The Burning Dead (2015) User Reviews

Horror? No. Comedy Yes.

[panther_husky · 1/10 · 4 March 2015]

This made me laugh more than anything else.

Bad. Bad. Bad.

Special effects were terrible as was the acting. Danny Trejo, I have no idea why he is in all these bad movies, but even so his ability as an actor is not what you would call award winning!.

Rene Pere, well this was the movie to make me steer away from anything else that he directs. I know of other directors who can create wonderful movies with great dialogues and story lines but this film? What a waste of time and money.

I, myself would be embarrassed to show this work to the public.

Apart from bad acting and bad effects, there were numerous errors within the movie which made you laugh. Did anyone review the movie for inconsistencies?

I suppose fans of B grade movies will enjoy this. Actually, maybe we create a Z Grade category for films which are worse than worse!

Falls completely under the mark of succeeding under any circumstances.

[InDyingArms · 1/10 · 23 April 2015]

First, before starting anything, the fact that I even talked myself into watching this is unbelievable. I've had no expectations for this SyFy recycled movie. I'm pretty sure you can tell why JUST by the title, cover, and entire idea. You have the plot of a couple of characters all meeting together from different locations after a volcano strike, of which unearths volcanic zombies. Yes. Volcanic zombies. First off, the idea, period is just stupid. It's an idea that just doesn't belong, and fails in any form of entertainment. It may succeed in pulling the "audiences'" attention toward the film, but only because it's ridiculous title, cover, etc. will confuse the heck out of some people. The characters in this film, are nowhere near special. They're all literally the highest of clichéd characters you've seen millions of times in this film. They're personalities are honestly hard to watch as they try to be heroic, and strong, but come out hilarious, and not in a good way. We as the audience could literally care less for what these atrocious characters are put through, whether they live or die. We didn't care. The characters even gone as far as becoming unbelievable annoying, and even angering from they're clichéd acts, dreadful dialog, and overall overused, recycled personalities. The whole volcanic eruption involved terrible, terrible CGI, as well as an even horrid idea of actually involving what seemed to be ghosts literally flying out of the volcano, into the ground, uprising the zombies. The zombies looked cheap, in all honesty. The action these zombies take, as well, doesn't make any sense. The film also has this utterly annoying "adventure" soundtrack that plagues repetitively, making this film more annoying than it already was..

In conclusion, what a mess of a film.. everything was truly bad.. overused characters, recycled SyFy plot, and overall story, terrible, terrible CGI, overall annoying cast, as well as acting. The list goes on.. this film seemed to be more of a joke rather than anything.. and the entire film was just one huge, atrocious mess. Please. Save your time, do not watch this film. I wouldn't recommend it as it succeeds in nothing, and literally fails instead.

now I have seen it all

[tony-146-695626 · 1/10 · 8 May 2015]

I gave it a "1" because I could not select -1000 .

Special effects remind me of my science fair volcanoes I used to make with baking soda. Really really awful and not even as good as most video game cgi effects. The makeup is just as bad. The zombies are pathetic. Makes me appreciate Walking Dead. Like, wow.

Trevo, my man "Machete", is hilarious as the American Indian with obscure wisdom.

Movie makes zero sense and is barely funny. Who is this for? I will tell you. If you are having a beer party, attending a frat party, etc and are extremely buzzed then MAYBE you can watch this. You will still make fun of every scene, but at least you have an excuse for watching this dumbness.

I have seen bad zombie movies. But this is the worst by far.

Lame Z-Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 2/10 · 9 May 2016]

In North California, the scientist Dr. Stevens (Kyle T. Heffner) and his assistant Eve Jones (Julia Lehman) are researching a volcano near eruption to evacuate the residents. Meanwhile, Mindy Roberts (Moniqua Plante), her daughter Nicole (Nicole Cummins) and her boyfriend Ryan (Kevin Norman) are visiting Mindy's estranged father Old Ben (Robert F. Lyons), who lives in an isolated cabin on the top of the mountain. Sheriff Denton (Thomas Downey) is rescuing persons that might have been left behind. Out of the blue, each person discovers that volcano zombies are attacking them on the mountain to eat their flesh. Who will survive?

