''Dead and Deader'' (formerly known as ''House of the Dead 3'') is a 2006 American
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
zombie comedy
The zombie comedy, often called zom com or zomedy, is a film genre that aims to blend zombie horror motifs with slapstick comedy as well as morbid humor.
History
The earliest roots of the genre can be found in Jean Yarbrough's ''King of the ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by Patrick Dinhut. The film stars
Dean Cain
Dean George Cain ( Tanaka; born July 31, 1966) is an American actor. From 1993 to 1997, he played Clark Kent / Superman in the TV series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''. Cain was the host of ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' and ...
,
Guy Torry
Guy Torry is an American actor and comedian. He is the brother of actor and comedian Joe Torry
Joe Torry is an American actor and comedian.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
*Joe Torry's Giving Back the Love ...
,
Peter Greene
Peter Greene (born Peter Green; October 8, 1965) is an American actor. A character actor, he is generally known for portraying villains. He is best known for the roles in the 1994 films ''The Mask'', where he plays the films antagonist, Dorian ...
and
Susan Ward
Susan Ward is an American actress and model. She made her film debut in the 1997 sequel, '' Poison Ivy: The New Seduction'', before appearing in films, including, '' The In Crowd'' (2000), ''Going Greek'' (2001), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001) and ''Wil ...
, with cameos from
Armin Shimerman
Armin Shimerman (born November 5, 1949) is an American actor and author.
Early life
Shimerman was born into a Jewish family in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, Lakewood, New Jersey, on November 5, 1949, the son of accountant Susan and house painte ...
,
John Billingsley
John Billingsley (, born May 20, 1960) is an American actor best known for his role as Doctor Phlox on the television series ''Star Trek: Enterprise''.
Early life and education
Billingsley was born in Media, Pennsylvania, and subsequently live ...
, and
Dean Haglund
Dean Haglund (born July 29, 1965) is a Canadian actor, known for the role of Richard "Ringo" Langly, one of The Lone Gunmen on ''The X-Files''. Haglund is also a stand-up comedian, specializing in improvisational comedy, including work with the ...
. It was aired from
Sci Fi Channel
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...
on December 16, 2006.
Plot
After communications to a small medical outpost in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
was cut off, a
Special Forces
Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
squad is sent to investigate. As they approach the outpost they are attacked by zombies. As the zombies are dispatched, Lieutenant Bobby Quinn survives with heavy injuries. He radios for a
medivac airlift, then falls unconscious.
Quinn wakes up on an exam table at Fort Preston army base. The shocked
coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
explains that he arrived in a
body-bag
A body bag, also known as a cadaver pouch or human remains pouch (HRP), is a non-porous bag designed to contain a human body, used for the storage and transportation of shrouded corpses.
History
In the United States, the apparent first docum ...
and had been pronounced
DOA
DOA may refer to:
* Dead on arrival
* Dead or Alive (disambiguation)
Film
* ''D.O.A.'' (1949 film), a ''film noir''
* ''D.O.A.'' (1988 film), a remake of the 1949 film
* '' D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage'' (1980 film), a documentary on the genes ...
. Suddenly feeling a pain in his right arm, Quinn grabs a scalpel and cuts it open. Gushing out of the wound is green blood and a strange
scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
, which he crushes. The incision then rapidly heals, and Quinn finds that he now possesses superhuman strength. He also begins feeling intense hunger that can only be dulled by ingesting raw, red meat and teams up with military chef, Judson.
Quinn and Judson fight their way out of the army base and leaves to find his fellow squad-members. They stop at a small road-side bar and meets Holly, a part-time bartender. The local news had aired a report about the killings at Fort Preston, labeling Quinn and Judson as suspects. The bar patrons lock them inside the cooler. The bar is then attacked by
Zombie
A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...
s. Holly frees Quinn and Judson, and they fight their way out.
Quinn eventually learns that a doctor named Dr. Scott plans to use the scorpion venom to revive dead tissues and sell for a profit. Quinn, Holly and Judson follow Dr. Scott back to Fort Preston, where Scott is killed by zombies attempting to extract a scorpion. After destroying the scorpion and killing all of the zombies, Judson, Holly and Quinn escape from the base and leave.
Outside the base, Quinn, Judson and Holly lure zombies toward the armory, blowing it up using a stash of
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
. They narrowly escape as the base goes up in flames. After making sure no zombies survive, they walk away together.
Cast
*
Dean Cain
Dean George Cain ( Tanaka; born July 31, 1966) is an American actor. From 1993 to 1997, he played Clark Kent / Superman in the TV series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''. Cain was the host of ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' and ...
as Lieutenant Bobby Quinn
*
Guy Torry
Guy Torry is an American actor and comedian. He is the brother of actor and comedian Joe Torry
Joe Torry is an American actor and comedian.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
*Joe Torry's Giving Back the Love ...
as Judson
*
Susan Ward
Susan Ward is an American actress and model. She made her film debut in the 1997 sequel, '' Poison Ivy: The New Seduction'', before appearing in films, including, '' The In Crowd'' (2000), ''Going Greek'' (2001), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001) and ''Wil ...
as Holly
*
Peter Greene
Peter Greene (born Peter Green; October 8, 1965) is an American actor. A character actor, he is generally known for portraying villains. He is best known for the roles in the 1994 films ''The Mask'', where he plays the films antagonist, Dorian ...
as Dr. Scott
*
Ellie Cornell
Ellie Cornell (born December 15, 1963) is an American actress and producer. She made her film debut in the 1988 film ''Married to the Mob'' before becoming known for her roles as Rachel Carruthers
Rachel Carruthers is a fictional character in ...
as Dr. Adams
*
Kirk B. R. Woller as Major Bascom
*
Colleen Camp
Colleen Celeste Camp (born June 7, 1953) is an American character actress and producer. After appearing in several bit parts, she had a lead role in the comedy ''The Swinging Cheerleaders'' (1974), followed by roles in two installments of the '' ...
as Mrs. Wisteria
*
Armin Shimerman
Armin Shimerman (born November 5, 1949) is an American actor and author.
