put them higher up the killer's to-do list, because they remain as flat as ten year old can of coke all the way through. Josh Hammond is perhaps the worst actor on the planet and the lack of any interesting characters means that you couldn't care less if they all died of gonorrhoea or if they invented a cure for diabetes. There's not much of a body count and you'll find more gore in a three-hour teletubbies extravaganza than you will looking through this utter dross. Slashers this crud usually manage to redeem themselves with a little unintentional comedy, but there's no chance of finding any of that here either. The pagan-chatter was occasionally amusing, but everything else was so utterly incompetent that any fun that could have been had is totally ruined by the outright inane-ness of the entire team. Couldn't they at least have thought of a more under-done premise, it's like The Burning never happened, and what's with all the Shakespearian dialogue?

Horror movies are usually big on atmosphere. The only feeling that this creates is contempt for shelling out the money to pay for it. How anyone picked it up to release in the United Kingdom is a miracle, what did they find so appealing to make them think that us Brits deserve to witness it? Dead Above Ground, should be ‘dead under ground' – Never to resurface again!

Autobiographical?

[ghoulieguru · 1/10 · 6 November 2004]

Note to Stephen Cannell: please, just stop. Even when you were at the top of your game, doing things like 21 Jump Street, no one would have called you a genius. And now, you've slipped down the ladder, Stephen. If this is the best thing you can come up with, I would suggest a career change.

This movie is all about an aging Hollywood Screenwriter and his daughter. It features all the typical stereotypes, a Director who is sleeping with a Bimbo Starlet, the Kid From the Wrong Side of Town who wants to date the Screenwriter's daughter. It's like a really bad combination of "Pretty in Pink" and "The Player", trying to be a horror movie.

The concept and the writing are just plain dead. It makes you wonder, when Stephen Cannell came up with the title "Dead Above Ground", was he describing himself?

Watch it ONLY if it's aired on cable.

[insomniac_rod · 1/10 · 7 June 2005]

Not as terrible as people say... ...but it's still very bad. I liked the idea of the invocation which added some supernatural and demonic tone to the movie but then the movie soon starts to fall to the typical "revenge of the geek" slasher flick. The make-up of the killer was pretty good (kind of a poor Crospy imitation) and that's the best thing about the movie overall.

The death scenes are very poor (little gore, chills) and that's a shame because some of them had potential. This is your typical direct to video slasher flick but it's worth take a look ONLY for gorehounds of the genre.

I'm in a good mood so that's why I'm not going to get into detail about it's flaws (oh, there are MANY).

Something I noticed. There weren't THAT many hot girls. I mean, sexy women and sex in a slasher flick is ncessary! and there's only one LAME sex scene and no sexy women to get your attention. Now I'm in a bad mood.

What a mess!!!

[wishmaster-2 · 1/10 · 11 July 2003]

I just saw this film on DVD and I really don't know WHY I rented it. It's one of the worst films I ever seen... However is fun to see how stupid are the characters, how bad the story is... The only known face is Antonio Sabato Jr. (who did his hair???) and this isn't a good sign. The other male star is a young actor who worked on that wonderful series that's "Buffy" and I can't understand how he passed from a great tv-show to a pathetic straight-to-video Z-horror film like this. The worst thing is the screenplay: no one cares about the deaths that are happening in the town; there is the classical, stupid (and absolutely bad) sex sequence and the death sequences are really BAD!!!

And, of course, there is the classic final scene that makes you think there'll be a sequel...

I really hope not.

Awful, vile excuse for a movie

[Apollo89 · 1/10 · 21 December 2005]

Nothing to say but avoid. This has to be one of the worst, if not THE worst, movies I have ever seen. It is boring, predictable and just plain stupid. It is unintentionally more funny than scary and obviously the makers of this pathetic waste of film thought we'd all enjoy a typical, yet much more awful, teen slasher flick. What do they take us for? I'm surprised this movie even made it on to DVD. There are so many more enjoyable movies than this out there, please don't waste your time on this, you'll regret it afterwards. Not even my 8 year old sister was scared of this movie and by the end we were all just laughing at how physically painful this movie was in terms of horror, suspense, and overall, a decent plot.

