Weird Movie Wednesday: Dead and Breakfast

Welcome weirdo's to Weird Movie Wednesday. Today, I am going to relive a little bit of my childhood with you. I know that most of the movies I talk about I mention how they are a childhood staple, but this one is different. This one is especially special. Dead and Breakfast was one of the movies that my sibs and I picked with our mother in a video store. We had certain routines growing up, one of them was going to the video and novelty store on either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning and we would rent a couple of movies, grab a couple of snacks, and spend the day watching the garbage we picked out. Many titles were forgettable, but not this one. This one would stay with us for years to come until, just last year, I found a used copy that was in good condition. We revisit it every once in awhile and we have a great time, every time. I am so stoked to share this with you, so without further ado, Dead and Breakfast.

The movie starts with six kids Sara, Christian, David, Kate, Johnny, and Melody in an RV on their way to a friends wedding in Galveston, TX. They take a wrong turn, however, and end up in the small town of Lovelock. They decide to stop for the night at the local bed and breakfast owned by a peculiar man named Mr.Wise. Our odd troupe of friends decide to turn in for the night. One of the friends, who had passed out in the front room, wakes up in the middle of the night for a snack when he finds the cook of the house dead. Almost immediately after, Mr.Wise has a heart attack. Two dead in one night. The local sheriff suspects the kids and forces them to stay in town until the crime is all sorted out, causing the kids to miss the wedding. Little do they know that the circumstances of the deaths are far more strange than they seem.

Lovelock is a small, hick town complete with only one gas station and a singing gas attendant, a small records office, a bar, and a one-cell jail. A simple town for simple people. It is while the investigation of the B&B's owner and cook is in full swing that the sheriff of the town arrest a strange drifter who becomes the prime suspect. The drifter warns Sara and Christian about a mysterious box, owned by Mr.Wise, called the "Kuman Thong". The warning  too little too late, as Johnny finds and opens the box, unleashing the "Kuman Thong", possessing Johnny. This turns him into a violent, zombie-like creature, hell bent on turning as many people as possible. To possess more people, Johnny has to take a piece of another person (blood, usually) and close it in the box. This changes them instantly. So now, he is on the hunt. Sara and Christian return to the B&B to discover what Johnny had done and the two go to warn the sheriff. They all go to a local party at the only bar in town.

The other "non-possessed' friends had already arrived to the bar party, being shell-shocked by the friendly and boisterous locals. Suddenly, the other three burst in and warn everyone about the horror that is about to unleash itself on the town. Yet again, the warning comes a little too late and Johnny begins turning the town folk into mindless zombies. One of the friends is killed and the others hop in the sheriffs truck and they all head back to the B&B, picking up the drifter along the way.

When they arrive, the gang is brought up to speed on what is going on and decide that they need to make the B&B safe, gathering and making weapons out of anything they can find. While they are doing that, the drifter informs them of what is really going on and what they need to do about it. We all know that it is the mysterious "Kuman Thong" is what is possessing the locals and to stop it the group needs to retrieve the body of Mr. Wise, perform a ritual, sharpen his bones and stab Johnny, the one who opened the box. So, they split up, as you do in a horror film. The sheriff, drifter, and Melody run off to the cemetery to find Mr. Wise. The others stay at the B&B and try to survive. With their homemade weapons, the other three hold down the fort. Its during the bloodshed when Johnny notices that one of his friends blood is on the steps outside the house. All he has to do is swab up the blood, put it in the box and boom! he has a zombie on the inside. David, who's blood is outside, realizes Johnny's plan and does all he can to stop it. His efforts were in vain, however, and Johnny succeeds. Two out of the three insiders die, leaving one to fight off the rest of the zombies while the other three perform the ritual on Mr. Wise.

In the cemetery, the ceremony is going off without a hitch, they sharpen his bones sharp enough to pierce through some zombie flesh. However, on their way back to town, the sheriff is killed leaving the rest of the mission up to Melody and the drifter. They encounter a group of zombies, killing as many as they can. Eventually, Melody finds Johnny and without hesitation, places the sharpened bone to a bow and shoots it into his chest. They three survivors pile into the groups RV and ride off into the sunset.

That's the end of the summary. Its a little long and honestly a little underwhelming. It seems like a typical run of the mill zombie story, but it is so much more than that. There are details I failed to talk about including the art work in the beginning of the movie, how this movie is a sort of horror musical in the ways of a singing/rapping cowboy gas attendant, and how funny the dialog is. Let's start with the art.

The beginning of the movie begins with a comic style storyboard of the movie. It is unbelievably scary for such a low-budget movie. The pictures are in black and white, the only color being red to highlight the eyes of the victims, the color of their blood, it is all very good. I get goosebumps every time the movie starts. For a silly movie, it has genuinely scary moments.

Next is the musical and more light heart'd aspect of the movie. As the movie begins we meet this gas attendant who is playing some down home tunes with his band and their not bad. He is fully invested in his performance and the first time I saw this I thought that that was all we were gonna see of him...oh, how wrong I was. Anytime the story takes another turn he pops up on screen and tells you through song what is going on. At one point, he turns into a zombie and still sing narrates the story through a little folk song. The best part, however, is when he is outside the B&B and all the zombies are gathered around outside. He and his band are piled up on top of the RV and they start singing a rap/folk song about how they want blood and to kill the survivors. It is absurd, hilarious, and pretty scary, honestly. Not to mention that it is mad catchy. I find myself singing along and singing it later, long after the movie is over. This is one of the best things about this movie and I wish that there were more movies like it.

What sets this movie apart from other zombie movies is the banter between the zombies and the living people. In Dead and Breakfast, the zombies are not like ordinary zombies, they don't want to eat your flesh or swallow your brains, they just want a drop of your blood. So, they do change and they are dead, but they talk and can follow you. In fact, Johnny who becomes the head zombie has these great, sharp quips. He goes from being kind of a shy out-cast to the polar opposite. He doesn't want to be walked all over and isn't shy on letting everyone know who's the boss. He's loud, he's swearing, smoking, bossing people around, chopping off peoples heads, just being nasty. It is really awesome and something that you never see in any other movies.

The final thing I want to talk about is the cast. Dead and Breakfast has a pretty stellar cast including Beyonce's sister Bianca Lawson, Jeremy Sisto from Clueless, and Jeffery Dean Morgan from the Walking Dead. That's right, Jeffery Dean Morgan. He plays the towns sheriff, a sort of too big for his britches, bumbling sort of sheriff who thinks he's got everything under control. He's kind of dumb, but you end up loving him anyways. I didn't realize that was him until much later and he had been on the show for a while. It's always fun to watch an actors humble beginnings.

Oh man, what an awesome movie. I urge you to watch this one, totally. You won't be disappointed. It is funny, bloody, original and a little scary. It's just a lot of fun. You can find this online or in some stores, so give it a go. That's all I have for you. I hope you have enjoyed yourself. I have enjoyed sharing this one with you. If you like what you read, then let me know. Like, follow, comment, whatever. I'll be here. Until next time, Stay Spooky!