Welcome, one and all, to the final Reaction & Review of 2021. Holy shit, guys, this year has already gone by and I'm still doing this series. That is amazing. And I've decided to end the year by covering a horror comedy from 2004. That movie is "Dead & Breakfast".
Now, I don't really know very much about this movie. Beyond the fact that I know it's a horror comedy, I also know that this movie has something to do with zombies. Now, even though zombies have long since worn out their welcome in the world of media, I'm not gonna hold it against this movie. Because this was long before mainstream movies, TV shows, and video games, decided to jump on the zombie fad and shoehorn them in someway, even when it's not called for.
Now, as for other things that I know about this movie, I know that the setting takes place at a bed and breakfast. Where, I'm going to assume, the other people that are presiding at this bed and breakfast have banded together to take on the zombies that are raiding the place. At least, that's what I'm going to assume. I have no idea if that is fully accurate until I start watching this movie. Speaking of which, one of the other reasons why I wanted to cover this movie was because some people have claimed it as one of the best zombie comedies ever made. Which might sound like a bold claim, however, I haven't really seen a whole lot of movies that are centered around zombies. The only ones that I can remember seeing were "Night of the Living Dead", which was a really good movie. Another one I can think of was "Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies", which I covered this series, and it wound up being a decent film. And the other zombie film that I can think of that I did see was "Zombies vs. Strippers", which was a film that I also covered very early on in this series. And...well, less said about that movie, the better.
I am hoping for "Dead & Breakfast" to end up being really good. I don't know if it's going to be, but the only way I'm gonna find out, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Dead & Breakfast".
2 minutes later
Well, guys, even though the film is still in it's opening credits, I can say that the song that's playing here is actually kinda catchy. I know you guys can't hear this for obvious reasons, but I'm really digging this opening song. I'm hoping that this is a good sign of things to come.
12 minutes later
All right, guys, two things I need to bring up. One, I'm hoping that David is the first one who dies. He has already been on screen for a short time, and I want him dead. Two, the guy that works at this bed and breakfast, what accent is he suppose to have? I can't tell if it's either Russian, or French, or maybe a little bit of Italian. I can't tell what it is, but it's starting to bug me just a little bit.
14 minutes later
...Well, despite being the Maid of Honor, Kate and Kelly REALLY don't like each other. Which makes me question as to why Kelly even chose her to be the Maid of Honor to begin with? I'm kinda curious about that now.
14 minutes later
Guys, I already mentioned this earlier, but the music in this movie is REALLY good. Granted, it might be because I'm kind of a fan of country music anyways, but this is some really solid stuff here. I'm really digging this soundtrack, guys.
1 minute later
So...if you rip off the hair of someone, they can be turned into a zombie. Well, mind controlled zombie, anyway. That...is actually really interesting. I would've never thought of something like that, but I gotta say, it's a really clever idea.
14 minutes later
You know, guys, even though these custom-made shotguns look rather impractical, they actually do quite a bit of damage. Well, as long as you hit the target in the right spot, anyways. I just have to ask though, is there any way I can get one of those? I don't care if it's hard to handle, I actually kinda want one of those just for the fuck of it. It would be a really nice weapon to have.
5 minutes later
Is this an actual musical number? Not only that, but it's a combination of two different styles of music that actually kinda works. I didn't think anyone could mix rap and country together, and actually make it work. But this movie is actually doing that. Holy shit...!
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Dead & Breakfast". Let's shut that off...OK. Wow, um...what to even say about this movie? Well...I guess I should say that, going into it, this movie had a lot to live up to. Because often, people have claimed this to be one of the best zombie comedies ever made. And I will say that, even though my viewings of zombie comedies are rather limited, this movie definitely lived up to that claim. It is easily the best zombie comedy ever made. Is it the best horror comedy ever made? Eh...not quite. I mean, it would be very difficult to knock off "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" from that pedestal for me, but this sure as shit comes very, very close.
