I thought
I would mix things up with this zombie movie that has a different twist on the
genre. The made for T.V. Dead and Deader stars Dean Cain and ended up being
much different from what I thought it was going to be. Is that a good thing? Hell
yeah it is!
Somewhere
in Cambodia… That is where the movie starts off according to the text on the
screen. Cain’s character, Quinn, is one of a four-man squad investigating why
the army has lost contact with a humanitarian outreach facility. Wait the army
has a humanitarian outreach in Cambodia? Well that seems a bit silly. They
arrive to find everyone dead and also discover that whatever was going on at
the facility wasn’t about helping people out. We don’t figure much out except
that there are a lot of creepy scorpions in a tank and that a crazy scientist
dude shows up and tosses a hand grenade. Okay now that sounds more like a military
operation.
Quinn
wakes up on an army base in California as the coroner is about to start his
autopsy. Yep he is dead and is a zombie. Doubling over in pain he cuts one of
the scorpions out of his arm. This is important because we find out later that
if you don’t and they reach your heart you go full zombie and start eating
everyone. Those that you bite get infected and turn into zombies as well, but
without scorpions because that would just be silly. With the help of people
that he finds along the way Quinn goes on a mission to track down the bodies of
his fellow soldiers before they cause an epidemic. Our hero, the zombie, is
trying to stop the zombie apocalypse. I did tell you this was different.
This is a
low budget movie that was made for television. Both of those things play into
neutering the potential a bit, but we still get a decent flick. Dean Cain is a
charismatic actor and is able to carry the movie sometimes cracking jokes and
other times being creepy as he starts to go full zombie. Luckily, he can chow
down on raw meat to stop that from happening. The story is paced well and goes
from one set piece to the other as the plot unfolds. The dialogue is clever and
references Romero’s Dawn of the Dead in a respectful way as a couple of the
characters debate the original and remake. We also get some subtle humor with
the best example being some soldiers debating who the best James Bond. Watch
the scene very closely or you will miss it. Finally, any movie that will drop
the line, “His story has more holes than a Michael Bay film” immediately gets
my recommendation.
 |
| Dean Cain is channeling his inner Don Johnson! |
The
zombies look good with each having their own unique look. The kills are a bit
tame but considering this was a made for T.V. movie that isn’t surprising. They
do try to mix things up with fingers getting bit off, a face on a hot plate,
some meat grinder fun, and death by a ceiling fan. There is also a funny gag
with a midget zombie crotch biting. This won’t satisfy the real gore hounds,
but the general goofiness of Dead and Deader along with the likeable lead goes
a long way towards making this a fun movie regardless.
While not
a classic like many of the movies on this list I’ve always liked this one. I
check it out every few years and have yet to regret doing so. If you are
looking for something a little less scary and gory Dead and Deader is the
zombie movie for you. I recommend checking it out.
© Copyright 2018 John Shatzer
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