Dead and Breakfast DVD with Diedrich Bader, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jeremy Sisto (Unrated) +Movie Reviews

Overnight accommodations, complete with evil spirits and goo

CreepyT | Colorado, United States | 10/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After finding this film on sale at a local DVD store, and reading the cover which proclaims that "Dead and Breakfast" is the US answer to "Shaun of the Dead," I had to pick this up for myself. I hadn't heard anything else about this film at the time, but being a huge fan of "Shaun of the Dead," and cheesy horror flicks in general, I bought it on a whim. While the aforementioned statement might be slightly misguided, "Dead and Breakfast" is certainly worth a viewing or two.

While on the way to a friend's wedding, six youngsters carpooling in an RV end up deciding to stop the night at a small town bed-and-breakfast. This bothered me right off the bat. They're in an RV, why stop and rent rooms? Nonetheless, they stop to sleep for the night in Lovelock. By morning, the two locals working the property are dead, and the six renters find themselves at the top of the suspect list and unable to leave to attend their friend's wedding. A mystery regarding the inn's owner and his son's untimely death gradually unravels. An evil spirit inhabiting a box within the inn has been unleashed and now resides in the body of Johnny (Oz Perkins), one of the band of six.

The body count mounts as Johnny converts more and more souls to his cause of death, destruction, and mayhem, leaving the remaining five friends and a few other of Lovelock's stragglers fighting for their lives. They batten down the hatches and pick off as many possessed as they can from the confines of the inn, a la "Night of the Living Dead," making weapons out of whatever they can get their hands on. In the meantime an all-knowing drifter (Brent David Fraser), the sheriff (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and Melody (Gina Philips) are seeking to get to the heart of the matter by visiting Lovelock's cemetery.

This film has lots to offer to the light-hearted and uncritical horror/slapstick fan. The gore is unsurpassed, and the laughs never let up. The acting is pretty darn good in comparison to other films of this genre. Furthermore, there is a Greek-style chorus (Zach Selwyn as Randall Keith Randall, a gas station attendant) singing rhyming country interludes throughout the films entirety, which, though odd at first, is a hilarious addition to the movie. Nods to previous horror films abound, and any genre aficionado should be able to appreciate that.

Dead and Breakfast may never be up for any fancy awards, it may be a little thin on plot, and may not be, in my opinion, as good as "Shaun of the Dead," but it is still great fun for anyone who can appreciate a jovial romp through puddles of oozing viscera."

Slapstick gorefest that never takes itself seriously

Daniel W. Kelly | Long Island, NY United States | 09/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The cast alone makes this movie worth seeing--there's barely a face you won't recognize--Portia de Rossi, John Carradine, the guy from Drew Carey, billy from Six Feet under and Wrong Turn, the girl from the first jeepers Creepers. As for the movie itself, in the first half hour or so, I thought it was a bit too slapstick, but you really have to go with it, because that's exactly what it is--an all out comedy. It's not even so much a "parody" of other horror movies as it is a horror premise that has non-stop humor. Sure, you can see some of the horror nods--Evil Dead 2, Carrie, Creepshow with its comic book still shots--but this movie is totally over the top. Think the airplane movies with a horror theme and buckets o' blood. The entire movie is scored with a sort of hillbilly group and a singer who is basically the narrator of the movie, and he steals the show with his campy lyrics and expressive faces. And, if you get the unrated version, do expect a whole lot of cheesy blood and gore. This one is definitely one I could watch again and again, particularly with groups of friends."

Too Self-Aware and Self-Indulgent To Be Real Fun

K. Harris | Las Vegas, NV | 10/22/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"What can you say about "Dead & Breakfast"? I picked this up at the store not knowing much about it other than it had a cute title, clever holographic packaging, a few decent reviews and a young, appealing cast. I can say that the charms, unfortunately, of the actual film are relatively limited. Pretty standard fare, really--I didn't necessarily dislike it--I just felt that it was so obvious in its intention.

This film wants to be cool. It was designed to (hopefully) be a cult classic. It wants you to revel in its self-aware kookiness. But that's just the problem. Taking its cues from so many better movies, this is a self-indulgent and unoriginal mess. The cast and filmmakers seem to be having a good time--you know this was a party set. It seems as if they feel that they are doing us a great service by letting us in on the joke. Well, I've heard the joke--so don't do me any favors.

I'm not saying that there aren't some amusing moments--how can you fail with redneck zombies? And musical numbers are always fun. And the TV-ready cast will be familiar to many, even if you can't always place from where.

The movie imagines that it's "Evil Dead 2," but it lacks real cleverness. It works slightly better as a comedy than anything else, but it's hard for me to imagine anyone being captivated by this. KGHarris, 10/06."

