DeadandtheDamned

The Dead and the Damned (2010)

A western with zombies. Yeah okay that sounds like a great idea and has been tried several times with mixed results. So when I sat down to watch the Dead and the Damned I had hoped for something interesting. Sadly I didn’t get it.

The movie follows a bounty hunter named Mortimer that is saving the money he earns for some mysterious purpose (which we find out later and really isn’t’ that interesting). He is tracking down an Indian that is accused of killing a white woman and to bait him out he purchases a girl from a mining town on his way to the wilderness. While he is out hunting some minters find a rock that glows green and turns everyone into zombies. Mortimer, the Indian, and the girl come back to town just in time to be attacked by the zombified locals.

Okay time to sound like a broken record yet again. If you are going to make a low budget horror movie then make sure you have a decent script with a plot that is going to be able to carry a feature length runtime. As a reviewer I can forgive bad CGI effects, and mediocre acting as long as you give me something interesting to watch. Plus this is the one aspect of filmmaking that doesn’t require a large budget or experience behind or in front of the camera. If you don’t have a script then don’t shoot the movie!

The Dead and the Damned starts off with an awkwardly staged shootout that introduces the bounty hunter Mortimer. It is a bit long and feels like someone using their digital camera to record a re-inaction at one of those cheesy roadside attractions out West. Then we get to see lots of scenes of Mortimer riding his horse in search of his next bounty (this is important as I will explain later). He finds the town and buys the girl, which leads us to scene after scene of him and the girl walking. Then the find the Indian and capture him. This leads to scene after scene of them walking. Finally the zombies show up and everyone goes from hating each other to best pals killing or I suppose re-killing the zombies. If you haven’t figured out yet the pacing is terrible in this movie. It is filled with so much padding that even after the zombies do finally show up for the attack I wasn’t interested anymore. If that weren’t bad enough the movie has a terrible ending which feels like they sort of didn’t know how to end it.

Which is a shame. Now while the bullet hits and many of the other effects work is poorly done CGI, I will give the movie some credit with the design of the zombies. They look pretty cool and are scary on the screen. There is a sequence where a blind zombie is hunting the girl in a saloon/hotel that is definitely the best part of the movie and works really well. The design of the zombie and the actress playing it is great. Other behind the scenes stuff that I thought I’d mention would include some decent camera work and lighting. The movie may be slow, but it looks good. And I have to make one other comment here about the behind the scenes stuff. If you write a western but can only afford one horse, which disappears ½ way thru the flick maybe you should change the setting. Yeah guys this western only has one horse in it…

Obviously I’m not going to recommend the Dead and the Damned. This is a perfect example of making a movie that you can’t afford to shoot (again one damn horse…) as well as before you have a finished script. Not a good combination at all.

1 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer