Dead & Breakfast

1.4

Who doesn't love a good horror/comedy? Since Sam Raimi turned the genre on its head, the genre mash-up has become a staple of American cinema. But here, even the independent spirit of the film cannot distract the film's glaring failures. On paper, the film has all the right pieces; gratuitous gore, slapstick laughs, etc. In every instance of comedy or horror it fails miserably. The jokes fall flat, the dialogue is cringe-worthy and most of the gore is mediocre. Ultimately, it is a key example of the difference between a good bad movie and just a plain awful one.

An endless list of missteps makes this film unbearable to watch. First off, the musical narration is grating and does nothing more than comment on scenes that just passed. The choice of music is notoriously bad, especially when it's chosen to be "clever." This is the worst kind of scene manipulation and is so blatant its gross. Raggedy swing music and deceptions don't mix, even if its meant to be ironically bad. The best gore in the film occurs during a chainsaw scene ripped straight from Evil Dead II. But horrendous hillbilly music ruins otherwise impressive effects. The worst of the bunch is a death metal singer screaming "Time to kill!!" while the killer works. This equates to little more than high school- level filmmaking.

The characters and performances are loony and horrid. The script seems both too heavy and too light simultaneously  Meaning, every character knows or eventually figures out what they have to do but despite half the running time comprising of exposition, the audience cannot keep up. The dialogue is cliche and strives to be more hip than it actually is. The one liners are especially cringe-worthy and one has to wonder if they harken back to a cut scene because in the context of the film, they make no sense. At the last moment, the film even abandons its own logic for the zombie/ghoul/whatevers. Characters go out of their way to explain that they can only die via head shots yet the main villain is stabbed to death in the heart.

Every facet of humor in the film tries way too hard and falls flat on its face..on a knife. Abrupt character twists and switches are due to a formulaic script. The film's mainstays are as likable and engaging as the characters who are introduced in one scene and slain the next. The putrid nature of the film carries over into its technical aspects as well. Blatant stylistic and editing choices are unmotivated and unwarranted. The only cinematic saving grace happens in the film's opening moments. The slightly blown-out 70's horror film look opens the film with strong visuals but disappears moments later and never returns. 

Just another example of throwing everything "viewers want" into the mix and getting a product that fails miserably. Of course, every bad nuance could be filed under the choice to make a deliberately bad movie and I'm not "in on the joke." Even successful bad movies require good direction and effort on all fronts. Dead and Breakfast misses its own punch line, never catching on to the fact that its not half as fun or clever as it pretends to be.