Play Dead

source: Play Dead

Play Dead

Play Dead aka Killer Dog is a pretty mild horror film about an mean spirited elderly woman (Yvonne De Carlo), who uses her rothweiler Greta (one of the nicest dogs you have ever seen) to get rid of a few people who are in her way. And not in the kind of way you would expect from a dog which is supposed to be ferocious, De Carlo uses cuty pie Greta and her black magic to kill her victims off in quite creative ways, how to discribe this movie... Greta the killer dog convinces the audience to be one of the most lovable dogs ever, and the added growling effects are quite laughable. They tried to add some intensity to use slow motion each time Greta comes in action, which failed in my opinion. The death scenes them selves are a bit foreboding, you know what's about to happen before the deaths itself. A bit of gore would've been nice (since there isn't any), to make a long story short. I would only reccommand this "killer"dog flick if you're into unknown works of obscurity.

Right off, I have to explain why I've given this film ten stars. Bad films are something of an art form in themselves. Think Ed Wood, think Brian DePalma (come on... be honest, he s*cks, and you know it.) Play Dead has no pretensions. It knows it's a pile of crap, and it revels in it (in as much as a film can do anything more than just exist, but bear with me, I've got this theory...) Look, the dog, while a bit underbitten and mopish looking, just excludes sweetness. She's a Serious Canine Actress, and a God Dog, and she's trying -- for God's sake. Can't say much for Lily Munster though, except, for a husky old broad, she still looks pretty good. Come on -- it's a film about a Satan-inspired Rottweiler serial killer, what did you expect? Straw Dogs? Mystic River? Hell Comes to Frog Town? Hand me another Heinekin and I'll shut up, serious. And come on -- the dog was cute.

In PLAY DEAD, Hester (Yvonne De Carlo) lives with Greta, her friendly Rottweiler. Hester just wants her family to be close, though most of them can't stand her, only wanting her vast fortune. One day, Hester decides to use her occult powers to make things right. Soon enough, her relatives begin having terrible "accidents", seemingly caused by a big dog. Hmmm. The police are stumped, unable to prove anything about these "coincidences". As Hester continues her ritualistic mumbo jumbo, her family shrinks through severe attrition. Released through Troma, this is one of their better acquisitions. Contains semi-gory violence, nudity, and 1980's cheeeze aplenty! Though it's somewhat slow in spots, Ms. De Carlo is at her best! It's her appearance that raises this above the usual bilge...

I expected at best a kind of Poor man's CUJO or something in the line of WHITE DOG but I was misunderstaood. It is a horror thriller with a painful watch for me to find the great Yvonne De Carlo lost in such a mess. I loved so much De Carlo in Paramount features from the fifties, adventures little gems made in Technicolor, and it it hurts me to assist to her downfall in such grade Z films. She is still beautiful for her age. That's the only thing that I will remember from this film. Just the last minutes are interesting.

Trashy looking horror movie about an angry old woman (Lily from The Munsters) who uses her devil worship on a dog to get even with her family members. The dog stalks the family members and many 'accidents' occur. Sluggish in many spots, and never really entertaining. It looks like it was slickly produced at times, but also seems like maybe the production was rushed. The horror scenes are pretty bland and the most exciting come when Lily Munster holds demonic séances. The horror scenes with the dog are pretty much forgettable. Features some nudity, some violence, a woman electrocuted in a bath tub, and that's about it. One Star.

Not a great deal you can say about a film where the best acting comes from a dog. Yvonne De Carlo is supposed to be creepy and scary as the evil aunt but she was far more frightening as Lily in the 'Munsters.' The cops investigating the killing done by the aunt's evil possessed canine seem to have acquired their detective skills from a mail correspondence course from the back of a magazine. It's not surprising that they fail to solve the crimes. It's left to auntie to be the architect of her own doom when she seriously upsets the pooch. Word of warning: if you have 'Satan's Dog' (as my DVD copy was entitled), never, ever get on it's wrong side as it will all end in tears..... Dull and boring, poorly acted, a waste of time really. Go watch 'Cujo' or the original 'Hound of the Baskervilles.'

I've been after this movie for a while, though mainly because of the cool VHS cover and the fact that Yvonne De Carlo is in it. Well, I finally found a copy at a market. The film didn't live up to my expectations, but I'm used to that, being a fan of low budget horror. The film is kind of watchable and semi-interesting, but isn't much of a horror film because there are no violent deaths. The deaths are caused by the dog but in very tame ways. The plot also seems muddled and the motivation for the killings is unclear. I found the ending rather bizarre but slightly surprising. The main reason to seek this film out as far as I'm concerned is the VHS cover (the UK one). It looks good amongst my collection of big box horror films and I love the artwork. Other than that, there's little reason to seek out this film, even for fellow fans of low-budget horror.

This might be some kind of b-movie classic. This is a film where a dog is the killer, but those expecting Cujo style dog attacks will be well let down, because this dog does it's whacking gangland style, yo. Some Auntie who's into Satan and all that jive isn't too happy with the way her dead sister's estate turned out (I think). So she trains up this dog to be a killer and gives it to her niece as a present. Only prob is that this dog is out to kill all of aunt's enemies and does so by accidental car death, electrocution, strangulation and poison. Like you I was wondering why it didn't just rip the throats out of folks, but there you go. Maybe it was because the dog involved was such a cutey and no one could believe it could kill someone using it's teeth. Who knows. Also, there's this sex scene that seems to involve body doubles, and the body double covering for the chick has bweuubs three times the size of the actress she's covering for so watch out for that. This film is great!