Before he created Full Moon Entertainment, there was Empire Pictures -- a production and distribution outfit headed by Charles Band. Completed in '88 Spellcaster was one of the many films under the banner, but due to Empire's financial problems towards the end of the decade, it didn't actually get a proper release until '92. Those familiar with the early works of Full Moon will definitely notice the same look and feel from Spellcaster, and it's very much as cheesy as you'd come to expect from a Charles Band-produced feature.

The story basically revolves around an eclectic group of people who win a trip to stay the night in an old Italian castle, where they can partake in a million-dollar scavenger hunt. Naturally when such a substantial amount of money is involved greed and deception comes into play, resulting in a lot of the contestants breaking the rules and mysteriously disappearing and dying in unnatural ways. It's soon revealed that their deaths are the work of a strange man who can control their fates via a crystal ball.

After numerous recent genre efforts featuring nimble marathon-running zombies/infected people, The Dead is a very welcomed return to the old school slow-walking zombies. Recent zombie movies had them running about as if they've been doing yoga and working on their posture with Ergohuman furniture. In this film they don't just walk slow, they literally take baby steps to get to their prey, and it surprisingly works quite well. Unfortunately, the movie still suffers from some iffy acting and a lack of strong enough lead characters and engaging story.

Described as the "first zombie road movie," the film revolves around a military engineer named Brian, who's the lone survivor of a plane crash after he and a group of other people attempted to vacate Africa. Now, low on ammo, food, and water, he must make the arduous trek through Africa's dangerous roads and deserts in hopes of finding some sort of safe haven or a way off the continent.