Dead & Rotting

Three friends feel the wrath of a witch who makes herself youthful and beautiful to avenge the death of her son. She sleeps with all three of the guys and gives birth to creatures the results of their encounters that go about and kill the three friends. Interesting premise could have been so much more, but this film is given the extremely low budget treatment instead. It features amateur night direction and F/X and bores to no end. Rated R.

This has to be one of the worst "horror" films i have ever seen...and i've seen hundreds! I could name tons of "B-Horror Films" that are more professional and entertaining than this piece of garbage. First off, the plot is so stupid it's not even funny. Secondly, the acting is pathetic even for a super-low-budget movie. Thirdly, the "Monsters" in the film couldn't even scare a pre-schooler! I'd be more entertained sitting in silence than watching this again. Oh yeah, the film clocks in at 72 minutes in length...and that's 71 minutes too long!

Through Tempe I've become a big Bookwalter fan. This title is one of my favorites. I really like the story, and the rhyme. 3 high school buddies all work at a construction company in a small town in Ohio. The company is owned by Hollis, the head monkey in the group. His buddies, JP & Eric, provide comic relief just by being themselves. Anyway, they all work together by day and by night they hang out in local bar. This is where we meet "Jackal-boy" aka Pox. He comes into the bar and orders a ($5) bowl of milk, which he laps at happily. Then the waitress passes by with something furry hanging out of her back pocket. Being the playful sort, Pox grabs at it. In true hero fashion, Hollis defends the bar wenche's honor and chases Pox from the bar. Well, ol' Pox decides to egg Hollis' truck and trouble ensues. They kick the crap out of him. Poor kitty. Anyway, he (Pox) gets home and momma swears she'll get back at them. She finds the boys outside the bar and gives them a taste of what it is to be dead and rotting (powder blown in face). They all wake up ill the next day and start plotting their revenge. To avoid retalliation, they hire 2 local stoners (Shugi & Asher) to throw rocks at the old witches house, maybe tear the place up. Instead they "accidentally" boil her cat - Pox. Turns out Pox was her son. This gets the hag o'plottin. She changes herself into a beautiful young nymph and shows up at the boys' watering hole. I can see where Hollis might have a chance with her, but my suspicions would have been raised when she showed interest in JP & Eric. Anyway, they all go home together and she takes turns banging their collective brains out. Later she expels three lovely mucus babies and plants each one inside a pumpkin. These "mature" and turn into zombies to do her bidding. Then the fun starts. JP & Eric are quickly caught and potted - along with one of the stoners- complete with trees growing out of their heads. They're kept alive with a potion that allows them to experience their own rotting. MMMM. Rotting. That's where the rhyme comes in. Memorize it if you can. It's great for torturing co-workers. Of course, Hollis and Asher want to save their friends... So, they enlist Asher's ex-girlfriend, who happens to be into the occult. They drive cross-county - Hollis loses a finger - and then they come back to flash fry the witch. This movie had EVERYTHING. The acting, though flat at times, was better than just about anything I've seen under the name Full Moon. I still miss Pox....

I saw this movie on a compilation collection called "A night to dismember" that I purchased from Wal-Mart. I picked it up because it had "The Bonesetter", a film made by local schlock filmmaker, Brett Kelly, and I thought it would be good for a laugh and it was. All of the films were no budget productions and by that I mean anywhere from 500 to maybe 10,000 dollars. I bet a lot of people think that they could do something pretty good with 10,000 dollars and I say: Try. Put your money where your mouth is. A lot of "reviewers", and by that I mean people who go on the net and whine about things, say this movie is horrible. They say bad acting, bad camera work, bad lighting. You have no idea what you're talking about. Have any of you actually seen bad acting? I mean, truly horrible acting . Imagine the rejects from American Idol but instead of singing they are acting. For what this movie was, a couple of guys with an idea, a camera, and few thousand dollars, it was pretty damn good. the acting wasn't bad, not great but not bad either. The story wasn't bad either. The lighting did shift from time to time but it was marginal. I've seen movies that looked like they cost at least a few million that were a lot worse than this. And what's with all these people knocking digital projects? Ever heard of Robert Rodriguez? He said he'd never use film again. Micheal Mann? Collateral was digital and that was a damn good movie. 28 days later was shot with the Canon XL1S and that was pretty successful. So give credit where credit is due. I think David Barton did a good job and I would definitely like to see what he could do with an actual budget.

Three redneck pranksters who work at the same construction side "accidentally" kill cat of an old witch called Abigail. Turns out the cat was actually her son and now the hag is out for revenge. She transforms herself into an attractive young woman (played by legenddary scream-queen Debbie Rochon in one of her best roles outside of Tromeo & Juliette) and decides to teach them all a lesson by seducing and killing them after blowing magic powder in their faces. They're now kept alive with a potion that allows them to experience their own rotting. I honestly can't understand all the bad reviews and low ratings. Dead & Rotting is an enjoyable and original trashterpiece that mixes small town paranoia with spooky atmosphere and some nasty turns and twists.