The Horde (2010)

The Horde (aka La Horde in its native French), which was released on DVD last week, has been receiving a lot of press lately, both favorable and unfavorable. It seems that horror fans are split on this film – either they hated it with a passion or named it as one of their “best of” picks for 2010. Horror films that split the horror community right down the middle always intrigue me. It really makes me marvel at how people’s perspectives can be so different – one person may have called it the best zombie movie of 2010, but another said it was the worst POS he had ever seen. Surely everyone’s opinion is different, but films that cause such a wide divide in the horror community are even more interesting to me. So, of course I had to see The Horde to decide for myself whether it was a bloody good time or just a waste of time.

The Horde is about a group of vigilante cops that decide to take revenge on a group of gangsters that killed a fellow police officer. They storm the gang’s decrepit headquarters, housed inside a ghetto apartment building, but soon discover they are out-manned and out-gunned by the ruthless thugs. As the gang holds them hostage, a whole new dilemma presents itself as masses of fast-moving zombies start amassing outside the building. Now the remaining cops and gang members must work together to escape the hungry hordes of undead.

The Horde will no doubt delight gorehounds with its bloody set-pieces, but it also includes some timely social commentary on race, class, war, loyalty, etc. that will please more cerebral horror fans. As to the big question – whether I loved or hated the film – truth be told The Horde left me lukewarm. On the one hand I loved all the bloody action that exploded on the screen as well as the social commentary, but on the other hand I felt like I had already seen everything the film had to offer in other, perhaps better, zombie movies. After a tense and promising first act the second and third acts were a bit of a let-down. No matter how much blood and grue were tossed at the screen, no matter how many super-fast, super-strong zombies were mowed down by guns, hacked apart by machete or blown apart with grenades I just couldn’t seem to get into the latter part of the film. Maybe I’m just being a jaded horror fan, but it didn’t feel like enough creativity or originality had gone into The Horde, thus making it seem like any other zombie movie.

People might get upset over the “fast zombie” issue, but I thought it actually made the zombies even more frightening. The zombie makeup was also superb, making the zombies look even fiercer. Another complaint has been about the lack of an explanation regarding the zombie outbreak (the only thing we get is a newscast about an “epidemic” and a military safe zone that survivors should try to get to), but I actually appreciated how they kept the action focused on the building’s survivors and didn’t try expand the action to beyond the apartment building’s walls. The lack of explanation kept the action frenetic and immediate (though some of the action did get bogged down by pacing issues). Another part of the story I enjoyed were the ulterior motives of all the characters and how everyone was ultimately looking out for #1 (with a few exceptions). The relationship between two Nigerian brothers was the most intriguing, but I felt that the focus on the bloody action overshadowed the complex relationships in the end. The ending of the film, while not surprising, was satisfying in its somberness.

Though The Horde had its issues, it certainly didn’t qualify it for “worst of” status. There were plenty other horror flicks to claim that title this year. However, it also wasn’t creative enough to warrant it a “best of” nod either, at least not in my book. If you are looking for a gory zombie flick and can overlook the film’s shortcomings discussed above, then by all means check out The Horde. It’s not a perfect horror film, but it’s a pretty good time for what it is.

Buy it on Amazon!

Mr. Mullen (2010)

Scott Goldberg is known within the independent film scene for his political films, and his newest short, Mr. Mullen, is yet another example. Goldberg is a passionate filmmaker who hopes that his films will shake up the status quo and make people take a harsher look at the U.S. government and politics in general. Though his opinions might differ from your own, at least his films will make you think and really question your beliefs. I love films that challenge you and have a deeper meaning and would much rather sit through an intelligent film rather than a brainless hack ‘n’ slash (though I love those films too!).

Mr. Mullen is about corrupt and hypocritical government officials and how one man becomes completely fed up with the system and decides to take his revenge. With the economy in shambles and the empty promises of politicians filling the airwaves, this film feels perfectly apropos for the turbulent times.

The film has a gritty look that meshes perfectly with the frustration of our lead character, a character that many can empathize with. This character has lost his job, his savings and seemingly everything dear to him while the politicians around him continue to lie and live like fat cats. With so many unemployed citizens in the U.S. right now, this is probably a familiar tale for many.

Scott Goldberg has taken a nation’s anxieties, anger, frustration, pain, hopelessness and despair and placed them in Mr. Mullen. Not only does he address the down-the-toilet economy, staggering unemployment and the desperate populace, but he also focuses on the seemingly lost generation of people who don’t care about politics and are more interested in the latest celebrity gossip than important issues that actually affect them. This issue truly hit home because I feel like one of those brainless people sometimes! It is definitely time for me, and others like me, to wake up and take note of what is happening in our nation and our world.

Not only does Mr. Mullen shake and wake you, but it is also beautifully shot and edited. In the beginning it feels a bit fragmented, but this only highlights the fact of how disconnected each of us are not only from each other but also from the government and our own elected politicians. I also loved the stark cinematography of the film and how it is shot in chilly grays.

Mr. Mullen is not necessarily a horror movie, but its message is certainly nightmarish! Just like in They Live, people need to wake up and get involved to really make a difference! People need to take back their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and stop letting big business and government control them. I, for one, am definitely glad to get this wake up call and thank Mr. Goldberg for creating such an important short film.

