The Story:
Dead Above Ground opens with a well-known actor being stalked by a psychotic killer in the first five minutes. No, it's not Drew Barrymore. It's Corbin Bernsen! Does the murderer really stand a chance against the dentist???

Next, we meet the cast of young students who may or may not be axed: the usual suspects, including a freaky goth kid who follows Celtic beliefs with his female goth friend. There is also a group of oddball campus staff—a coach, a principal, and a guidance counselor. Before long, someone dies in a horrible, possible accident. Flash ahead a year, and the remaining cast begins getting picked off one by one.

In steps Antonio Sabato Jr. as a detective on the case as the body count rises. Tragically, he has long hair, so all his muscle is hidden beneath a feminine mane in this flick…oh, except for that one part where he gets shirtless for a love scene. Girls and gays take note. That's all the flesh you see in this flick. No breast cameos to appease the straight guys. No breast cameos in a slasher???

Also on the case are all the students who realize they may be next. The goth chick steps in and holds a séance to resurrect who she thinks is the killer. I guess that's the twist in the formula, although, it's also been done before.

And that's the plot. Kids get killed, but it's never done uniquely, and there's nothing in the way of bloody effects (just aftermath shots). The script attempts to throw in all these plot twists to make it a real whodunit, but as names were tossed around by cast members, it just became a big confusing mess. There's also this raven that shows up at every murder. And the most terrifying moment—a small part by Robert Conrad!!! The performances didn't stand a chance of being all that believable, because the cast had some of the most ridiculous dialogue I've ever heard. It was truly laughable. At one point, Antonio Sabato Jr. delivers a one-liner, and he looks like he knows he just told a joke that completely fell dead—despite there being no audience to hear it yet. This movie was bad. The musical cues did nothing to add any frights. There were no scary moments, no tension, no suspense. It's sad really. At this point, there have been SO many slashers, you would think filmmakers would have seen enough of them to know what works and what doesn't.

The DVD

Video:
The film is presented in the widescreen format, enhanced for 16x9 televisions. I personally viewed a promo copy (which turned black and white periodically for copy protection reasons) so I can't guarantee the quality of the commercial copy will be the same. I witnessed uneven quality. The black areas were extremely black. There was edge enhancement so brutal that it sometimes looked like they took a thick black marker and outlined the actors! Color saturation abounded, and darker scenes tended to look grainy while brightly lit scenes looked smooth.

Sound:
The 2-channel stereo made good use of left/right travel. No complaints here.

Extras:
The promo copy featured no extras.

Final Thoughts:
Dead Above Ground is a horror slasher that steals from everything you've seen before, but does nothing with all that foreknowledge. It's not scary, the dialogue is terrible, there are no exciting and new murders, there's no blood, and there's no boobs. Avoid this one.