In the late 1980s a slew of ‘buddy cop movies’ flooded the marks among them Lethal Weapon (1987), Tango & Cash (1989), even a few with dogs such as Turner & Hooch or K-9 both from 1989, needless to say, it was a popular adventure, that involved comedic lines and plenty of action. All of it brings us to Dead Heat a horror comedy involving the undead and police that borrows from Lethal Weapon and would proceed another buddy police movie with a similar title known as Red Heat, by one month. The movie also incorporated a new spin in the film D.O.A. (1950) in which the victim tries to determine why they were poisoned and who did it before their life ended. Therefore, think of all the various scenarios and combinations used in these films and now add in an undead and living officer, a quirky thought which since then has resulted in vampire officers and even more variations of zombie police. Hence, Mark Goldblatt took his first opportunity to direct this feature, those unaware Mark is renowned editor in Hollywood having started his career with Piranha [1978] and in multiple genres include actions flicks, he along with screenwriter Terry Black, on his first script in the biz worked to create a standard b-movie, that has minor role for Vincent who approached the end of both his career and life.
Roger Mortis (Treat Williams (Mask Maker [2011])), and Doug Bigelow (Joe Piscopo), L.A. police detectives investigating a string of brazen robberies cruising in a classic 1960 Chevy Impala Convertible (yeah typical car driven by on-duty police, just like Stallone did in Cobra (1986) with a 1960 Mercury); they are a mirror image of Lethal Weapon’s Roger and Martin (suit versus laid-back). Meanwhile typical looking central casting thieves attack a high-end jewelry store with many customers inside in a smash and grab technique, as an employee trips the silent alarm. When they flee numerous police officers, they emerge straight into the worst planned shootout possible, but at this point you have your b-movie head checked into the setup and along for the ride. The police are shot and killed, over a dozen of them, and the criminals equally taking nearly a hundred rounds with nothing keeping them down, as they keep having both an endless supply of bullets and life. Roger takes matters into his own hands using Lt. Herzog (Robert Picardo (The Howling [1981])) car to end the life of one of the thieves as the other is blown to bits; though afterwards a surrounding displeasure from the brass and his captain (Mel Stewart (Bride of Re-Animator [1990])) have a nonchalant attitude concerning attitude to wounded and dead officers, surround their melee of destruction and chaos. A quick transition to the coroner’s office meeting Roger’s former love interest Dr. Rebecca Smythers (Clare Kirkconnell), notes how these two new corpses were there before, due to their autopsy stitches, but the chief medical examiner Dr. Ernest McNab (Darren McGavin (The Night Stalker [1972])), who incidentally has the comical license plate Body Doc dismisses the matter as a type. Seriously folks, it really that kind of movie, a typical late eighties horror movie layered half-hearted one-liner zingers. However, a chemical analysis of the zombie remains leads our detectives to Dante Pharmaceuticals where a quirky, but brilliant Arthur P. Loudermilk was found (Vincent Price (The Fly [1958]), who recently passed away. While Roger is given a tour of the facility by Randi James (Lindsay Frost (The Ring [2002])); Doug uses an excuse to snoop around discovering a Frankenstein lab, with a Monster in it, which awakens not quite happy. As the chaos reigns supreme, Roger is mysteriously locked in a room and the air is sucked out of it, hence rendering him dead. Smythers arrives later in the lab and revives him, who awakens thinking nothing is wrong, and hence opens the wide subplot of who killed him and why in less than a day before he fully decomposes. As the story swiftly moves along with logic left far behind, if any existed. It is by the third act, we see how Roger’s flesh is growing darker, a moment where he realizes how fleeting life is and looking like an aged Terminator (comical) but how everything is leading to Loudermilk, who created a way for the ultra wealthy to live forever, with some mischievous help, but from whom?
Let’s look at what really doesn’t work too well for this film and sadly it points to one person Piscopo, his line delivery is horrendous it switches constantly between his famous stand-up comedian act and straight forward acting, it ruins almost all of the scenes that he’s presented as he decides for an odd reason to keep shifting his body to show-off his impressive physique. The first does keep everything at a swift pace, and those more in depth moments that slow the film down, keep short and infrequent thankfully. While Price and McGavin have minuscule roles, practically wasted, it is still a delight, and adding to the film is Steve Johnson’s disgusting special effects. The mentioning of the effects will make anyone think of the reanimated corpses of animals attacking in a restaurant and that sheer violence likely contributed to the film being resent to the MPAA 8-times! Why – because it was getting the dreaded and inconceivable X-rating, in a movie with no nudity, and harsh language, talk about over criticizing a movie.
There’s a lot to enjoy in Dead Heat, if you’re acceptable to b-movies, the plot isn’t carefully laid out, it contains a few problems, yet still acceptable. The film zips around, combining horror and action where possible as well as ridiculous amounts of violence, a ton of gunplay and some over-the-top acting, from everyone involved, especially the minor roles. Here not everything works that well, but the duds are far and few, allowing for great laughs, a fond remembrance of Treat Williams.
TAGLINES:
- These cops are on the biggest murder case of their lives… their own.
- You can’t keep a good cop dead.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094961/
IMDb Rating: 6.0/10
Baron’s Rating: 5.5/10