Early life
Shimerman was born into a Jewish family in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, Lakewood, New Jersey, on November 5, 1949, the son of accountant Susan and house painte ...
as Flutie, The Coroner
*
John Billingsley
John Billingsley (, born May 20, 1960) is an American actor best known for his role as Doctor Phlox on the television series ''Star Trek: Enterprise''.
Early life and education
Billingsley was born in Media, Pennsylvania, and subsequently live ...
as Langdon
*
Natassia Malthe
Linn Natassia Malthe (; born 19 January 1974) is a Norwegian model and actress.
Early life and career
Malthe is the second of two daughters. She was born in Oslo, Norway, to a Norwegian father and Malaysian mother from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. H ...
as Dr. Boyle
*
Dean Haglund
Dean Haglund (born July 29, 1965) is a Canadian actor, known for the role of Richard "Ringo" Langly, one of The Lone Gunmen on ''The X-Files''. Haglund is also a stand-up comedian, specializing in improvisational comedy, including work with the ...
as Funeral Home Director
*
Ho-Sung Pak
Ho-Sung Pak (born November 8, 1967) is a Korean-American film actor, stunt performer, martial artist, action choreographer, game character, writer, and producer.
Life and career
Pak, a Korean American, was born in Chicago, Illinois. He playe ...
as Superstar Merc
Production
Originally titled ''House of the Dead 3'', a continuation of the
movie series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series.
This article explains what film series are ...
based on the
video game franchise of the same name, this was soon dropped seemingly due to licensing issues. ''Dead and Deader'' was director Patrick Dinhut's first feature film.
[ It is a lighthearted zombie movie, and has a strong comedic bent. The film is filled with pop culture references and joking aside, including '']Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' and '' Dawn of the Dead''. For example, the character Judson hints about Dean Cain's role as Superman on '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', at one point suggesting that Quinn use "heat vision" as a means of escape from a cooler.
Several characters have names containing pop culture references. For example, Armin Shimerman
Armin Shimerman (born November 5, 1949) is an American actor and author.
Early life
Shimerman was born into a Jewish family in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, Lakewood, New Jersey, on November 5, 1949, the son of accountant Susan and house painte ...
plays a character named "Flutie", which is a reference to his role on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer
''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...
''. Shimerman played principal Snyder
Principal R. Snyder is a fictional character in the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', played by Armin Shimerman. Shimerman originally auditioned for the role of Principal Flutie, but lost that role to Ken Lerner.Sprinder, Matt & St ...
, the successor to a principal named "Flutie". There is also a debate between Pvt. Connery and Pvt. Lazenby on the merits of various versions of ''James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
'' actors. Sean Connery
Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...
and George Lazenby
George Robert Lazenby (; born 5 September 1939) is an Australian actor. He was the second actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in '' On Her Majesty's Secret Service ...
were actors who played James Bond. The soldiers' conversation mirrors dialogue by director and writer Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film ''Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co ...
.
Release
The film made its debut on the Sci-Fi channel
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...
on December 16, 2006. It was later released to DVD in the US on April 10, 2007. In Australia, it was released via Starz Home Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television ser ...
in 2007, and had a theatrical release in 2008 in the UK via Fluid Entertainment.
Reception
Travis Estvold of ''Boise Weekly
''Boise Weekly'' is a newspaper in Boise, Idaho, United States. It was founded in 1992 by Andy and Debi Hedden-Nicely and Larry Regan.
It is owned by Adams Publishing Group's Western Division and is part of ''The Idaho Press''.
It has an unaudi ...
'' wrote "It probably would've done better as a 45-minute episode of The Outer Limits rather than as a feature film, except it may have even given that show a bad name". Jon Condit of Dread Central
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...
rated it 2/5 stars and wrote "By the time the closing credits rolled, ''Dead and Deader'' felt less like a new movie and more like a rejected mid-80s TV pilot".
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...
rated the film 3.5/5 stars, and wrote "Truth be told for a low budget feature that made its debut on the Sci-Fi Channel it definitely has its moments". Scott Weinberg of DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
rated it 2.5/5 stars and wrote "It's nothing but a low-budget, tongue-in-cheek mixture of ''Blade'', ''48 HRS.'', ''28 Days Later'', and any 'angry commando' action flick you can imagine – but it's also kinda fun, too".
Writing in ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, Volume 2'', academic Peter Dendle
Peter Dendle is a professor of English at Penn State Mont Alto, teaching classes on folklore, 20th and 21st century representations of the Middle Ages, Old and Middle English (language and literature), and the monstrous (in film, folklore, and s ...
said, "The film's promising opening deteriorates into buffoonery and yawny punch-lines."
References
External links
*
{{House of the Dead
2006 films
2006 horror films
2006 television films
2000s science fiction horror films
American science fiction horror films
2000s English-language films
American action horror films
American zombie comedy films
Military of the United States in fiction
Films set in Cambodia
Films set in California
Syfy original films
American horror television films
American science fiction action films
Action television films
American comedy television films
American science fiction television films
2006 directorial debut films
American exploitation films
American splatter films
American drama television films
2000s American films