"The Burning Dead" is a lame Z-movie, with awful story, terrible acting and poor CGI. The screenplay is a laughable mess, and does not make any sense. What can be said about a film where Danny Trejo has a minor participation to give his name to the credits? My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Mortos Vivos" ("Living Dead")

Awful

[denice1 · 1/10 · 5 April 2015]

This is the worst movie I have ever seen! First zombie movie I have ever seen where the characters only eat intestines and not brains!

Danny Trejo is in the movie for a few minutes but is the star? Horrible acting.

This movie even gives class B movies a bad name.

A bullet to the head doesn't kill these zombies but a fire extinguisher does? Pathetic.

What's up with the dude with the red bandana? I couldn't stop laughing every time I saw him. Hilarious!

Jenny Lin was jumping around with her boobs hanging out looking plain stupid. Please quit acting and do us all a favor.

Absolutely horrible and waste of film

[dawgsfan92 · 1/10 · 6 April 2015]

I love zombie movies... However, this can't even be considered a zombie movie! The cinematography is absolutely horrible, the visual effects (or lack of) are a waste of time and the acting isn't even good enough to be called, "B Movie" acting! The whole synopsis is a joke. I will give the writer props for thinking of a new and inventive way of thinking about zombies but... The zombies appear when a volcano erupts green rocks. As the rocks hit the ground, suddenly zombies (if you can call them that) appear and rise from the ground. Danny Trejo has been in a lot of, "B Movies" some of which I actually enjoyed, but even this is beneath him. If I was able to rewind the clock and never waste my time watching this movie, I would.

Funniest movie I have ever seen

[dimitrimelnikoff · 1/10 · 28 December 2020]

The acting, writing, editing, and production of this film is so terrible that it almost seems on purpose. How they want anyone to take this movie seriously is beyond me. A lava eruption that looks like fireworks, lava that looks like a blanket being dragged across the ground, and actors that look like they all failed the class and the casting directors felt sorry for them and gave them a shot, this film has it all. Words cannot describe the absolute crapfest that is "The Burning Dead"

There are worse movies out there...though this is hardly a glowing endorsement!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 19 March 2015]

"The Burning Dead" (also known as "Volcano Zombies") is an extremely low budget film. And, the title pretty much says it all. So, I knew going into this film that I wouldn't be seeing Masterpiece Theatre or Jane Austin!! Yup...it has what you'd expect--a lot of cheesy special effects and makeup and some occasionally broad acting. And, it's clearly for folks who like horror and don't mind it of the bargain basement variety! Now I am not saying the film is 100% bad....just mostly bad.

When the film begins, an American-Indian played by the ubiquitous Danny Trejo is telling some kids a story--and then the actual plot to this film begins. I say 'ubiquitous' because Trejo was in 17 different productions last year and is slated, so far, to be in 21. In fact, while this tough-looking guy didn't begin acting until he was almost 40, he so far has nearly 300 credits!! So did it surprise me that this Mexican-American actor was playing a Cherokee? Nah...I think he'd appear in the lead of Cinderella if they offered it to him! He hammed it up a bit during his small portion in the film, though I always enjoy seeing him...even in schlocky films like this one. To paraphrase Liberace--you might laugh...but Trejo is probably laughing himself all the way to the bank!

Trejo's story is about zombies who are vaporized during the 1840s. And, oddly, when the same volcano becomes active again today, these zombies are reconstituted by the evil volcano spirits and they set about doing what zombies do best--slowly chasing after folks who seem to inexplicably fall down and get devoured. None of this is especially inspired--especially in light of the hundred bazillion zombie TV shows and movies over the last decade. Here is the real problem though--it was bad but not bad or cheesy enough to be a film for a bad film junkie who wants to laugh at the film. Additionally, had the film not taken itself so seriously and been more like some of Sam Raimi's or George Romero's zombie films, it might have worked. As it is, there just isn't enough to recommend it.

