Dead Inn (1997) | Merits of Sin | Region-Free (DVD)

Title: Dead Inn (1997)

Alternate Title: Hillcrest Inn

Genre: Horror

Plot Synopsis
When a group of escaped convicts come across an old-looking inn, they decide to hide out there. But the guests at this inn get a new kind of room service when a mysterious potion summons a demon and causes bloodthirsty zombies to rise from their graves in search of live prey.

Cast and Crew

• Director: Jim Goodman

• Writers: Henry J. Lindley

• Cast:

  • Todd Kimsey as Johnny Burns

  • Edgar Allan Poe IV as Doc

  • Mark Jeffrey Miller as Bob

  • Kerstin Steinbach as Billie Jo

  • Jessica Russo as Kelly

IMDb Link: Dead Inn (1997)

Reviews from Letterboxd:

1. Hollie Horror – ★★★
   “I shouldn’t love Dead Inn but I can’t help but find it totally endearing. A group of convicts escape imprisonment and end up stranded at an Inn/morgue in North Carolina run by an actor in old man makeup that was scarier than literally anything else in this movie, he was a smooth-talking ‘elderly’ undertaker/medium/inn owner/grandfather in thick, ghastly-white face-paint looking like Orville in Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, sometimes his facepaint is dark grey. There’s demons from hell, magic regenerating dust, an animatronic skeleton, a lot of corpse-fucking-humor, an inner-city-gang-related -cigarettes kill PSA and some of the best/worst music I’ve heard all day.”

2. Scumbalina – ★★½
   “Overall not really my scene. Goofy muppet baby crypt keeperz nightmares except live action, boring and maybe Canadian. Featuring Edgar Allan Poe IV which seems significant but may not be. There’s a colorful experimental drug dream in the middle. Hokey poky Agatha Christie’s Witchboard Skeleton Bat Demon Prop available at your local Spirit Halloween. Ghost Town, Phantom Town, Spooky World haunted house explosion. Cute monsters but terrible everything. It’s a ham sandwich and I sortaa hate it. edit The music that plays over the end credits is amazing.”

3. Shea Mossefin – ★★½
   “Cringe factor: 7/10 but a fun, weird little production that I’d guarantee was rehearsed and performed like a play. The final release on micro VHS label Spectrum. A ghoulish inn host played by Edgar Allen Poe IV in heavy horror host makeup is running a mortuary out of his basement managed by his granddaughter, who has developed a powder that reanimates the dead. When escaped convicts take over the inn, the powder is put to use and an out-of-place seance…”

Meta Description:
A low-budget horror-comedy blending undead mayhem, supernatural antics, and campy charm, Dead Inn (1997) delivers a quirky tale of convicts, demons, and reanimated corpses in a haunted inn.