Dead Men Don't Die - Misplaced Pages

1990 American horror-comedy film

Dead Men Don't Die

Directed by	Malcolm Marmorstein
Written by	Malcolm Marmorstein
Produced by	Howard K. Grossman
Starring	Elliott Gould Melissa Sue Anderson
Cinematography	Tom Fraser
Music by	Mark Koval David C. Williams
Release date	1990 (1990)
Language	English

Dead Men Don't Die is a 1990 American horror-comedy film written and directed by Malcolm Marmorstein and starring Elliott Gould and Melissa Sue Anderson.

Plot

News anchor Barry Baron (Elliott Gould) discovers that a drug smuggling ring is operating out of the building where he works, and is chased down and eventually shot dead by the drug dealers. His co-anchor, Dulcie Niles (Melissa Sue Anderson) finds Barry's body, calls the police and prepares to film the investigation, but before the police can arrive Barry's body is stolen by the building's cleaner, Chafuka (Mabel King), who uses her voodoo powers to reanimate Barry's corpse as a zombie, allowing her to take over Barry's luxury apartment.

In order to keep up appearances, Chafuka has Barry, who is otherwise unable to speak, continue performing his news broadcasts by controlling him with a voodoo doll, while Dulcie continues to investigate the drug ring with the help of incompetent police detective Jordan Penrose (Mark Moses). Meanwhile, the head of the drug ring, Nolan (Phil Bruns) sees one of Barry's news broadcasts and assumes that his henchmen bungled Barry's murder, and sends them to finish the job off. When they arrive at the station however, they end up being killed in a series of mishaps, and Chafuka turns them into more zombies.

On seeing his zombified former henchmen, Nolan panics and takes refuge with the station's owner, Alex Cavanaugh (Jack Betts), who it turns out is the mastermind behind the drug ring. He takes Dulcie and Jordan hostage and has Nolan drive them to safety, while Barry, Chafuka and the zombie henchmen give chase. During the course of the chase Dulcie and Jordan are rescued, and then Nolan loses control of the car, with both he and Cavanaugh being killed in the resulting crash. Chafuka turns Cavanaugh and Nolan into zombies and then takes full control of the station, with Barry continuing as lead anchor after his original personality fully returns, and Jordan quitting the police to become the station's head of security, with the zombie Nolan and his henchmen becoming security guards.

Cast

Elliott Gould as Barry Baron
Melissa Sue Anderson as Dulcie Niles
Mark Moses as Jordan Penrose
Mabel King as Chafuka
Jack Betts as Alex Cavanaugh
Phil Bruns as Nolan
Robert Dryer as Mungo
Robert Covarrubias as Carlos
Phil Shipko as Frank
Stanley Kamel as Archie
Jerome Guardino as Neal Guardino

Reception

Author Terry Rowan in his book "The Book of the Undead A Zombie Film Guide" rated it a one-star and said "Sorry I couldn't stomach this film."

In the book "Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide," John Stanley rated it a one-star.

References

Leonard Maltin. Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide. Plume, 1995.
VV.AA. Variety Film Reviews, Volume 21. Garland Pub., 1991.
Rowan, Terry (2014-08-16). The Book of the Undead A Zombie Film Guide. Lulu. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-312-43947-4.
Stanley, John (2000-08-01). Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-425-17517-0.

External links

Dead Men Don't Die at IMDb

This article about a comedy horror film is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: