Dead and Breakfast (2004) directed by Matthew Leutwyler.
(MF Title: “Nothing like a zombie ho-down..”)
Starring Ever Carradine, Portia de Rossi, David Carradine, Bianca Lawson and Erik Palladino.
Zombie Film Rating:

Overview: A group of friends are driving to a wedding when they become lost and find themselves in the town of Lovelock. They are directed to the local Bed and Breakfast where their sleep is interupted first by the discovery of the murdered body of the chef in the kitchen, followed immediately by the owner suffering a heart attack and dying.

The local sheriff finds (not suprisingly) these deaths suspicious, and tells the travellers they must remain in town until his investigation is complete. Of course the accidental disturbance of a mysterious artefact by one of the travellers causes him to be possessed by an evil spirit that begins turning the entire towns population into zombies.

Will these cartographically challenged youths survive?

Summary: Christian, Sarah, Melody, Johnny, Kate and David are driving to Galvaston for the wedding of Kates best friend they have become lost, and find themselves in Lovelock. Exhausted they are directed to a bed and breakfast run by Robert Wise and his chef Henri. After making a horrific first impression the group turns in for the night retiring to their rooms with only David remaining downstairs passed out in a chair.

Waking up much later David feels peckish and helps himself to a pie in the fridge, and just as he is starting to enjoy his snack Kate arrives turning on the overhead light and discovering the body of Henri the chef slumped in the corner of the ktichen. Before the group can come to terms with this discovery the owner Robert suffers a heart attack and collapses. Neither survive the night.

The local sheriff finds the deaths highly suspicious and tells the group that they are to remain in town until he has concluded his investigation into the deaths at the B&B. The sheriff arrests a drifter for the murder of the chef, but before the group can leave town Johnny disturbs a supernatural artefact owned by Robert Wise and finds himself possessed by the evil spirit of Wises son who embarks on a prolific killing and zombification spree.

The remaining travellers team up with the Sheriff and the drifter and return to the B&B, barricading themselves inside. A discussion follows where it turns out the drifter is aware of the exact ceremony needed to return the evil demon to the artefact, and the group splits into two with one group heading to the cemetary to dig up Mr. Wise, and the other staying at the B&B to occupy the zombies.

Naturally things go wrong, casualties are taken, friends are turned into possessed zombies, shotguns are improvised and redneck zombies are mangled. In the end Melody, Sarah and the Drifter survive forcing the spriti inhabiting Johnny back into the artefact and then burning it before leaving town.

Of coruse the artefact didn’t actually burn, that’d be too easy.

Quotes:

• “That Frog he wasn’t liked much around here, covering up the true nature of food with his special sauces and whatnot”
  - Generic Yokel #215



• “I think defending ourselves from some demon spirit that is now inhabiting your best friends cousin ranks pretty damn high on the list of good excuses for not wanting to analyze our relationship right now. Could you hand me another one of those loaded pipes so I can take care of this tall freak with the axe that’s coming up the steps?

  - David

• “Is that you David? Say David, Did you ever tell Kate that you fucked my cousin?” – Johnny

  “That is so wrong.” – David

  “What the hell did he say?” – Kate
  “Nothing, nothing baby, he didn’t say nothing, the guy’s possessed for Christs sakes, you gonna listen to him?” – David

• “Friend, after what I’ve seen tonight you could tell me an evil spirit rose from the dead and decided to possess the entire town and I’d believe you.”
  - Lisa Belmont, Manager, Lovelock Hall of Records

Critique: What bothered me most about this film was the complete absence as to any sort of explanation for the killings at the B&B that trigger the events that follow. This little nitpick aside the movie is a lighthearted effort at a zombie movie. While a few of the jokes fall flat the humour seems to work more often than not.

The action takes a while to get started, but pretty much standard zombie fare can be expected from 2/3′s of the way through to the end. The movie also features a “thriller” style dance sequence by the zombies.

The Final Word: Screw it, let’s be honest. I enjoyed the movie, it will never rate as my absolute favorite zombie film, and it doesn’t really compare to Shawn of the Dead (although people keep doing it) but is an enjoyable zombie flick none the less. Go on, rent it, you know you want to.