9.19.2007

28 Weeks Later (the 2nd time around)


Last night I stopped by the dollar theater with Pablo to watch 28 Weeks Later for the second time. It'll be out on DVD soon, but I wanted to see it a second time in the theater. This will be more general musings than a proper review, and will contain spoilers, but I assume most of us have seen it, once.
What leaped out at me this time was the opening segment with Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting, Ravenous) and Catherine McCormack (Shadow of the Vampire, Braveheart). This is the only scene that you can see the love between the two of them, but the first time I watched it I was so anxious for the action to start this scene blew past me. The passionate kiss they share here gets nicely juxtaposed with the later kiss that infects Carlyle. Of course the scene right after this is probably the most memorable from the movie, where the people in hiding get massacred and Carlyle abandons his wife to be eaten. It's one of those scenes that makes you wonder what you would do, save the woman you love or preserve your own ass so the kids will have at least one parent. The choice his character makes is a cowardly one, but you don't hate his character because of it.

Actually I think Weeks is a stronger film than it's predecessor in many ways. For one, there is a ton of social commentary in Weeks that you don't have in Days. It doesn't take a genius to see the American repatriation of London is a scathing look at our occupation of Iraq. The people on the ground have the best of intentions, but in a situation where they don't have all the facts they are forced to make hard choices that result in the deaths of innocent people. Also, Weeks has better shots of an empty London. In Days those opening sequences of an empty city set such a great tone for the film, and in the sequel we get a lot more of those shots, and on a bigger scale, really hammering home how large London is, and how desolate. I especially liked the overgrown football stadium. The infected action in Weeks is also a lot more vivid and frequent.

Enrique Chediak does a great job matching the cinematographic tone set by Anthony Dod Mantle in the first film. If you'd like to see more of Mr. Chediak's camera work I recommend you go see The Flock on Oct. 1st.

But Weeks suffers from a massive pitfall that will keep it from being on the same level as Days, and that is the film's premature ejaculation. I am of of course speaking of how what should have been the climax of the film happens a good hour before the credits roll. The U.S. Air Force fire bombing London is the strongest action sequence and most beautiful footage out of the film, and nothing that happens after that scene comes close to topping that level. Yes there are great scenes after that, like the scene where Jeremy Renner (Dahmer, North Country) gets turned into a S'more, but the fire bombing is really the climatic moment. After that, the tension is lessened, and by the time Rose Byrne (Sunshine, Marie Antoinette) is getting bludgeoned in the underground, you almost don't care anymore.

Apart from that, 28 Weeks Later is a strong sequel that keeps the tone of the first film while not becoming its clone.

5 our of 5.

© D. L. Noah, 2007

Xombie Ch. 10, Argento, Zx3, New DVD, Evilution, RE:3


The final chapter of the Xombie saga is up now and it's... kinda disappointing. It certainly wasn't the big ending I was expecting. It's more of a plug for his new comic book. But it looks great. I've been watching this series for two and a half years and his animation has improved drastically in that time. Now James Farr needs to make the series available for download so I can watch it on my TV. Farr also implies that there will be an animated series two at some point.

The Weinsteins continue to pick up properties at TIFF. Now they've bought the DVD rights to Mother of Tears, Dario Argento's new film. Check out Horror-movies.ca's article.

In Weinstein related news, Romero said in an interview with Bloody-Disgusting.com that if Diary makes some money, the Weinstein's will produce a 6th Romero zombie film.

Zombies Zombies Zombies
posted that they will have their world premiere in Orlando on Oct. 11th. Check it out if you're in the area. Don't confuse this movie with Zombie Strippers.

Out on DVD this week is a reissue of Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (which I have never been a big fan of) and a new film called Dorm of the Dead.

There's a trailer up for a 28 Days Later looking film called Evilution. It features my favorite patchuko, Noel Gugliemi, and looks pretty sweet.

