Dead and Gone (2008)
4/10
Oddball horror thriller.
13 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Dead and Gone is set in Desert Wells, Nevada where failed actor Jack Wade (Quentin Jones) takes his comatose wife Frankie (Kathrine Bates) to the run down cabin he won in a poker game after all of their money ran out, Jake has to care for Frankie himself after Frankie's family have cut them out of her estate leaving him penniless. There are a few other locals including pretty Ranger Kate Edison (Gillian Shure) whom he starts to have an affair with, however despite warnings that bad things happen at the cabin Jake stays & starts to experience disturbing visions of his wife Frankie up & walking around taunting him. Jake finally snaps & kills Frankie but she doesn't want to stay dead & to protect his secret he has to kill again as the visions increase & become more bizarre, then Kate finds out the truth about Jake & the pieces begin to fit the puzzle...

Directed by Yossi Sasson this is an odd little horror thriller, I got the feeling while watching Dead and Gone that the makers weren't quite sure what it wanted to be & I still feel that way. Is it a horror film? Is it a psychological thriller? Is it a dark comedy? I don't know really, I suspect it's an uncomfortable mix of all three none of which are done particular justice. The plot never really comes together, it's never really explained if what happens is down to the supernatural, to Jake cracking up under pressure, whether it's because of all the drugs Jake takes or if it was all planned & things just went awry a little. In fact it could be a mixture of all those reasons or something else entirely, who know's. There are affairs, murders, fraud, ghost's & attempted rape all taking place in or around an old cabin in the woods. I just didn't think the various subplots & narrative came together that well, it leaves you asking just as many questions as are answered by the time the end credits roll (by the way keep watching once the end credits start as they get interrupted to show Penny turn up at the cabin &, well... find out for yourself). At just over 80 minutes in length it moves along at a reasonable pace & it's something a bit different but that doesn't automatically mean it's any good. It's never explained why Jake sees a vision of his wife Frankie before he kills her yet only sees visions of the other's after he kills them & the ending is open for interpretation as it's unclear whether Kate is now under the influence of the house or not or why she deliberately killed Jake.

The film looks alright but the isolated backwoods cabin is an often used location & nothing here is particularly distinguished. The gore is lacking, there's a cut off arm, a severed hand, a decapitated head & a bit of blood but nothing else. Dead and Gone also perpetuates the horror film cliché that all rednecks have bad teeth & will have sex with anything that moves even if it's the same gender. There's one brief sex scene but there's no proper nudity on show.

With a supposed budget of about $500,000 this was low budget & for that money it looks good & has decent production values & effects. Apparently filmed in Hollywood in Los Angeles. The acting is alright, it's nothing special but it will suffice.

Dead and Gone is an odd little film that doesn't really know what it wants to be or who to appeal to, while not the worst film out there it's not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination & it just doesn't quite manage to satisfy on any level.
5 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed