The Dead and the Damned

• Also known as Cowboys & Zombies
• Directed by Rene Perez
• July 17, 2010 (Another Hole In the Head Film Festival)

When a meteorite crashes in the Old West, it unleashes a zombie virus in the area.

A Rene Perez movie without Robert Bronzi/ Robert Kovacs? My knowledge of Perez is based solely on his work with the Bronsploitation star so I really had to watch The Dead and the Damned just out of curiosity. That and a Western zombie movie had me intrigued.

This is a movie that gets right to the point and doesn’t ask too much of the viewer. It’s all about gunplay and moderately slow moving undead. The action begins largely because of genuine stupidity by locals. It is like they did not even try for a good excuse to set things off. The rock gets found, brought into town, and smacked with shovels to get at presumed jewels inside which instead lets out a spore/gas/virus. The visual portrayal of that is inconsistent.

While all that is going on a bounty hunter named Mortimer (David Lockhart) is looking for a Native American of uncertain tribal association named Brother Wolf (Rick Mora) who is accused of rape and murder. The man has disappeared into the wilderness and taken out all who have come for him. So Mortimer purchases a young woman (REALLY!) from a local dealer selling brides/prostitutes named Rhiannon (Camille Montgomery) whom he plans to release should he be successful.

You will notice there is a lot of unnecessary nudity in this. I found it all reminiscent of 80s horror but not as well executed which is really strange when I write it down. You might be able to get away with a kid stumbling across a topless woman, but it gets creepy when an adult follows a woman just to see boobs. Not sure what Perez was going for but in the end I think the safe assumption is he hired some hotties on the condition of nudity. B and C movie directors do that because none of the actresses involved ever have enough clout to say “No.”

Rene Perez is no great director. I’m going to give him the designation of ‘serviceable’. He can do the job, but he’s not going to do something that hints at any great artistic achievement. Thus The Dead and the Damned is not a bad zombie action movie. The moments of excitement are well staged and entertaining. The characters on the other hand are kind of two dimensional and forgettable.

You would think Mortimer and Brother Wolf along with Rhiannon would form some unlikely trio, but they never come together that well. They never battle together in a fashion against oncoming hordes but do bicker amongst themselves. Worse, the closing scene that reveals another bounty hunter referred to only as The German (Robert Amstler) survived an earlier encounter somewhat makes the movie about he and Rhiannon rather than the would be trio.

The high-definition video used to capture the story makes everything look a little too pretty. The older I get the more I feel that traditional film stock is the way to go. The digital movie revolution lacks the visual authenticity of something from the 70s or 80s. While using video probably makes adding in fake blood squibs easier, it also makes them noticeable. It’s the same discharge shape every time a bullet hits.

There are some nice touches here. Once people are turned when they’re shot any blood they spew is a stinky green liquid. The appearance of the zombies is rather moist. Their facial features are obscured, but they dress in clothing and you can tell who was picked off even if the character doesn’t actually have an actual name.

The dialogue isn’t bad, but the acting is questionable. Either more takes were needed or they just needed better actors. Nobody really knocks it out of the park. They got to mostly okay. This just never is scary or funny or dark. It is a shoot ‘em up more akin to a game than a chaotic fight for survival. By the end though I felt I had enjoyed myself but memories were hard to recall.

The Dead and the Damned isn’t scary, but it is entertaining. It’s just fun but forgettable though I could see watching this again and then forgetting it again.