The Dead Want Women - Ariana Madix

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by Charles Band
USA 2012

Silent film diva Rose Pettigrew (Jeanette Louise O'Sullivan, GINGERDEADMAN 3: SATURDAY NIGHT CLEAVER) gives a party for the premiere of her latest film (with herself as guest of honor). When she learns that the film has bombed in favor of a talkie and that the studio has cancelled her contract, she flies into a rage and murders her equally depraved three friends: western actor Sonny Barnes (Eric Roberts, THE EXPENDABLES), Lon Chaney-esque horror star Erik Burke (Robert Zachar, POINT BLANK), and Fatty Arbuckle-esque comic Tubby Fitzgerald (J. Scott [bizarrely billed as "Nihilist Gelo"], ZOMBIES VS STRIPPERS) - and a naked flapper girl (Jeannie Marie Sullivan, aka adult film actress "Jeanie Marie") - before slitting her own throat. Eighty-odd years later, Rose's mansion has remained unsold until first-time realtors Reese (Jessica Morris, BLOODY MURDER) and Danni (Ariana Madix, KILLER EYE: HALLOWEEN HAUNT) receive a letter ("who writes a letter anymore") from an interested buyer. The women cannot afford a clean crew, so they decide to do it themselves while waiting for the mysterious buyer. While cleaning the garden waterfall, Reese finds a diamond necklace which she assumes to be costume jewelry. Danni confirms that it is real and convinces Reese to wear it. While waiting for the buyer, they celebrate their pending sale with champagne and fall asleep. As they sleep, the house begins to become alive again and soon the girls are tormented by the apparitions of Sonny, Erik, and Tubby because, well... THE DEAD WANT WOMEN.

Producer/director Charles Band’s latest feature is barely feature length at seventy-four minutes, but I don’t think fans will be complaining about the odd structure (the opening flashback is roughly twenty minutes so the story proper must unfold in the remaining forty-odd minutes [having subtracted the long opening and closing credit sequences]). Looking more like a Cinemax softcore entry than a Full Moon horror flick, the film is light on skin and most of the gore is inflicted on the already dead and decayed. The lead actresses are limited but fare well with the scream queen histrionics, while the monstrous trio are more interesting (as well as the novelty of seeing Eric Roberts in a latter-day Full Moon feature. Make-up effects are up to Full Moon’s DTV-era standards (O’Sullivan in ghoul form exhales cigarette smoke both through her mouth and gaping throat wound) and the digital visual effects are unobtrusive, but the most intriguing technical aspect is William Levine’s score which takes on a more sentimentally melodic tone late in the film almost reminiscent of some of Ennio Morricone’s less experimental work (Levine started out scoring for Full Moon as part of the Aman Folk Orchestra whose themes appeared in the SUBSPECIES quadrilogy). Presumably, THE DEAD WANT WOMEN is one of the first Full Moon productions funded by donations going by the thirteen credited executive producers in the end credits (besides the three in the main credits) and an almost equal amount of VP Executive Producers.

Eric Cotenas

Theatrical Release: 1 May 2012 (USA)

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DVD Review: 88 Films - Region 0 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	88 Films Region 0 - PAL
Runtime	1:10:57 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.7 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles	none
Features	Release Information: Studio: 88 Films Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • Behind the Scenes (16:9; 14:38) • Stills Gallery • Original Trailer (1:19) • Full Moon Trailer Park featuring SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA, PUPPET MASTER, • MERIDIAN, GINGERDEADMAN 2: PASSION OF THE CRUST, TOURIST TRAP, ZOMBIES VS STRIPPERS, PIT AND THE • PENDULUM, SKULL HEADS, CASTLE FREAK, and CANNIBAL WOMEN IN THE AVOCADO JUNGLE OF DEATH • DVD-ROM: Original Screenplay (.pdf) DVD Release Date: July 30th, 2012 Amaray Chapters 12

Comments

88 Films' progressive, anamorphic widescreen of this HD-lensed flick probably looks as good as it can in SD (although I'm betting it probably doesn't look that much hotter in HD). Audio is rendered in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and gets the job done (one or two lines of on-set dialogue could stand to have been relooped since they get drowned out by the score). The behind-the-scenes segment features very little behind the scenes footage and is not very revealing, mainly consisting of talking heads (all of the main cast except Roberts) with sound-byte comments. Besides the trailer, Full Moon trailers, and still gallery, the UK disc has also included the film's screenplay in PDF form as a DVD-ROM supplement (I don't believe that this is included on the R1 edition).

Although there is no Blu-ray available in either country, the 88 Films menus look oddly Blu-Ray-like with pop-ups (although they are static) and “X Close” buttons rather than “Main Menu” options.

- Eric Cotenas

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