Review of Shatter Dead (1994) by Carl M — 31 Jan 2013

When the rules of death no longer apply, those who are killed remain to wander the earth in a perpetual state of undeath. Tired, alone, and hated by the living, the undead form a new caste of undesirables in an already overpopulated planet, longing only to return to the eternal rest of the afterlife.

Their jealousy over the living causes them to lash out and kill in order to even the playing field. Shot on video in 1994, SHATTER DEAD offers one of the most ambitious and inventive premises in recent zombie lore.

Unfortunately, amateur director Scooter McCrae simply lacks the talent and resources to bring this together in a meaningful way. The epic scope of the picture is reduced to one woman's journey home to see her boyfriend, which is made all the less interesting thanks to Stark Raven's vapid performance as Susan.

Susan has lost all hope for humanity, and, as one of the undead characters is sure to point out, Susan's spiritual death is far worse than the physical decomposition of the living dead. Unlike MEAT MARKET, BONE SICKNESS, and other dreadful Splatter pictures that were shot on video around the same time, the focus in SHATTER DEAD is never to overwhelm the audience with gratuitous gore, but to subvert mainstream cinema with a biting remark on the current social climate.

With the AIDS epidemic, overpopulation, and growing homelessness fresh in mind, SHATTER DEAD poses a grim reflection of our own reality on film.