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Diary of the Dead- Review

reviewed by hallo
directed by George Romero, 2007
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“Are we worth saving?  You tell me.” – Debra Moynihan

With those concluding words of narration, Diary of the Dead rolls credits.  It is a question that permeates the brilliant storytelling of famed horror director George Romero in this 5th entry of his critically acclaimed Dead series.  A struggle for power, an insatiable desire to fulfill a perceived life purpose, and a misunderstood destination of safety all provide a thought-provoking 90 minutes of zombie mania.

Diary of the Dead is not a typical sequel in the Dead series, but rather documents a separate story during the initial outbreak of the original Night of the Living Dead movie.  In other words, the timeline follows the same chronology of the original 1968 film even though the immediate setting of Diary of the Dead is in the 21st century.  As this group of young people are struggling with zombies and one another, we can imagine a boarded up house on a farm somewhere in PA where Ben and Barbra are fighting for their lives.  Several references to the original film are made, including the reuse of the original newscast from NOTLD.  Romero himself called this entry a “rejigging of the myth.”

As always, Romero is masterful with zombies and remains in this reviewer’s eye the heavyweight champion of all things zombiefied.  This particular story follows a group of young Pitt film students who are creating a horror movie when the outbreak strikes.  Since documentary is Jason Creed’s first love, he decides to carry his trusty Panasonic camera with him at all times and capture the events of the developing real life horror story.  Along the way, another camera is picked up allowing for two different camera angles of the action.  We learn at the beginning of the movie that Jason’s girlfriend, Debra, compiled the film together so that people would know the truth.  Oh, she also added music and sound effects because she “wants you to be scared.”  Unfortunately, the film at times loses its grip because of the consistent and occasionally tiresome use of the documentary style.  That is one of very few complaints I have with the movie.

In typical Romero fashion, we are immersed in the struggles of the core group of people as they in turn are struggling with survival.  Deeply embedded in DOTD is the universal desire to fulfill our life passion, which almost certainly involves a certain amount of assumed power.  For Jason, the consuming desire to capture the “real” story of the outbreak is convincingly explained to Barbra as the only way they might be able to save lives.  However, Jason’s true motives are revealed when he repeatedly refuses to put down the camera in times of desperate need, choosing instead to film the ending of human life at the hands of the zombies rather than save a human life, which is of course the explanation he provided for the filming in the first place.  In this way, Jason is no different than the living dead.  They know only one thing – to seek out and consume living human flesh.  Jason’s passions close his mind to any reality other than getting the shot on film.  Romero once again reminds us that the line between zombie and human is not as broad as we might think.  Debra, during her overdub narration of the finished documentary, blatantly explains this truth by asserting, “it is us vs. them.  The problem is that they are us.”

Another interesting sub-theme that was consistently placed throughout the dialogue was the realization of the supernatural in the chaotic events.  At one point, a character sarcastically screams that unless you are Jesus Christ you “don’t stand up and walk around after you are dead.”  Another use of narration by Debra insists that “God had changed the rules and we were following along.”  The movie makes clear that a world beyond mere materialism is known by all people in all places, yet even that inner knowledge cannot keep us from pursuing the riches of materialism.  At one point the group seeks refuge in a large garage where a band of friends had looted the entire city and hauled it all to one central location.  Proud of their accomplishments and their acquisition of stuff, they were unwilling to even let the group fill their tank completely with gas.  Finally, they were able to say “look at all the stuff we have.”

In the last 2 minutes of the movie, as the remaining 3 characters are talking with one another, an older professor looks in the mirror as the sun is rising.  The dialogue that ensues is wonderful:

Debra:  Things always look better in the morning.
Andrew:  Not to me. Mornings bring light. I prefer the darkness. It’s easier to hide in the dark.
Tony:  You know, Professor? I actually get the… the mornings. They show you for what you are, instead of what you think you are.
Andrew:  Inelegantly phrased, Mr. Ravello, but accurately put. Mornings… and mirrors. I despise them. Mornings and mirrors only serve to terrify old men.

