PLOT:

Jeff is the Goth at his school and very serious about film making. He loses it altogether after everyone laughs his short movie off stage. At a party he starts a fight then legs it off in his car, jock Dillon chases him. Jeff accidentally drives his car off a cliff and burns to death in it. One year later Dillon is suspected to of murdered Jeff and is the prime suspect when someone in a hooded jacket starts killing  people around school with a sharp axe. At each killing the killer leaves a clue as to who will be killed next.

After what is admittedly a pretty damn cool opening credits sequence the movie goes downhill very quickly. We open with Corbin Bernsen as a famous movie director and his bimbo girlfriend getting killed. This scene manages to generate zero suspense/gore and scares and pretty much sets the standard for the rest of the movie.

The characters are very one dimensional and do the stupidest things. One girl knows she’s next on the killers hit list yet she stays home on her own instead of hanging out with friends. We get loads of characters yet hardly any of them seem to serve any point. Hardly any of them get killed, they’re just there. Also why would some of them star in Jeff’s movie if they can’t stand him? It’s easy to guess which one of them is behind the killings.

Other then the slick opening credits sequence the directing isn’t anything good. The editing at the death scenes makes it impossible to tell what the hell is going on. There are no chase scenes in the movie and the deaths manage to generate no suspense what so ever. The director doesn’t even try to sugar coat the atrocious script.  The gore is none existent, we get some after the fact bodies and blood splashing around, that’s about it.

What the hell is the title supposed to mean? I wouldn’t mind to much but people keep saying it during the movie. Jeff tells everyone “You’re all going to be dead above ground”, when one girl is found murdered someone says “She was found dead above ground”.

On the sharp end of the axe it isn’t shot on video so it actually looks like a movie. Also some of the dialog is hilariously awful. I love when the killer is trying to kill the famous director and then the director offers him a part in his movie and to turn him into a star. Also one teen manages to hack into the prison computer and manages to get Dillon released from prison. Yeah, like that could happen. Some of the acting isn’t to bad, Charlie Weber and Lauren German do well as the leads, pity the script gives them very little to do. Although, Josh Hammond acts hilariously awful as Goth Jeff, thank god he isn’t in the movie to long. Well that’s about all the pros I can think of.

Lions Gate recently bought out Artisan, they got a lot of DIREct to video movies when they did. This is one of them which they just tossed out onto shelves like an unwanted child and I can see why. This could have been better with more graphic kills and suspense tossed into the mix. Dead Above Ground is about as dull as watching paint dry. Even the most easily entertained slasher fan will find little mileage in this mess.

Cover Art Review:

This cover art it pretty damn cool! Unfortunately it's a little misleading for this crappy movie. Also it looks like Lions Gate recycles the tag line from Serial Killing 101. Good cover terrible movie!

The UK cover art it pretty damn bad. No hope of being suckered into this one. It looks like two photos from the movie merged into one. Pretty damn bad cover art!