Despite all my reservations about the film, however, I am giving it a special award for 'The Most Ludicrous Nude Scene of the Past Decade'. As the volcano is belching smoke and getting ready to blow, an insane but very shapely lady appears near the crater with her camera and starts to take some candid topless photos of herself with the volcano as a backdrop!! Rarely have I ever seen a more contrived and asinine way to insert a bit of nudity into a movie!

Terrible low budget movie comparable to most of the Asylum's productions

[bellino-angelo2014 · 1/10 · 25 December 2021]

THE BURNING DEAD is a terrible movie... no doubt about it. It has 2,2 and only few reviews to date, so it will never make the Bottom 100, yet I saw it. And you might wonder why. Well, I am a movie lover that despite has mostly rated and occasionally reviewed must-see movies, theater releases, masterpieces and so on and so forth, I occasionally try very bad movies just for seeing if they have an entertainment value. Some, they have it (such as STEEL, DELTA FARCE and a few others to which I gave good scores despite the many negative reviews) but some are just plain bad. And THE BURNING DEAD is one of these.

It begins with Indian chief Night Wolf (Danny Trejo) that tells some kids a legend at night in the woods about some zombies that returned to live after the volcano erupted lava. Just a few minutes later we see a family going on vacation on the site and after a while there is an eruption, and just as the legend said, the zombies returned to life thanks to the lava's powers on the ground. Now it's up to the kids and Night Wolf to kick the zombies' snot, and not without some graphic scenes thrown for shock value.

I wanted to give this film a chance but unfortunately my hopes were wrong. The characters were all one-dimensional and more like cartoon characters than real people. Danny Trejo is the only one who gives a decent performance (just like in most of his other bad movies) but he looks a bit wasted. The special effects are very cheesy, they really look like copied and pasted on the original footage. And some of the graphic scenes were very painful to stomach, but thankfully I forgot most of them.

If you are a bad movie fan, you might actually try this movie for getting a kick out of it, but if you aren't, steer clear from this piece of bile...

Volcano Zombies

[kosmasp · 2/10 · 25 October 2015]

I wish I could say, I came up with that, but it's the actual German title this movie received. This might be the best thing about the movie, though to be fair, you should know this is low budget. Still we get better movies and better acting and better everything with similar budgets. Unless you're the biggest Danny Trejo fan, you might want to steer clear from this one.

Though even if you are, remember: It's not really his vehicle, he just has a small part in it. The story or the idea rather is pretty out there, which makes it almost likable. Unfortunately too many things go south/wrong, that cannot be helped or overseen.

Fresh and Originally Intense Horror Adventure

[jlthornb51 · 10/10 · 20 June 2015]

Creatively fresh and brilliantly original, this film has a heroic sheriff attempting against all odds to save a family from an erupting volcano and the cursed zombies that are set free by the event. These are not the clichéd undead populating every zombie film cranked out. Incredibly well done special effects and CGI work show lava filled creatures unlike anything ever seen before and they are stunning. Brought to life by a curse, their barbarity is breathtaking and there are breathtaking sequences of volcanic explosiveness of true realism. The imagery created by director Rene Perez and the performances he coaxes from his actors are both haunting in their intensity. Danny Trejo is particularly superb in what must be ranked as one of his finest performances. The thrills and momentum of the film never diminish and as a cinema horror adventure, it is both a tremendous experience and deeply satisfying.

Your my point man, so put on ya pointy hat and start pointing

[warehousereviews · 6/10 · 2 September 2020]

I honestly cant understand the hate for this movie. It is a enjoyable low budget movie that combines the awesome power of the volcano with the undead... what is not to like.. The zombies drool flesh melting lava which is friggin cool as, and they have an insatiable appetite for intestines... The photoghaper/blogger had a few high points as well..

its got a 2.2 star rating yet is more watchable than most trash on Netflix.

6/10 for lava drooling zombies alone. Great idea.

