My poor laptop, the lifeblood of my daily routine died. In the process of replacing it, however in the meantime I am attempting to use my mobile as a replacement. Not wholly keen on using it but it works.
So...now I can get back to reviewing a few films and boy do I have an interesting selection for you. Starting off with a few indie horror films mingled with just a dash of hollyweird mainstream. I know I am looking forward to it!
Horror films are one of my many passions... previously I had been reviewing Zombie films. It was brought to my attention that I should just do horror in general. Valid point, after so many of my friends made this suggestion I finally listened.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Change of pace...
So up until this point, my blog has been dedicated to Zombie Films. I've had several people in my inner circle ponder over why I specialized, my main reason being that I am an avid Zombie Fanatic. I say that with pride, a badge of honour so to speak. Though my friends did bring up a valid point, I should review Horror films in general. I think this can be derived from the fact that I am not only a cinephile but I love the messy gore of Horror. So here it is, like Frankenstein's monster given life anew... I present to you Horror: The Gory, The B-Rated, & The Cliche.
Friday, September 16, 2011
A sort of Hiatus...
So I've been rather lax in my posts/reviews as of late... been a busy lady. Convention season keeps me on my toes, which leads me to this post. I have been asked to possibly review horror films as a whole, instead of just Zombie films. A novel idea, but this genre is one I hold dear to my heart. I am a cinephile; I like bad, good, terrible, never should have been made movies. As I write this, I am watching one of those very sort of films that call to me - Bunraku. Which I might say, is an absolutely TERRIBLE film. Yet I watch it, as I have watched others.
For the time being, I am leaving this blog as it is; reviews on "Zombie" films. Just a matter of tossing in a few more of them into my line up. If anyone has a film they want to recommend or would rather have me watch first before they waste their time on it; I am always happy to oblige. So until then Zombie fans, enjoy your brains!
For the time being, I am leaving this blog as it is; reviews on "Zombie" films. Just a matter of tossing in a few more of them into my line up. If anyone has a film they want to recommend or would rather have me watch first before they waste their time on it; I am always happy to oblige. So until then Zombie fans, enjoy your brains!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
28 Days Later (2003) Danny Boyle
Said to be…
“Visionary and Scary!” -Rolling Stone
“Hailed as the most frightening film since The Exorcist, acclaimed director Danny Boyle’s groundbreaking take on zombie horror ‘isn’t just scary… it’s absolutely terrifying!’ ” (Access Hollywood)
I recall the vary first time I saw this film… to this day I still enjoy popping it into my DVD player, and perhaps when I upgrade into my Blu Ray player. That being said.. Does not mean that as always I have a few things to say about it as a zombie film, I would be letting not only y'all down but myself. In order to accurately review this film I did watch it freshly so that I was not going off my still very vivid memories of the content of this film… which leads to me to watching 28 Weeks Later, I have often wonder does that mean the next film could potentially be 28 Months Later followed by years?
So I pulled out my worn copy, slipped it into my Xbox 360 -cause that is how I roll these days- poured me a glass of rum & coke. Then sat back to watch this film yet again… hopefully, undisturbed by the door, phone, etc… It’s always interesting re-watching a zombie film to review, because I sit here in a different mind set then I usually would. My son playing on the floor getting a bit cranky because the do decided she would rather have his toy then hers begins to frustrate me as I try to watch this film a bit more closely… looking to the clock I am happy to see that it is nearly 8:30 pm which means I can put him to bed. Though now I have to pause the movie, possibly back track slightly hoping now that he is in bed, my spoiled dog will behave.
Monkeys… I have to say that watching the first part of this film reminds me of the nightmares I had as a kid after seeing a scene from Outbreak, when a monkey who was to be blamed for the rampant spread of disease when it attacked a woman by scratching open her arm.
So rage zombies… more realistic than you would think with the unknown bio-genetic viruses that are being explored. Though I will once again refrain from spewing my view points on this very explosive topic, at least they aren’t shamblers.
My first issue with this film is that if you are bed ridden long enough to wake up suddenly finding the hospital equipment to be off… you would not be able to easily get out of bed and just walk about. Once more I will save my ranting on this matter as it is often looked over by Hollywood to those who attend my Zombie Survival Panels. Now children, how many times must I tell you? Flaming Zombies are bad!! You can not give me any justification on why it is a good idea to set them ablaze…. Unless you want to burn down the city, town or wherever you are.
There are many good points to this film as goes with some… if you’re an avid zombie survivalist who insists on making a plan, there are some very good what not to do tid bits in this film, especially when dealing rage zombies. I wonder how much money Pepsi got for advertisement in this film… random I know but it keeps popping up. I feel like I should take a shot every time some one pulls out or mentions Pepsi.
