‘Prepare for the ultimate rave’
Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave – originally known as Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave – is a 2005 zombie horror film directed by Ellory Elkayem (They Nest; Eight-Legged Freaks) from a screenplay by William Butler and Aaron Strongoni. Cory Hardrict, John Keefe, Jenny Mollen and Peter Coyote (Jagged Edge; Heart of Midnight) star.
A year after the events of Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis, Charles Garrison (Peter Coyote) arrives at a mortuary with one of the canisters of Trioxin that he salvaged. He is greeted by a team of Russian government officials whose goal is to destroy the last of the canisters to avoid another incident like that of what happened in Necropolis.
Nevertheless, one of them sprays three corpses with the gas, and revives three corpses. Charles, is killed during the incident along with the mortuary owner and one of the government officials.
Meanwhile, Jenny (Jenny Mollen), Julian (John Keefe), Cody (Cory Hardrict) and Becky (Aimee-Lynn Chadwick) receive notice of the “murder” of Charles. Julian and Jenny go to search for and possibly sell what belonged to Charles, and they find the last two barrels of Trioxin.
One of them is taken to Cody, who tests the chemical inside it. Jeremy, Jenny’s brother, tastes the chemical when he thinks that it is a drug similar to Ecstasy, and he goes into a spasm, in which he foams at the mouth, and then describing what it was like. The chemical is named “Z” for its “zombie-like” effect on the living…
Reviews:
“The movie’s only good idea is that the Trioxin has found its way into some designer drugs, so all the idiots that are at the rave are popping the pills and turning, and no one else thinks much of it because they’re also high or just “feeling the music … They also bring back the Tarman, who earns one of the movie’s few laughs…” Horror Movie a Day
“Peter Coyote’s constant oddball grin had me in stitches; so that’s one third of a point right there. And I’ll give the movie this, it sported at least 8 tit shots… yup you heard me… 8 tit shots! That in itself has yet to be equaled in the ROTLD franchise or my bedroom for that matter! That’s 2/3 of a point. Lastly the gore at hand was plenty, graphic and fairly well done..” Arrow in the Head
“The main idea of the film, a guy getting a barrel full of a military chemical, his scientist friend testing it to find that it contains similar ingredients to a known narcotic and then turning it in to a drug which unknown to him will eventually turn people in to zombies is wonderful. Without the weight of expectation on its back and a few wrinkles ironed out I am sure this could have become a nice little cult classic.” Kerr9000
“This time, the zombies have a smorgasbord of doped up teens to dine on but the gore is weak and uninspired. The only thing that Elkayem and his crew added more of was boobs. In fact, the nudity on display in Rave to the Grave is gratuitous almost to the point of distraction, and that’s saying a lot.” Bloody Disgusting
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“Drumsticks are plunged through a zombie’s eyes, a cheerleader has the flesh torn off her bulbous bottom, and there’s an impressively ghastly, sludge-dripping zombie … however, the young (and in some cases old), inexperienced cast and cobbled-together script just aren’t up to elevating the story above the mundane, and the zombie-filled rave scene is a big anticlimax.” Glenn Kay, Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide
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Release:
The film was released belatedly on March 20, 2007 by Lionsgate.