My Review Of "The Burning Dead"

[ASouthernHorrorFan · 5/10 · 13 March 2015]

Rene Perez's zombie/sci-fi flick "The Burning Dead" puts some heat into the zombie lore by mixing supernatural with the classic disaster flick.

The story is a standard disaster, impending doom scenario that has become the norm for such channels as Syfy. And for all tense and purposes, "The Burning Dead" seems specially produced for the channel that has brought cheap, CGI entertainment to American audiences. The same dramatic stakes arise in the story as a family reconnects in order to see that all survive the coming disaster. The twist here is the added supernatural element in the form of a curse which has lava fueled zombies raining down on the cast and picturesque landscape. As ridiculous and beyond sci-fi as the story premise sounds, the concept translates into a entertaining, all be it cheesy spectacle.

The acting is pretty much what you would expect from a flick like this, sometimes contrived, often over-the-top scenes of melodrama mixed with screams and amusing dialog delivery. If you have enjoyed or delighted in any of the "made for Syfy" flicks similar to this film then "The Burning Dead" will give equal bemusement. It is pretty much a cookie cutter assortment of CGI induced disaster action sequences and practical make-up effects zombies. A lot of the situations and dialog does seem far too familiar as with most of these stories, but like junk food, it is all about the melodrama and cheap theatrics.

Overall, "The Burning Dead" will not pull in any new fans to this CGI infused genre, but it holds its own against anything Syfy or the "straight-to-video" market puts up next to it. Trejo fans may be slightly disappointed considering the limited part he has in the film, but the scenes that his character is in are some of the more grounded ones. I felt he was under utilized , but that is just my thoughts. For what "The Burning Dead" is, the film has some amusing, and entertaining moments. The zombies, when not drowned in CGI emptiness, fall more toward the "Zombi" style than the "Night Of The Living Dead" creatures.

Lava zombies unite!

[Pierre_D · 3/10 · 15 August 2015]

When abominations meet addle-minded, you obtain this piece of superlative schlock cinema. I'll get to the obvious flaws in basic physics in a bit, but suffice to say that if you are looking for a chilling horror movie, well, The Exorcist, The Shining, Spoorloos are all on that shelf.

Our story begins as we see a cannibal in a top hat feasting on some fresh intestines, ostensibly with his former wife. Apparently the inhabitants were trapped here, under the majestic and august auspices of a dormant volcano, and ran out of food. The year is 1846. Fast forward a century and some years and we see the low-budget (with some heart) cast of characters. Everyone is in a panic because the old volcano is about to erupt again, but they have much to tell us.

Mindy Roberts (Monique Plante), her daughter Nicole Roberts (Nicole Cummins) and Nicole's boyfriend Ryan Jacobs (Kevin Norman) are all moving out of the area with the help of affable Sheriff Denton (Thomas Downey). Thus comes exposition about the family unit and the estrangement of Mindy and her father Old Ben. Old Ben is stubborn and addicted to the Internet through his tablet. Meanwhile the top geologists in the area Dr. Stevens (Kyle T. Heffner) and his assistant Eve Jones (Julia Lehman) are discussing volcanoes, which brings me to my short (and obviously inadequate) physics foray: Lava can reach between 800 and 1200 degrees Celsius. The human body erupts into flames at around 800 and 1000 degrees Celsius. By this back of the napkin math we see that the Zombies could not exist! Not only that, but I have yet to hear of a volcano spewing green, purple, red smoke or magma as cruise missiles onto nearby buildings.

That's the least of this film's issues, however, as the citizens of the area really should have all died ages ago. The sheriff runs around in circles, the protagonists abandon their cars instead of leaving town, the clouds of volcanic ash are barely acknowledged. It's a horrible mess of plot holes, schlocky effects and tugs at the heartstrings.

That said, the hilarity of some scenes makes up for the overall lack of cohesion. The magma cruise missile, the overacting from the zombies, the stupidity of the rangers all give us an entertaining hour or so of B-grade cinema. I haven't even gone into the absolutely brutal and explotivie "blogger/photographer" at the start, who thought taking off her top would be the best idea when about to be engulfed in flames.

