Dead Dicks

So I'm gonna say it and start directly with it: I believe the reason behind the movie's failure was mostly attributed to the small budget.

Well, I choose to believe that, even tho I've seen plenty of other such indie productions executed far better... Anyway, Dead Dicks was an unexpected surprise, it has a genuinely fresh plot, but unlike, say, The Visit, this one did not manage to balance the humor with horror quite well. A lot of scenes did make me chuckle but immediately I asked myself, if it is alright to do so. Is it in theme with the movie, does it do it on purpose, because it always felt a tad bit off.

The acting is sort of ok, there was room for improvement but I can take what I get in this case, I also appreciate how we do get some explanations here and there about the situation and believe it or not, they do come as natural. I managed to agree with them and take them for granted, as I wanted to see where does this little move take me to. The conclusion was another interesting idea thrown there, one that worked, so overall, I really can't tell you, beside the budget..maybe a different directorial vision was needed. Because the script itself came out as original, if you can believe that, it stretched the story a little and wasn't all locked in, the pacing was mostly ok, and yet, unbelievably, somehow it feels like it didn't deliver properly.

As a horror it is sort of impossible to recommend, but as a sci fi production, well that one hits the spot doesn't it. Anyway I do hope more people see it, because this and The Wave (2019) managed to keep me intrigued and left me in a pleasant state of mind. Dead Dicks, a lot of potential, and at least half of it got a decent representation.

Cheers!

A true independant movie, which means very little money, only a few people involved (around 25-30 based on the credits, actors included), probably volunteers for most of them.

It's REALLY hard to make a movie in such conditions. Usually the final result is a disaster. But in that case, they actually made a pretty decent movie. It must have been exhausting !

Good story with a bad ending. With a good ending, I would have given 6 stars.

Heston Horwin (Richie) did a very good job, Jillian Harris (Becca) could have done better. That being said, her performance was watchable, and it seems it was her first major role...

I wasn't expecting this movie to turn out as dramatic and emotional as it was but boy did it rock me. Super great job by the filmmakers here; creating something that was clearly a small scale budget into a really entertaining piece of scifi/horror. Reminds me of "Skeleton Twins". Not too many movies have this much heart in it, bravo to the actors especially the leading lady who makes you feel the burden of caring for a mentally ill brother in an endless loop of unstable behavior. The neighbor was also hilarious. Definitely an indie in every facet of the word, and that's what makes it special. A super promising debut for the directors and it will be interesting to see what they do on a larger scale.

I stumbled upon the 2019 movie "Dead Dicks" in 2020, without ever having heard about it prior to sitting down to watch it. I read the synopsis for the movie, and thought that it sounded actually interesting enough. And I was intrigued as the cover read "a Cronenberg-inflected science-fiction piece".

Well, whomever created the cover sure was good at selling the movie. I will say that much. The movie wasn't "touching, powerful and emotional" as the cover brandished, nor did it "delivers on the creep factor" also as the cover brandished.

In fact, "Dead Dicks" turned out to be a very mediocre movie.

Sure, the concept idea of a guy dying and returning to life only to find the dead bodies of himself where he died was interesting, but the storyline just proved way too boring and mundane. And it didn't really help much that the characters were fairly bland. So I can't really say that writers and directors Chris Bavota and Lee Paula Springer managed to strike gold with what they had here.

The acting in the movie was adequate, and they fared well enough, given the fact that they had little to work with in terms of proper script and characters. The movie didn't have a great number of performers, so there was extra pressure on the few performers to do well.

I sat through the entire movie, but I must admit that I was only mildly entertained. And while the movie was watchable, this is hardly a movie that I will recommend to anyone. Nor is is a movie that I will ever be returning to watch a second time.

My rating of "Dead Dicks" is a very mediocre five out of ten stars.

After checking on her confused brother, a woman arrives in his apartment to look in on him only to find a series of his dead bodies lying around the apartment and a strange opening in the wall which allows him to be reborn every time he dies, forcing them to keep it from others.

This was a pretty solid and enjoyable effort. One of the strongest aspects here is the rather entertaining nature of exploiting the silly premise without going over-the-top into the ridiculous. Featuring a much more calculated and controlled manner to the idea of him coming back from the hole in the wall each time he kills himself, there's a lot to like with how this goes about introducing the concept of discovering that's what's going on as well as the eventual need for how to press on with their plan of disposing of the bodies lying around which need to be taken care. With the strange portal in the bedroom allowing for the dead to be reborn in the area all over again which is thankfully never brought up or explored in detail and just accepted. Combined with the nice gore and breezy running time, this one has some enjoyable elements. There are some problems with this one. The main issue is the bland and utterly dragged-out pacing that relies on uninteresting storylines to carry itself out. The whole thing about his mental problems just seems to grind the film to a half and inject far too realistic a tone for what is essentially a black comedy about discovering yourself in various parts of the apartment dead the entire time. The conversations are important but they're placed at such spots in the film where it loses the energy and momentum brought about by trying to get the concept going and it's distressing to get that taken away here. As well, that holds back the real out-and-out horror of the premise for long periods making for it not to come across as such at all despite the premise which can turn some off immensely. Otherwise, there isn't much else to this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Full Frontal Male Nudity.