dead above grounds

[amandanguyen · 1/10 · 24 February 2008]

anyone know the name of the beginning song? LoL movie not that good tho anyway this movie sucked big time. waste of money. don't buy this movie. it sucks. not very good Jeff Lucas comes back from the dead and murders people he dies at end. not wot worth the money. anyone know begging song name? i thought Halloween was better. i think some the actors was high when making this movie. very dumb movie. so does anyone know the theme song name? i been looking for the soundtrack but cant find it. I know this is a straight to video release. It also has some familiar faces in it. But it's horrible. A goth kid makes a crappy 5 minute movie that everyone laughs at so he goes nuts. He gets into a beef with a jock and takes off in his car being chased by the jock. Eventually goth kid drives over a cliff. One year later, the teachers and students who mocked him start dying, each one leaving a clue as to who will die next. Now, forget you read all that because you are never going to want to sit through this horrible movie. Now anyone who has the name to the beginning theme email me @ [e-mail]

Last Reviewer is out of his mind!

[khobrahprc · 2/10 · 12 May 2005]

Yeah, the movie stinks. Yeah the plot (such as it is) is a waste of time and the 'characters' act incredibly stupidly and obliviously, but "the only known face..." What are you talking about?

Anyone who doesn't know Corbin Bernsen, Stephen J Cannell and Robert Conrad really doesn't have any business judging a B Movie!

Heck, half the fun in films like this is watching "big" names embarrass themselves!

In short, don't go for the film - go for the joy of watching semi-respectable actors struggle to extend their already far-too-long careers!

It's Alright

[hypercool162 · 8/10 · 24 September 2008]

While this film fails to capture the aura of a big-budgit film, it succeeds in finding that of a B-movie. Yes the film's plot is kinda cheesy and the acting's inadvertently funny, but it has the strange attraction one might have for an Ed Wood film or any other kind of corny "horror" film.

The story was also a but clichéd and there was one rather misplaced hot scene.

It's like a tabloid story, you don't wanna look, but something pulls you to do so anyway.

All in all "Dead Above Ground" isn't perfect, but I kinda enjoyed it anyway.

Could've been better, but it's not that bad

[slayrrr666 · 7/10 · 9 April 2007]

"Dead Above Ground" is a clichéd and rather dry but entertaining slasher.

**SPOILERS**

As a new school-year starts, students Jeffrey Lucas, (Josh Hammond) Darcy Peters, (Lauren German) Dillon Johnson, (Charlie Weber) Kelly Britton, (Keri Lynn Pratt) Latrisha McDermont, (Regan Gomez-Preston) Bobby Mooley, (Tony Denman) Jason Johnson, (Craig Kirkwood) and Zara Light, (Adria Dawn) gather together with Principal Hadden, (Stephen J. Cannell) for a screening of their film projects. When Jeff's is laughed at, he vows revenge before accidentally killing himself. A year later, when the next year starts, new student Chip Palmer, (Adam Frost) arrives and soon afterward, a vicious murder spree starts throughout the school, targeting the ones who had been marked for vengeance. Going through a séance to try to stop him, it only results in the murders occurring more rapidly. Racing to save the remaining friends, they find the reason behind the murders and the actual identity of the killings.

The Good News: This was a pleasingly decent slasher film. The best part is that this manages to stay watchable when there isn't that much slashing going on. Including the different police investigations and double-crossing with each other included within means that it's always twisting and turning, especially as the one who is set up through the crosses is one that couldn't have done it. That the evidence seemingly comes in against them is quite ingenious and does throw the trail off slightly is a nice surprise. When it decides to forego the detective stuff and go for the stalking, it's not that bad. The long black trench-coat and propensity for an ax as the central weapon make it a pretty imposing one, and the later mask used, which is burned and red and scarred, and it does have some creepiness to it. The first victim is the most interesting death of them all. The victim sits in his van, smoking pot and hears someone outside. Going out to check who's there, but in a real surprise, a vicious crow appears from out of nowhere and attacks him. He jumps back into the van but the crow is vicious and follows him into the van. With many bloody pick-bruises, he manages to escape the van but the killer is standing there ready to put an ax in his stomach. Another kill, where the killer traps a man inside his large Gothic mansion and eventually trapping him inside a closet. Hearing noises, he stabs a knife through the door in self-defense, and after seeing blood, he comes out to see he has accidentally stabbed his wife, and the killer then reemerges and viciously hacks him up with an ax. Sure, it's a cliché scene, but it's done nicely. All the others aren't that bad, as a victim gets a sword through the stomach, another gets his throat slit and a guy gets an ax in his stomach. Pretty average, but good enough for this one. This here has it's moments of potential.