See only if you are willing to park your brain for an hour or so.

Nice idea, bit dull.

[parry_na · 4/10 · 31 January 2019]

This is a very choppily made, low-budget project that features heat-infused zombies and hatchet-faced cult actor Danny Treyo. Scenes fade away before they seem to have finished, characters come and go before we know them. And yet, there are some appealing performances from Nicole Carmela as Nicole Roberts and Thomas Downy as the Sherriff. Roberts' boyfriend Ryan is played very self-consciously by Kevin Norman. Treyo makes little more than a cameo appearance, which is a shame. Playing the boobs that passes as titillation is Jenny Lin.

The volcano that erupts, giving birth to the 'heat zombies', contains the best of the varied (often CGI) effects, with the idea behind the zombies themselves proving to be effective. Probably as a concession to low finances is the sunny mid-day setting. How much more powerful these scenes would have been had they taken place at night.

Sadly though, this never really rises above the daytime soap style of execution, despite the occasional close-ups of gristle eating. We don't really get to know most of the characters, and despite the standard pounding of the by-numbers music, things remain pretty dull.

A CRAZY,SILLY,LOW-BUDGET HORROR WITH A SMALL ROLE FROM CULT HERO DANNY TREJO.

[lukem-52760 · 5/10 · 23 June 2019]

The Burning Dead is a very low-budget straight to dvd Zombie Horror, this time though the zombies come from some weird supernatural volcano!!!

The reason for me watching this is pf course because the case show's the awesome king of trashy Cult flicks, Danny Trejo & I'm a huge fan of his so i had to check this out even though it looks ridiculous lol & it was. But Trejo is nearly always good on screen & here he play's a small role of an old,wise story telling indian who tells the story of this film to his grandkids,it's a nice little part for Trejo. I've been fooled many times into buying dvds with Danny Trejo billed as the main star on the cover & then it turns out he's only a cameo or tiny bit part & the movie usually turns out terrible but this strange Horror flick isn't too bad,it's crazy weird but watchable. I was fooled before by Voodoo Posession,Darkness Descends, zombie Hunter,Cyborg X & Beyond Justice & a few other's that all advertised Danny Trejo as a main lead star on the cover art but in reality he's a small cameo or a tiny role & gets killed off quickly. The cover for The Burning Dead is the same as you would think trejo is the star up against a zombie invasion,but he's only the story teller of the movie. Because of the success of "Machete" Danny Trejo has become a cult hero of trashy,grindhouse straight to dvd flicks that are mostly in the "Horror" "Thriller" genre's & his rugged mustached face & tattooed body have become iconic in those genre's & everyone wants to watch this Awesome rugged tough tough action hero,he has a great screen presence.

The fx are very cheesy & mostly practical,the zombies actually look pretty cool but the c.g.i bits are obviously very cheap & tacky looking because of the tiny budget but hey i expect all this from this type of film, so it was ok. The cast are pretty terrible in the acting department except Danny Trejo who always seems like he enjoys his work & that's very cool. A small country town is overrun with blood-thirsty supernatural zombies that come from an erupting volcano near-by & the a small group including the local sheriff are trying to escape & that's basically the story. It's just a silly,easy watching pure B-MOVIE & that's fine as i love alot of these types of films especially when Danny Trejo turns up.

The Burning Dead is just silly,bloody late night B-movie fun & nothing more.

Lava Zombies!