For more information, please visit mrmullenfilm.com!

Book Review: The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer

Every month I wade through a glut of zombie novels, some of them good, some so-so and some downright awful. From my towering books-to-review stack I recently chose Amelia Beamer’s The Loving Dead to check out. It sounded intriguing enough as a group of regular twentysomethings find themselves at the epicenter of a sexual transmitted zombie virus in San Francisco.

From the back cover:

Kate and Michael, twenty-something housemates working at the same Trader Joe’s supermarket, are thoroughly screwed when people start turning into zombies at their house party in the Oakland hills. The zombie plague is a sexually transmitted disease, turning its victims into shambling, horny, voracious killers after an incubation period where they become increasingly promiscuous. Thrust into extremes by the unfolding tragedy, Kate and Michael are forced to confront the decisions they’ve made, and their fears of commitment, while trying to say alive. Michael convinces Kate to meet him in the one place in the Bay Area that’s likely to be safe and secure from the zombie hordes: Alcatraz. But can they stay human long enough?

It took me a while to get into The Loving Dead, I think perhaps because of the first-person perspective that kept switching between Kate and Michael. However, about 50 pages in I fell into the flow of the novel and started to enjoy it. If you are from California, you will definitely enjoy the references to Trader Joe’s (I love this grocery store!) and readers familiar with the Bay Area will appreciate all the landmarks mentioned in the novel (The Coliseum, Alcatraz, Golden Gate, etc.). These details definitely added to my enjoyment of the book. However, just because you aren’t from California doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate The Loving Dead. Besides its witty and plentiful pop culture references (iPhone apps, Twitter, BoingBoing, Indiana Jones, blogs), it’s got sex, violence, romance, zombies and plenty of nail-biting action! Plus, it has an amazing conclusion that I definitely didn’t see coming.

Most importantly, though, it does something different with zombies. Making the zombie virus sexually transmitted was a brilliant move on Beamer’s part and really makes the novel stand apart from every other zombie book out there. This is a great social commentary on today’s generation – hordes of slobbering, horny twentysomethings not giving a damn about consequences for their sexual actions. Not to mention that we get to read about sleazy zombies who want to hump you just as bad as they want to eat you.

The Loving Dead is Amelia Beamer’s debut novel and I’m excited to report that this is one of the “good” zombie novels I’ve read this past month. Despite a shaky opening I found myself thoroughly enjoying the unique storyline and loving the new approach to the zombie virus.

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to cuddle up with a zombie, look no further than the kinky The Loving Dead. It’s a hip and twisted new zombie novel that’ll have you all tied up!

Available from Amazon!

Book Review: The Best of Joe R. Lansdale

Even if you don’t think you’ve ever heard of Joe R. Lansdale, I bet you have. Have you seen Bubba Ho-Tep? Or perhaps watched the Masters of Horror episode Incident On and Off a Mountain Road? Well, both of those were adapted (pretty faithfully, I might add) from Lansdale stories. The witty, outrageous and unforgettable dialogue from Bubba Ho-Tep is pure Lansdale while the heart-stopping action in Incident shows he can build a terrifying story.

I was fortunate enough to receive an early review copy of The Best of Joe R. Lansdale, due out March 2010, which collects many of Lansdale’s most acclaimed, weird and wondrous stories! The collection features sixteen of Lansdale’s short stories, including the previously mentioned Bubba Ho-Tep, Incident On and Off a Mountain Road, as well as Mad Dog Summer (my personal favorite from this particular collection), Godzilla’s Twelve Step Program, the non-fiction Hell Through a Windshield and many more odd and outrageous stories!

Lansdale’s writing style ranges from shocking to sentimental, but always surprises with its down-home style and wicked wit. All of the stories contained in this collection are well worth reading. Lansdale’s outlaw-style writing, complete with colorful characters and provocative settings, pops from the pages and makes you eagerly beg for more remarkable tales. This is Texan storytelling at its best – rude, crude and offensive! His stories have a tall tale feel to them, and though they contain many unpleasant circumstances and characters there is also an underlying sentimentality to them. They are both sweet and sour, but leave the reader satisfied in the end.

My favorite story in the collection is Mad Dog Summer, about a young boy in backwoods 1930’s East Texas who finds himself caught up in a sinister and grisly murder mystery. The story is built around the legend of the Goat Man, who legend says roams the woods and preys upon wayward folk. This story sent chills up my spine, especially as told from the point of view of a young boy. The frightening images of the Goat Man standing on the edge of the woods pretty much made me want to dive under the covers. It also deals with issues of racism, harsh (in)justice, intolerance, growing up and learning to do the right thing no matter what. These themes and the well-drawn characters as well as the details that Lansdale incorporates into the story really pulled me in. I truly did not want to put this story down and had to read it from beginning to end!

The strength of Lansdale’s stories rest squarely on the shoulders of his colorful characters, who are usually piss-full of vinegar and colorful language. They mainly hail from the hearty backwoods of Texas or other rural places, living hard lives and encountering many strange creatures, including zombies, mummies and even albino mules. Lansdale breathes spectacular life into these characters as he has them encounter some truly extraordinary experiences. And then there is just the pure and unbridled imagination of Lansdale – where else can you find a crotchety old Elvis stuck in a convalescent home with a black JFK or Godzilla on the road to recovery from his propensity to destroy things? There is nothing in horror literature like the characters in a Joe Lansdale story, that’s for sure!