The Bad News: For all it gets right, there's some things that don't really work. One of the main problems is that it's really slow pace. It's such a long time after the accident before the killings start happening with any frequency, with the majority of the middle section devoted to the police's investigation. Had it been broken up by a couple more kills to break up the monotonous yet entertaining police entertaining. It has an ability to seem boring and slow, and is a problem that can be hard to get through. Another problem is that there's a real dearth in the body count and gore. There's only a few deaths in the film, and most of them are just unspectacular as well. It barely registers as a half-dozen kills, and considering that there's a good dozen or more main characters in here, this lack of deaths is troubling. This means that, due to the unspectacular deaths and the similarity to many of them, this makes it way to light for being a slasher film. The unoriginality of it is another problem, as there's been tons of times that an outside has sworn vengeance on a group of individuals and soon after a mysterious accident, the group is soon slaughtered one-by-one by a sinister force with a connection to the original spurned person. It's been done to death and doesn't have any more new stuff to bring up. With a little more creativity, this could've been a halfway decent slasher film.

The Final Verdict: With some really big problems that might move this one down on most people's lists, this is instead a really decent one that will mainly appeal to the hardcore slasher enthusiasts. Otherwise, there's better ones out there in this particular genre that are better off being seen.

Rated R: Graphic Language and Violence

Dead Above Neck

[Bezenby · 2/10 · 30 July 2013]

I wanted to take an axe to my own face when it became apparent, after the scene where Corbin Benson was killed (offscreen), that I would watching yet another slasher film based around teenagers at a school. It's like the film wants you to hate everyone immediately - you've got the jock, his fashion conscious girlfriend, her blonde pal, the wisecracking computer geek (who, it turns out later, can hack the police database), two token black folks who talk awful, cringeworthy hip talk, and two way over the top goth people, one of whom spouts the most insane babble about astral planes and netherworlds.

So that's your stereotypes right there, and don't be thinking this film is going to play against convention, because it's not. Our goth guy makes a horror film, gets ridiculed, and ends up driving over a cliff. A year later, another guy turns up (now living at the goth's house) and says he's been dreaming about the goth guy and bad things are going to happen. We all know that's slasher speak for 'everyone's going to get killed' right?

However, in order to get to the kills we've got to got through teen drama fluff (the jock and his girlfriend and her parents), an adult love quadrangle (the school shrink, the old teacher, the gym teacher, and the cop), the goth chick mourning for her pal, and not a whole lot less. I'm sure half the cast had died of old age before the killings started, and that's when the film truly enter the realm of "Pure Crap".

There's hardly any gore here at all! I think one or two killing happened on screen, with the rest being after the fact. Here's a warning to put you off buying this thing - by the end of the film most of the cast are still standing. There's also a sex scene that's about as erotic as jabbing at a jellyfish on a lonely beach in winter, a heavy metal soundtrack, and more psychobabble about Pagan spirits that you'll be able to stand.

Not a good film at all. Where's the beef?