A little late for heroics, don't you think?

A. Gyurisin | Wet, Wild, Wonderful Virginia | 10/30/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Most film fanatics will hate this film. Why? Because follows a simple pattern that nearly seems tired and overused in most pho-horror film created. While that may be the case, in Dead & Breakfast, at least for me, it worked. From the inspirational comic beginning (a bit of foreshadowing) to the slack-jawed narrator that sings us through the motions, I enjoyed this film. It was funny, it was gutsy (literally), and it was dumbening all at the same time ... but in a very good way! It was a simple story, with plenty of laughs, that borrowed (never say "stole") several of its jokes from other horror films of the same caliber like Evil Dead and Dead Alive. It was refreshing to see a modern tale that paid homage to such great films that literally built the foundation on which this film could be made. While some have been arguing that this is the US version of Shaun of the Dead, I thought this was a completely different film. Shaun was smarter than this film, but that doesn't mean this was bad. I don't think I would put these two films on the same playing field. They were similar, but both likeable in different ways.

Zombies invade a town, strangers must stop them. If you have seen a horror film before, than you have seen Dead & Breakfast. There is nothing new to this story. I could count all day the number of films that follow this structure, but what gave this film the pizzazz that it needed were the actors and the characters that they played. I loved the characters. I thought that Jeffrey Dean Morgan (the one that played the Sheriff) was hysterical and really kept the story flowing, while Brent David Fraser played his clichéd part perfectly. The intermittent use of seemingly "famous" people like Portia de Rossi, David Carradine, and Diedrich Bader only increased the fun of this film. I have spoken in other reviews on how you can tell when actors are not having fun with the film they are making. You can see their disgust in their performances, but in Dead & Breakfast everyone seemed to be having a blast. Sure, you are not going to find Oscar winning performances here, but that is not the reason for watching this film. I watched to laugh, to be grossed out, and to have fun ... that is what exactly happened thanks to such a sharp group of actors.

Part of the structure that I thought was creative and original was the use of the narrator in this film. The choice to combine the country music with the hillbilly zombies was hysterical. One of my favorite scenes of this film was when we broke to one of his narrated moments and all of the zombies broke out into a line-dance. It had me rolling in my seat. I realize that it is not the highest form of comedy, but just the overall wackiness of the situation kept my interest high and eyes glued to the screen. I think that is what won me over on this film. The use of recycled originality, the idea that you knew what was going to happen, yet you really didn't know "how" it was going to happen. Perhaps I was just glued to the graphic nature of this film, a la Sin City complex, but I think it was more than that. It was the comedy, the zaniness of the characters coupled with the "borrowed" moments from other classic horror films placed Dead & Breakfast above some of the bigger budgeted horror films that lure pre-teens in with the promise of Paris Hilton. This film had little nudity, plenty of gore, and tons over tons of laughs. Exactly what I needed!

Overall, I thought this was a great Halloween film. If you are going to gather some friends and want to be scared, I don't suggest this film. If you are looking to gather some friends, enjoy a drink, laugh quite a bit, and find yourself perhaps even quoting some of the lines after the film, than this is right up your alley. I would not be surprised if this film eventually fell into the seemingly difficult status of "cult" relatively soon. With the proper word of mouth, the ability to laugh at the horror of this film, and just the overall way that it was filmed I think it will do well on the small screen. I really liked this film. I realize that I may be in the minority, but I thought for a smaller budgeted film, it beat the pants off some of the higher grossing horror films. Buy it, rent it, enjoy it with friends, but I think Dead & Breakfast is a perfect Halloween treat!

Grade: **** out of *****"

Rather be fishing

SLIMMORTAL | Salisbury, NC USA | 10/18/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Take a nap before you watch it or else you'll fall asleep like me. I like a good goofball horror flick as much as the next guy, but this one is just a wannabe. It had potential with the comic book scene transfers and musical undertones - both elements which i liked and thought were quite creative - however, i just couldnt get past the horribly annoying and retarded characters, like the deputy - uggg! That first gore scene where dude's eating the pie in the kitchen did manage to squeeze a giggle or 2 out of me, though. So there are a few laughs and some decent effects, but for the most part the attempted slapstick is just too corny for my tastes. And not that it always matters in the horror genre, but the dialogue and script were just awful and contrived too. I give it a couple stars for the gore but I might suggest you rent this one before purchasing. Who knows, it might grow on me like Cabin Fever did. Word up"

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	Dead and Breakfast UMD for PSP Actors: Diedrich Bader, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jeremy Sisto, David Carradine, Portia de Rossi Genres: Horror UR 2005 1hr 28min No Description Available. Genre: Horror Rating: UN Release Date: 6-SEP-2005 Media Type: 3\ Mini DVD for PH"
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