Dead & Breakfast

Film: Dead & Breakfast (2004)
Director: Matthew Leutwyler
Tagline: It's like a bad horror movie. Only worse.
Rating: *** out of 5 stars



I think it is only fair to judge a movie based on the circumstances under which it was made. For instance, Dead & Breakfast is a very low-budget horror/comedy. It doesn't exactly have the budget of Shaun of the Dead, so it's a tad unfair for everyone to keep comparing them. It also lacks Simon Pegg, and c'mon, he turns everything he's in into fried gold (watch Spaced).

But I digress.

I enjoyed this film. It had some serious flaws but there is just a special place in heart for these kinda movies.

* The cameos: David Carradine and Diedrich Bader. Not their best work but it is always cool to see them in anything. I would've liked more of Carradine especially, but I suspect this was only a favor to his niece, who is the film's lead.

* The music: I had hesitations when I heard this movie had singing, but much like Cannibal! The Musical, the music turned out to be one of its better aspects. The country music, that is. The film's use of heavy metal was pretty awkward and random. But the original country and "rap" songs written for the movie were a nice addition.

* The gore: As the film progressed, it felt more and more reminiscent of Dead Alive (aka Braindead). It is clearly low-budget which makes it that much funnier. There is a scene where a girl is just overwhelmed by a mob of zombies (ok, they're closer to Deadites than zombies, but I'm using the zed word for simplicity). Anyway, as she is chainsawing her way through them, I couldn't help but think of the lawnmower scene in Dead Alive. I doubt anyone reading this has seen D&B and/or Dead Alive so I'll move on. There wasn't as much gore as I had heard and I would've liked more, but it was still pretty fun to watch.

* The black humor: Four words - decapitated head hand puppet. Nuff said.



I liked Jeremy Sisto a lot in this, as I always do. Oz Perkins (Anthony's son!), as well. He goes from a quiet, boring, absolutely uninteresting character to one of my new favorite undead villains. He's pretty amusing in this.

It's not brilliant or profound, and probably not even destined for cult status, but it's a fun brainless (haha) movie for when you're in that kinda mood. And if you' re like me, you're always in that kinda mood.