We all prefer the darkness, it is indeed easier to hide.  On this point of dialogue, it is hard to imagine that Romero did not have John3 in mind:

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Are humans worth saving?  Absolutely.  And yet because of our own love of darkness, not all will be saved.

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The Crazies – Review

reviewed by JB
directed by Breck Eisner, 2010
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First off I would like to thank my wife for attending this feature with me. She hates “my kind of movies,” so thanks baby. Now on to the presentation. The Crazies is apparently a remake of a 1973 Romero film by the same name. I myself have never heard of it, but I plan to try and rent it at a later date. I have read other written reviews of the ‘73 flick and it was seemingly very politically driven ( more later ). The current version stars Timothy Olyphant as a sheriff of a small farming town. Radha Mitchell plays his doctor wife and Joe Anderson plays his loyal deputy. These are the characters the movie focuses on through the course of their perils. The opening scene shows the peaceful little town on the first day of baseball season and the town is enjoying the game when all of a sudden like five minutes into the movie the events get rolling. A man supposedly the town drunk, which we learn later, comes out of left field, literally, with a shotgun. The sheriff is forced to confront him all the while noticing that he appears drunk or not right with a crazy look in his eyes. Just like in the trailer the sheriff shoots him dead. The autopsy comes back and the guy is not drunk and the mystery begins. More people start to act ” not right ” and one man is seen by the doctor. He then proceeds to repeat himself to the doctor so she wants to send him to the closest big city (remember this) Cedar Rapids for a cat scan. This is where things start to go nuts. The man who saw the doctor indeed has problems and the first attempted scare happens. Really there are some creepy moments in this film that have you tense, but the scares are hard to come by. Which this is a zombie/infected flick and to me they are more about gore (more on this later also) and tension and the chase or escape moments than scares anyway. I suppose the genre of HORROR spans all of this and not just films with scares even though the film has several weak attempts at some. From here on out more townsfolk keep doing odd things, and out of the blue on a gut hunch the sheriff decides something isn’t right. Then some guys are out in the swamp of Ogden Marsh and find a parachute and the dead pilot submerged in the bog. The sheriff and his deputy investigate, and the deputy recalls a local hearing a big crash in the night so off they go to investigate. Turns out there was a plane crash in the marsh, and in one of the cooler visual scenes in the movie, they set out and find the plane in the murky water of the bog. This is where the movie lets you on to the big secret. The government plane had some stuff on it and it’s bad for everybody. I have read in other reviews, as mentioned before, that the original has a politically charged theme in regard to government. This is that tie in, but the 2010 version doesn’t take it that far. They let you know through the movie that big brother is watching, but it’s not an anti gov. movie. As for the comparison I will let you know when I see the original.

After the plane is found the sheriff and his deputy determine that the plane is contaminating the water that the town drinks and that is what is causing everybody to become CRAZY. The government finally comes in and tries to segregate everybody according to who has a fever. Apparently this is the first sign of the infection. Earlier on the viewer is made aware that the sheriff’s wife is pregnant, which in turn cause her to have a fever and hence she is assumed infected and taken from her husband. After this there is another one of the creepy scenes. If you watched any of the trailers you saw the person dragging the pitchfork through the hospital, well this is it. I was pretty excited to see some good gore here, but it was a little of a letdown. I was expecting a crazy dude just going off and stabbing person after person and blood oozing, guts dripping, eyeballs flying, arms loped off, brains spilling—– sorry I got a little carried away, but the point I am trying to make while the scene was well shot and kinda creepy, I expected gore. In my opinion zombie movies need some gore and this version of The Crazies didn’t have enough for me. From here on out the movie is more of a survival story where the sheriff has to save his wife and escape. The couple along with the trusty deputy run around, mainly from the government and some crazies here and there, and have a neat little run in with some crazies at a car wash. They are trying to get to the government exit point where they plan on hopping onto a bus and going happily off into the sunset. More problems arise and if this review is sounding a little redundant that is because that is how this movie goes. Find a safe place and whoa, wait it aint safe here. Anyway without spoiling the ending which isn’t all that much of a twist, the sheriff and his wife escape and the loyal deputy makes a not so dramatic-dramatic choice.