Before I get into the movie proper, I want to talk about my stance on zombie movies. Now earlier, I brought up that around the early 2010's, zombies were quickly becoming the latest fad that the media were jumping on. It came in through movies, television, video games, etc. Basically, it hit the mainstream market really quickly. And throughout the years from when zombies became a fad, a lot of people, myself included, got really sick of it really quick. Now again, I haven't seen a lot of zombie movies in my lifetime, but even I know that a lot of them are just the same, tired plot that we've seen time and time again. The biggest example I'm gonna use is "The Walking Dead". Granted, it is a television series, but this is gonna tie into why I have a huge gripe against this genre. You see, most of these plots that I've seen where it involves a post-apocalyptic zombie world, always goes for the same, tired, cliche tropes that we've seen involving zombies. Where the characters have to find civilization, fight off zombies, meet other survivors, and try to stay alive as they journey towards that civilization. And my biggest gripe with this sort of storytelling is that people have used the argument of "Well, it's not really the destination that's important, but more so the journey". Well, allow me to make a counter-argument. If the journey is so important, then why are there certain characters that have to be killed off? Especially if they have tons of development? Is it because you care about them once they die off? If so, then why should I care about the journey, if they end up getting killed off? You see, the only way this argument of "The journey is more important than the destination" would work is if it's set in a fantasy world. Something like, say, "The Lord of the Rings". Those movies, and the books, were made for the journey, as you follow those set of characters towards their destination. The difference between "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Walking Dead" is that "The Lord of the Rings" actually has a destination. It knows where it wants to end. "The Walking Dead", as far as I know, has no end goal. If I'm gonna care about the journey rather than the destination, then why am I going to care about the characters, if they are just going to get killed off, anyways? Because then, it makes the destination pointless. If you're dead set on killing these characters off before they get to the destination, then why the hell should I care about their struggles to get to that destination? It just doesn't really make any sense to me.
So, with all this in mind, where does "Dead & Breakfast" come into play here? Well, you see, this movie has the advantage of being a comedy. And a very well written comedy, as well. Because it's not trying to be the same old dramatic bullshit that most zombie related films and TV shows go for. And it actually does things differently that doesn't fall into the tired tropes and cliches that most zombie stories go for. Now, that isn't to say that this movie doesn't have cliches. It totally does. We have the standard tropes such our characters trying to fight off zombies by decapitating their heads in some way, such as shooting them off, or cutting them off with a chainsaw in order to kill them. That part still stands. And while the ending is left on a possible sequel hook, it doesn't bother me too much, because the movie knows what it wants to be. And being that this is a comedy, you don't want to overstay your welcome. This movie clocks in at about 88 minutes, and I'm gonna tell you guys, this movie speeds on by. At no time will this movie drag on scenes for too long, or if they have to overplay jokes for the sake of humor. Speaking of which, as I made mention a moment ago, this movie has some sharply written humor. It is funny as hell, and it will keep you entertained, because it knows what points on when to make you laugh, and it doesn't let up. Our characters are mostly written well. I say 'mostly', because there is one character in this movie who I could not stand, which was David, who is one of the six main characters for this movie. And a bit of a spoiler, he dies well into the second half of the movie. And a pretty violent death, too. I won't go into details as to HOW he dies, you're just gonna have to watch the movie for yourself. But I was so happy to see him gone, because he was just that fucking worthless. But aside from him, almost every other character in this movie is written incredibly well. Just about all of them are likable. Even the sorta zombies are written very well, too. Almost every character, whether it's anybody from this town of Texas, or most of our main characters, or even the sorta zombies. All of them are written very well. Now granted, not all of the background characters are super developed, but they didn't really need to be, anyways. You're probably gonna find a favorite character in this movie. Whether it's the sheriff, the drifter, the woman who is protecting the Hall of Records, or any of our main characters. Almost all of them are very well written. Well, except for David, but that's just more of a personal beef I had against the character.
So, I should probably explain the sorta zombies in this movie. So, our story involves our six main characters, who are trying to get to a wedding, because the bride that's about to be married is one of our main character's cousins. And they end up getting lost, so they have no choice but to say overnight at this inn, which is this bed and breakfast. Which apparently has had some bad shit happen in the past. Although our characters don't get told this until after something bad happens when they try to rest there. And what happens is two of the people that own this inn end up dying. I'm talking about Mr. Wise, which is David Carradine's character in this movie, and the chef, who's accent I still can't pin down. One of them gets violently killed, while Mr. Wise dies of a heart attack. Well, before that happens, Mr. Wise has this box that he had with him while meditating. This box, apparently, holds a demonic spirit that ends up possessing Johnny, after he accidentally opens the box. And this is where I have to explain about the sorta zombies in this movie. You see, rather than taking the cliche approach of if you get bit by a zombie, you end turning into a zombie, this movie does it in a very different way. You see, when Johnny is possessed, he kills a couple of people such as the mute and deaf gardener from early on in the movie, and ends up ripping some hair from one of the cops. Now, what does he do with the cop's hair? Well, the wooden box is kinda like a storage of sorts. If you end up taking blood from whoever you kill, or if you have small body parts such as hair, fingers, or whatever you can put in this box, then they actually end up turning into possessed zombies...sort of. Our drifter in this movie, who knows about all of this, says that they're not zombies. And he's kinda right. Because most zombies would end up walking very slowly or make weird sounds when they're zombies. But in this movie, the drifter explains that the possessed are living between the world of the living and the dead. Which I totally understand doesn't sound like it makes sense, but you just have to kind of roll with it. And that's the thing about this movie. You kinda have to go along with the weird shit involving our possessed zombies. Because if you try to think too hard about how our zombies are not really zombies, then you're not going to enjoy this movie. In fact, the possessed zombies end up talking, and walking, like normal people. So really, like I said, you just have to roll with it, what with this movie being a comedy and all. And if that's, like, the weakest thing that I can say about writing, then this movie has nothing but sheer positives throughout the entire movie. And I loved every moment of it.
