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Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » Dead and Gone

Dead and Gone

1 rating: -2.0

A horror/comedy directed by Yossi Sasson

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Tags: Movies, Horror

1 review about Dead and Gone

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Dead and Gone huh? And please don't come back either.

Oct 10, 2011

by Madpenguin
posted in Movie Hype

Rating:

-2

Taking place in a small cabin in the woods of Nevada. While playing a record, a husband ties up his wife and performs a murder suicide, killing his family and himself. 40 years later a failed actor named Jack Wade (Quentin Jones) wins the cabin in a game of poker. He's now staying in the cabin together with his comatose wife Frankie (Kathryn Bates), who is hooked up to life support after an accident during surgery. During the stay, weird occurrences begin to take place, where the comatose Frankie would appear out of nowhere to belittle Jack. Could these strange occurrences be due to Jack's drug addiction? Or does the cabin itself really possess a dark secret? -summary

Dead and Gone is a dark comedy that is about as original as pants with pockets. Directed by Yossi Sasson, Dead and Gone is a 2008 indie film that feels like an 80's throwback, which is packed with the haunted house, strange town folks with scary stories, and resident hillbilly. However, the lack of originality is not the real problem here; a film doesn't have to be completely original, but it should at least try to be different in some way, or add a twist or two to old ideas. The film has problems, and I believe it was mainly meant for the very easily pleased, which just so happens to not be me.

Dead and Gone was an impulse rental. I came into it expecting something serious and didn't get that. However, I am the type of individual who is flexible enough to adjust to a film and take it for what it is. Still, even after the transition, it was very difficult for me to become truly gripped to this. The pacing is rather terrible, it's jammed with filler by the way of useless scenes, and neither the horror nor comedy stood out to me.

Eventually, the film establishes its identity and does hit what it aims for. The viewer is forced to try and determine the status of Jack's situation. Could he be hallucinating, or are the events he's witnessing quite real? The film has an ample amount of suspense, and can keep some viewers in the dark. There are many bizarre manifestations, but most occur with Frankie. She appears in thin air to belittle Jack. These segments later play on Jack's sanity, and he soon becomes violent which leads to a body count.

Once the film began to find some momentum, it did become somewhat entertaining. The acting is a mixed bag. Frankie is the main attraction to me because of her potty mouth dialogue. Some of the things she says are quite funny, while others steamroll towards terribly corny. Jack's love interest Kate(Gillian Shure) also graces the stage as the town Constable, but I'm leaning more towards her being drop dead sexy, than being a competent actor. I love her in those tight pants.

My biggest problem with the film is its poor use, to include blending of horror and comedy. I haven't seen many horror films that can effectively combine horror with comedy to my taste. One of the two are normally sacrificed for the other. In the case of Dead and Gone, it's definitely the horror, and for the double blow. The comedy that is present plays itself out.

The movie doesn't really excel in any area, this also includes the gore scenes. I found them to be too cheap and fake looking, even for low budget. The special effects are laughable, but in a bad way.

I mainly prefer my horror to be serious. If the film isn't meant to be serious, and its goal is to be a comedy. Then the comedy has to be completely silly. I mean way beyond talking corpses and decapitated heads. For me, it must be Shaun of the Dead over the top silly, or the two must be properly blended. Something similar to Return of the Living Dead. But if all else fails, then it must have an elaborate storyline, such as Happy Birthday to Me. Overall, I don't believe Dead and Gone accomplished anything other than being a bad movie.

Dead and Gone is a film that is about 20 years over due or maybe more. There were absolutely no steps taken to distinguish itself from many that came before it. Some of the ideas were kind of well used, but we seen all this before and done much, much, better. The movie feels like a school project.

This is something I can only recommend to the very easily pleased, fans of indie films, and those who love horror comedy in any form. But in closing, this movie would have been just fine in the 80's. However, in this day and age it comes off dated and weak. The film is also pretty short clocking in at 84 minutes, but it felt longer than that.

Pros:
-Some mildly decent comedy and use of psychological elements, Gillian Shure

Cons:
-Pacing, unnecessary scenes, poor use of genres, old and just plain played out

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