Dead and Deader

While Dead and Deader isn’t even remotely as awful as some of writer/producer Mark A. Altman’s previous efforts (eg House of the Dead II and Room 6), there’s little doubt that the relentless emphasis on cornball jokes and egregiously quirky supporting characters ultimately renders the film’s few positive attributes moot. The movie stars Dean Cain as Bobby Quinn, an American soldier whose entire platoon is seemingly wiped out during a routine mission in Cambodia. Back at home, Bobby awakens during his own autopsy and quickly realizes that he’s been infected with a parasite that transforms its host into a zombie. Director Patrick Dinhut does an effective job of infusing the film with several inventive gross-out scenes (including a zombie whose arm gets stuck in a meat-grinder), but there’s little he can do to combat the flat-out atrocious dialogue offered up by screenwriters Altman and Steven Kriozere. Such problems are exacerbated by the inclusion of several overt plot holes (eg Cain’s Bobby is arrested by a skeptical higher-up, even though he’s just killed a half-dozen zombies and left a small room covered in green blood) and the presence of a sassy black guy who lives up to virtually every stereotype that one could possibly imagine (that he says “oh, hell no!” goes without saying). Cain’s predictably charismatic performance generally ensures that Dead and Deader remains reasonably entertaining throughout its mercifully short running time, though one can’t help but marvel at Altman’s continued success within the straight-to-video horror genre.

*1/2 out of ****