The Best of Joe R. Lansdale is a must-have book for the lover of the weird, the champion of the bizarre and the fan of the outrageous. If you are looking for a unique experience that will leave you equal parts stunned and nostalgic, frightened and amused, look no further than the “high priest of Texan weirdness” himself, Joe Lansdale.

In Lansdale’s own infamous words, “Come on in – the weirdness is fine.”

Order it on Amazon!

Book Review: Dead America by Luke Keioskie

Dead America is nitty-gritty look at the stitched-up underbelly of America after there’s no more room in hell and the dead are forced to walk to earth. Except these zombies don’t like to eat brains and aren’t just shambling hordes of rotting flesh. These undead want equal rights and to be treated the same as people who are alive. This is now a world where embalming is a required surgical procedure and rich Dead Americans have plastination procedures to keep themselves looking alive. Yet relations between the living and the undead are shaky at best. The living think the “necros” or “neccers” are stealing their jobs and don’t deserve the same rights as those still breathing. The dead, on the other hand, feel like they are being used and abused, especially since it’s not a crime to kill an undead and necrophilia is legal. And now to top it all off someone has turned up dead (really, truly dead, not “undead”) further straining relations between living and dead Americans.

Take a look at the book’s description:

Life is tough in America. Especially when you’re dead.

Faraday thought finding a runaway girl would be easy money. But when the girl turns up dead – the first American in decades who hasn’t revived as a zombie – Faraday must hit the streets to find her killer.

Standing in his way are undead gangbangers, a police fore rife with bigotry and lifism, and the zombie crime lord of Harlem. But with the help of a necrophilic pathologist, a severed head named Dorothy and a reporter that would literally give her right arm for a story, Faraday must discover why the dead girl didn’t come back to life. And he better be quick before the animosity between the living and the dead sparks a riot that could burn New York City to the ground. 

In a country where afterlife is the same as life before death, can anyone really live at all? 

There are tons of zombie novels out there, but none that I have read have been as unique as Luke Keioskie’s Dead America. Besides its clever take on zombies, it’s got witty, quick-paced dialogue, memorable characters and the grittiest setting of all, New York City! It reads like a hardboiled, gumshoe noir novel but has the added intrigue of a world where Death lives next to the living every day!

I loved the political and social commentary Keioskie infused into the novel. It covers everything from crooked cops to racism, bigotry and intolerance to corrupt corporations and so on. Yet these messages never feel heavy-handed, they are just facts of life in the brave new undead world Keioskie has created.
Besides the nice touches of social relevance in the book, there is also unlimited action! From Faraday’s battles with two hulking twins named Dutch and Butch, to his clever quips with undead reporter Alison Kastle and and run-ins with both the cops and undead gangster Grandpa Hob, there really isn’t a dull moment in the fast-paced book! I also enjoyed all the colorful characters like unsavory forensics expert Conroy who enjoys leering at undead women, vicious undead gangbangers called z-boys, an undead witness who is nothing but a severed head, a gorgeous undead wealthy woman who hires Faraday for another case and so on. The book is just filled to the brim with memorable characters!

Dead America is a wonderfully peculiar read, combining a gritty detective story with plenty of dark comedy and gruesome set pieces. If you love zombie stories but are craving something besides the same stale old brains, you owe it to yourself to check out the revolutionary Dead America!

Visit the Dead America website (worth the visit just for the fake ads alone!!)!

Buy it on Amazon!

Dead Air (2009)

If you’ve ever been involved in any sort of disaster, natural or man-made, I’m sure you remember the details vividly. From the unsettling first seconds to the terrifying moments that seem to stretch on forever to the panic that settles in once the dust cleared, any kind of catastrophe is hard too forget! For example, I can clearly remember being in a large earthquake as a kid (it was freaky!) and I’m sure everyone remembers where they were on 9/11. There is just no way to ever forget those feelings of dread and fear.

Well, the film Dead Air taps into the feelings of panic, loss and chaos that occur during a sudden catastrophe. Except that this catastrophe isn’t just any natural disaster, but an organized terrorist bio-attack in every major city in the United States that infects its victims and turns them violent and dangerous. Did I mention it also has the power to bring them back from the dead?

Enter shock jock DJ Logan (Bill Moseley) as he hosts another late-night show on the air. He is joined in the studio by his co-host Gil (David Moscow), producer Lucy (Patricia Tallman) and tech Burt (Joshua Feinman). In the midst of their broadcast, they begin getting strange calls from listeners saying that all hell has broken loose. Apparently, terrorists have targeted major U.S. cities and released some kind of bio-toxin into the air, turning victims extremely violent and even resurrecting them after death. As Logan grapples with the severe situation unfolding outside and across the U.S. while delivering any information to his listeners, he also must face that fact that he is separated from his family by hordes of the infected. He doesn’t only have the infected to fear, though, because the terrorists who released the toxin in his city are converging on the radio station as well…

Dead Air is directed by Corbin Bernsen, probably best known in horror for his role in The Dentist. Bernsen delivers a tense, smart and scary horror film that taps into American’s fears of terrorist attacks. Though the infected in the film are vicious, fast and blood-thirsty, the action is more focused on Logan and what happens inside the radio station. This gives the film a more psychologically terrifying feel as we listen to callers who talk to Logan as beg for help while they are chased by zombie hordes. There is also a whole angle on Logan trying to reach his wife and child on the phone, hoping that they are safe, while debating to leave the safety of the radio station to go search for them. I also enjoyed the side story that followed the terrorists who planted the bomb in Logan’s town as they sought refuge in the radio station building. Kudos to writer Kenny Yakkel, as all of these different tenets led to a very suspenseful, enjoyable film.

