Thebluemaji "Dead at the Box Office" may not be "Shaun of the Dead", but it had the kid from "Hook" in it. Sometimes you have to look at movies in steps. You can rip a movie apart as a critical viewer or you can see the good in it and enjoy it for what it is. I don't exactly know these guys well, but I met them at the screening and they have great potential. Look at "Clerks" if you want to see how a group of people can grow. Kevin Smith started out with a decent film and they evolved. DATBO was easily as entertaining as most of what goes on TV lately. Do you really want to be the guy or girl who jumped to criticality over someone's dream? The bottom line is that this is a start. With such a minimal budget, I'd say DATBO was a hit. What could they do with 50 million? Some see crap, but I see great potential. I was lucky enough to meet with some of these guys through Mark Racop and Magic House Productions. The Dead at the Box Office people are going somewhere. These people have a passion for film. There are always going to be a few kinks on the first ones, but I think it's great that someone is seeing through with their passion for creating Art. The only people who should criticize a film are fellow filmmakers. You can't fully understand the difficulty behind a film unless you make them yourself. Give these people time and see what comes from them. I personally liked it and I thought they did an excellent job overall. It was kind of like trying to sit through a Tom Cruise movie in some places, but mostly I just laughed. Could you do any better?

kyvelium Most original INDIE horror comedy I have seen yet! We need more horror comedy! Keep up the good work guys! This movie needs to be remade on a big budget level and I hope Hollywood takes a good hard look at this and makes it happen. Knowing this movie was made on a shoestring budget makes a person appreciate all the hard work and effort it takes to make a movie. Most norms out there have no idea how much dedication, time, and personal expense a movie takes to make. It takes a lot of dedicated friends and help to make it happen. These guys appeared to have all of that and hats off to them for getting the chance to make their dream come true. Anyone who bashes efforts made on this level should be ashamed of themselves! Those out there that undermine INDIE movies are basically envious morons who are too lazy to get off of their dead butts and do the same. If you did you would appreciate ALL Indie movies. Good luck guys and keep true to your dreams!

jessedorjeirwin It's obvious that the people who made 'Dead At The Box Office' love B-movie horror. Overt references to the genre are peppered throughout, from stock characters (the authority figure who doesn't believe the monstrous invasion is really happening) to Kevin Smith style discussions to reenacting Duane Jones' last moments from 'Night of the Living Dead' not once but twice.Unfortunately it takes more than love to make a good movie.The staging and shot choice are unexciting and unimaginative. While a common admonition in film school is to avoid 'Mastershot Theatre,' telling the story completely in a wide master shot, here we find the obverse as in several sequences it's hard to figure out the spatial relationships between characters as the story is told in a series of medium shots with no establishing shot to tie it together. Editing is drab and basic and at times there are unmotivated cuts. The lighting is flat and sometimes muddy, making the scenes in the darkened theatre hard to make out (was there lighting, or was this shot with available light only?). Some shots are out of focus. The dialogue is trite, and the performances, for the most part, one-note (Isaiah Robinson shows some energy and screen presence as Curtis, and the fellow playing the projectionist has some pleasantly dickish line readings; Michael Allen Williams as the theater manager and Casey Kirkpatrick as enthusiastic film geek Eric have some nice moments). The premise is silly, even for a B horror flick (Also, it's too bad Dr Eisner was unaware of Project Paperclip - he could've saved himself a lot of trouble!). The 'zombies' are non-threatening, and their makeup is unconvincing (although the chunky zombie trying to get a gumball out of the machine raised a smile). For a zombie fan film, there is very little blood or violence, although what there is, is handled pretty well. The incidental music, while stylistically uneven, is kind of nice at times, and there are some good foley effects. The 'Time Warp' parody was a fun listen, although the images going along with it were less fun to watch. Unfortunately, the looped dialogue sounds flat. Was this shot non-sync (doubtful, it looks like video through and through)? I watched the special introduction by Troma Films' Lloyd Kaufman before the main feature - although it consisted essentially of Kaufman plugging his own stuff and admitting that he hadn't seen the movie while someone mugged in a Toxie mask, its production and entertainment values were higher than 'Dead...' itself (quick aside to whoever put the DVD together - the countdown on film leader beeps only on the flash-frame 2, not on every number plus one more after). For that matter, the vampire film theatregoers are seen watching early in 'Dead...' looked a lot more entertaining than this. Recommendation to avoid, unless you know someone involved in the production or are an ardent Lloyd Kaufman completist (he plays 'Kaufman the Minion' in the film-within-a-film).(Full disclosure: my girlfriend is an extra in this movie. I swear this did not color my review.)

mrquint_74 I can honestly say it is the most interesting and refreshing take on zombie films i have seen in years. It takes a tried and true film genre and puts a spin on it that will leave you actually wondering where a zombie film will go. While dialog can be long at times. What zombie film doesn't suffer from this. The special effects and action will quickly grab your attention. But more then anything the well thought out story makes this one of my favorite independent films of all time. Zombie fan or not, Dead at the Box Office will leave you remembering what a good story can actually do for a film.