Dead & Rotting (2002) (V)

Director:

David P. Barton

Writers:

David P. Barton (co-writer)
David P. Barton (story)

Release Date:

3 February 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Plot:

Three prankster buddies release the wrath of an aged witch, Abigail, when they unwittingly become accomplices to the murder of her son...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Woods | Dead Cat | Halloween | Evil Witch

Cast

Stephen O'Mahoney	...	Hollis
Tom Hoover	...	J.B.
Debbie Rochon	...	Young Abi
Trent Haaga	...	Eric
Jeff Dylan Graham	...	Asher
Barbara Katz-Norrod	...	Abigail
Christopher Suciu	...	Pox
Beth Biasella	...	Waitress
Tammi Sutton	...	Rose
Jeff Sisson	...	'Somebody Egged Your Truck' Guy / Ghoul / Fake Shemp (as Jeffrey 'V.J.' Sisson)
Michael C. Edwards	...	Bar Patron
David Greathouse	...	Bar Patron / Ghoul / Fake Shemp
George Peyton	...	Bar Patron
Nathan Brent Cole	...	Bar Patron
Brad Cain	...	Bar Patron

MPAA:

Rated R for violence/gore, language and sexuality.

Runtime:

USA:72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Akron, Ohio, USA

Company:

Tempe Entertainment

Quotes:

[repeated line, chanted by all the zombies]
Abi's Victims: Do you know what happens when you're dead and rotting? Your flesh turns putrid and your clothes start spotting. Your belly bloats up, your guts turn to chum, your eyeballs turn purple like overripe plums. Your skin turns black with a putrefaction gleam, pus drips from your pores like whipping cream. Yes, it's no fun being rotting and dead. It's no fun at all; enough has been said.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Something to Scream About (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

It's O.K.

Huh...what a pleasant surprise.

The fact that so many people seem to hate this movie only strengthens my theory that a majority of horror fans want only two things. The first is lots and lots of blood, violence and gore. Some people have a real bloodlust. The other thing they are looking for is plenty of hot naked chicks.

In my humble opinion, I think Nathan Shumate did an insightful review of this film on the Cold Fusion website. The budget limitations of "Dead & Rotting" have virtually no effect on its final appearance. Even with more money, I think that whatever David Barton came up with would have appeared quite similar to what this one looked like.

The pleasant surprise was the high level of acting. I always thought there was some unwritten law that you had to cast wooden and completely untalented college kids in low budget horror movies. That's not the case here. Barbara Katz-Norrod did a stunning job as the witch and I don't think that Debbie Rochon has ever been better in her whole career. All three male leads also appeared to be quite at ease in front of the camera.

That's not to say there aren't problems. I don't want to give anything away, but "Dead & Rotting" went into a freefall for the last fifteen minutes or so. I was tremendously disappointed at how conventional and predictable the ending was. The movie had seemed a lot fresher before it fell back on horror movie cliches to resolve the main conflict.

As an overall movie, "Dead & Rotting" is rather entertaining and I would go so far as to call it a hidden gem as far as low budget horror goes. General Movie Rating: 5/10 Low Budget Horror Rating: 8/10