I’m not sure what that is, but see the movie and you will understand that you saw it coming. The last frame of the movie shows the sheriff and his wife walking off into the sunset and a government satellite picks up the couple heading to Cedar Rapids and declares an emergency quarantine protocol. If you see the movie you will see that that is going to be bad news.

All in all this was not a bad movie. I would have personally liked to see more gore, which I think by the reviews of the ‘73 original it has more. There was nothing new or ground breaking in it either. Timothy Olyphant is one of my favorite actors with a great role in Deadwood as coincidentally the sheriff, and as agent 47 in Hitman. Here he does a pretty good job, but there wasn’t a whole lot to work with as far as script. As for the costars, all did a good job being scared, frightened, surprised, but you could have put me and my wife in the roles and the outcome could have been sufficient. I put the mediocrity of this movie on the director whose vision of the movie was different than what I would have preferred, which is kinda strange in that Romero was a producer on the film. In the end I would save this as a renter on a cold October night.

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The Plague – Review

reviewed by Hallo
directed by Hal Masonberg, 2006
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Whenever you see the name “Clive Barker” attached to any horror film project there is a anticipatory sense of quality and creepiness.  Such was my expectation when dialing in director Hal Masonberg’s 2006 movie The Plague through my “On Demand” service.  Barker was one of apparently several producers involved with the film which is based on a epidemic that strikes teenagers at the same time all across the world.  Panic ensues as parents rush their children to hospitals to see what can be done about their coma-like state.  Nothing, of course, is the answer and the world has to patiently wait to see if not only the children will awake, but if there is a future for civilization on Earth.

The story follows the events through the eyes of Tom Russell (James Van Der Beek) who is a single parent of one son.  Tom has to wait ten agonizing years before he finally is able to see his son function on his own again.  Unfortunately, upon his son’s revival from the coma, Tom discovers that his precious boy only wants one thing – to kill Tom.  In fact, all the children of the world wake up at the same time and begin stalking humans in a zombie like manner, although unlike traditional zombies, the children move very fast and have normal coordination skills which makes them able to use weapons, etc.  What follows is a series of slasher-esque killings where the townsfolk are running for their lives from the deranged zombie-children.  Throw in a love interest for Tom, as well as a reunion with an estranged brother, and you have the completion of the plot narrative.  The story ends, as you might expect, with everyone succumbing to the terror of the children except Jean, Tom’s love interest.  What Jean discovers throughout the movie is that the children just simply want someone to be “ready” and “willing” to offer themselves to the zombies.   They apparently are able to “absorb” life and influence from the adults they touch.   Once this willingness is offered to the children, you apparently get to live in peace.

The beginning few minutes of The Plague shows great promise.  The action begins quickly and the momentum continues to build, especially when Tom rushes his drooling, coma-induced son to the hospital only to be told to “get in line.”  We then see the horror of hundreds of children experiencing the same fate as Tom’s son.  Even during the interim between the children’s reception of the plague and their coming out of it ten years later, the film provides some eerie imagery and perks the curiosity of the viewer.  One such example is when a nurse who is “on duty” and watching a gymnasium full of comatose children is unaware that every child in the gym, probably a couple of hundred, turn their heads and look at her all at once.  Pretty creepy.

Unfortunately, the children wake up.  And what follows is an incredibly disappointing series of deaths at the hands of the ticked-off children.  No explanation is ever given for the cause of the plague, a reality that does not by default ruin the movie since no real explanation is given for the zombies in Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead.   However, the social commentary in the latter is clear and poignant.  Not so in The Plague.  We are left guessing what the picture is ultimately trying to say, and probably it isn’t trying to say much except provide a creepy concept from which to build.  There are some indications of a religious theme hidden in the film when the core group of survivors has to hide in a church.  Some texts are read about fathers and sons, mothers and daughters coming against each other.  But if the filmmakers were trying to provide a concrete foundation for the horrific events that have transpired over the last ten years, they failed.

