I never saw the trailer for Dead Heat when it came out, if I had, I may have seen it a lot sooner. Everytime I saw the poster art at the video store I thought it just looked too silly and without sounding too harsh, I was never a Joe Piscopo fan.

So I finally checked it out, and the supporting cast is worth it alone, look! There’s Robert Picardo hiding behind a moustache! Vincent Price! Keye Luke! and Darren McGavin!!

And honestly, it ended up being this really fun, hilarious watch. Treat Williams and Piscopo are homicide detectives, Mortis and Bigelow, and things get weird when they come across a robbery where the crooks can’t be killed. They’re… well zombies.

As they follow the trail of clues to Dante Chemicals, run by McNab (McGavin) they get a little too close to the truth, and Mortis is murdered in the process. But that’s not going to stop him. Using the revival process, Bigelow and the local pathologist, Smythers (Clare Kirkconnell), bring Mortis back and he’s got twelve hours to solve his own murder before he completely degenerates.

He is joined by Bigelow, and Dante’s PR Rep, Randi James (Lindsay Froust) and together they will have to take on reanimated characters and creatures as the path leads them from Dante to Chinatown and back again.

A bit of an action-comedy-buddy-cop-zombie movie there are definitely hints of the noir genre in this one that could have taken this film in a completely different direction and given it a much darker take.

But this one is here for the laughs, the practical effects, and even more of the practical effects. The  physical effects, in fact, are top-notch, and would have been a lot more horrific in a straight forward horror film, but work delightfully in this film – a reanimated side of beef? Come on!

Treat Williams looks like he’s having a good time, and he’s surrounded by a cast who seems to be more than happy to buy into the entire premise. Sure, I still find Piscopo a little less than engaging, but he knows his character and he leans into with gusto.

But this is Williams’ film and he’s wonderful to watch, I’ve always found his comedic work outshines his dramatic efforts, he just looks like he’s having a more enjoyable time.

And while I’m sorry that I hadn’t watched this one sooner, not to mention that it could have been longer than an hour and twenty-four minutes, I’m glad I waited so that I could see the influence of other genres on what would have struck me, as a teen, as a goofy action-comedy with zombies.

Treat Williams was awesome.