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Dead at the Box Office (2005) More at IMDbPro »
29 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
Some heart, very little braaaaaaaaaaaaaains, 30 October 2007
Author: jessedorjeirwin from Chicago, USA
It's obvious that the people who made 'Dead At The Box Office' love B-movie horror. Overt references to the genre are peppered throughout, from stock characters (the authority figure who doesn't believe the monstrous invasion is really happening) to Kevin Smith style discussions to reenacting Duane Jones' last moments from 'Night of the Living Dead' not once but twice.
Unfortunately it takes more than love to make a good movie.
The staging and shot choice are unexciting and unimaginative. While a common admonition in film school is to avoid 'Mastershot Theatre,' telling the story completely in a wide master shot, here we find the obverse as in several sequences it's hard to figure out the spatial relationships between characters as the story is told in a series of medium shots with no establishing shot to tie it together. Editing is drab and basic and at times there are unmotivated cuts. The lighting is flat and sometimes muddy, making the scenes in the darkened theatre hard to make out (was there lighting, or was this shot with available light only?). Some shots are out of focus. The dialogue is trite, and the performances, for the most part, one-note (Isaiah Robinson shows some energy and screen presence as Curtis, and the fellow playing the projectionist has some pleasantly dickish line readings; Michael Allen Williams as the theater manager and Casey Kirkpatrick as enthusiastic film geek Eric have some nice moments). The premise is silly, even for a B horror flick (Also, it's too bad Dr Eisner was unaware of Project Paperclip - he could've saved himself a lot of trouble!). The 'zombies' are non-threatening, and their makeup is unconvincing (although the chunky zombie trying to get a gumball out of the machine raised a smile). For a zombie fan film, there is very little blood or violence, although what there is, is handled pretty well. The incidental music, while stylistically uneven, is kind of nice at times, and there are some good foley effects. The 'Time Warp' parody was a fun listen, although the images going along with it were less fun to watch. Unfortunately, the looped dialogue sounds flat. Was this shot non-sync (doubtful, it looks like video through and through)? I watched the special introduction by Troma Films' Lloyd Kaufman before the main feature - although it consisted essentially of Kaufman plugging his own stuff and admitting that he hadn't seen the movie while someone mugged in a Toxie mask, its production and entertainment values were higher than 'Dead...' itself (quick aside to whoever put the DVD together - the countdown on film leader beeps only on the flash-frame 2, not on every number plus one more after). For that matter, the vampire film theatregoers are seen watching early in 'Dead...' looked a lot more entertaining than this. Recommendation to avoid, unless you know someone involved in the production or are an ardent Lloyd Kaufman completist (he plays 'Kaufman the Minion' in the film-within-a-film).
(Full disclosure: my girlfriend is an extra in this movie. I swear this did not color my review.)
38 out of 55 people found the following comment useful :-
Bad movie, even with the sound down., 18 January 2007
Author: goreygrrl from United States
30 seconds into the opening credits, I had this feeling that this was going to be a bad movie, but I didn't know just how bad. Then the actor playing the evil Nazi scientist opens his mouth and my friend and I decide that in order to survive this movie, we'll have to turn the volume down, make up our own dialogue and double the speed on the DVD. But that didn't help. About half way through we turned it off. Now, I've lived through some very bad movies before, both with and without the aide of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and "Svengoolie," but there are just some movies which I doubt even the Bots can save. The biggest part of the movie that bothered me the most was that the people hypnotized into believing they're zombies had rotting green skin. I guess they were all hypnotized into death, then hypnotized into rotting themselves. Stick to the real B-movie cult classics like "Plan Nine From Outer Space."
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Lots of fun, 5 April 2009
Author: TheFiendsThatPlagueThee from United States
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
When the employees of a theater find an old reel of film, they decide to show it at the midnight screening of Night of the Living Dead, assuming it's an old preview reel. Unfortunately, it's actually an old Nazi mind control experiment that turns the audience into a horde of mindless shuffling zombies.
I can't understand the hate for this movie. It is a low budget independent production with a lot of camp, but it doesn't deserve a "1.1" here on IMDb. It is just so much fun. It is obvious that the filmmakers have a reasonable knowledge and love of old horror movies, and they have created an entertaining tribute to them sprinkled with references and homages to a variety of them. It has the feel of such things as Night of the Living Dead (in many ways, very similar), Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, and various others.
I liked the explanation of how the zombies, though really just hypnotized into thinking they are zombies, actually come to have the physical attributes of the living dead-unbelievable, perhaps, but I appreciate the effort by the writers to explain it. The gore effects were decent for the budget, the acting was all right, and the story was entertaining.
