Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Burning Dead’

Written by Scott Edwards

​I have always been fascinated by volcanos, even as a child. The Ring of Fire has always had a special place in my heart as I have done numerous reports on it, and when a volcano on it starts to erupt, you get to see activity with the other ones. I have also been curious about the curses that are said to be surrounding some of these volcanos, especially Pele’s Curse. While it is not the kind of ancient curse that kicks in if you take volcanic rocks or sand away from the volcanos, it is instead said that you will experience bad luck if you take them off of the island. Even if it is just something to keep tourists from taking the rocks home with them, there might be something to it and I was much too afraid to try it when my adventures took me to Hawaii, so I took a shirt instead.
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While noticing activity on Devil’s Peak, Doctor Stevens and his assistant Eve Jones see that the old dormant volcano is getting ready to erupt. Notifying the authorities, they are able to get a warning in place to evacuate the town right up against the mountain and with plenty of time before the eruption, there is little panic. While on his rounds, Sheriff Denton has a special stop that he needs to make and gets to see his old crush Mindy Roberts for a few minutes. Helping her get packed up, he has only one request to make of her at this time and that is to have her talk to her father, Old Ben, who is not willing to pack up and leave his home.

Not talking to her father for over ten years, Mindy is reluctant to make the trip, but her daughter Nicole is willing to do anything to help her grandfather. Getting to the cabin further up the mountain, Nicole is greeted by Ben with open arms, while Mindy is left outside with Nicole’s boyfriend Ryan who is along for the ride. While they all believe that there is still plenty of time to talk things through, the mountain starts to shake and the light smoke coming from Devil’s Peak has turned black, indicating that the eruption timetable is off by over a week. Getting in their car and heading down the mountain should be an easy feat, but there is something evil lying dormant inside the volcano, and it is something that not even science can explain.

The spirits of the undead are showered all over the mountain and they are not looking to make friends as Devil’s Peak erupts, they are looking for fresh meat. With the shady history of the mountain dating back to the 1800’s, a group of cannibals were taken by the last eruption and now everyone that was taken in that blast is looking for a warm meal. Working their way through the wooded areas, none of the living have any idea what they are up against as the former residents drool lava onto their unsuspecting victims. Needing to escape the wrath of the mountain, along with saving any of the living along the way, Sheriff Denton has his work cut out for him in getting Mindy and her family to safety and now with the living dead following behind them, the fear of being taken by the volcano has taken a backseat.

Lava filled zombies is all I had to read on the description to know that I wanted to watch this movie.  Starting off as a legend that elder Night Wolf is telling teens to give them a little scare about what is hiding inside of the mountain, it becomes real enough to everyone that was involved. I must admit that I liked the family dynamic that was shown between Mindy, her daughter Nicole and Old Ben, even when things did not seem to be on the up and up, they were more than willing to do anything to protect the family. I also enjoyed the feeling of being alone in the situation, because when communications went down around the mountain, the news was not filtered down to the town about what had changed. With plenty of blood, some zombie headshots, lava filled zombies, a way to freeze zombies in place and a family that will do anything to save each other, it is just a fun movie. Even though I would have loved to have seen more lava coming out of the zombies, especially when they were taken down, just getting a burn from one of these undead was enough to get the point across that they were on the mountain to take care of business and business was good. Stay Scared.

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