Finally, as we all know, Resident Evil 3 comes out this weekend, and after I see it I'll post a mini-review. Although seeing it Fri is very tempting, I'm working with young Madeline Carroll who stars as "The White Queen" in RE3, and our crew is going to go see it with her sunday, so who knows, but it looks like it will be a new direction for the series.

9.12.2007

Diary gets distro!! and collector's ROTLD


Way to go George! The Weinsteins picked up Romero's new film, which premiered over the weekend at the TIFF, for between 2 to 2.5 mil. This means two things. One, we will probably see a nationwide release for Diary, and two, George will probably launch right into another film. I couldn't be more excited for this news! It's all over the net so I'm not linking to a specific story.

Also, the collector's edition of Return of the Living Dead was released on DVD yesterday. Frankly, I like the cover art of my old copy with the movie poster on it, and the new features aren't cool enough to make me want it. If it came out on HD on the other hand...

9.10.2007

28 Days Later: Aftermath


Fox Atomic has some great ideas: 1-Make a sequel to 28 Days Later, 2-Make a comic book to cross promote said sequel, 3-get Steve Niles to write it.

And thus we get 28 Days Later: Aftermath, a graphic novel in four parts that begins before the first film and takes us all the way into the second. For those who aren't familiar with Mr. Niles' work, he wrote the comic book and part of the screenplay for the up coming vampire film 30 Days of Night, as well as The Lurkers and the Rob Zombie co-created Bigfoot. He's also written the comic adaptation of the original Dawn of the Dead (the one you get in the box set) and a variation on Frankenstein called Wake the Dead. His most zombie-centric work (that I've read) is a great and very original book called Remains. He's the hot-shit writer in horror comics right now, and he deserves it.

Niles starts Aftermath with the doctors beginning to research human anger who end up developing the rage virus. We also meet a London family who tries to flee at the beginning of the outbreak, and survivalist ruling over an empty London. Instead of only looking at the characters for one section though, he manages to weave all of their stories together giving the book a much stronger cohesiveness that you get in a book like Zombieworld: The Dregs of Winter.


In Aftermath Niles pinpoints moments from the original film and explores them more. Moments we all really wanted to see like the havoc the monkeys create when they leave the lab, the people who are stepping over each other as they try to evacuate, then the chaos as the virus travels through the crowd. We also get the beginning stages of the U.S. take over. Niles not only successfully makes you feel like you are back in the movie's world, he also does a good job of making you feel like you're in an authentic London.

The style of both films is very shaky and fast paced and you never get a long detailed look at the infected as they whip across the screen, so it's nice to see them frozen on the page for you to gander at as long as you please. Plus I always wondered what the infected did to people. Did they eat them or just tear them up? Niles suggests that there is some cannibalism going on.

The art is by alternating artists which helps each story feel individual, and all the art is fantastic.

So, if you're a comic fan or a 28 Days Later fanatic, you need this book. However, if you're neither, than let it slide on by.

5 out of 5 on the decomposition scale.

© D. L. Noah, 2007

Night of the Comet


Since this is not part of our current flight of zombie films (we're doing Asian films right now) it's only going to get a short write up. When we get to the 80's we may do a full review on it.

I was a little nervous when I picked this up because it would be the first film in my zombie collection to come with a PG-13 rating. Could you still have a good horror movie with out sex, drugs, and cannibalism? But it was from the '80s, my favorite decade for horror films, and it was dirt cheap, so in the shopping cart it went.

Night of the Comet came out to tie into the Halley's Comet madness that was overcoming the nation. In the film all of LA is outside at night time comet viewing parties except for two sisters who are too self involved to care about a comet. Their narcissism pays off though when everyone watching the comet is either irradiated into dust or turned into zombies. Most of them get turned into dust though because there are maybe three or four full make up zombies in this film. Seriously, there are more zombies on the cover than in the movie. The violence was naturally turned way down, and there wasn't much gore to speak of. Also, they plot got a little convoluted towards the end. It wasn't hard to follow, but it also didn't make much sense.

