Twice Dead (1988).

“Next time you look in the mirror…think twice!”

Directed by Bert Dragin

Written by Bert Dragin and Robert McDonnell

Starring Tom Bresnahan, Jill Whitlow, Jonathan Chapin, and Christopher Burgard

1. (The Stage)

The Cates family inherits a mansion that used to belong to a stage actor named Tyler Walker. When they arrive to take possession of the mansion, they find a crew of cut-and-paste 80’s bad guys that look like the inspiration for the disposable thugs in Streets of Rage hanging around outside, and they’re not giving the house up without a fight. Unfortunately for everyone, the ghost of Tyler Walker also wants his house back.

2. (The Good)

This was a fun little horror/invasion film. The main protagonists, siblings Scott and Robin, have good chemistry together, even if they seem a little…flirty. The pack of bad guys, while unimaginative, are fun to watch while chewing the scenery. They sport names like Silk, Crip, and Stoney, and kill people without a second thought…unless you’re the main characters, in which case they just play around with you for some reason.

The film takes a little while to get going, but the last ten minutes are a blast. The kills are imaginative and one kill that features a dumbwaiter, even subverts expectations a bit. There’s a kill involving a shotgun, was fucking mind-blowing. There’s also a…shocking…sex scene in the film that is pretty hot. I’m also a sucker for a good 80’s car chase, and there’s a chase between a hearse and a Thunderbird that was pretty great in here.

At a scant 85 minutes, it’s an easy watch.

3. (The Bad)

Horror films don’t have to make a whole lot of sense, but this one has plot beats that are just plain stupid. First off, it’s set up that the cops probably won’t come for calls, because they’re…busy. I also didn’t buy that this pack of degenerates had such an attachment to an old, decrepit mansion that they would terrorize the people moving into it. And if Tyler Walker was so intent on no one living in his house, why was he not haunting the pack of bad guys before the Cates moved in? Speaking of them, Crip’s infatuation with raping Robin also hasn’t aged well and felt really creepy. He did, however, nail his impression of Ducky from Sixteen Candles.

The film turns into a bit of a ‘Home Alone’ style film in the second act, which sees our sibling protagonists suddenly turn into special effects wizards on par with Tom Savini. This includes creating severed heads, things that spurt blood, and even a “Penisaurus”. They’re alone, because in the middle of these crazy family times, their parents just up and leave to another state for a court case that, if explained to the parties involved, probably could have been moved back…but for the scripts sake, they had to be shoved out of the picture.

Like most 80’s films, there are a few ‘false’ endings, none of which really worked. You could see them coming a mile away.

4. (The Ugly)

Melvin, who rides his motorcycle everywhere…literally everywhere, even into houses, eventually has his loyal steed turn on him. What a rough way to go.

Speaking of rough ways to go, Willis from Different Strokes is in here and he really got the short end of the stick with this role. Talk about wrong place, wrong time.

5. (The End)

This feels like sort of a live action Scooby Doo. Swap Scott and Robin out for Fred and Daphne and nail Scoob to the door, and you’re right in a rated-R Hanna Barbara flick.

I had a bit of fun with this, I thought the kills were pretty slick, the characters were fun to watch even if they were stereotypical, and it flies by at under 90 minutes. There are a few awesome kills in here and everything looks like it was done practically. I’d recommend this if you can ignore the glaring stupidity of the plot and just want to watch a few people get terrorized for 75 minutes leading up to a bat-shit crazy ending.

The Scream Factory disc looks very nice and carries over the two extras from their 2010 DVD release - a feature length commentary from the director and Tom Bresnahan, as well as an interview with Jill Whitlow, who played Robin. The interview runs about 12 minutes long. It feels a bit weird that there were no new extras included with this release and I got this impression that it was sort of tossed together haphazardly. Maybe we can chock that up to COVID-19.