Review of Death Warmed Up (1984) by Trent R — 28 Sep 2009

Death Warmed Up is a bit of Outback Exploitation, albeit with none of the fun or charm of other Ozzie Exploits like Turkey Shoot or Razorback. The story is about a mad doctor who hypnotizes the son (Michael Hurst) of the parents that stand in his way of his diabolical brain surgeries.

The kid violently kills his parents and is institutionalized in an asylum (yeah right) for a messily 7 years (yeah right) until being friend and taking his hot friends with him to the island where the mad doctor resides and performs brain surgeries on the loonies.

Once they get there, they are hunted and attacked by one of the crazed inhabitants (whose acting is so over the top and unbearably annoying) who unleashes some mutated behemoth loonies that go insane and start taking over the island.

There's an overlong buildup in the first 40 minutes that causes the last 40 minutes (the more entertaining part of the film) to speed through without barely any development, thus causing the best parts of the film to suck essentially.

The film also ends at such a bad point, I found myself quite mad with the end result, which I wasn't expecting, given how this film had received such glowing reviews upon its release in 1985. Ultimately, Death Warmed Up had great potential to be an excellent film, but fell very short of my expectations.