Product Details

• Actors: Bruce Ramsay, Balthazar Getty, Max Perlich, Caleb Smith, Casey Dixon
• Directors: Adam Dubov
• Writers: Adam Dubov, Janice Shapiro
• Producers: Anant Singh, Christopher Lambert, Danielle Segal, George Moffly, Michel Goumelon
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Lions Gate
• VHS Release Date: September 19, 1995
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303566650
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250,542 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Based on a true story . . ., January 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dead Beat [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The other three customer/reviewers here are apparently unaware that this movie is based on the true story (mid-60s) of the Pied Piper of Tucson (Charles Schmid) who is far more weird than the movie's main character and who murdered three women while posing as the Elvis of Arizona. Charlie applied ManTan w/ a trowel, drew a huge "beauty" mark on the right side of his face, dyed his hair black and piled it to the sky and since he was only 5-3 he also wore huge boots stuffed full of newspaper, cans, etc. so he could be as tall as the high-schoolers he was running w/. He was 23. The movie is good in a whacked out kind of way, but the "true" story is far whackier. The Pied Piper got a double death sentence and 50 years for his three murders, got a reprieve when the death penalty was deemed unconstitutional in '71 and was then murdered in prison a few years later b/c other prisoners couldn't stand how pretentious he was! The part in the movie where the main character has a "special" amp built (actually a tape player) so that it appears he is a guitar god is also true.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Freaky Lost Classic- Highly Reccomended, July 8, 2011

By 

C. Park - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Beat [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I picked up this movie years ago from a soon-to-be-defunct video store, and it has stuck with me ever since. Its one of those truly bizarre forgotten classics that still might wind up at a midnight movie somewhere. Bruce Ramsay is over the top as Kit, who as other reviewers have noted is based on the real life Charles Schmid, a murderer more bizarre than is believable. In fact, that was my primary problem with the film when i first saw it- I thought, "wow, this is really too far out". When I found out it was true, it blew my mind and I watched it again- and loved it.
Is it a perfect film? Nope. It goes not far enough in many cases, and if everyone had gone as far as Bruce Ramsay did in his performance then you would have had an electrifying, John Waters/Russ Meyer classic on your hands. But everyone seemed to be holding back just a bit, leaving Ramsay to look even more bizarre (as I am sure, was the case with Schmid). Getty and Gregson were great, Sara Gilbert, a little underwhelming- but the film clearly belongs to Ramsay. He should be the King of Freaky Movies, but I guess he is making french canadian films now (that i have never heard of). A shame. This one is worth re-releasing, or buying a cheap VCR for.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I smell Dax Wax Pomade . . . John Waters where are you, June 9, 2002

By 

J Smith "J Smith" (New York USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dead Beat [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Extremely wacky, screams 'B' movie, way cheesy, definitely not your typical lady killer (I had no idea Richard Grieco had a twin). Now personally, I don't sleep with men that wear more makeup than me, but I have to say, he did have some terrific lines for bedding the babes. Don't expect something you would see at Sundance or Cannes, but you should get a great big kick out of this movie.