Play Dead

Oh Boy!! You know your in Trouble when you realize that when you look at your watch at the 50 minute point of a 75 minute feature film and, that you have not laughed once, your in trouble. I'd like to be able to say I know how the film ends, but it was quite simply, so unbearably bad, I left at that point to partake in an activity of un-numbing my brain with copious amounts of alcohol. This film does a disservice to trashy cinema. I hereby apologize to John Waters, Doris Wishman and Russ Meyer

This is the kind of movie you rent for your overnight slumber party. It will make you laugh but it will also make you squirm. Jessica Stone steals the movie as the precocious 8 year old. Diva Zappa reminds me of a young Liza Minelli ala Sterile Cukoo era. The musical soundtrack is off beat and the direction is efficient and gutsy. Superior editing job.

Dale Spitler (played by Nathan Bexton) is that sweet stereotypical teenager on the cusp of coming out. He's a straight-A student and a member of the drama club. He has a part time job as a babysitter for precocious Dustine Murphy (played by Jessica Stone) which allows her trailer-court-trashy mother, Darlene, to go out drinking. When he's not talking on the phone with friend Violet (played by Diva Zappa), he's fantasizing about Raymond, a boy from school, that he has a crush on. Dale hatches a desperate plot to seduce Ray and when Dale does get him to stop by we see just how hopeless Dale's fantasies are. We see that Ray is an uncouth entirely hetero jock who barely knows that Dale is alive.

However, unbelievable things occur everyday in the movies and Violet soon calls Dale to tell him that she has accidentally killed Raymond in a traffic accident. She wants him to help dispose of the body, Dale realizes that he may now have his chance to get into Raymond's pants.

This comedy is low budget and it shows but the performances are earnest and enjoyable. Dale's puppy dog looks and mannerisms rob his homosexual necrophilia of its depravity. Diva Zappa is a hoot in her role as are the circumstances of the accident. Jessica Stone as the 'little kid' gets some of the best lines in the movie. There are continuity errors and incredibly odd plot elements but overall the movie is entertaining and successful.

This is the kind of film that is so bad, so tasteless, so disturbing, you're embarassed when you laugh out loud at it--as the crowd at the 2001 DC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival did last night. The acting is somewhat amateurish, and the writing leaves a lot to be desired, but the situations, instead of stopping short as in most black comedies, keep going right past the border of good taste. And the audience was dragged along in spite of itself. As the lights went up, there was a lot of sheepish looking around as if everyone wanted to reassure themselves that they weren't the only ones who enjoyed it. Worth seeing, if only to see how depraved you really are.

Gee, I'm awfully disappointed with all the pedestrian, goodie-two-shoed users trashing the hilarious treat that is PLAY DEAD!

This was easily the most exciting film I saw in Park City last winter. It's original, fun, campy, clever, tangy and bright. It simultaneously indulges and undermines deep fantasies of desire in an insightful-however exaggerated-way. It's harmless joy!

The characters are vibrant and new. The little girl ROCKS! The boys are cute. The dialogue is whimsical and clever. The acting is genuine, and taps well into the universal emotions beating through the script. The friendship between the kids and the hijinks with the mother character are a jungle gym of fun! Just because the good guy sodomizes what he thinks is a corpse doesn't make this experience any less delightful. Can't you people take a joke? Wouldn't you have given anything to nail the captain of the wrestling team in your high school?

The negative reviews are mostly coming from gay men who watched PLAY DEAD at various Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals around the U.S. It's too bad they're doing their part to make gay culture just as boring, uninspired, challengless and mediocre as the mainstream. What a sorry sack of saccharin prudes!

Yes, it's a low-budget production. There are a couple of shoddy jump-cuts that expose areas where the filmmakers needed more footage. Zappa is not a particularly skilled actress, either. But these are mere nits!

PLAY DEAD is carrying the baton for a fabulous legacy of proud and spirited comedies that champion unconventional relationships such as HAROLD AND MAUDE, HAIRSPRAY, or even SHREK.

Nathan Bexton is my hero, and you should all watch PLAY DEAD!