Also adding to the success of the film was Bill Moseley’s layered performance as Logan. He first comes off as a prick, as most shock-rock DJ’s are wont to be, but when the excrement hits the fan he shows compassion and concern for his fellow Americans. We also see his strong dedication to his family and how well he performs under pressure. The rest of the cast do a great job as well, and it was a joy seeing Patricia Tallman (Night of the Living Dead remake) in a genre film again! I also enjoyed David Moscow’s portrayal as Logan’s slapstick sidekick and how his demeanor went from kooky to courageous as events unfolded.

Of course, your first reaction to hearing zombies and radio station under siege is to think of the great film Pontypool, but though their descriptions are similar Dead Air is slightly different in terms of tone. Dead Air tackles some heavier issues of discrimination, racism and our biased views on Muslims and people of Middle Eastern lineage. It also plays upon our fears and paranoia (an issue that Logan is discussing on-air when all hell breaks loose). Unfortunately, while this social relevance to current issues really amped up my interest in the film, some people may find the messages somewhat heavy-handed. And by the third act of the film it becomes so heavy-handed that it feels like someone is bludgeoning you with a phone book. I, for one, enjoyed the social commentary, though, and even the bland third act couldn’t really disrupt my love for this movie.

Dead Air is an intelligent horror film that really shouldn’t be overshadowed by its shallow similarities to Pontypool. It offers many smart observations on people’s motivations and human nature in response to chaos and keeps you on your toes with its engaging storyline and varied characters. I’m not sure why its release was delayed so long (it was supposed to see a nation-wide theatrical release in 2007 but was only just released straight-to-DVD recently), but it’s well worth your time!

Order it on Amazon!

The Thaw (2009)

The threat of global warming is an issue few are ignorant on, but which many still seem to ignore. The melting ice caps, changes in climate and extinction of species definitely point to a troubling future, but it seems that few have done anything to cut back on their environmental impact on the Earth (don’t worry, I’m not going to start preaching at you).

Now, whether you believe in global warming or not, it still falls to logic that all our pollution from various industries must be affecting the environment in some way, or, at the very least, that natural resources are becoming more and more limited as more and more people inhabit our world. You can’t really argue that this doesn’t pose a strain on our environment, but still many of us (including me) have a tendency to turn a blind eye to the destruction of our planet.

Throughout history there have been instances where disease, natural disasters and other catastrophes happen that result in a large percentage of the human population being thinned. Do you ever wonder what the next chaotic event will be? Do you ever wonder if Mother Nature will finally do something to protect herself and lash out at the human population? Well, The Thaw poses that frightening question and answers it with a pretty scary conclusion.

A renowned eco-scientist, Dr. David Kruipen (Val Kilmer) is in remote northern Canada researching the effects of global warming. He and his team uncover the preserved remains of a woolly mammoth, but soon discover that the mammoth is also harboring a deadly 20,000 year-old parasite that quickly infects them.

Meanwhile, a group of three students and Kruipen’s daughter Evelyn (Martha MacIsaac, from The Last House on the Left remake) are on their way up to the research facility. When they arrive via helicopter, they discover the research facility deserted…except for a decaying corpse of a polar bear.

They soon discover that the nasty little parasites are inside the polar bear and lay eggs inside of their victims. Sure enough, they start getting bitten by the parasites, but that’s not all. After the bugs lay eggs inside their hosts, they eat their way from the inside out. The group must find a way to stop the bug’s spread, before they are unleashed upon the world.

The Thaw is a realistic horror film that seems especially relevant in these turbulent times. I like my horror films to be pertinent and socially conscious, and The Thaw fit the bill perfectly. Of course, even those that prefer blood and guts over social commentary will also be pleasantly surprised by the tension-filled The Thaw.

In addition to the relevant story, the pacing of the film is very fast. From the opening scenes of a nasty bug extraction to Dr. Kruipen’s videotaped confessions to a grisly scene of amputation and the nasty bug infestations, my eyes were glued to the screen for the entire running time. The action was tense, and except for a few poor decisions by the characters, everything felt very realistic. The characters were also refreshing and didn’t feature the usual dumb teens. Evelyn was a wonderful final girl who took charge almost immediately and seemed to have more common sense and scientific knowledge than the students. The students were a bit grating at times, but overall their characters’ reactions felt realistic…even if some of their decisions were poor.