I liked it.
4 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Dead at the Box Office..., 30 July 2008
Author: pyromanticways from Italy
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
I bought this film sending a message to the authors, on "Dead at the Box Office" Myspace page. It's been an interesting experience to watch a film, knowing then I'd communicate my impressions to... Dr. Eisner in person! Well, despite some flaws on the "thrilling" side, I guess you should appreciate this movie for what it is: a low-budget, willingly camp, horror comedy! As a child of its time, it shows conscious approach to a genre that, if not dead, sure has changed much! Since Mr. Ryan A. Markle's answer to my letter contains hints about the film nobody else could give (not a watcher, at least), I'd like to copy & paste portions (the whole thing would exceed the number of words allowed in this comment) of our exchange of letters (Since Ryan himself divided my e-mail in parts he separately answered to in his letter, I'll just add our names to this sort of unintentional mutual interview we had!)
Dario: First of all, let me say it was really a nice surprise to find English subtitles in the DVD's menu! I'm quite used to watch films in English but... having matching subtitles too! I didn't miss a word and learned some new ones too!
Ryan: We're actually fans of English subtitles ourselves, even though English is our native language. Sometimes it's hard to understand what's being said in any movie, and having the subtitles makes sure that the viewer can catch everything the writer wanted to get across in the story. So we put them on there because, if we were watching it for the first time, WE would want them to be there.
Dario: The plot was good! My favourite characters were Eric, Curtis and Yours! The bite scene (a due homage to good ol' Dawn of the Dead!) let me know I was going to enjoy fantastic splatter & gore SFX! I'm not saying I'd expected some fu**in' computer graphic or other latest Hollywood's crap, but, you know, you may never know what to expect from indie films and low budget cinema in general... You seem to know the old formula, though!
Ryan: That was the goal! We love the movies that made horror great, especially the ones that were made with almost no money but were rich in creativity. And of course none of them use CGI! As filmmakers, we believe that CG should only be used to enhance practical effects -- not to replace them altogether.
Dario: Some of the siege and chasing scenes reminded of some Italian horrors I adore like Lamberto Bava's "Demoni" (Demons) or Andrea Bianchi's "Le Notti del Terrore" (Burial Ground). In its (deliberate, I know) campiness it kinda reminded me of Timothy O' Rawe's "Ghoul School" too...
Ryan: High praise, all the way around! You definitely know your horror history -- exactly the kind of person we made the movie for! :)
Dario: I absolutely loved the laughing reaction of the stereotyped audience, when the nazi logo shows on screen. Lloyd Kaufman's presence was already in the air when he showed up and the Rocky Horror Show-like pseudo-happy ending, finally released the Hollywood's parody that was around the bend (that made me think of early John Waters' films, somehow).
Ryan: We've definitely been influenced by Lloyd Kaufman and Troma (not to mention 'Rocky Horror'), but I never really thought about how much the campy shock twists in 'Pink Flamingos' -- a movie several of us watched over and over when we were teenagers -- have contributed to our style. You probably have something there!
Dario: I'd liked to see more of "Harry's Daughter" though... I found priceless the final scene (unexpected after ALL the end titles!).. will you make a sequel?!
Ryan: We had discussed it, but after finishing 'Dead at the Box Office', we all pretty much went our separate ways. We made the movie near Chicago, but after it was finished, the actor who played Eric (who also co-wrote the script with me) and the director both moved to New York, while I moved to Los Angeles. If the movie is a hit, maybe we can get the financing to get back together for a sequel ... but since we're living 3000 miles apart, it won't be easy!
Dario: OK... sure there's more I could say on the positive side, but it doesn't come to mind now... The only spot I'd recall, thinking of this basically good time I had with Dead at the Box Office, would be maybe the pacing of the action scenes. The "zombies" were a little too... unwilling; and I'd swear I've seen a couple of them laughing too, but... I know, I know! This horror movie is a self-conscious campy comedy as well, right? Maybe It's just that blood was so convincing, I'd loved to get some thrill too!
Ryan: I understand completely. Looking back, we realize that we might have tried too hard to make the movie equal parts comedy and horror, when we should have concentrated more on one or the other. We really wanted horror fans to love it, so if we had the chance to do it all again, we would have concentrated a little more on the tension and action.
Dario: By the way... It still has very interesting cues, not only for gorehounds and... I totally agree with the revolutionary spirit of Romero's films!
