The Dead One (2007)

A young man is killed and resurrected by the Aztec God of Death as his slave.

Director:

Brian Cox

Writers:

Brian Cox, Javier Hernandez (comic book "El Muerto")

Stars:

Wilmer Valderrama, Angie Cepeda, Joel David Moore

Cast

Credited cast:
Wilmer Valderrama	...	Diego de la Muerte / El Muerto
Angie Cepeda	...	Maria
Joel David Moore	...	Zak (as Joel Moore)
Michael Parks	...	Sheriff Ezra Stone
Tony Plana	...	Aparicio
E.J. Callahan	...	The Monsignor
Tony Amendola	...	Padre Somera
Alfonso Arau	...	Tezcatlipoca (voice)
Billy Drago	...	The Old Indian
Maria Conchita Alonso	...	The Nun
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Darien Dikeos	...	Young Diego
Aldo Gonzalez	...	Cameo
D. Taylor Loeb	...	Celia
Vince Lozano	...	Coyote
Michael Macoul	...	Remy

Storyline

Trapped in a purgatory between this world and the next, 21-year-old Diego wanders the streets of L.A. in search of a human sacrifice for the vicious Aztec gods that control his soul. But the sacrifice they want is Maria, his own girlfriend. The Dead One is the story of Diego's fight against the dark gods for his soul...and for the soul of the woman he loves.

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Plot Keywords:

human sacrifice | aztec indian | rebirth | character name in title | 

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Taglines:

On the Day of the Dead, the chosen will rise.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 March 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

El muerto

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Peninsula Films, Three Lion Productions

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Dead One a/k/a El Muerto won the Whittier Film Festival Award for Best Feature Film in 2008.

User Reviews

It's Bland But Not Altogether Bad

People have been trashing this film, so instead of doing a standard review I'm just going to write a brief defense of this film. Was it incredibly awesome? No. I mean, it didn't have a lot of action or gore or beautiful women or anything that would normally make a horror film decent, but I don't think this was intended as a horror film.

Wilmer Valderrama ("That 70s Show") leads this film and does a fine job. I was never excited with him from TV, playing the part of either a naive foreigner or a trash-talking hoodlum. But here, he plays it pretty straight, just being one of the guys who happens to have a very bad thing happen to him (at least, I consider it bad if some Aztec god wants you to kill your girlfriend). There's a little bit of Mexican stereotype in here, but nothing blatantly racist.

The opening credits had scenes from what I assume is the comic book, or a close approximation. I have never read it, sadly (and in fact never even heard of it until now). Sometimes animation works, sometimes it doesn't ("Hood of Horror"). I liked it here, it seemed very natural -- even better than "Creepshow" in this regard.

I think the biggest problem people have with this film is the focus on a story rather than action and the overtly Mexican tones to the story, which few can identify with. I didn't really have an issue with it. With such notable guest stars as Billy Drago, it was easy to be entertained by this film. Oh well, you can't please everybody.

Now, I'm not suggesting you run out and rent this one right away. It's still not an exciting film. It's bland and little happens. So it doesn't deserve a high rating. But it does deserve better than what some people have been giving it, simply because I can point you to many, many worse films than this if you really want to know what awful is. "The Dead One" is a forgettable film, forgettable because it's neither too good or too bad to be noteworthy. It's the Goldilocks of Mexican super hero films.