[Uriah43 · 2/10 · 19 February 2019]

This film begins with an elderly member of the Cherokee tribe by the name of "Night Wolf" (Danny Trejo) telling a story to three young girls around a campfire. As the story goes, sometime in the winter of 1846, a settler is returning to his camp near the Donner Pass in Northern California and, upon arriving arrives, is shocked to find that most of his family have been killed and those that remain have been turned in to ravenous zombies. It's at this time that a volcano erupts which engulfs him and everybody in the area. The film then fast-forwards to the present where some scientists are studying a once dormant volcano known as Devil's Peak which is suddenly showing signs of coming back to life. Yet, even though everybody in the area has been ordered to evacuate, a few choose to remain under the mistaken assumption that they still have a few more days before it erupts. Unfortunately, not only does it erupt sooner than expected but--when it does erupt--it spits out zombies who proceed to devour every person in their path. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was about one of the silliest movies I have ever seen. To make matters even worse, some of the special effects were incredibly bad as well. Yet as bad as this film was, I still believe that it might hold some possible redeeming value for viewers who are looking for a comedy--and have plenty of beer on hand to further lighten the mood. Failing that, I would recommend giving this film a pass and I have rated it accordingly. Definitely below average.

Sci-fi/Horror Films Aren't Popular These Days

[uhafmd · 5/10 · 14 January 2024]

I knew before I watched this movie exactly what I was getting into, nor was I disappointed. Let me explain:

It's common these days to take minor character actors and make them the leading man or woman. In this case, Danny Trejo is finally getting his well-deserved due.

With a minimum investment, almost anyone with a plot and a bunch of semi-talented friends can make a decent picture.

Or only halfway decent.

And THAT, mes amis, is why I liked this film. I grew up in the golden age of sci-fi. When not only films like "The Day The Earth Stood Still" and "The War of the Worlds" were made but also "Plan 9 From Outer Space."

This movie was reminiscent more of the latter than of the former. And by that, I mean it didn't require much thought to enjoy it.

2001, Star Wars, Star Trek and all of the rest of modern movies are more sophisticated and, therefore, require more thought. Further, they rely on FX and CGI rather than plot. Which I agree may be an over-simplicaton, but I'm writing this review and you're not.

What I'm trying to say is this: Take away the excellent Special Effects and the great CGI from the major Sci-fi films, and you're left with this film.

Flawed enough but still somewhat enjoyable

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 5/10 · 2 February 2018]

Working at a nearby facility, a group of scientists studying a recently reactivated volcano find themselves trapped behind with a family displaced during the process by a horde of zombies unleashed by the eruption and must rely on a heroic ranger to stop the creatures and get them out alive.

This here was quite the decent zombie effort. One of the nicer features here is the rather strong and somewhat impressive storyline where it manages a lot to like with how to mix together the different elements. Bringing in the Native American folklore angle about the respect for nature and how that allowed the volcano to swallow up the original zombies to bring them back as cannibalistic creatures manages to provide an intriguing manner of conception about the zombies. That also figures into the rather fun if slightly underwhelming manner of finally defeating the creatures since that allows for a great subversion of expectations regarding gunshots to the head while letting the final method remain somewhat connected to the main storyline. Still, the most fun here is the enjoyable amount of action present, from the opening in the original western setting, the first encounters with the creatures out in the woods which are assumed to be merely lost hikers to the great scenes of the swarm appearing at the cabin which has some decent scenes with the zombies breaking the barricade or the battle to get to the transportation which provides this one with some nice action. The nice action confrontations up in the water tower has this one feature a fun finale to end this on a high note, and along with the decent gore and zombie make-up give this one enough to hold it up over the few minor flaws here. The biggest problem with the film is the fact that the story, for all the clever and unique ideas it has regarding the zombies, makes no sense at all and leaves out several glaring questions to be answered. There's nothing given here about how the lava preserves the bodies instead of destroying them or how they're transported inside the volcano to be able to be recalled later which leaves this with some big questions to answer. Likewise, the need for including such a weak finale as it does here is somewhat questionable as there's a real lack of any impactful action to be taken from what happens here as this leaves the whole film as somewhat unnecessary based on how they finally resolve matters here which is completely disappointing. The last big problem here is the rather low-budget nature of what's going on which really becomes distracting with the atrocious CGI used for the volcano's eruption, the gore from the creatures or the actual visual enhancements which manage to look so obvious that it's distracting. Otherwise, this one was just decent enough.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity.