Movie Review

Twice Dead (1988)

2.5/5

The Cates family has three main issues. Number one, they are bankrupt. Number two, the house they just inherited is haunted. Number three, there is a bunch of no-good kids after them. When the parents leave siblings Scott and Robin alone to go out-of-state for court, the real trouble begins.

Well, really just the no-good kids problem. The haunting itself is really not an issue, barely a nuisance. The house is haunted by a 1930s character actor who committed suicide there years back, but he doesn’t really do much. He shows up in mirrors, sure, but waits until there are about 20 minutes left of the movie do anything noteworthy.

The real issue are those punks. The street local gang—which is straight out of Class of 1984 (1982) or any Stephen King novel that features a gang—really hates the family. Their new inherited home was the gangs club house and the family made them leave. Now, they want the siblings dead.

The first hour or so of Twice Dead is mostly about the trouble with having a gang of sociopathic teenagers on your case. They will try to beat you to death, run you over, all the usual teenage stuff. It’s fine but it’s not what the poster promised. I wanted a Bill Hader character ruffling up troubles for the living and then dying again, becoming twice dead.

Well, I never got that, but if you stay for the long run, you are rewarded by a short, but sweet, massacre that has some nice deaths—including an electrifying orgasm of doom. In general, the film just a few edits from being a Goosebumps episode. The bright side is that I like Goosebumps episodes, and even though I didn’t get what I expected from Twice Dead, I was entertained by what I got.

Twice Dead (1988)
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