The latter half of this film is more dedicated to some twisted idealism of survival… 'heh heh we’ve got us some woman, they sure do have perty mouths.' Not to say that it isn’t realistic, kind of gives you the other side of the coin view point of what it takes to survive. I have to say though the characters whom you follow closely through out the film Selena, Hannah & Jim are good well rounded characters unlike some you are presented with in these sort of films. Fuzzy feel good ending as the intrepid duo hole up in a farm house, a scene of starving zombies scattered along a quaint road…
Now what have we learned from this film? The cause of a zombpocalypse is because the hippies couldn’t leave the monkeys in the cage… also, never trust the transmissions you hear unless you want to be the tool of someone’s psychotic need to rebuild civilization. You know, in Soviet Russia they love propaganda like this.
“Visionary and Scary!” -Rolling Stone
“Hailed as the most frightening film since The Exorcist, acclaimed director Danny Boyle’s groundbreaking take on zombie horror ‘isn’t just scary… it’s absolutely terrifying!’ ” (Access Hollywood)
I recall the vary first time I saw this film… to this day I still enjoy popping it into my DVD player, and perhaps when I upgrade into my Blu Ray player. That being said.. Does not mean that as always I have a few things to say about it as a zombie film, I would be letting not only y'all down but myself. In order to accurately review this film I did watch it freshly so that I was not going off my still very vivid memories of the content of this film… which leads to me to watching 28 Weeks Later, I have often wonder does that mean the next film could potentially be 28 Months Later followed by years?
So I pulled out my worn copy, slipped it into my Xbox 360 -cause that is how I roll these days- poured me a glass of rum & coke. Then sat back to watch this film yet again… hopefully, undisturbed by the door, phone, etc… It’s always interesting re-watching a zombie film to review, because I sit here in a different mind set then I usually would. My son playing on the floor getting a bit cranky because the do decided she would rather have his toy then hers begins to frustrate me as I try to watch this film a bit more closely… looking to the clock I am happy to see that it is nearly 8:30 pm which means I can put him to bed. Though now I have to pause the movie, possibly back track slightly hoping now that he is in bed, my spoiled dog will behave.
Monkeys… I have to say that watching the first part of this film reminds me of the nightmares I had as a kid after seeing a scene from Outbreak, when a monkey who was to be blamed for the rampant spread of disease when it attacked a woman by scratching open her arm.
So rage zombies… more realistic than you would think with the unknown bio-genetic viruses that are being explored. Though I will once again refrain from spewing my view points on this very explosive topic, at least they aren’t shamblers.
My first issue with this film is that if you are bed ridden long enough to wake up suddenly finding the hospital equipment to be off… you would not be able to easily get out of bed and just walk about. Once more I will save my ranting on this matter as it is often looked over by Hollywood to those who attend my Zombie Survival Panels. Now children, how many times must I tell you? Flaming Zombies are bad!! You can not give me any justification on why it is a good idea to set them ablaze…. Unless you want to burn down the city, town or wherever you are.
There are many good points to this film as goes with some… if you’re an avid zombie survivalist who insists on making a plan, there are some very good what not to do tid bits in this film, especially when dealing rage zombies. I wonder how much money Pepsi got for advertisement in this film… random I know but it keeps popping up. I feel like I should take a shot every time some one pulls out or mentions Pepsi.
The latter half of this film is more dedicated to some twisted idealism of survival… 'heh heh we’ve got us some woman, they sure do have perty mouths.' Not to say that it isn’t realistic, kind of gives you the other side of the coin view point of what it takes to survive. I have to say though the characters whom you follow closely through out the film Selena, Hannah & Jim are good well rounded characters unlike some you are presented with in these sort of films. Fuzzy feel good ending as the intrepid duo hole up in a farm house, a scene of starving zombies scattered along a quaint road…
Now what have we learned from this film? The cause of a zombpocalypse is because the hippies couldn’t leave the monkeys in the cage… also, never trust the transmissions you hear unless you want to be the tool of someone’s psychotic need to rebuild civilization. You know, in Soviet Russia they love propaganda like this.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Zombie Diaries (2007) Michael Bartlett & Kevin Gates
This film has been said to be…
‘Better than Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later” -beyond Hollywood.com
(I wonder, did they see the same film I saw?)
‘The Zombie Diaries has been hailed as the most realistic zombie film ever made.’ -twitchfilm.net
The premise of this film is that it is set in England during a world-wide viral infection, this documentary-style fright fest records the rise of the undead from the video cams of several survivor groups. As each struggles against the flesh-eating hordes, an even horrifying fate lurks among them. “Dark, uncompromising and frighteningly real” (eatbybrains.com). The Zombie Diaries is smart horror at its bloody best.