Deserves to be buried forever

[duntrune · 31 October 2004]

Good god, didn't Stephen J Cannell SAVE any of his money? This is a guy with dozens upon dozens of hit TV shows, and he's producing THIS crapfest? Nobody can act, the plot is lame, the FX are pretty bad (the world's PHONIEST bird attack), about the only thing this turkey has is several fairly attractive girls in skimpy outfits, and not enough of that to make me feel like the hour and half was well spent. Where do we begin? The "football" player, who's all of 5'9", 135 pounds (waterboy, maybe?) who's "gotta get his scholarship", the token black couple with some horribly bad "urban" slang, the "rich-bitch", the Goth chick, oh yeah, every stereotypical character is here, the principal of the school wears bow ties (lives in a mansion, but drives an AMC Pacer?), the coach is a macho type, and the incredibly hot school counselor who is referred to as "Dr.", but looks to be 24 or so....yeah, lotsa shrinks that young. To make matters worse, Corbin Bernsen shows up, as does Robert Conrad (Cannell must still have the negatives) and the cop is played by Antonio Sabato Jr, with a hairdo that could withstand Hurrican Ivan and looks dorky beyond belief. HIs character is also incredibly stupid. Good god, people, if you're an actor who has made a few good films or been in a hit show, please, save your money, find some solid investments, just put it into a savings account if you have to, but please don't let your career fall to this level. Do infomercials if you have to, but please, please, don't do crap like this if you're desperate for money. You'll feel better working at Burger King than making this kind of garbage. This is the kind of flick Ed Wood would pass on making it's so bad.

Horribly awful!

[Horrorible_Horror_Films · 1/10 · 30 September 2007]

I'm currently watching this movie as I write this. There are movies worse than this, there are movies that are made worse in terms of cinematography, direction and plot. However this is still so bad it deserves a 1. Its really really stupid. Embarrassingly stupid movie. I just cannot get over the stupid goth kid they have in this movie, his career must have went far. Wow, its so bad its hard to watch.

The blood in this movie is really stupid fake blood, really stupid looking, just like all the actors. Whoever was responsible for the wardrobe in this movie was also an idiot. Of course all the actors in this 'film' did their best to have really stupid expressions the entire time. They did a marvelous job of being terrible actors. Of course Keri Lynn Pratt and bad to look at, I'd like to give her somethin, but thats beside the point, this movie sucks. Like titanic, Titanic sucked too.

Dead on Arrival

[zardoz-13 · 1/10 · 27 June 2014]

"Dead Above Ground" qualifies as a mediocre murder-mystery that wouldn't scare a fly. The most disappointing thing about this lukewarm slasher saga is the gifted Stephen J. Cannell penned and produced it. Remember "The A-Team," "Hunter," "The Rockford Files," and "The Black Sheep Squadron?" Cannell penned and produced all those seminal series. This whodunit masquerading as a horror movie is more of a police procedural. "Swamp Thing" television director Chuck Bowman doesn't generate much in the way of atmosphere for this aura-starved epic. Sometimes, we are treated to some grisly sights of axes buried in bodies. Corbin Bernsen shows up briefly in an early scene and about an hour elapses before Robert Conrad puts in a special guest appearance. The characters are bland, one-dimensional, ciphers with nothing eccentric about them. Nothing about Cannell's dialogue is memorable. Strong production values make this forgettable yarn look better than it should, and Georg Fick's cinematography ranks as above-average. The ending imitates "Halloween" with the villain impaling himself on metal stakes on a beach. Predictably, like all slasher villains, he turns out to be invincible. People who prefer slashers will feel slighted by the extreme shortage of blood, gore, and nudity.

"Dead Above Ground" opens after the All-America Film Awards Ceremony where cowboy movie director Mark Mallory (Corbin Bernsen of "Major League") has won a statuette. His lady friend and he wheel into the drive-way of his house in an exotic sports car. Mallory senses something is amiss when he spots red paint splattered like blood on his front door. At the bottom of the door, three words have been spelled out in red: dead above ground. Angry at this vandalism, Mark slips his samurai saber out of its sheathe and stalks a man in a black cloak. Initially, Mallory thinks that he has killed the intruder after the fiend chopped through his front door with an ax. Sagaciously, Mallory jabs his samurai saber through the door. When he opens the door, he cringes in horror at the sight of his girlfriend tied to the door and bleeding to death. The intruder in the black cloak takes a bear trap and sets it to catch Mallory in his own house. Not surprisingly, the frightened movie director steps into the bear trap. The hooded anonymous figure of the intruder appears and decapitates Mallory with a large, medieval looking ax.