0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Clever social commentary, 2 March 2009
Author: keanho from United States
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
This film, shot entirely on location at a movie theater, makes us rethink what it means to be a zombie - must one be an actual undead human, or can the definition extend to those who have been hypnotized into being whatever the media tells them to be? As we see the theater staff overtaken with the idiocy around them, one begins to wonder - are we just puppets, and if so, who is the real villain pulling our strings? "Dead at the Box Office" aims to answer this and other important questions about American life, including what happens when panicked law enforcement agents attempt to deal with something they simply don't bother trying to understand. Ten stars!
6 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Tons of fun, 15 December 2007
Author: lupineaura from United States
This movie was so much fun! Classic "B" horror movie, well done without taking itself too seriously. The plot line was clever and original, yet included some of the best parts of the zombie "formula."
Two of the actors did a great job- Casey Kirkpatrick ("Eric") and Isaiah Robinson ("Curtis"). Who would have thought that cute kid from Hook would show up in an indy zombie flick? I also liked the use of public domain film and nods to cult classics.
After watching it, one of my main thoughts was that if this movie had had a Hollywood budget, it would have been a blockbuster. I really hope this troupe makes another flick!
7 out of 30 people found the following comment useful :-
It truly does pay homage to the classics, 30 October 2007
Author: iamfester_pi from United States
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
This is the epitome of what any fan can do when they really put their mind to it. You can tell both from the film and from the directors commentary that they had little funds or equipment to work with. Still though, they pull off a great story with all the essentials parts of a classic horror film of any sub-genera. Sure the special effects are kind of cheesy, but that's what makes a low budget feature great. It's the inventive ways that directors use what limited space, manpower, actors, and resources that they have that make this kind of movie so great. Eric's speech about horror movies and what makes Night of the Living Dead so extraordinary is pure genius. If you're a fan of horror this is a must own.
4 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
A creative masterpiece!, 14 February 2008
Author: Gerard from United States
When I first heard of this movie I didn't expect much, but after watching it I was very impressed. Any movie with Nazi's tied in is amazing! (ex. like Hellboy and Indiana Jones) I mean this movie costars one of the lost boys in HOOK! The special effects and makeup was very convincing and the directing was bar none. Dead at the Box office definitely pays homage to the the old school Romero movies, and Casey Kirkpatrick did an excellent job paying his respects to the Legend himself. This movie wasn't dragged out either and had a very cool and funny twist in the end. When I checked the features on the DVD...being a big fan of toxic crusader...seeing the owner of Troma giving his approval...paved the way for a good zombie killing fun.
4 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
An Innovative Take on Zombie's, 13 November 2007
Author: MooVFan820 from United States
My original expectations were not the highest but this turned out to be a great movie! The acting was good but the key was the innovative story line. Kudos to the writers on a job well done! I'm sure we will be seeing some of your movies on the big screen one day!
Although this movie followed the typical classic zombie movie plot, Dead at the Box Office had a unique twist that keeps you on your toes. It starts out with a few movie buffs working in a classic horror theater then all hell breaks loose. In addition to all the scary scenes, there were quite a few times where I found myself laughing out loud.
I would recommend this movie to anyone looking for a scary funny movie.
5 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
It has the kid from Hook in it, 31 October 2007
Author: Thebluemaji from United States
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
"Dead at the Box Office" may not be "Shaun of the Dead", but it had the kid from "Hook" in it. Sometimes you have to look at movies in steps. You can rip a movie apart as a critical viewer or you can see the good in it and enjoy it for what it is. I don't exactly know these guys well, but I met them at the screening and they have great potential. Look at "Clerks" if you want to see how a group of people can grow. Kevin Smith started out with a decent film and they evolved. DATBO was easily as entertaining as most of what goes on TV lately. Do you really want to be the guy or girl who jumped to criticality over someone's dream? The bottom line is that this is a start. With such a minimal budget, I'd say DATBO was a hit. What could they do with 50 million? Some see crap, but I see great potential. I was lucky enough to meet with some of these guys through Mark Racop and Magic House Productions. The Dead at the Box Office people are going somewhere. These people have a passion for film. There are always going to be a few kinks on the first ones, but I think it's great that someone is seeing through with their passion for creating Art. The only people who should criticize a film are fellow filmmakers. You can't fully understand the difficulty behind a film unless you make them yourself. Give these people time and see what comes from them. I personally liked it and I thought they did an excellent job overall. It was kind of like trying to sit through a Tom Cruise movie in some places, but mostly I just laughed. Could you do any better?
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