Psychotronic Pride: Dead Don’t Die in Dallas

A miracle pill is invented that is supposed to cure all virus’ including HIV.  The religious right in particular is protesting the miracle drug, believing HIV was God’s punishment for “the homosexual”.  The Sunday after the pill is released, homophobic preacher Samuel Jeffress (Richard D. Curtin) and his wife, Janice (Krystal Summers) notice that none of their congregation is in church.  Beth-Anne Fetterman (Willam Belli), a beautician drag queen, is attacked at her salon by the owner who seems to have been zombified.  Samuel, Janice and their closeted son Ethan (Dillon Vineyard) are also attacked but survive.  Samuel and Janice get separated from Ethan and run to an abandoned building, Beth-Anne arrives soon after and Samuel refuses to let her in until Philomena “Phil” (Angelo Martinez), a butch lesbian boxer with a shotgun forces him to open the door.  Turns out Samuel and his “flock” protested the funeral of Beth-Anne’s husband and there is some hard animosity between the Jeffress and Beth-Anne.  Ethan is rescued by Ruben (Kenny Ochoa) and his wife.  Ruben is an religious fanatic and part of Samuel’s church, he is overly dominant towards his wife.  The trio, and a few other survivors make it back to the abandoned building, but the group holds some surprises.  It is finally explained that everyone who took the miracle pill turned into a zombie which can then be spread through a saliva / bite. Ethan’s secret is exposed to his father when he is caught kissing his love interest, and his father casts his son out, leaving him to be zombie chow.  As more characters die, the survivors are eventually rescued by survivalists Cooter (Tom Zembrod), Roscoe (Logan Wetzel) and their Ma (Allyn Carrell).  Some characters find redemption while others acceptance, and one in particular gets righteous justice for his actions.  And as the sun rises, the zombies seem to be dying naturally, the survivors band together to begin the rebuilding of society.

Dead Don’t Die in Dallas, is a 2019 comedy, campy horror parody of classic zombie movies.  It is purposely shot to look like a low budget 1970s-1980s film with a grainy texture and the classic change reel markers.  The writing is clumsy, campy and sometimes feels forced, but it doesn’t detract from the fun of the movie.  The performances are also a bit uneven, not so much with one actor being better than others, more so that certain scenes were performed with a lot more skill than others.  There are some very nice moments between many characters that range from tenderness to downright evil, but between them are scenes that almost felt improved. The introduction of Cooter might have also been a mistake.  Although his performance was energetic and not altogether unentertaining, it did cause the movie to drag on a bit at the end.

Even with the uneven writing and acting, and Cooter, this film is a lot of fun if you are gay and into zombie movies.  And the retro feel of the end product adds a lot to the overall experience.  It is not my favorite subgenre, but I really did enjoy this movie.  It also does a good job at highlighting the religious hypocrisy that festers in the religious right-wing extremists.  Reverend Samuel and his church are subtly compared to the Westboro Baptist Church cleverly without ever calling them by name.  Janice’s infidelity while acting pious and being part of a “holier than thou” church is a perfect example of selecting and choosing which sins matter, and when Janice is confronted with her involvement in Beth-Anne’s husbands funeral protest, it is pointed out to her that even though she may not have agreed with what they were doing, she was there and remained silent instead of standing up for her own beliefs. In the end, this is a fun parody with a lot of great scenes, some uneven writing and performances, and a good message buried underneath the camp!