Dead Heat

They just don't make them like that anymore. The 1980s had their unmistakable charm thanks to the collapse of the floodgates that had held back decadent creativity, which in turn brought a boom to the video market. In the seventies, it was still necessary for films to attract viewers to cinemas, so every effort was exerted to evoke the impression of a certain level – the best example of this is porn productions at the time, which commented on sexuality as a social phenomenon. By contrast, the video market brought forth the need to immediately stand out from the mass of competing titles surrounding your film on all sides at the video rental shop. Dead Heat is characteristic of eighties titles, particularly in the context of zombie movies. By that time, zombies had migrated from the margins of cinema and into the mainstream, as was evident from the video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, and thus became a welcome addition to the portfolios of B-movie production companies. This time the living dead are surprisingly combined with a buddy-cop movie in the mould of 48 Hours or Red Heat, where the requisite pair of cool cops are not only on the trail of zombie criminals, but experience for themselves the benefits of relative post-mortem invincibility. The filmmakers consistently tried to evoke the impression of studio B-movie quality in this third-rate production. Both Treat Williams, aka “the poor man’s Kurt Russel”, and the mulletted meathead Joe Piscopo excel in their lead roles with unintentional ridiculousness. Literally every second line is an attempt (usually pitiful) at a dry one-liner and even Vincent Price appears in a cameo in recognition of the film’s inspiration. Even the basic buddy-movie concept breaks down under the onslaught of attractions and one-liners, as the protagonists differ basically only in the fact that one wears a sport coat and the other prefers a leather jacket, but the two of them are essentially identical über-dudes. The film actually retains the queer dimension of buddy action movies only when the two protagonists drive around the city together in a gaudy red Cadillac, whose ownership is not revealed, so it is apparently the property of a shared household. Despite the degree of campy entertainment that the genre foundation offers, attention is mostly focused on the magnificently crazy concept of the walking corpses. Fine masks and special effects make every clash a feast for the eyes of trash lovers, with the phenomenal highlight being the protagonists’ fight in a Chinese restaurant, where animal delicacies come to life. The bits with zombified chickens, a smoked pig and, in the climax, a whole side of beef place Dead Heat high on the list of unforgettable trash flicks. Furthermore, we could (if we so wanted) see the motif of zombifying the protagonists, who return after death to finish their last case, as an imaginative reflection of the formulas used in action movies about tough-guy cops. This time, it truly applies that for these heroes, who remain partners even beyond the grave, a bullet wound is just a scratch and their work becomes more important to them than their own lives when, after coming back to life, they don’t consider the consequences of this phenomenon, instead thinking only about catching the bastards who have all of it on their conscience. (17.07.2013) (vähemmän) (lisää)