So this film didn't have much in common with the titans of '80s horror like The Thing or An American Werewolf in London. However, the movies it did evoked were some of my other favorites from the decade, classics like Goonies, Monster Squad, and Adventures in Babysitting. It in no way is as good as these films, but it makes you incredibly nostalgic for those films. It was a lot of fun to watch a film like those beloved films from my childhood, especially one that I had never scene before. It also didn't hurt that I watched it Sunday morning, and not at night. Night of the Comet is written and directed by Thom Eberhardt who also wrote and directed Captain Ron (that's right, Captain motherfucking Ron!) and stars Catherine Mary Stewart (Weekend at Bernie's, The Last Starfighter) and Kelli Maroney (Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Totally 80s. I say rent it and remember a simpler time.

© D. L. Noah, 2007

Diary, Awakening, Undead or Alive, Romero doc, Marvel Zombies, American Zombie, ROTLD, Examinus, Left4Dead, Bruce LaBruce


Wow, more news than you can use over this weekend, but I've tried to round it all up.

The most exciting news is that Undead or Alive has gotten distribution!! According to Horror-movies.ca Image Entertainment picked up the rights and plan to put it on DVD during December.
The first review of Romero's new film Diary of the Dead is up at Horror-movies.ca, but I won't read it, I already know I want to see this movie. But the reviewer gave it a bunch of skulls.

A trailer for Awakening: Zombie Night 2 has been posted at Moviesonline.ca. It's a cool trailer, I haven't seen the first one, but spotted it in a used video store, so it will probably find its way into my hands at some point.

A trailer for a documentary centering around Romero titled Dead On was posted on the Toronto International Film Festival Blog.

The ZRC posted that October will be Zombie Month at Marvel Comics.

The ZRC also posted about a new mocumertary called American Zombie.

Issue #71 of Rue Morgue has a cover story on the anniversary of Return of the Living Dead.

The forthcoming MMO Exanimus posted part of the world map for their game.

Left4Dead had a good showing at EA's 2007 Studio Showcase and several sites are reporting on this.

Finally, Horror-movies.ca is reporting director Bruce LaBruce is directing an upcoming film entitled Otto; or, Up with Dead People.

9.07.2007

Contagium (you know, Day of the Dead 2)


DISCLAIMER!! A lot of people hated this film. I wasn’t too thrilled the first time I watched it either. There is really only one way to properly enjoy it, and that is to ignore the fact that it is called Day of the Dead 2. It has nothing to do with the original film and they named it this because the production company had the rights to the name and knew it would help them sell DVDs, and we all fell for it. However, if you can get past this (and I know some of us can’t), there really is a film that bears a watching. In all seriousness, the original Day of the Dead is my favorite film of Romero’s and if I can get over it, so can you. Think of this film as simply Contagium. I watched this film with Rachel (comments in red) because she has never seen the original.

QUICK STATS

SUB-SUB-GENRE: Anti-Sequel

BEST ZOMBIE: Dr. Heller Zombie
QUOTES: “Niet, niet, niet, niet, niet, niet, niet, niet.” - Boris

INFLUENCES/REFERENCES: uh…. Day of the Dead? And One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Prince of Darkness

IS IT SCARY? Almost

FOR FANS OF: Undead & Fulci (not just the movie Zombi, real Fulci)

PAIRED COCKTAIL: Since they’re in a mental hospital, how about a Ward Eight? 2oz bourbon, dash grenadine over ice in a Collins glass, fill with sour mix, shake, garnish with orange slice and cherry.

REVIEW

Have we packed away all of our fanboy issues now? Contagium opens back in 1968 (the year Night of the Living Dead was released) with an action packed bang as the U.S. Army raids a hospital where a zombie outbreak is taking place. The filmmakers give you a big dose of violence here because it will be at least an hour before we get back to this level of gore. But that’s not a bad thing because after this scene we are brought into the present and introduced to our main characters, four mental patients and their doctor tending to the grounds of that same hospital. These actors work really well together as a group, no one actor tries to take the lead or steal the show. They were all well cast, none of them look like a ‘star,’ and they’re all believable as committed crazy folk. It’s easier to connect with ‘real’ looking actors than stars. I thought the acting was a little goofy, but these characters are goofy themselves. Their performances combined with the good character writing help you forget the artifice and enjoy these scenes. Which is really fortunate because we never stray very far from these characters, but their group antics keep me very entertained until we get back to the horrific scenes.