So the writing here is great. Again, as long as you're willing to roll with the sheer ridiculousness of how the possessed zombies function. What about the acting? Well, seeing as how we have a fantastic script, we also have acting that is just stellar from the entire cast. Everybody turns in a marvelous showing. And even though I didn't care for the character of David, he ends up turning in a really good showing, as well. David Carradine also does a really good job, for like the few minutes that he's in the movie. Seriously, he only has a short role at the beginning of the film, and his character ends up being dead of a heart attack very shortly afterwards. So even with his short performance aside, everybody else turns in a great showing. I couldn't really think of anybody in particular that might've phoned it in or just acted like they didn't care. Everybody turns in a fantastic showing. But then again, considering how good this script is, you would really have to go out of your way to suck hard. And thankfully, we don't have anybody that does that here. Everybody gave it their all in this movie, and the results paid off beautifully.
Now let's get to the special effects. I'm just gonna say this now, guys, the special effects in this movie are fantastic. For a low budget film, this movie has some of the best special effects when it comes to blood and gore effects. This movie has a LOT of blood, and it doesn't shy away from how nasty this movie wanted to be with it's blood. Now admittedly, some of the blood in a couple of close-up shots might've looked like it came from either pancake syrup or barbecue sauce. But it's good enough to where it looks like actual blood, and I'm perfectly fine with that. But anyway, the blood and gore in this movie is fantastic. Not since "Audition" have I seen some awesome looking practical effects. There is only one bit of digital blood that I noticed early on in the movie, and I believe that it involved Johnny, as he ends up killing one of our victims. And the way that the digital blood was used in this movie ends up splashing onto the front of the camera, as the killing was done off-screen. And it looked a bit cheap, but that's, like, the only instance of a rather poor blood effect in this movie. Everything else in terms of blood effects and the gore is great.
Camerawork here is really good. Lighting is done rather well. Sound-mix is mixed very well. The music in this movie is great, specifically the soundtrack. A lot of the songs from this movie come from the actor who played our country singer known as Randall Keith Randall. Which makes sense, because the actor who played him goes by the name of Zach Selwyn. Zach did most of the music in this movie, and it is really fucking good. A lot of it is mostly country music, and there are also bits of rock and rap in this movie. In fact, the rap song comes in very late in the film, where we have our one and only musical number. I'm gonna stress this again. I didn't think ANYBODY could pull off rap and country music together, but, holy shit, Zach Selwyn did an amazing job with the music. Him, and Brain Vander Ark. He also had a hand for the music in this movie, and it is amazing. So, I have to give HUGE, huge props to both guys. You two made the music awesome in this movie. In fact, I kinda want to see if the soundtrack is on YouTube, because I might need to listen to some of those songs again after I'm done putting this review together. But overall, the music for both the score and soundtrack was amazing.
So, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Dead & Breakfast"? You bet your ass I can recommend it. This movie stands, at least to me, as the best zombie I have ever seen. Now, mind you, that's not saying a whole lot coming from me, because I've only seen a handful of zombie films. But this easily stands as the best zombie comedy I have ever seen, not just for this series, but in general as well. The only thing I have to remind you is that you kinda have to accept how the possessed zombies function in this movie. Otherwise, you're probably not going to enjoy this movie. But for everyone else, if you are a fan of horror comedies, and you want a zombie comedy that doesn't follow most of the same, tired cliches that most zombie films and TV shows go for, then this is gonna be a perfect film for you. It is funny, well written, and it has an awesome soundtrack. I kinda went into this movie with low expectations, considering my stance on the zombie genre, but, holy shit, did this movie skyrocket my low expectations. This movie was amazing! I loved this movie. Now, I kinda want to go and find a couple of the songs from this movie on YouTube and give them another listen. And this movie is going to have a prominent spot on my DVD shelf.
And with that, guys, we come to close of the final Reaction & Review for 2021. Like I said, this year went by fast for me, and I'm definitely looking forward to next year with this series. Anyway, guys, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.
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