Pretty Good

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

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!

As a Rottie owner I have a lot of experience with peoples reactions to my choice of breed. "Oh, he's scary!", "Those are vicious dogs" and "Will he bite me?" are common things I hear on a day to day basis.Yet nobody has ever asked me if my dog will poison them, electrocute them or watch them getting it on! Why do I bring this up? Because the killer dog in this movie rarely kills anyone the way a normal dog would! For all the killing she does she could just as easily have been a toy poodle! This movie is just ridiculous, and not in the "good" way. Very slow moving story, and considering the subject, very tame deaths. All of the actors are bad, even Yvonne De Carlo. The only bright spot here is the Rottweiler Greta, who has been fantastically trained to do some really amazing stunts.

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.

Apparently a *construction company* produced this film? Well, that makes just about as much sense as anything.The movie starts with shots of a Rottweiler attacking a person who is prostrate on the ground. Then, we're at the funeral of a woman. Hester shows up, and her voice is instantly recognizable as that of the actress who played Lily Munster: yes, it is she.She is the late woman's sister, and she is not well liked by her sister's children.Hester is rich, and she is angry at her sister and her niece and nephew, because she had had a relationship with her sister's husband prior to their marriage., and she feels she would have been better for him. He died years ago, but she has a place of honor in her house for a photo of him, and she likes to imagine herself dancing with him in slow motion in front of a mirror.Hester owns a Rottweiler that she brought back with her from Europe. She also dabbles in black magic of some kind. She left a necklace with a pentagram on it in her sister's casket. The dog also has one on its collar. The dog also does things in slow motion.Hester gives the dog to her niece, and pretends that she cares about her niece and nephew now that her sister has passed on. However, she does rituals involving blood and chanting Latin in order to remotely cause the dog to bring about the deaths of her nephew, her niece's neighbor and boyfriend and others.The movie doesn't really have any resolution at the end. A real non-ending, not setting up a sequel, but just petering out without letting us know what happened to some of the main characters.