I also thought Laurie Baranyay as the female lead Emma was very convincing. Her performance might not work for everyone, but I’ve known a few cutters and she specifically reminded me of them and that added a lot of creditability to her role. Mike Dalager also was excellent and the sexually threatening orderly Derber, reminding me of Buck, the coma patient raping sleaze-ball from Kill Bill vol. 1. Lovecraft fans will recognize him from the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society's version of The Call of Cthulhu.

You tend to see a lot of handheld camera work in independent genre films, and most of it is shitty. And while there is quite a bit of handheld work in Contagium, Director of Photography James LeGoy uses it really sparingly and to great effect. You never feel jarred by the camera, but at the same time he uses quick moving shots that maintain the illusion created by the special effects. Even when the camera is mounted it doesn’t remain still. There was a specific pan I like where Derber is going from cell window to cell window turning off the lights and we get to pause on each of the female patients before the lights are killed, and after the lights go out in their cell you can still see their pale faces in the windows, although you can completely see the camera and crew in the reflections.

What I loved most about this film is the high level of gore. The opening sequence especially is filled with extra bloody headshots and very meaty flesh eating. I enjoyed how the humans had dark crimson blood while the zombies had a brown, coagulated blood, not every film pays that much attention to the details. I’m awarding this film my Super-cheap-yet-effective merit badge for the skin peeling effect that looked like thinly spread Elmer’s Glue yet was revolting to watch them peel off. I also loved the thick black tar that the zombies cough up during dinner. I mean this film really grossed me out! One of my biggest qualms with detailed zombie make-up and masks is that it makes the actors head look bigger. It’s only natural since appliances are being put on top of the skin. However a rotting corpse shouldn’t look like it’s getting bigger as it rots away. That’s what sold me the most on the make up effects in Contagium, the fact that as the zombies rotted; they got slightly gaunter (except where the zombie was intentionally made bigger).

One of the big strengths of this film is how it plays with your preconceived zombie notions. From all the other movies you’ve seen, you know what happens when someone gets infected. They get sick, they die, and they come back as mindless biters. You keep expecting this movie to follow that formula and a lot of suspense is created by how they stay true to the rules, or break them.

Contagium also features very sharp production design. If you’re unfamiliar with this term, it’s the look of a film. Not the camera work or the editing, but they way the sets, signs, props, et cetera look and the effect that creates. Every single set had in-depth colors and layering that lets each set be believable and makes every shot more appealing to look at. The hospital is obviously going to be a very sterile set, but they would add in these odd touches on some sets like a window ledge you’d see in your grandma’s kitchen. It created an odd mix of hospital and homey, and anyone who’s spent any time housed in any type of clinic (rehab!) will attest that these places try that type of stuff and it just makes you more uncomfortable.

There is some silly stuff in this movie though. The object that everyone gets infected from looks like a tampon from space or a douche nozzle. Also, when we’re in present time, they use an ‘X days ago’ title card that they really don’t need. One time when they use the card it does mark a break between days, but towards the end they’re using it to bridge a five-minute story gap. It ended up feeling a lot like the troubadour narrator from Dead & Breakfast, something they started with and felt like they had to commit to for the duration of the film. There’s also a monster pregnancy that leads nowhere. Anton Chekhov said that if you introduce a gun in the first act, it had better go off by the third, and that’s just as true for chicks knocked up with zombie babies. There are also a couple of half-assed attempts to tie their movie into the original that don’t work at all.

Contagium is a great film that only hurts itself by trying to attach itself to another film’s legacy. If you’re looking for gory action and original characters, you could do a lot worse. That being said, the fact that the makers of this film have attached themselves to the upcoming DOTD remake (probably due to their ownership of the rights) scares me a little inside. If they were willing to fuck up a good movie like Contagium for the sake of shilling DVDs, how will they bastardize the original property?

