The Dead One

First off this film has yet to be seen in any theater because the Los Angeles VIP premier was but a few days ago. This movie(YES I actually did see this) was utterly excellent because it was a thriller and a comic crossover. This was such a refreshing movie because every "Scary" scene was not gore and random CGI filling the screen until your absolutely disgusted. No, this retraced the steps of all great horror scenes: the music, the absence of gore that makes your own imagination so much more terrifying and vivid than anything that could be portrayed visually, and having an all star cast like: Tony Plana and Billy Drago! Though this film is a comic-to-movie film, it lacked the major budget that most of these types of films have. This movie does pace slow but it is visually stunning... that is not filled with random flying body parts, but with actual plot and suspense. Even without this movie being filled with blood, gore, and CGI it still made half of the audience jump at the premier!!!

This is a great little movie. I love everything Day of the Dead and have been to Mexico several times and really enjoy the festival. This movie captures a lot of the feel of the holiday, set in a border town. The lead's costume is wonderful. I saw this with my boyfriend and while he liked it a lot, he found the ancient mythologies confusing. I figure that almost no one around can tell you a thing about Aztec, Mayan and Inca gods so I just accepted it all that it made sense. The acting is excellent. The eeriness was there, and the settings, particularly the cemetery, worked. I'm so happy to see a film like this out there. It shows that horror is a multi-dimensional genre and that not all films are Jason and Freddie. Kudos to the makers of this soft horror film. I hope it's successful for you.

Clad in his zombie mariachi costume twenty-one year old Diego is going to a Dia De Los Muertos party.Unfortunately for him he is abducted, sacrificed and resurrected by the Aztec Gods of Death and Destiny."El Muerto" is easily one of the worst so-called "horror" films I have seen recently.It's dull and completely unscary.There is no gore and some CGI effects look really poor.The film is based on the comic book series from Javier Hernandez,which I never read.The production values are surprisingly high and the cinematography is great,but the lack of suspense,gore and nudity can't be forgiven.Avoid this boring mess like the plague-you'll thank me later.3 out of 10 and that's being kind.

I am not familiar with the comic book this movie was based on but it seemed like a decent adaptation.I just stumbled across it at the DVD rental store and knew nothing about it.It has an interesting mythology and the actors all performed well and were convincing.I especially loved Zac's reaction when Diego came back from the dead and how no one believed him or took him seriously. I loved the outfit (or costume) Wilmer Valderrama (Diego) wore in the movie. It's dark & stylish and good for any occasion.I would love to wear something like that. The movie didn't really seem to end so i'm not sure whether sequels are planned,or if it is a pilot for a new series. Either way I liked it and the effects were good.The cinematography was nice and I liked how it was effective without gore and bad CGI effects. I look forward to seeing more movies about these character's if any more are planned and would like to read the comic now also.

People have been trashing this film, so instead of doing a standard review I'm just going to write a brief defense of this film. Was it incredibly awesome? No. I mean, it didn't have a lot of action or gore or beautiful women or anything that would normally make a horror film decent, but I don't think this was intended as a horror film.

Wilmer Valderrama ("That 70s Show") leads this film and does a fine job. I was never excited with him from TV, playing the part of either a naive foreigner or a trash-talking hoodlum. But here, he plays it pretty straight, just being one of the guys who happens to have a very bad thing happen to him (at least, I consider it bad if some Aztec god wants you to kill your girlfriend). There's a little bit of Mexican stereotype in here, but nothing blatantly racist.

The opening credits had scenes from what I assume is the comic book, or a close approximation. I have never read it, sadly (and in fact never even heard of it until now). Sometimes animation works, sometimes it doesn't ("Hood of Horror"). I liked it here, it seemed very natural -- even better than "Creepshow" in this regard.

I think the biggest problem people have with this film is the focus on a story rather than action and the overtly Mexican tones to the story, which few can identify with. I didn't really have an issue with it. With such notable guest stars as Billy Drago, it was easy to be entertained by this film. Oh well, you can't please everybody.

Now, I'm not suggesting you run out and rent this one right away. It's still not an exciting film. It's bland and little happens. So it doesn't deserve a high rating. But it does deserve better than what some people have been giving it, simply because I can point you to many, many worse films than this if you really want to know what awful is. "The Dead One" is a forgettable film, forgettable because it's neither too good or too bad to be noteworthy. It's the Goldilocks of Mexican super hero films.