Hyde Park Entertainment

PG 13 117 min

Uh OK.

Tiziano Sklavi.

Who's he? Well apparently he's the creator of a “wildly popular” Italian comic based on the supernatural exploits of a Mr. Dylan Dog, Private Eye who chases monsters in the big easy, or as we know it New Orleans.

Well I guess I've been amiss on keeping up with the Paisans' funny papers since I've never heard of the dude. I do know that David Hasslehoff is wildly popular in Germany; maybe it's that kind of thing.

Anyway for my fellow uninitiated, this seems to be loosely inspired by Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files about a Chicago private wizard Harry Dresden but, well, it might be a coincidence.

Brandon Routh stars as Mister Dog and Sam Huntington as Marcus his annoying zombie sidekick. Yes, folks he's actually a zombie.

You see here in this version of New Orleans it appears that there are a good many zombies walking the streets unnoticed along with vampires werewolves ghouls and late night goons of all manner.

Usually they keep to themselves and Dog is left to ply his trade snapping photos of cheating husbands and wives to keep the rent paid.

Of course once in a while he's going to be caught up in some kind of supernatural caper and this is one of those.

Through particularly clumsy flashback, we find that our hero has killed a lot of top vampires in the past and a new breed of bloodsucker is ruling the “true bloods” and now there's a problem.

Too many civilians are winding up dead missing their hearts.

Sporting the patina of old time detective flicks Dylan sorts out the evidence between ass beatings from everything that goes bump in the night.

We find the big deal is that shopworn plot in which some ancient demon is going to rise again to enslave something or other.

The old GHOSTBUSTERS gag.

The acting is mediocre at best and it seems Huntington is channeling Screech from SAVED BY the BELL.

It actually starts to devolve after about fifteen minutes from a cheapie with a slightly interesting hook into a real waste of time.

You probably won't hate it but I doubt you'll think the eight bucks plus corn was a great investment.

C

WSS