As for the actors, most of them did a commendable job, especially Martha MacIsaac as Evelyn. She came off as a spoiled brat in the beginning, but really showed some intense leadership skills as the film progressed. I also have to point out Viv Leacock, who played Bart the helicopter pilot, for his even and brave portrayal…even during and after a nasty amputation. Val Kilmer must also be mentioned here, even if he was only in a third of the film. He played the Doctor very convincingly, with an eerie, unsettling calmness that really forewarned of the calamity that would follow in his wake.

The special effects were the real standouts of the film, though. From the parasites burrowing and squirming into flesh to the mushy egg sacs to the freshly-hatched young devouring their hosts and so on, I was left with the heebie jeebies! Nothing is completely over-the-top, but the gruesome scenes carry with them a sense of reality, like something is possible and could happen…if we aren’t careful. The film reminded me of a mix of Cabin Fever, The Ruins and The Last Winter.

The Thaw is a film that creeps under your skin and squirms there, tickling your mind with its social conscious stance as well as its gruesome set pieces. It reminds us that Mother Nature can only take so much before she reveals her most shocking secrets to us…secrets that could spell humanity’s demise.

Order it on Amazon!

Book Review: Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

Chelsea Cain books appeal to a wide variety of readers, from people who aren’t necessarily horror fans and usually read books like Tuesdays with Morrie to hardcore horror aficionados. Whichever camp you fall into, Cain’s “Beauty Killer” serial killer books promise to entertain and shock you.

The third novel in the “Beauty Killer” series, Evil at Heart, is no less tense than Cain’s previous two efforts – Heartsick and Sweetheart – and continues the saga of infamous and gorgeous serial killer Gretchen Lowell. As with all of Cain’s books, I could not put down Evil at Heart!

The book picks up two months after Gretchen Lowell escaped prison and Detective Archie Sheridan, who had a very complicated relationship with Gretchen, is in the loony bin. Archie is drawn back out after bodies, each with Gretchen’s signature hearts accompanying them, start popping up again. Joining Archie are Detective Henry Sobol and Oregon Herald reporter Susan Ward,  who discover that a network of Gretchen Lowell “fan clubs” have sprung up. Could there be a copycat killer or is Gretchen finally back to her old ways?

Evil at Heart is a relentless read that begs to be read from start to finish. The book opens with a bang as eyeballs and other body parts are found at a rest stop restroom outside Portland and it’s not long after that when bodies gruesomely start showing up at Gretchen’s old crime scenes. Cain definitely has some great tableaus of gore in Evil at Heart, gruesome enough for an old gorehound like me to be impressed!

Cain lessens these horrific scenes with humor peppered throughout the novel and a social commentary on how the media tends to glamorize villains. The book describes how Gretchen Lowell has become a media sensation – she is plastered over every magazine and newspaper, women get the “Beauty Killer” manicure (pink nails with blood red French tips), coffee cups that say “I’d kill for some coffee” with Gretchen’s picture on them are sold, women cut and dye their hair like Gretchen’s, tour buses take tourists to her crime scenes and there is even a movie being made about her. This makes for some darkly humorous commentary on our own society and our own anti-heroes we tend to sensationalize.

Many characters from the past two books return, namely detectives Henry and Archie and spunky journalist Susan, and it’s nice to see them all back. Gretchen isn’t featured as much in this novel, but her eventual appearance will leave you riveted! To understand the characters, it does help to have read Cain’s past two novels but even if you haven’t Cain takes the time to explain the relationships between the characters and some of their pasts so you get the general gist of the series. Cain also introduces some intriguing new characters, some who are into scarification, suspension and other body modification cultures – and she gives us plenty of squirm-inducing descriptions of these practices as well!

The story itself is fast-paced and entertaining. I really wasn’t joking when I said I couldn’t put it down – I so desperately needed to find out what was going to happen that I finished it in a day! Now, you may want to take your time and really drag out the suspense, but I just couldn’t wait! And the ending is quite a doozy, filled with a mysterious revelation that I can’t wait to see what Cain does with in her next book!

Evil at Heart is another “Beauty Killer” novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat and is highly recommended for all Gretchen Lowell fans, whether you’re a horror fan or not!

Order it on Amazon!

District 9 (2009)

Years ago, when an alien spaceship arrived to Earth and hovered over Johannesburg, South Africa, people rejoiced, but as the weeks dragged by without sign of life, the government stepped in to force their way into the alien spacecraft. Inside, they found a race of aliens that were malnourished and injured. In a rare show of humanity the government decided to care for these refugee aliens.

Though no one knew what brought the aliens to Earth, their ship was inoperable, so they were stuck here. After a period of alien acceptance, there was soon a backlash against the none-too-intelligent “prawns” as the aliens were derogatorily nicknamed. The public wanted them off the streets, so MNU (Multi-National United, a company put in charge of the visitors) segregated them in District 9, which soon devolved into a slum, complete with Nigerian gangsters running a racket of prostitution, illegal weaponry and cat food (pretty much the only thing the aliens like to eat).

Neither the government nor the public was interested in what went on in District 9 as long as the “prawns” stayed separated from the humans. The government and MNU (who also happened to be one of the largest weaponry manufacturers) were more interested in the aliens’ weaponry capabilities than for their well-being. The aliens’ weapons only worked for aliens and not for humans, so MNU went to great lengths to learn the secrets of their weapons. In fact, deep within the bowels of MNU, experiments were conducted  where aliens were dissected to try and find out just how their weapons worked.

