Play Dead

Satan's Dog is the British title for Play Dead, the VHS came with striking artwork but as is so often the case the film did not live up to the packaging. Yvonne de Carlo plays a rich but bitter woman who imports a large Rottweiler from Europe called Greta and uses black magic to control her, killing people for her own greedy ends. If you are hoping to see gory dog on human attacks then you will be disappointed. Greta is a very intelligent dog and doesn't want the deaths traced back to her, for example while a woman is taking a bath the clever dog drops an electrical appliance into the water and zap! Having said that a couple of deaths do see some of the red stuff. The black magic scenes don't have much bite either. Much better is the movie Devil Dog (1978)

My review was written in October 1986 after watching the movie on Academy video cassette.

"Play Dead" is an old-fashioned horror film about a killer dog. Though filmed in Texas in 1981, picture was not released until early this year.

Yvonne De Carlo toplines as Aunt Hester, a rich woman who decides to kill off her relatives. Her sister just died after years in a mental home and Hester was always jealous of her, and in love with sis' husband who also died. Bringing a rottweiler dog named Greta home from Europe, Hester gives the animal as a gift to he niece Audrey (Stephanie Dunnam) and via supernatural incantations orders the dog to kill Audrey and other family members or innocent bystanders.

Silly film unfolds leisurely as a police investigation with folksy Det. Otis (Glenn Kezer) padding out the running time with his slow-witted tracking down of clues until the dog slips a dose of lye into Otis' Alka-Seltzer. Pic's finale of Hester ironically getting her just desserts is not very exciting but is played twice, once as a flash-forward during the opening credits and later in its proper sequence.

Director Peter Wittman (who later made the comedy "Ellie") uses stop-motion slow motion footage of the dog during each attack, bu Greta remains unscary, as does the film itself. Acting is okay, with De Carlo a campy highlight. Oddly, Earl Owensby produced his much-publicized but little-seen 3-D horror opus "Rottweiler" (a/k/a "Dogs of Hell") in 1981 also, but neither production was able to extract horror from the noble breed.

Apparently a *construction company* produced this film? Well, that makes just about as much sense as anything.

The movie starts with shots of a Rottweiler attacking a person who is prostrate on the ground. Then, we're at the funeral of a woman. Hester shows up, and her voice is instantly recognizable as that of the actress who played Lily Munster: yes, it is she.

She is the late woman's sister, and she is not well liked by her sister's children.

Hester is rich, and she is angry at her sister and her niece and nephew, because she had had a relationship with her sister's husband prior to their marriage., and she feels she would have been better for him. He died years ago, but she has a place of honor in her house for a photo of him, and she likes to imagine herself dancing with him in slow motion in front of a mirror.

Hester owns a Rottweiler that she brought back with her from Europe. She also dabbles in black magic of some kind. She left a necklace with a pentagram on it in her sister's casket. The dog also has one on its collar. The dog also does things in slow motion.

Hester gives the dog to her niece, and pretends that she cares about her niece and nephew now that her sister has passed on. However, she does rituals involving blood and chanting Latin in order to remotely cause the dog to bring about the deaths of her nephew, her niece's neighbor and boyfriend and others.

The movie doesn't really have any resolution at the end. A real non-ending, not setting up a sequel, but just petering out without letting us know what happened to some of the main characters.

Play Dead aka Killer Dog is a pretty mild horror film about an mean spirited elderly woman (Yvonne De Carlo), who uses her rothweiler Greta (one of the nicest dogs you have ever seen) to get rid of a few people who are in her way. And not in the kind of way you would expect from a dog which is supposed to be ferocious, De Carlo uses cuty pie Greta and her black magic to kill her victims off in quite creative ways, how to discribe this movie... Greta the killer dog convinces the audience to be one of the most lovable dogs ever, and the added growling effects are quite laughable. They tried to add some intensity to use slow motion each time Greta comes in action, which failed in my opinion. The death scenes them selves are a bit foreboding, you know what's about to happen before the deaths itself. A bit of gore would've been nice (since there isn't any), to make a long story short. I would only reccommand this "killer"dog flick if you're into unknown works of obscurity.

Troma films are an acquired taste that I have never enjoyed. Their fans revel in some D movie level of absurdity and apparently think these bizarre cinematic disasters are hilarious horror comedies. I find most of their offerings completely unwatchable.

Play Dead appeals a little more towards my B movie taste in fancy antiques and 1970s detective drama but only just slightly. The allegedly elderly woman is menopausal at worst, still full of the villainous vigor of a narcissistic witch in her 50s or early 60s, dressing glamorously and ruining lives wherever she goes. I got Dynasty vibes from this movie, it very much seems to be a parody of early 80s late night adult soaps about the rich and the ruthless.

The plot makes little to no sense, most of the deaths are senseless and don't quite fit into a specific vengeance narrative. But the dog stuff is palatable, the ending is okay, and this is quite sophisticated for the likes of Troma.