Dead Heat (1988) ** (out of 4) Cops Roger Mortis (Treat Williams) and Doug Bigelow (Joe Piscopo) break up some sort of strange laboratory but in the process Roger is killed. A doctor uses the equipment to bring Roger back to life and now the two cops must try and see who is bringing the dead back and why.DEAD HEAT isn't a masterpiece and it's not an awful film so it's certainly somewhere in the middle. Your ability to take Williams and Piscopo as a comedy team will certainly determine how much of this film you can actually take. For me, I didn't think the comedy team worked overly well together but at the same time it has a rather campy feel to it and there are some entertaining things scattered throughout the picture.The one good thing here are the special effects, which get to air on the side of gory since the film is thankfully rated R. One of the highlights is a sequence where a woman pretty much starts to melt and fall apart right in front of you. This scene is certainly the best moment in the film and it's too bad there were more like it. The other monster effects are fairly good including one large beast that the cops battle towards the start of the picture.Both Williams and Piscopo are in "good" form but the screenplay honestly doesn't give them much funny things to do. Horror legend Vincent Price appears in a couple scenes and he's certainly worth watching, although he too isn't given much to do. The biggest problem with the film is the fact that it's extremely uneven in its tone and it never really seems to know what it wants to do. I will say that the dumbest moment in the movie is when the two cops are getting screamed at by their boss because they killed two bad guys. Yet, the boss never mentions the fact that these two bad guys killed a couple dozen cops before being taken down!

If there was ever a successful way to blend the drastically different genres of comedy and horror this film proves it. Dead Heat is an enjoyable genre hybrid that has enough scares for the horror label, enough laughs for the comedic name, and enough high speed moments to be branded an action film. It mixes these genres in hope to create not a great film, but an enjoyable zombie film with plenty of wit and fun.Treat Williams is a fantastic detective in films. No wonder he was typecast in the field of crime in many roles. Here, he plays Detective Roger Mortis (Williams) who's partner is the incompetent yet looser Doug Bigelow (Piscopo). When called to the scene of a robbery, the detectives notices that when the robbers are bombarded with blows to the legs torso they don't die. A quick trip to the lab shows that the robbers were once dead but somehow came back to life.When investigating the chemical compound plant that apparently stitched these two zombies together, Bigelow and Mortis discover that the plant is up to no good, housing odd, deformed creatures of an indescribable nature. After a run in with one of those mutants, Mortis is locked in the asphyxiation room and is supposedly dead on sight. However, he is revived with a beam and...I give up. Have I lost you? I feel I've lost myself trying to write such madness. This is truly a mindless zombie flick, not meant for heavy criticism of plausibility. With zombie films, you must suspend disbelief. With Dead Heat, you must completely escape reality. Normally, I criticize horror films for lack of plausibility. Hell, I criticize movies in general for that flaw. But sometimes, you really have to forego the idea of believability. Here, it's almost vital.Piscopo and Williams are excellent, and it's so rare for horror films to allow their actors to form good chemistry. Usually, they're just running around screaming and swearing at each other. The talent here, from all actors, is true to their names and above average for any prior expectations.The effects are also of high quality. All practical, of course. All in glorious bright colors. The mutations look lifelike, and the zombie makeup on Treat Williams is exquisite while remaining subtle until necessary.I'm done trying to critique a film that doesn't even want to be. Dead Heat knows what it is, which can be a battle for horror films. It doesn't need to be reminded of more successful pictures of the same genre, and doesn't need to scan the blueprint of a certain famous George Romero zombie film. It's original, quick, witty, jumpy, and fun. I thought movies weren't allowed to possess all those traits.Starring: Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo. Directed by: Mark Goldblatt.

Dead Heat is set in Los Angeles where detectives Roger Mortis (Treat Williams) & Doug Bigelow (Joe Piscopo) are investigating a spate of violent jewellery store robberies, during the latest one two suspects were eventually shot dead by the cops but they seemed almost invincible. At the LA morgue pathologist Rebecca Smythers (Clare Kirkconnell) says that the two dead thieves had already been autopsied before & she was sure that she had done them herself, Mortis & Bigelow are baffled & the only clue to the case is a large amount of a special drug in the thieves bodies. Mortis & Bigelow trace the drug to a pharmaceutical company & while there are attacked by a mutant zombie after finding a machine that can bring the dead back to life, Mortis is killed but Smythers & Bigelow use the machine to bring him back to life. The effects of the machine wear off as it cannot prevent the decay of human flesh so Mortis sets out to track those down responsible for killing him before his body decomposes...Directed by Mark Goldblatt this is a horror film that uses the basic then popular buddy buddy action cop flick scenario such as Lethal Weapon (1987) (in fact the script for Dead Heat was written by Terry Black who is the brother of Shane Black who wrote Lethal Weapon!) as it's central concept & injects various horror themes around it, like one of the cops being killed & brought back as a zombie who is then determined to solve his own murder & while Dead Heat isn't a cult classic it is an entertaining oddball mix of a film. Played mainly for laughs it's a shame that two better actor's with more on screen chemistry couldn't have been cast, Treat Williams is alright but comedian Joe Piscopo is awful & almost single handedly ruins the entire film. Every line he has he pulls faces, makes silly gestures & tries to get a laugh which kills any genuine drama between the two cops as he never once even tries to act like a normal human being. At only 80 odd minutes long Dead Heat is short & it moves along like a rocket, the script throw's in a couple of twists at the end but they aren't that great & the idea that a criminal masterminds plan is foiled by a code using telephone buttons feels lazy. The character's are alright but no-one seems that bothered whenever anyone else dies, Mortis when Smythers & his partner Bigelow die for instance seems to show no emotion at all. A few things are never explained like the rushed ending & the bad guy's aren't bad enough.There are some good effects sequences here with a scene set inside a butcher's particularly good as a bad guy uses the machine to resurrect all the dead animals & cuts of meat including dead Chicken's & an entire Cow's carcass. The film has a quite static & bland look which is a shame, it's well made with good effects work but there's not much visual style. There's a runaway ambulance which crashes & explodes to up the action a bit along with the fights & shoot-outs. Released a few weeks before big budget action film Red Heat (1988) the two titles are very similar & maybe Dead Heat would have done better business had it been released a weeks after Red Heat & cashed in on the similar sounding title & similar buddy buddy cop story.With a supposed budget of about $5,000,000 the production values are good & the effects are OK but maybe the lack of any recognisable stars in the cast hurt it. The does let Dead Heat down a bit, Williams is alright but Piscopo is awful while genre legend Vincent Price has a small role.Dead Heat is a strange mix of cop comedy thriller & zombie horror that is quite fun to watch, the choice of leads hurt the film & it's maybe not as funny, gory or scary as maybe it could have been but there's enough here to enjoy & for me to be able to recommend it.

This is a mostly interesting and entertaining mix of a horror flick with an 80's buddy cop movie. The acting by the two leads (Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo) is good, they manage to keep their partnership fun and enjoyable throughout, and the script is actually very funny at times. Darren McGavin, Key Luke and Vincent Price are welcome additions to a good ensemble cast. The special effects and make-up aren't bad either. Some of the set pieces (especially the Chinese restaurant) are done in a way that could only be done in the 80's and work. Overall, the film held my attention throughout, but I don't really think that it warrants any repeat views. It is one of those movies that you watch and enjoy, but forget about.