In the outside world, there was still a public outcry to get the aliens out of the city, but with the government still keenly interested in the alien’s weapon technology, MNU decides to “relocate” the aliens to an area far outside the city. MNU worker Wikus Van De Werwe (Sharlto Copley) is put in charge of the relocation process, and a camera crew follows the twitchy man around as he serves eviction notices to the aliens in District 9. As Wikus delivers the eviction papers and treats the aliens like an inferior race, even gleefully torching one shack where their young are being hatched, the film cuts back and forth between this footage to interviews with people Wikus knew, all hinting at something unthinkable and treacherous that Wikus did.
I won’t say much more than that for fear of giving too much away, but let’s just say that Wikus finds himself feeling sympathetic towards the aliens in the end.

As you can see, there is a lot going on in the world of District 9. First, let me address the socio-political undertones of the film, all are which pretty heavy but don’t weigh the film down. Of course, there is the obvious location of South Africa with its history of apartheid, which was “a political system in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s that separated the different peoples living there and gave privileges to those of European origin.” It also brings to mind the segregation of blacks in the United States after the Civil War and up until the Civil Right’s movement, especially if you’ve seen the marketing materials designating certain areas as “human only”. Not only that, but it echoes more recent issues, like some people’s contempt for illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. or the mass of migration of refugees and immigrants into other countries. The treatment of the aliens in the film is akin to many of these past and present circumstances – the aliens are abused, called derogatory names, exploited, used, and people want them out of their cities and to go back home. The aliens might not be the smartest or prettiest creatures, but as the film progresses you begin to feel sorrier and sorrier for them, not to mention ashamed of the human race.

On the flip side, you have the bumbling human “hero”, Wikus Van De Werwe, who only does what he does to save himself. Though at the end of the film you see him become truly heroic (though most humans in the film would beg otherwise) and actually do the right thing, most of the time he is selfish and cowardly. He is quite a contrast the main alien in the film, who is just trying to get himself and his son home safe. Again, you feel much more sympathetic to the aliens in the film than you do the humans. You can’t help but root for “Christopher” (the name MNU assigned this alien) throughout the film! Writers Neill Blomkamp (who also directed) and Terri Tatchell have really given us some food for thought with District 9 and touched on some very important and relevant issues.

The direction by Blomkamp is inventive as well. The earlier parts of the film play like a documentary, with a camera crew following Wikus around MNU headquarters and in District 9. There are also well-used security camera shots that fit quite well into the overall proceedings. The last part of the film loses the reality TV feel, but the naturalistic camera movements (yes, there is some shaky-cam) keep the audience in the moment!

Of course, this being a Peter Jackson production and a sci-fi action film, there is plenty of splatterific fun! Now, this isn’t anything like Starship Troopers, so don’t expect a bunch of aliens attacking humans being blow up into smithereens, but District 9 has its fair share of gory scenes. When the aliens’ weapons are utilized, plenty of “prawns” and humans get vaporized, leaving behind only chunks of bloody grue. The last part of the film is edge-of-your-seat action, with very cool use of the large robot weapon that is controlled by an alien on the inside! I also must mention the amazing looking aliens, who are mostly all CGI. They look entirely realistic and fit seamlessly into their environment, whether they are foraging for food, being interrogated, fighting back or scheming how to go back home.

District 9 is a unique sci-fi classic in the making. Its relevant and original story, conflicted characters and its harsh look at the human race, not to mention stunning special FX and moments of over-the-top gore, make it a must-see film! If you are looking for a summer movie that offers a lot of heart, depth and social awareness along with its frenetic action, head to District 9!

Available from Amazon!

Deadgirl (2009)

Deadgirl is a beautifully twisted, if not slightly flawed, exploration of how childhood innocence is so easily lost in our disillusioned world. It is easily one of the most disturbing films I’ve seen in recent memory and while it’s a more coming-of-age drama than straight-forward horror movie, this film still managed to shock and deeply perturb me.

High school burnouts Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez, who looks like a mix of Joaquin Phoenix and Johnny Depp) and J.T. (Noah Segan) cut school one hot day and decide to seek refuge in an old abandoned mental institution. After trashing the place and downing some beers, they set off to explore the dank basement where they are shocked to find a seemingly dead woman’s naked body chained to a gurney and wrapped in plastic. While Rickie decides to high-tail it out of there, J.T. has nefarious designs on the naked dead woman…except he soon figures out she isn’t dead and, more so, can’t be killed!

Rickie soon discovers that J.T. has made the dead girl into his own personal sex slave. Yet, Rickie can’t bring himself to turn his best friend in, not even after more and more people find out about the dead girl and join J.T. in his perverse necromance. As the situation spirals out of control and the line between right and wrong blur, Rickie must decide where his loyalties lie.

Deadgirl is definitely not a fun film to watch, but then again I just couldn’t tear my eyes away from the grotesqueries on display. That’s not to say that it is at all gory or bloody, but instead the shock aspect of the film comes from the seemingly moral ambivalence of all the characters. It seems that no one really cares that what they are doing is wrong, and even Rickie, one of the few remotely likable characters, seems only worried about the repercussions if they are caught by the police. This is where the real horror lies…that these teens don’t seem to have any moral compass and that the scenario seems so plausible in real life.