The filming is done fairly well… gives a good feeling as if this really is an actual documentary. The team of documenters are being in the stage one of the spread. Level one as some refer to it - when things are happening, that not everyone is aware of. The team leaves London, England just as word is being spread in the local news that something has happened in New York City, NY … headed to a small village for an interview with someone who may have some knowledge about the infection being spread. Reaching the small quaint English village which looks to be rather barren, arriving at the farm of the person they are hoping to have an interview with. Finding the lights all on but no one at home they decide to head back to the village to find a local pub only to have their car over heat.
As the film progresses further into the outbreak, the filming resembles The Blair Witch Project, as the camera man runs around with a flash light in the dark.
One month later, there is just three now… from what the viewer can assume two of the original crew and an American they picked up along the way traveling to find supplies for their little band of survivors. Suffice it to say, remember kids even if you find a zombie laying on the ground and it appears “dead” be safe and just shoot it in the head. A bit disappointed in the zombies thus far… slow moving shamblers that you could get away from by walking briskly. I am simply amazed how accurate the people in this film are at headshots, seems rather unrealistic even a month after the initial outbreak. I will not rant on how amazed I am that these folks are so capable of continuously achieving head shots… if you know anything about gun training then you will understand my issue with this.
The camera follows a group as they “survive” , holding off the slow moving zombies that wander into the field of the farm they are now taking refuge at. It’s all a bit haphazard, even for a documentary… really not sure of who is who and what they are trying to do.
I find this film confusing - I have a hard time following the really plot of this film. Even as a documentary it's highly lacking. At least, with documentaries there is still a fluid motion to the story they are weaving. I feel like I am watching someone's morbid home video - though I would actually prefer someone's morbid home videos to this.
I hate spoilers, so I am trying really hard not to go into the latter half of the film… let’s just say someone in the group likes a bit of necrophilia. You suddenly flashback to the original crew a month earlier, finally to see what became of them. All I can say is that this suddenly turned into a very cliché don’t trust the locals cause they are messed up in the head. Though to be fair sociopaths are blood thirsty, too. At least they don’t want to eat your brains... we'll sometimes.
‘Better than Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later” -beyond Hollywood.com
(I wonder, did they see the same film I saw?)
‘The Zombie Diaries has been hailed as the most realistic zombie film ever made.’ -twitchfilm.net
The premise of this film is that it is set in England during a world-wide viral infection, this documentary-style fright fest records the rise of the undead from the video cams of several survivor groups. As each struggles against the flesh-eating hordes, an even horrifying fate lurks among them. “Dark, uncompromising and frighteningly real” (eatbybrains.com). The Zombie Diaries is smart horror at its bloody best.
The filming is done fairly well… gives a good feeling as if this really is an actual documentary. The team of documenters are being in the stage one of the spread. Level one as some refer to it - when things are happening, that not everyone is aware of. The team leaves London, England just as word is being spread in the local news that something has happened in New York City, NY … headed to a small village for an interview with someone who may have some knowledge about the infection being spread. Reaching the small quaint English village which looks to be rather barren, arriving at the farm of the person they are hoping to have an interview with. Finding the lights all on but no one at home they decide to head back to the village to find a local pub only to have their car over heat.
As the film progresses further into the outbreak, the filming resembles The Blair Witch Project, as the camera man runs around with a flash light in the dark.
One month later, there is just three now… from what the viewer can assume two of the original crew and an American they picked up along the way traveling to find supplies for their little band of survivors. Suffice it to say, remember kids even if you find a zombie laying on the ground and it appears “dead” be safe and just shoot it in the head. A bit disappointed in the zombies thus far… slow moving shamblers that you could get away from by walking briskly. I am simply amazed how accurate the people in this film are at headshots, seems rather unrealistic even a month after the initial outbreak. I will not rant on how amazed I am that these folks are so capable of continuously achieving head shots… if you know anything about gun training then you will understand my issue with this.
The camera follows a group as they “survive” , holding off the slow moving zombies that wander into the field of the farm they are now taking refuge at. It’s all a bit haphazard, even for a documentary… really not sure of who is who and what they are trying to do.
I find this film confusing - I have a hard time following the really plot of this film. Even as a documentary it's highly lacking. At least, with documentaries there is still a fluid motion to the story they are weaving. I feel like I am watching someone's morbid home video - though I would actually prefer someone's morbid home videos to this.
I hate spoilers, so I am trying really hard not to go into the latter half of the film… let’s just say someone in the group likes a bit of necrophilia. You suddenly flashback to the original crew a month earlier, finally to see what became of them. All I can say is that this suddenly turned into a very cliché don’t trust the locals cause they are messed up in the head. Though to be fair sociopaths are blood thirsty, too. At least they don’t want to eat your brains... we'll sometimes.
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