4 out of 5 on the decomposition scale.

© D. L. Noah, 2007

My Name is Bruce, Day Remake, & Diary News


Bruce Campbell's site is reporting that his new film My Name is Bruce will be out on DVD this fall, but no specific date was given.
In other zombie news, Horror-Movies.ca discovered some Day of the Dead remake photos at Nick Wagner Photography. They're old photos because the site lists DOTD as coming to theaters in April '07. They're sweet photos though, and inspire some confidence in a film that looks like it could be 10 lbs of shit in a 5 lb bag. Be sure to check out our review of DOTD2:Contagium.

Also, Horror-Movies.ca has posted some new Diary of the Dead photos here.

9.06.2007

New Left4Dead clips


Gametrailers.com's XBox 360 podcast loaded up a lot of new game play clips for Left4Dead today. This game looks freaking amazing, and I will be there day one when it launches. For the uninitiated, Left4Dead is an upcoming PC & Xbox 360 game where you are one of 4 survivors battling there way out of LA. These zombies are of the fast variety and come at you by the dozens and it bears a lot of resemblance to the 28 Days/Weeks Later movies. You can also play as one of 4 super zombies and fight the humans. Expext this game in the beginning of '08.

I couldn't find the individual videos on their site, but to watch them in iTunes click here, then scroll down to the Xbox 360 podcast and subscribe, then look for the individual videos.

9.04.2007

Infected (28 Weeks Later)

Infected is a flash game you can play in your browser to promote the film 28 Weeks Later, and it's a real piece of shit. You play as one of the infected and you run left and right trying to infect other people. The control scheme is very simple, relying on the left and right buttons, and the space bar. Unlike the movies though, the people you infect just fall down and die instead of becoming infected. Opposing you are troops and helicopters who fire slow moving pellets at you which there are really no way to dodge, and a clock ticking down how long you have to infect a certain number of people. The game ran incredibly laggy on my laptop and I have a decent internet connection. Many times the controls where unresponsive. The kick ass score from the film was absent, as were any characters. Avoid this game like it was infected.

0 out of 5 on the decomposition scale.

Dead City


Over the long weekend I burned through Dead City by Joe McKinney and I liked it pretty well. If you enjoyed World War Z then pick this book up, because it pretty much reads like an extended chapter from that book. It focuses on a the first 24 hours of a zombie outbreak in San Antonio, TX and specifically follows one cop who’s fighting through the hordes to find his wife and newborn.

It starts off a little slow, but does an excellent job of building momentum and tension. The main character was very bland and it wasn’t until halfway through the book that the reader gets introduced to some interesting characters, but it’s worth the wait. Mckinney does seem very savvy to police procedures and equipment, plus he also seems very familiar with San Antonio, down to the street names.

My big complaint is that you feel like you miss the apocalypse part. The character sees his first zombies, gets knocked out, and when he comes to you feel like everyone is already dead and he’s traveling through a destroyed city instead of being in the thick of the fall. Everywhere he goes has already seen the worst of it, and I felt like I was missing out.

My other complaint about this book is McKinney immediately starts relating the characters experience to zombie movies and this really took me out of the moment. I felt the author should come up with his own unique way of relating this characters experience instead of copping out by saying, “zombies, just like from all those movies you’ve seen.”

But he stops beating you over the head with movie comparisons pretty quick and does a great job with descriptive gore and action. He does what a good zombie read should do very well, give you zombies on a scale that you can’t get from a film.

3 out of 5 on the decomposition scale.

© 2007 D. L. Noah

Deadscapes 2 closer to release!


Precious Nightmare & Home Page of the Dead are reporting that the 2nd installment of Deadscapes has only one more shoot scheduled and they've already started editing. I haven't scene pt 1 yet but it's on my list and I wish the crew the best of luck. Also, look for the first book review for my site this week of Dead City, and the last installment of our Modern American Independent series, Contagium.