DEAD & ROTTING

Produced by J.R. Bookwalter, Tammi Sutton, and Trent Haaga
Directed by David P. Barton
Written by Douglass Snauffer and David P. Barton
Edited by Dennis Peterson
Director of Photography - Michael W. King

Hollis - Stephen O'Mahoney
Abigail - Barbara Katz-Norrod
Abi - Debbie Rochon
J.B. - Tom Hoover
Asher - Jeff Dylan Graham

I once accused Full Moon of only making family-friendly horror. That doesn't necessarily mean that their films were for all ages, just that their films weren't "dangerous." The company wasn't taking any real chances with their work. Films were tepid and tame . The movies were pre-packaged and sold like Hollywood blockbusters. They were "safe" units that could be sold worldwide and not have to worry too much about angering the censors.

As a reviewer, I wonder how many more ways I can rephrase the above paragraph. After almost a year and a half, that passage is still prefacing every Full Moon review due to my pure amazement at the current wave of titles being released. After seeing so much dreck from Full Moon in the early to mid 1990's, it's nice to see the "fun" returning to their output. The films still aren't "dangerous", but at least they're enjoyably fun. I guess you could call them "fan-friendly as opposed to "family-friendly."

Like HELL ASYLUM from Danny Draven, David Barton's DEAD & ROTTING is an EC horror comic come to life. Rural-gothic atmosphere is blended with sexual black comedy to create one of the more all-around satisfying pictures in the Full Moon canon. Where some of the other recent films relied on padding to fulfill the 70-minute running time, DEAD & ROTTING is all story and character.

Stephen O'Mahoney is Hollis, the unspoken leader of a trio of life-long, blue collar friends attempting to play a game of one-upmanship with an aging local witch. After the three take things too far, the witch makes matters personal. Getting burned is the least of your worries when you play with supernatural fire.

The aging witch is played by Tempe Video regular Barbara Katz-Norrod who gives a much more menacing performance than the actresses who have played Lilith in Full Moon's other magical franchise, WITCHOUSE. Barbara is less ham than beef in the sense that she doesn't play up the camp that seems to go along with the Lilith figure.

There's a scene towards the end between her and Stephen O'Mahoney that sets up the climax. Stephen has just had sex with a younger version of Abigail played by Debbie Rochon. During the sequence Debbie transforms back to Barbara. Barb delivers some doomsday dialogue with an icy, deadpan seriousness that genuinely chills to the spin.

As the young Abigail, Debbie Rochon gives her most smouldering sex-pot performance since BROADCAST BOMBSHELLS. There's a scene between her and Stephen O'Mahoney in a bar where she seduces him simply by wavering back and forth in her seat. It took me back to the first time I ever saw her in a movie, the woman's stunning features had my heart skipping beats. Looking back, that flick might have been SANTA CLAWS, a movie I can't honestly recommend. 7 years later and Debbie hasn't lost a thing. The woman could still stop traffic.

Usually, you don't find B-Independent reviews focusing on the talent, but DEAD & ROTTING is an actor's movie. They are the people that make it work. Everyone has that look like they're in on the joke, but no one wants to admit it. It's their deadpan take on the roles that allow for the true black comedy to shine through in some of the more cartoon-ish instances. If Barton didn't help his actors hit their notes just right, DEAD & ROTTING would be dismissed and lumped with the Full Moon titles of old rather than being able to stand alone as a four-color ball of fire.

The Special Edition DVD presentation is top-notch. No one consistently provides horror fans with more DVD bang for than buck than Tempe Video, no one! There's a career retrospective interview with director Barton, as well as 30 minutes of short films he made as a teenager (or so the insert says, I could only find the one 17 minute short listed in the on-screen menus). The disc is also home to second feature, the uber-hilarious FILTHY MCNASTY from Low Budget Productions. There's also a 15-minute makeup FX doc and two galleries of stills. The only disappointment is the main Behind the Scenes documentary which comes across as random and unfocused. The commentary with Barton and actor Hoover is especially enjoyable. The two posses an extremely dry wit that makes their story telling abilities the icing on an already worthwhile DVD cake.

Tempe Video
Full Moon Pictures