Born in 1961 in New Jersey, James Riffel attended the NYU Film School, aka the Tisch School of the Arts. As with many aspiring filmmakers, Riffel decided to make a horror film as his directorial debut. He found an old house in Cherry Valley, NY, and chose that as his primary filming location. Under the working title The Road, Riffel assembled a small cast and crew to shoot their gory horror film. Filming wrapped in 1988 using the title The Dead Come Home, and Troma eventually picked it up. Through a collaboration with AIP, Troma released the film on VHS as The House on Tombstone Hill. Later, once Troma gained full ownership of the film, they tried re-releasing it as Dead Kids on the Block. Due to legal troubles, they had to change the title, this time to Dead Dudes in the House.
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Synopsis
Mark (Douglas Gibson) has brought six of his friends to an old house he bought to help renovate it. There’s Ron (Mark Zobian), Bob (Victor Verhaeghe), Jamie (Sarah Newhouse), Steve (J.D. Cerna), Linda (Naomi Kooker), and Joey (Eugene Sautner). While working on the house, one of the group accidentally breaks a headstone, resurrecting an old woman seeking vengeance. Soon enough, our would-be homemakers meet a grisly demise at the hands of this murderous granny. Characters are cut in half by broken windows, stabbed in the back with scissors, and mangled with power tools. However, the victims don’t stay dead; they come back to life and kill anyone alive in exceedingly gruesome ways. Before long, two teens named S (Rob Moretti) and Ricky (James Griffith) end up at the house as would-be victims. Who will escape from this house on Tombstone Hill when the dead come home?
Review
Whether you call it The Dead Come Home or Dead Dudes in the House, this is a lackluster horror film. While the acting isn’t terrible, most of the main characters are forgettable, and none are fully developed. Admittedly, Victor Verhaeghe has some moments as an arrogant meathead who does kung-fu with his organs hanging out. Also, props to actor Douglas Gibson for playing the dual roles of Mark and the killer old woman. Though it’s a guy wearing makeup, it offers some camp potential just for the absurdity of senior drag. Speaking of makeup, the effects were done by Ed French, whose credits include Sleepaway Camp, The Stuff, and Blood Rage. His gore effects are the movie’s central strong point, each more disgusting and creative than the last. While some effects don’t work as well as they should, they’re still well done.
The biggest problem with this film is how much filler there is to pad out the runtime. Scenes of characters trying to open sticky doors, throwing rocks at windows, and more to get the movie to feature-length. Not only that, but the film leaves us with so many unanswered questions as to what’s going on. Why is the old lady killing people, why do her victims become undead, and how did Mark find this house? Given how uninteresting the majority of the movie is, it’s hard to care about these questions being answered. The film plays out like a lower-budget version of The Evil Dead, minus the charm and creativity. This one provides some decent splatter effects for gorehounds, but it’s not enough to save an otherwise dull movie. Overall, The Dead Come Home isn’t the worst Troma movie, but it’s not exactly a hidden gem either.
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