After this promising but lurid opening, "Dead Above Ground" takes us to Bay City High School. We meet the jocks and their cheerleader girlfriends as well as the two Goths in this scene. Jeffrey 'Jeff' Lucas (Josh Hammond of "Jeepers Creepers 2") looks pretty maniacal with his corn-row hair style, eye liner, painted nails, and black outfit. He cuts a flamboyant character. Later, in the classroom, Bay City High School Principal Carl Hadden (Stephen J. Cannell) screens Jeffrey's videotape as the first of many that were assigned as a class project. Hadden doesn't like what he watches. Jeffrey ignored Hadden's dictum to make a documentary. Instead, he helmed made a five-minute slasher movie. Everybody in class laughs at Jeffrey. "Can't you see the evil in me," Jeffrey cries. He tells his classmates they are dead above ground. Dr. Brenda Boone talks to Jeff, and she tells Hadden at his pool party he believes Jeff is insane. Jeff rams Dillon Johnson's Firebird and Dillon pursues him. Swerving along a mountainside highway, Jeff misjudges matters and plunges his car over the side. The explosive stunt with Jeff's car transforming into a fireball is cool.

Later, during the fall semester, Hadden reprimands his former football coach, Tom Donaldson (Don Michael Paul of "Heart of Dixie"), for parking on school premises. Hadden fired Donaldson because the coach lost more games than he won. A new student, Chip Palmer (Adam Frost) arrives at Bay City. We're told through too much exposition that he has moved into the house where Jeff lensed his horror movie. Palmer approaches Dillon and warns him, "Bad things are about to happen." Somebody bangs on Donaldson's van. When he opens the door, a raven attacks him. Moments afterward, a hooded figure sinks an ax in Donaldson's heart. Thirty-six minutes into the action, Sgt. Dan DeSousa (Antonio Sabata, Jr. of "High Voltage") interviews Dr. Boone about Donaldson. Not long afterward, Jeff's friend Zara Light (Adria Dawn) tries to summon Jeffry's spirit at a séance. After the séance, the students discover Hadden dead in his residence. The sergeant interrogates Dillon. He considers him a prime suspect in the murders of Donaldson and Hadden. Dillon tells his friends that the police think that whoever is killing people is using Jeff's horror movie as a blue-print for homicide. Sergeant DeSousa goes to Darcy's parents and tells them that her photo was found in Kelly's stomach. The father, Reed Wilson (Robert Conrad), decides to take his own precautions. He vows to not let Darcy out of his sight. Darcy doesn't believe that Dillon is the murderer. Of course, she is right.

You'll have to suffer through this 90 minute monstrosity to see who the murderer is.

All in bad taste

[dereth · 1/10 · 3 October 2003]

Positively one of the worst horror movies ever. Bad script, acting, music... you name it, they've got it.

Other bad horror movies are in the least funny. Sitting through this is absolutely painful. Utterly horrendous... The most HORRIBLE HORROR.

Loads of cliches and overacting. The cheap ass crap music reeks of teen movies. Romantic lines and scenes just gives me the shivers and I get goosebumps from all that corny junk.

I can't stand that idiot cop as well.

YUCKS. AVOID THIS MOVIE.

Unbelievably Bad

[FilmFatale · 1/10 · 11 May 2012]

I've been watching horror films for most of my life, and I can usually find at least one positive in any of them. Unfortunately, I think I met my match with Dead Above Ground.

Plot, pacing, performances - it's all sub-par. The "goth" kids are worse than the old Azrael Abyss sketches with Chris Kattan and Molly Shannon on SNL. Are we supposed to feel any sort of emotional connection to them? Because I sure didn't.

The "good guys" are so bland, I couldn't tell them apart, nor did I care about the imminent threat they were allegedly under. In fact, I pretty much stopped trying to follow the story with over half the movie left. The horror fails, the humor fails, and it's one of the rare movies that makes Antonio Sabato Jr completely unattractive. In fact, I'm kind of angry that I'm taking enough time to write a review of this one, when I'd be better off forgetting its existence as soon as possible.

Avoid at all costs.

