Play Dead

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.

In PLAY DEAD, Hester (Yvonne De Carlo) lives with Greta, her friendly Rottweiler. Hester just wants her family to be close, though most of them can't stand her, only wanting her vast fortune.

One day, Hester decides to use her occult powers to make things right. Soon enough, her relatives begin having terrible "accidents", seemingly caused by a big dog.

Hmmm.

The police are stumped, unable to prove anything about these "coincidences".

As Hester continues her ritualistic mumbo jumbo, her family shrinks through severe attrition.

Released through Troma, this is one of their better acquisitions. Contains semi-gory violence, nudity, and 1980's cheeeze aplenty! Though it's somewhat slow in spots, Ms. De Carlo is at her best! It's her appearance that raises this above the usual bilge...

I expected at best a kind of Poor man's CUJO or something in the line of WHITE DOG but I was misunderstaood. It is a horror thriller with a painful watch for me to find the great Yvonne De Carlo lost in such a mess. I loved so much De Carlo in Paramount features from the fifties, adventures little gems made in Technicolor, and it it hurts me to assist to her downfall in such grade Z films. She is still beautiful for her age. That's the only thing that I will remember from this film. Just the last minutes are interesting.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Play Dead; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.25 Direction: 1.00 Pace: 1.00 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00

TOTAL: 5.50 out of 10.00

Two things keep this Dark Thriller of a Horror flick from greatness. The writing and the direction. However, it's a case of swings and roundabouts - when the narrative works, the filming doesn't and vice versa. For example, the ending is logical, though predictable. Since you can anticipate the finale, you need something that keeps it from feeling old and stale. The writers give the audience this, though the director fails to make it gripping enough, and it falls flat. But when we have the black magic rituals, the direction is spot on, though the writers needed to give us some believable dialogue in the way of spell casting.

I have to admit I loved the story concept of a killer hound possessed by its owner to kill her family due to her jealous hatred. I cannot think of another possessed dog tale off-hand, so kudos for that. All the characters required fleshing out a tad more as they appear two-dimensionally flat. It would have been nice to see some of the romance between the nephew and niece's dead daddy and their auntie. It would have proffered more engagement for the audience and taken the touch of dullness off.

The direction suffers from averageness. Due to the flaws in the writing, the filmmaking needed to be more engaging. The simple point and shoot are okay, but better composition would have gone a long way. The entire movie feels like a bad made-for-TV. It doesn't help that when Auntie Hester is thinking back to yesteryear and her yet-to-be brother-in-law, the director uses slow-motion to display her reminiscing. And, it gets worse with the foreplay. When the niece, Audrey, is making out with her bo' by the fire, the sultriness is cheapened and dulled by the smooth jazz soundtrack. It gives the section the feel of a soft-core porno. It is truly cringe-inducing.

The acting is also average, though Yvonne De Carlo as Aunt Hester is on form and adds a touch of class to her scenes. The ones she has with the policemen are the best. It shows how dominant and how much a force of nature she is. The other stand-out performance comes from Glenn Kezzer as Otis, the detective. It's a shame that some of the worst dialogue comes in his scenes, though he delivers it like a pro.

All-in-all, Play Dead isn't too terrible a movie. It entertained me enough to waste an hour and a half. Though, I may not be reviewing the possessed killer rottweiler anytime soon. If you have nothing else to watch and killer pooches yank your leash, then Play Dead is worth a look-see, at least once.

Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror, Killer Thriller Chillers, and Monstrous lists to see where I ranked Play Dead.

Take Care & Stay Well.