Though the film never explicitly shows the many rape scenes, we know exactly what is transpiring. The film never eroticizes the rape, instead making it a vile, degrading act to watch (though the characters treat it very nonchalantly). The dead girl (played bravely by Jenny Spain) is like a hunk of meat to the characters, just another thing they can use to satisfy their teenage libidos. I’m not sure if the writer Trent Haaga or directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel intentionally wanted to make a statement about rape victims and their attackers, but J.T. and his cronies treat her like a rapist would treat his victim…they say “she’s not even human” and act like she is just a commodity to be used explicitly for their pleasure and then discarded. You end up cheering for the dead girl (the characters never even give her a name and we never find out her back story, making her appear even more like merely an object) but her rapists never seem to get the punishment they deserve.

Another theme the film explores is the “loss of innocence”, but more from Rickie’s and J.T.’s perspectives than from the dead girl’s. The characters go from rebels without a cause to perverse exploiters of human life rather quickly, and, as mentioned above, treat the dead girl as not even being human and repeatedly rape this “object”. Though “zombie” is never used to describe the dead girl, that is what she truly is and the film really turns the zombie genre on its head. Usually, the zombies are used as metaphors for our mindless consumer society, but in Deadgirl the living lead characters are the ones senselessly and coldly using up the “zombie” just as if she is another product. It says a lot about our society and how we as consumers voraciously devour any products we can get our grubby mitts on, without thought to consequences. Kudos to writer Trent Haaga for offering a new perspective and social commentary on the zombie genre. On the more distressing side, it also speaks of how ambivalent we as a society are towards rapists and the “boys will be boys” mentality.

On the visual side of things, directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel do a fantastic job of capturing the angst and alienation of youth in the film (especially accompanied by the moody soundtrack that includes Iron and Wine, Radiohead and Animal Collective). The opening scenes and subsequent framing shots really depict what it feels like to be an outsider in high school. It is a poignant journey until the twisted horror of the dead girl is revealed. From then on most of the action takes place in the dark, dank belly of the abandoned mental hospital, which J.T. slowly converts to his new crash pad, complete with softly glowing Christmas lights and a Lazy-Boy. The gritty setting coupled with the despicable acts the boys perform on the dead girl really makes your stomach turn. The setting reminded me much of Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door.
 
Despite a few shaky instances, the actors in the film did an amazing job. Noah Segan really made us hate his character of J.T. and Shiloh Fernandez made us alternate between hating and loving his character of Rickie. Other cast members did a terrific job as well, especially the dead girl herself, Jenny Spain, who we both felt sorry for and terrified by.

The film does have a few flaws, namely some slow pacing and failure to wrap up some loose ends. The film already has a pretty languid pace, but there are a few instances where the story really gets bogged down. I thought the subplot of Rickie’s mom’s boyfriend didn’t add anything to the story and could have been left out. Also, I really wanted to see some justice and prolonged torture befall J.T. and others for their part in making the dead girl their sex slave, but their fates were rather tame. The film’s grim ending was shocking (though you can see it coming), but it never followed up on what happened to some of the characters or the dead girl herself. Had the script and/or editing been tightened up, the pacing and storyline would have flowed much more smoothly, but still would have been no less perverse.

Deadgirl is a hard film to recommend. On the one hand, it is hard to watch, has its moments of misogyny and the rapists never quite get all they deserve, but on the other hand it is beautifully filmed and is just so damn disturbing! The moral ambivalence of the characters and the objectification of women speak to a greater extent of how we as a society have a nonchalant attitude not only towards the loss of innocence, but also towards rape. And that perhaps is the most frightening thing of all about Deadgirl.

Buy it on Amazon!

Shuttle (2009)

When you think about it, we entrust our lives to random drivers on a daily basis. We rely on the drivers of taxi cabs, buses and shuttles to take us where we need to go. We are confident that once we step into their vehicle that they will take us to our desired location. We don’t ask questions if they take certain “shortcuts” and place our full trust in the driver to get us there in one piece. What if, though, a driver decided to kidnap you and make you his or her prisoner?

This is what happens in Shuttle, when two girlfriends, Mel (Peyton List) and Jules (Cameron Goodman), arrive back home after a weekend getaway in Mexico, only wanting to return home as soon as possible. The airline loses Mel’s luggage, so they are the last ones waiting for a shuttle that will take them home. They flag a shuttle down, but another driver (Tony Curran) offers them a ride at half the cost so they accept. Two guys, Matt (Dave Power) and Seth (James Snyder), from the same flight also decide to take the shuttle, and the four join the lone passenger on board, a jumpy businessman named Andy (Cullen Douglas).

The five passengers soon realize that their driver isn’t taking them to their desired destinations, but has much more nefarious plans…

Shuttle is an amazingly well-done and tension-filled film. I was surprised that it wasn’t just another standard slash ‘em up horror flick, but actually had depth and kept you guessing the whole way through! It also benefited from sympathetic characters, realism and some cringe-worthy scenarios (and I’m not just talking blood and guts here).