Um worse than bad ( minor spoiler)

[thecaptainisin8477 · 1/10 · 11 August 2004]

I like horror movies. Guess what, this wasn't one. Bad acting, bad plot, bad everything. Do not rent this movie. Trust me. Bad make up, bad hair bad bad bad. The only good thing about it was some of its truths about paganism, but other than that. The only reason why I picked it up in the first place was because of its cover. Ten minutes into the movie you could already see where it was going. (MINOR SPOILER)**** The ending,(which I'm surprised I stayed awake to see) was unpredictable and just plain stupid. Sorry, but that's the truth. Again don't get this movie.

It's a spoof without trying to be. I loved it!

[ladycleosombra · 2/10 · 26 December 2007]

Now, I can understand very well why many people would hate this movie. All of the characters either fell face first into their stereotypes or were unrealistic beyond belief. If you go to watch it with no expectations of a great movie, you'll love it.

I personally feel that Josh Hammond would make a really good stage actor, or someone in the live performing arts. As he ranted on in these pointless monologues, a flicker of a true actor popped up every now and then (granted, probably on accident.) Jeff Lucas was the ultimate goth. Hateful, twisted, weird, black clothing, black make up. He even has a black cloak that he wears. To pool parties.

Zara Light, his minion, does not seem to be an important character at first. But she soon emerges as the leader of the gang. The gang is also a stereotypical gang: Even number of boys and girls who are dating each other. The black guy talks with "the most ghetto", the jock is the most hot headed, and his blonde girlfriend is the stupidest.

How does Zara lead this gang? Well, seeing as Jeff Lucas acted like he was possessed - she lead with séances, of course.

Slasher-film wise, it was indeed a slasher flick. I mean, guy in cloak popped up three or so times and killed people with this (incredibly fake) ax. In fact, there was more ax-wielding in the opening credits then anything else.

The worst part was the end. I will never understand why two people must physically try to beat each other up when one is a cop (with a gun) and the other has a big ax. Oh wait, that'd just be too easy.

Sweet Movie: Dead Above Ground

[whitney_denese · 10/10 · 25 May 2005]

This movie was wonderful a film created by the masters. There's this Gothic kid in school and he goes crazy because of the fact the teacher didn't like the fact that the kid made a horror flick instead of what he was told to do. Next he goes to a pool party and gets in a fight with a jock then slaps a girl across the face. He rams the Jocks' car and they go into pursuit of each other. The Jock runs the Goth off the road and kills the Goth...or so he thinks. That's when the killing begins. Jeffory (the goth kid) disguises himself as a hot jock to get accepted into school and goes by the name of Chip. Nobody expects it to be "Chip" but they don't realize it is until later...

great song

[lameth1313 · 7/10 · 15 December 2004]

I would love to know how to get a copy of the end credit song "Death Above Ground" by Scott Trammell. I believe the movie was typical yet good. I have read the other posts and say they concentrate on too many things besides first person viewing. I "heard" a lot of the same comments when "Evil Dead" first hit the scene, but they were smaller in volume due to the inability of a--holes to be able to post their remarks everywhere! Oh ell, to each their own. Most people here are probably renters who have seen the screener and like nothing more than to post their ridiculous views based on their unintentional love of the mass populous favorings. But that is just their way of saying hey, I have become a sheep.

Could be the Worst Film Ever!

[foreverkraze · 29 August 2004]

This could possibly be the worst B film that has ever made it to print. What was Stephen J. Cannell thinking? Aside from the fact that not one person in the film can act and the characters are limited caricatures of most other B movie characters, the plot lacked anything substantial. There wasn't even a worthy death in this film and it does little to appreciate the "Celtic ways". I can't believe I let it take 98 minutes of my life. Don't let it "kill" 98 of yours. :O) Heck, even Antonio's looks did nothing to save the film. Distributors should have given it the "ax". The writer & director should have prayed to the powers that be for forgiveness before the entire genre laughs them out of the industry.

You've gotta see it to believe it!

[jasonuk · 8 February 2004]

This film is awful, however you've gotta see it to believe it!

Stephen J. Cannell & Chuck Bowman should be ashamed of themselves!

The whole plot was trashy, I have seen better acting in The A Team. The only thing that really saves the movie is Lisa Ann Hadley's beauty.

Basically, rent it but don't buy it!