Dead Men Don't Die

Last updated
Dead Men Don't Die
Dead-men-dont-die-poster.jpg
Directed by Malcolm Marmorstein
Written byMalcolm Marmorstein
Produced byHoward K. Grossman
Starring Elliott Gould
Melissa Sue Anderson
CinematographyTom Fraser
Music byMark Koval
David C. Williams
Release date
  • 1990 (1990)
LanguageEnglish

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. [1] [2]

Contents

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

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." [3]

In the book "Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide," John Stanley rated it a one-star. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Zombi 2</i> 1979 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Zombi 2 is a 1979 Italian zombie film directed by Lucio Fulci. It was adapted from an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti to serve as a sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), which was released in Italy under the title Zombi. It stars Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, and Richard Johnson, and features a score by frequent Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi. Frizzi's score has been released independently of the film, and he has performed it live on tour.

<i>White Zombie</i> (film) 1932 film by Victor Hugo Halperin

White Zombie is a 1932 pre-Code horror film independently produced by Edward Halperin and directed by Victor Halperin. The screenplay by Garnett Weston, based on The Magic Island by William Seabrook, is about a young woman's transformation into a zombie at the hands of an evil voodoo master. Bela Lugosi stars as the zombie master "Murder" Legendre, with Madge Bellamy appearing as his victim. Other cast members include Joseph Cawthorn, Robert W. Frazer, John Harron, Brandon Hurst, and George Burr MacAnnan.

<i>The Plague of the Zombies</i> 1966 British film

The Plague of the Zombies is a 1966 British horror film directed by John Gilling and starring André Morell, John Carson, Jacqueline Pearce, Brook Williams, and Michael Ripper. The film's imagery influenced many later films in the zombie genre.

<i>The Video Dead</i> 1987 film by Robert Falcon Scott

The Video Dead is a 1987 horror film written and directed by Robert Scott and starring Roxanna Augesen. The screenplay concerns a paranormal television that causes zombies from a never-ending film to enter the real world. The film was released direct-to-video and has been re-released several times since then.

<i>Zombie Nightmare</i> 1987 Canadian horror film

Zombie Nightmare is a 1987 Canadian zombie film produced and directed by Jack Bravman, written by John Fasano, and starring Adam West, Tia Carrere, Jon Mikl Thor, and Shawn Levy. The film centres around a baseball player who is killed by a group of teenagers and is resurrected as a zombie by a Haitian voodoo priestess. The zombie goes on to kill the teens, whose deaths are investigated by the police. The film was shot in the suburbs of Montreal, Canada. It was originally written to star mostly black actors but, at the request of investors, the characters' names were changed to more typically white names. While Bravman was credited as director, Fasano directed the majority of the film. Problems occurred between Fasano and the production crew, who believed him to be assistant director and ignored his directions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Maberry</span> American author (born 1958)

Jonathan Maberry is an American suspense author, anthology editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. He was named one of the Today's Top Ten Horror Writers.

<i>Sugar Hill</i> (1974 film) 1974 film by Paul Maslansky

Sugar Hill is a 1974 American horror blaxploitation zombie film, directed by Paul Maslansky and starring Marki Bey as the title character who uses voodoo to get revenge on the people responsible for her boyfriend's death. It was released by American International Pictures. According to the film, the zombies are the preserved bodies of slaves brought to the United States from Guinea. AIP had previously combined the horror and blaxploitation genres with Blacula (1972) and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973).

<i>Fatal Beauty</i> 1987 film by Tom Holland

Fatal Beauty is a 1987 American action comedy thriller film directed by Tom Holland, and starring Whoopi Goldberg as Detective Rita Rizzoli, and Sam Elliott as Mike Marshak. The screenplay was written by Hilary Henkin and Dean Riesner. The original music score was composed by Harold Faltermeyer. The film was marketed with the tagline "An earthquake is about to hit L.A. It's called Detective Rita Rizzoli."

<i>Waxwork</i> (film) 1988 film by Anthony Hickox

Waxwork is a 1988 American comedy horror film written and directed by Anthony Hickox in his directorial film debut and starring Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Johnson, David Warner, Dana Ashbrook, and Patrick Macnee. It is partially inspired by the 1924 German silent film Waxworks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie</span> Undead creature from Haitian folklore

A zombie is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in which a zombie is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly magical practices in religions like Vodou. Modern media depictions of the reanimation of the dead often do not involve magic but rather science fictional methods such as carriers, fungi, radiation, mental diseases, vectors, pathogens, parasites, scientific accidents, etc.

<i>The Midnight Hour</i> 1985 American comedy horror film

The Midnight Hour is a 1985 American made-for-television comedy horror film directed by Jack Bender and starring Shari Belafonte-Harper, LeVar Burton, Peter DeLuise, and Dedee Pfeiffer. Its plot focuses on a small New England town that becomes overrun with zombies, witches, vampires, and all the other demons of hell after a group of teenagers unlocks a centuries-old curse on Halloween.

<i>Alfred Hitchcock Presents</i> (1985 TV series) American anthology series which started airing in 1985

Alfred Hitchcock Presents, sometimes called The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1985 to 1986 and on the USA Network from 1987 to 1989. The series is an updated version of the 1955 eponymous series.

<i>Getting Straight</i> 1970 US comedy film by Richard Rush

Getting Straight is a 1970 American comedy film motion picture directed by Richard Rush, released by Columbia Pictures.

<i>Ghost Brigade</i> 1993 film

Ghost Brigade is a 1993 American supernatural horror film set during the American Civil War and directed by George Hickenlooper. Starring Corbin Bernsen, Adrian Pasdar, and Martin Sheen, the film was also released under the alternate titles The Killing Box, Grey Knight, and The Lost Brigade.

The Dead One is a 1961 American independent horror film written, produced and directed by Barry Mahon. It stars John McKay, Linda Ormond, Monica Davis and Clyde Kelly. The narrative follows two cousins—one a businessman (McKay), the other a woman who practices voodoo (Davis)—who each seek control of their family's Louisiana plantation.

<i>Dawn of the Mummy</i> 1981 American horror film by Frank Agrama

Dawn of the Mummy is a 1981 American horror film directed by Frank Agrama, who also served as writer and producer on the film. While not prosecuted for obscenity, the film was seized and confiscated in the UK under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 during the video nasty panic.

<i>Monster Brawl</i> 2011 Canadian film

Monster Brawl is a 2011 independent Canadian horror comedy film directed by Jesse Thomas Cook.

<i>The Dead Dont Die</i> (1975 film) 1975 American horror film

The Dead Don't Die is a 1975 American made-for-television neo-noir horror thriller film set in the 1930s, directed by Curtis Harrington from a teleplay by Robert Bloch, based upon his own story of the same title that first appeared in Fantastic Adventures, July 1951. The film originally premiered on NBC on January 14, 1975. The film uses the traditional Haitian concept of zombies as resurrected slaves of the living.

<i>Murder by Phone</i> 1982 American film

Murder by Phone is a 1982 science fiction slasher film directed by Michael Anderson. Its plot follows a series of murders committed by a disgruntled phone company employee who designs a device that kills victims when they answer their telephones.

References

  1. Leonard Maltin. Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide . Plume, 1995.
  2. VV.AA. Variety Film Reviews, Volume 21. Garland Pub., 1991.
  3. Rowan, Terry (2014-08-16). The Book of the Undead A Zombie Film Guide. Lulu. p. 49. ISBN   978-1-312-43947-4.
  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.