In light of this, I will make up my own social commentary which is admittedly peering too deep inside a simple, low budget horror film.  Having said that, there could be a hinting at the universal need and desire of all teenagers to receive influence from their parents and from adults.  Without the proper time and energy spent by adults to teach, discipline, train, and love our children, there is a risk of them turning to a cookie-cutter mentality of what seems appropriate, popular, and acceptable.  Thus, they lose their true identity and are a product of society, turning on the very ones they most long to receive attention from.  The only cure is to stop, re-prioritize, and give ourselves to the younger generation.

All of that is probably garbage.  But, it at least provides some help to a movie that has great potential but fails to follow through.  I liked it.  I just didn’t like it enough.

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Dead Alive – Review

reviewed by Noch
directed by Peter Jackson, 1992
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Long before esteemed director/producer Peter Jackson was making big budget wide released films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, and even the Frighteners, he was cutting his teeth on lower budget gems. Some of the better known of these movies are Meet the Feebles and Bad Taste. However my favorite from this era of Jackson’s career hands down is Dead-Alive.

Due to some apparent license troubles the film’s original name “BrainDead” was not available for release in the North American markets had to be renamed. Whatever it is called, this movie is a fantastic Laugh out loud splatterfest that is sure to keep you entertained.

Dead-Alive is the story of a very sheltered young man named Lionel, who is very much oppressed by his overbearing and slightly evil mother Vera.  Lionel is forced to do everything for his mother, cook, clean, take care of the lawn, polish the silverware even when there is no apparent need. Naturally Lionel has no apparent friends or life other than taking care of his mother.

Elsewhere in the town, a young Latin girl Paquita is working in her family’s store and has a crush on a delivery driver who comes in. Paquita’s grandmother notices how the girl is swooning over the young man and offers to have a tarot reading from her to find out who Paquita is going to Marry. Much to dismay of the young girl, the cards do not predict the man who is being currently swooned over and she forces herself begrudgingly back to work. Then in walks Lionel, who is not treated very well by the upset girl until a sign in some spilled impulse buy items lets her know that Lionel is actually the one she is going to have a romance with.

Paquita then comes up with an excuse to personally deliver Lionel’s mother’s order to the house and tricks Lionel into agreeing to go on a date to the zoo. Not known to the couple, Vera is watching the whole thing and decides to spy on her son.

Everything goes well during the date for the couple and they start to kiss, which greatly angers Vera. Suddenly she is bitten by the Sumatran rat monkey which she then batters in a very disgusting matter. Lionel notices his mother and takes her home.

Over the next couple days the mother progressively gets worse and her wound never heals. While in a near death state, she hosts a dinner party which goes horribly wrong and has one of the most stomach turning scenes I can recall seeing in a movie. Eventually Vera becomes very sick and dies as the nurse is trying to send her to the hospital. Vera has then fully become a member of the living dead and kills the nurse. Lionel promptly has two hide both zombies in the basement and pretend to Paquita that she’s simply “off to hospital”.

This is where the real fun starts. Lionel keeps losing control of the zombies and it becomes harder and harder for him to keep his little secret under wraps. All of this results in more and more people becoming the undead.

During this film, no topic is too taboo or farfetched. Ever wondered what the entrails of a zombie will do when removed from the rest of the monster? You can find out here. Want to know if zombies have a libido or could get pregnant? This is explored as well. All of this crescendos into the most impressive blood bath I believe I have ever seen in a movie. According to IMDB in one impressive scene blood is pumped out at five gallons per second all the while, body parts and chunks are flying everywhere.

