Rechristened The Dead One for its cinematic incarnation, this adaptation of El Muerto stars Wilmer Valderrama (of television's That 70's Show) as Diego de la Muerte, a Mexican-American living in Los Angeles. While on his way to a Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration, Diego gets into an accident. Lying on the side of the road he has what he mistakes for some sort of hallucination, but in actuality Diego has died, and meets up in the netherworld with Mictlanehcuhtli, the Aztec God of the Death. After he awakes on the side of the road, Diego soon learns that while it is still Dia de Los Muertos, an entire year has passed since his accident, and that he has actually risen from the grave for reasons he can not yet comprehend (unfortunately, it is also difficult for the audience to comprehend much of the purpose behind Diego's resurrection). While our bewildered hero attempts to unravel the mystery of his new existence as one of the walking dead, an ancient evil looms on the horizon, bringing with it the threat of extinction to the entire human race. Can Diego save the day, or is he a pawn in the sinister ploy to rein death and destruction on mankind?

The Dead One is, if nothing else, an ambitious film that tries to be something of merit. But the film is beset by so many problems that for all of its sincere efforts to be good, it only seems to reach that goal infrequently and by accident. Written for the screen and directed by Brian Cox, The Dead One has the look, feel and pace of a made for Sci-Fi Channel movie, or perhaps the pilot episode of a new series on Spike TV. Seriously, you keep waiting for there to be commercial breaks. Cox exhibits rudimentary competence as a director, but nothing by way of visual flair, creating a by-the-numbers look that is neither compelling nor exciting. Cox's lack of directorial muscle would be more excusable if his script was better, but that too is tepid at best, and often times aimlessly wanders into the realm of confusing.

Wilmer Valderrama's performance is the closest thing to the glue that holds The Dead One together; but as far as glue goes, Valderrama is pretty low-tack. It is clear that Valderrama is giving it his all, but Cox' script and direction either asks little of him, or simply does not know what to do with him. As written in the script, Diego is not what you would call a "fully developed" character, but he's not exactly enigmatic either. Instead, Diego, like all the characters in The Dead One seems under-developed, as do their relationships. This is especially true of Diego and his girlfriend Maria (Angie Cepeda), who manage to generate not a single spark of romantic heat.

The Dead One is the sort of film you don't really hate, but you find yourself working so hard to like it that you start getting pissed off. By the third time you check your watch to see how long you've been watching, it becomes clear that there isn't something wrong with you, but the film itself. The Dead One wants to be engaging and interesting, but more often than not it is neither. By the time the film gets to the anti-climatic climax, you're more likely to find that you've been watching the film just to prove a point to yourself (or the person you convinced to watch the film with you). All of this is to say that while there are worse movies out there to watch, it still doesn't mean you need to watch this one.

Video:
The Dead One is presented in 1.33:1 widescreen format. Overall, the photography is probably the best part of the film, and the clean transfer makes it possible to appreciate what amounts to one of the film's best elements.

Audio:
The Dead One is presented in stereo, with English and Spanish language tracks, and optional subtitles.

Bonus Features:
From a consumer standpoint it can be nice to have a decent selection of bonus features to occupy your time, but not all movies leave you wanting to know more about them. Such is the case of The Dead One, which has far more supplementary material than you will ever want to watch. The Making of The Dead One (25 min.) is the sort of behind-the-scenes featurette that actually makes the movie seem better than it was. Clearly, everyone involved had the best intentions going into making this film, with makes the less-than-spectacular end result that much more disappointing. Day of the Dead (8 min.) offers a quick tutorial on Dia de Los Muertos. Fun on the Set of The Dead One (6 min.) is a contradiction in terms, as it fails to make working on the movie any more exciting than watching it. An audio commentary with comic book creator Javier Hernandez and screenwriter-director Brian Cox offers tremendous insight into the making of the film, and probably more background on Aztec mythology than most people could ever hope to know, It is clear that Cox spent a massive amount of time doing research, unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have spent nearly as much time making the characters or the plot something worthy of all the rich cultural history he tries to bring to the project. And listening to Cox, it is also clear that while he finds the Aztec mythology fascinating, he lacks the ability to make it sound interesting. His portion of the commentary is like much like his skills as a writer and director--more than a bit dull.

Final Thoughts:
If it comes on television or you don't have to pay to rent it, you may want to give it a shot, otherwise, don't bother with The Dead One.