I found this one on DVD at a second hand shop with the title The Living Dead, which happens to be the title used for the UK DVD release. Took me a bit of searching around the net to find that. It is also known as Battle of the living dead in some regions it seems.

In any case, I did not have great hopes for it, but thought it could bring a bit of the old zombie havoc entertainment. Much to my positive surprise it was fairly low on the zombies, and more on the inter-personal relationship between the main characters. It turned out to be a pretty interesting film after all.

We follow Penelope and Josh as they journey through a ruined city on the search for food and other survivors years after a cataclysmic event that caused a lot of people to become infected with some strange virus turning them into zombies. When they encounter another susrvivor, Abira, their little world changes dramatically.

It’s the dynamic between these three characters that give the film it’s drive and nerve, and in my opinion turns it into something more interesting than a general zombie movie.

I read Pet Sematary, the novel, when I was 15 or so, and really liked it at the time. Somehow, I never got sround to see the film when it came out a few years later. So when I recently found a restored version on BluRay at a discount, I figured now was as good time as any.

This is a film without any surprises — even if you have not read the novel. Once the first milestone of the plot is reached, the rest comes exactly as expected. What it does well is the way it builds up the tension. Not rushing it, but not too slow either. It feels like a decent adaptation of the novel as far as I can remember.

Where the film shows it’s age is in the performances of the cast. Stiff dialogue and a bit exagerated performances make this an interesting study of the genre and period. However it does less to make the film feel beleivable or frightening. The sole exception is the small kid (Gage, played by Miko Hughes) who does an amazing role. Especially at the end.

The film was remade in 2019, but I have not seen this version. From the trailer it looks like a much more slick and less interesting production. Younger audiences will probably prefer it though.

It Stains the Sands Red is quite an interesting and rather original Zombie flick. At the start I thought I knew where it was heading, but then it headed somewhere else entirely.