Dead and Deader (2006)

I really wasn’t expecting much when I sat down to watch Dead and Deader. First off, it’s a made-for-TV film, and we all know how cheesy and badly done those can be. Secondly, it stars Dean Cain, who I haven’t seen in a movie in ages! I had pretty low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised by this brainless, yet still fun zombie flick.

Lt. Bobby (Dean Cain) is on a secret ops mission in Cambodia to find out what happened to a group of medical relief workers. He and his team discover the medical relief post empty, except for a terrarium filled with scorpions. They are attacked and one lone survivor ignites a grenade that kills them all…

Lt. Bobby and his team are pronounced dead and shipped back to the US. Bobby wakes up in a morgue, much to the amazement of the coroner. Bobby doesn’t have a heartbeat or a pulse and his skin is cold. He soon realizes that one of the scorpions is crawling around under his skin and he cuts that bugger out! The wound heals extraordinarily fast and Bobby also discovers that he has superhuman strength.

Bobby isn’t the only one waking up…soon his other team members are rising from the dead, only they didn’t turn out like him. The infection from the scorpions has reached their heart, which turns them completely into flesh-eating ghouls. Bobby teams up with a cook, Hieronymous Judson (Guy Torry) to kill the zombies, but both are fingered as murderers. Now Bobby and Judson are on the run from the law as well as trying to save the world from zombies! After Holly (Susan Ward) joins the two of them, they get captured by a mad doctor, Dr. Scott (Peter Greene), who is trying to harness the scorpion serum for eternal life. Can Bobby escape the police so he can stop the zombie infection from spreading? Can he defeat Dr. Scott and his nefarious plans? Can he be the first undead superhero?

This really is a brainless movie, but in a really fun way!! There are some pretty funny one-liners thrown about here and some horror movie discussion that’ll have most horror fans grinning. Sure, there are plot holes, corny dialogue, over-the-top acting and unbelievable moments, but the film makes up for all that with rip-roaring action, nasty zombie casualties and some humor thrown in. This is a movie that doesn’t take itself seriously, but just wants to have fun and entertain.

The acting, as mentioned before, isn’t all top-notch. Dean Cain feels really rusty going into this and his lines sometimes feel forced. Guy Torry as Judson feels like he’s playing his character too much over the top and like he’s trying to be the next Chris Tucker. His one-liners have a tendency to fall flat, which is where Cain’s deadpan delivery of his comedic lines comes in handy. Peter Greene is great as the villain (as usual) and it is always a pleasure to see him in a film. There are some cool cameos in the film as well – I really enjoyed seeing Armin Shimerman (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Star Trek: Deep Space 9”) and Dean Haglund (“X-Files,” “The Lone Gunmen”) as well as a few other recognizable faces.

The zombie gore was pretty sweet, too. Instead of having red blood, the infected have green, which looks especially nasty when it’s exploding out of decapitated heads, neck wounds and bullet holes. There are some gut-munching scenes as well, and even though they ain’t anything new, they are still enjoyable nonetheless.

The pacing is quick and fast, with Lt. Bobby and his pals moving from place to place, trying to track down any infected. There are lots of shoot-outs, zombie attacks and enough of a plot to keep you interested.
If you want a movie that you don’t have to think about and just want some entertainment, Dead and Deader might be worth checking out, at least for a rental.

Available from Amazon!