Neill Edward Calabro |
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The Mayor of Dead Town - synopsis When Flovilla, Georgia was on the brink of bankruptcy, this tiny town of dull and numb people were willing to do anything wacky to stay alive ... even house the dead. As the Mayor -- Lester Willson (a former CIA agent who retired at 300 pounds), receives information from a clandestine phone call about allowing dead bodies to be brought into town by train and dropped off. Dropped off? More like hurled. But none of the dull townspeople, known as coma-folk, ever see the shadowy envoys dispersing human carcasses from the trains. Neither do they want to be around on particular nights when two Hazmat-dressed, mysterious characters, load these same dead bodies into a hummer and drive away. But in the next few months, the locals get paid well to pocket any objections. They may not see the dead arrive… but every man, woman, and child take their turns – dragging, and bumping and bending the delivered deceased into a refrigerated former jailhouse. Then … Jackie Kwan shows up. Mayor Willson had needed an assistant, well … actually, more of a bookkeeper, chef, masseuse, and bodyguard. And he found his jackie-of-all-trades from this almost willing-to-do-anything, Asian man. But Lester Willson also found out too late, while in a drunken stupor, that the one thing he couldn’t do to Jackie is ride him like a mule. This brought retaliation. Now, the town council – Earl, Billy, and Sheriff Murry, - stand over Lester Willson’s lifeless girth. But the blood is on Jackie’s hand … and so is the mayoral crown. Jackie became next in line for Lester’s job as he was off-handedly dubbed Deputy Mayor in order to justify his salary. The town, though, would rather have someone -- let’s say… a little more on the *white* side. But Jackie proclaims the right to the throne. And if the council cooperates, Jackie will reveal the only way to keep the town’s dead body count rising. The council is willing to listen. Previously, Mayor Lester Willson’s only undertaking, in procuring the monthly pay day satchel, was to belly-up to the tracks and wave to the appointed passing train. From this, a bag of unmarked bills are dispensed, similarly to how the bodies are chunked. But … it has to be Lester waving … standing by himself. And Jackie now insinuates that it should still be Lester that meets the train. Jackie’s plan includes his sexy cousin Kwai, the physical therapist. Kwai has the unique vocation of animating lifeless limbs by attaching electrodes to body parts. And as Mayor Willson is put on ice with the other bodies, Jackie’s pay-day plan is to thaw the former mayor ever-so-slightly and position him by the tracks. Then, with electrodes attached, and using Kwai’s remote control, Lester will once again gesticulate … and, once again … save the town. The council is reluctant to go with Jackie’s plan. Except for Murry. He finds a wandering eye over Kwai, and so becomes a bit less reluctant. This puts Billy and Earl at odds when they are soon left out. But it doesn’t take much to get the town on their side … and against Jackie’s next frivolity. Jackie doesn’t really care about the refrigerated dead, but he likes causing friction in the town. He lets Kwai convince him that the deceased are being shamed by not having any ceremony to honor their souls. So, Jackie plans a Ghost Festival – the Chinese day of lighting candles and preparing food for the deceased. And, if this doesn’t get the town red under the blue collar, Jackie also plans the ceremony on the day when the waving-dead Mayor Willson returns to meet the train that will deliver the town’s financial sustenance. But Billy and Earl plan on a not-so quiet revenge against Jackie. It’ll involve a little more than simply honoring the deceased … …they’ll just need to borrow the *other* dead to lend them a hand. The Mayor of Dead Town is a creepy comedy. It maintains a backwoods feeling of an outta-the-way Southern town, while giving the characters hilarious flaws. When culture’s clash … the dead serve the town ... more than the living.
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