I still recall the first time watching Dead Alive. It was one of several films on a tape a friend let me borrow so that I could see Evil Dead II. Out of curiosity I started watching the other films. This is by far the most memorable on the tape. From the first scene when the Rat Monkey is being removed from the island and having the natives chopping up the zoo keeper to prevent “Zingiah” to long after the movie was over discussing the unexpected pleasure we just watched with a friend, I had a big smile on my face.

Dead-Alive deserves a spot high in the all time ranks of horror comedies.

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Zombieland – Review

reviewed by Danny
directed by Ruben Fleischer, 2009
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While most horror-comedies tend to be parodies like the ever-declining-in-quality family tree of Young Frankenstein (Young Frankenstein begat Student Bodies which begat Scary Movie which begat Stan Helsing), the better horror comedies are simply horror films that happen to be funny.  They may lampoon the sillier conventions of the genre, but those laughs are accompanied by attempts to simultaneously stay true to the genre’s conventions and motifs.  Ghostbusters does this, as do Gremlins and Shaun of the Dead.  As much as the two films have been compared, Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland isn’t Shaun of the Dead, or Young Frankenstein for that matter.  It isn’t a parody, but it also isn’t much of a horror film.  That isn’t to say that the film is bad.  I had a pretty good time in the theater.  There are just too many instances where the horror is diluted beyond recognition for the film to appeal as a horror film.

The film begins after the zombie plague has already wiped out America and, presumably, the rest of the world.  This particular apocalypse is explained, with a couple of throwaway lines, to have been caused by a mutation of Mad Cow Disease.  It’s as good an explanation as any, and I’m glad the film doesn’t waste too much time on the early days of the outbreak.  We get voice-over from the start, provided by a character we will come to know as Columbus.  He is a nerdy college student who has survived the zombie holocaust by following a strict set of rules of his own creation.  We learn these rules in clever flashback scenes that illustrate the logic behind each rule.

Before long, Columbus meets up with Tallahassee, a violent but funny loner who is much angrier about and at the zombies than is Columbus.  The pair travel together having amusing adventures until they run into two sisters—Wichita and Little Rock.  After a bit of conflict, the group teams up and makes its way toward Little Rock’s dream destination—Pacific Palisades, an amusement park that is rumored to be “zombie-free.”

The foursome has a lot of fun, especially considering they are among the final handful of people alive on the globe.  A standout scene involves demolishing a roadside souvenir store to the tune of classical music in a scene reminiscent of the home invasion scene in A Clockwork Orange.

Until the last few scenes of the film, it never seems like any of the main characters are in any real danger.  This lack of real threat is one reason the film doesn’t feel like a horror film. Fear is a key element of horror and there never seems to be much of it in Zombieland.  In fact, Columbus is openly mocked for his lack of bravado in taking on zombies, a trait that has kept him alive when billions of people haven’t quite managed it.

The lack of real fear is accompanied by a lack of real scares. That second part is easy to explain.  Zombieland has a lot of self-referential elements: the aforementioned voice overs, on-screen Zombie Kill of the Week ribbons, freeze frames, slow motion.  All of these impede on the viewer’s ability to suspend his disbelief.  There are very few points in Zombieland when it is possible to get lost in the events.  We are constantly reminded that this is just a film. Under those circumstances, it is nearly impossible to manage a scare or even much of a jolt.

The non-horror moments fair much better.  The film displays some genuine emotion in Columbus’s attempt to outgrow the outsider personality instilled in him by distant parents, in Wichita’s desire to give Little Rock back some of the childhood she has lost, and, most poignantly in the story behind Tallahassee’s anger and recklessness in the face of the zombies.  Add an unrealistic but still kind of touching romance between Columbus and Wichita and you get a film that has a solid emotional core.

As a horror film, Zombieland isn’t an unmitigated success or a complete failure.  The horror set pieces are handled well.  There are some great kills.  Blood flows.  Still, the film doesn’t feel like a horror film with coming-of-age movie elements, it feels like a coming-of-age comedy seen through a horror film filter.  It doesn’t mock the genre.  It simply uses the genre in a supporting role.  How much you enjoy the film as a horror fan will come down to how much that fact bothers you.

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