The story, written by Edward Anderson (who also directed) is simple yet extremely taut. Like the characters, we never know exactly what is going on or why they are being kidnapped. Anderson adds odd little clues as to their destination, but nothing is revealed until the end, where all the puzzle pieces come together to reveal the true tragedy of the situation. The suspense created by the mystery of not knowing what was going on was fantastic, and my eyes were glued to the screen for the entire running time. I kept trying to guess what was going on and why, but nothing could prepare me for the impact of the devastating ending.

I also liked how Anderson addressed an important issue with his film (one that I can’t mention specifically without giving too much away). While people might assume it happens only in third world countries, Anderson brings attention to the fact that it happens right here in the United States. He also doesn’t try to exploit the issue at hand, but shows just how horrifying and terrible it really is.

Anderson also does a fine job of developing the characters. While he doesn’t go too much in-depth with them, we still feel for them as they try and try again to get out of their terrifying situation. It was refreshing to see characters that fought back and tried to get away, yet still had the decency to not leave their friends behind. The fact that they were at the “wrong place at the wrong time” also adds to the sympathy you feel for them.

The acting is very well-done, especially by Tony Curran who plays the Driver with surprising restraint while still managing to come off as dangerous and menacing. He doesn’t take sadistic pleasure in brutalizing his passengers, instead portraying the Driver as a weary worker just trying to do his job. Peyton List was fantastic as Mel, who was the backbone of the group of passengers. With few exceptions, she fought back every chance she took while protecting her friend Jules. She really elicited the viewer’s sympathy, especially when you think she is getting away only to be re-captured by the Driver. Cameron Goodman as Jules took an unlikable characters, a spoiled little rich girl, and actually made her likable! As the characters get deeper and deeper into the Driver’s plan, you can’t help but feel for the whimpering Jules. With a lesser actress in a role, Jules could have just come off as annoying, but Goodman turns it around so you are sympathetic for her character.

The direction by Edward Anderson is extremely solid for a first-time director! Most of the action takes place on the cramped space of the shuttle, but Anderson utilizes the small space well, giving it a claustrophobic feel. Most scenes are also bathed in grimy, florescent lighting, adding to the grim menace of the film. The direction also has a certain fluidity that keeps the action moving on relentlessly.

My only problem with the film was that the driver was seemingly impervious to mortal wounds. The passengers fought for their lives against him and certainly left their mark. The driver was bludgeoned, stabbed, involved in a nasty traffic accident and even shot, but every time he got up and was as good as new! While this certainly hurt some of the film’s believability, it still didn’t effect my overall enjoyment of the flick.

Shuttle is a horror film that travels in the fast lane, moving at a break-neck speed toward its devastating conclusion all the while keeping you guessing as to what is going on. Its thrilling, well-written story, sympathetic characters and sure-fire direction make this a very smart choice for savvy horror viewers who crave an intelligent, psychological horror film.

Available from Amazon!

Book Review: Garbage Man by Joseph D'Lacey

Joseph D’Lacey follows up his stunning debut novel Meat with an equally aware new horror novel, Garbage Man! This time around, instead of focusing on people’s blind faith and ignorance as to where their food comes from like in Meat, D’Lacey addresses people’s wastefulness and what happens to all the trash that is so irresponsibly disposed of.

As Meat was, Garbage Man is an eye-opening experience that asks relevant but difficult questions. Garbage Man further establishes D’Lacey as one of the most socially aware and most important horror writers of our time!

The town of Shreve is most well-known for its gigantic landfill. Every day more waste is heaped upon the already bulging area, with the denizens never really questioning where their waste will go once the landfill has reached max capacity nor really caring that they are poisoning the ground and surrounding countryside.

Mason Brand, once a famous photographer but now a reclusive hermit living in Shreve, hears “the calling.” Where once before he ignored it, this time he will heed the call and help usher in a new age as a new type of creature is born from people’s unwanted trash. This creature is fashioned from bits of rusty pipes, old appliances, scraps of rag and bone, garbage bags, food wrappers and anything and everything else that was put in the landfill. With Brand’s help, this creature and its brethren seek to rise up from the wastefulness of humans and establish a new order…

Eco-horror is poised to be the next big thing, and I believe that D’Lacey is at the forefront of such and important and frightening sub-genre. If you think about it, now is the perfect time for this sub-genre to emerge, with the crisis of global warming, devastating droughts, increased hurricane and tornado activity, mass pollution, extinction of animals, deforestation and on and on. Everyone should be concerned with these issues that hit close to home. I think that eco-horror and socially relevant horror novels like Garbage Man could make a big difference. Hell, D’Lacey’s Meat novel made me go vegan and I’ve no doubt that Garbage Man will make me take a closer look at my consumption and what I throw away.

I really admire D’Lacey for incorporating such tough issues into horror novels. Without being “preachy” he makes his readers question actions as seemingly mundane as what you eat and what you throw away. As you read his novels, a self-realization will take over that will make you question your own actions and how they effect your environment and the world at large, as well as how they effect yourself. D’Lacey is never forceful in his views, instead letting you come to your own big “ah-ha!” moment.

Garbage Man is no exception, with D’Lacey writing some very powerful prose. The novel is also extremely entertaining, creeping under your skin with the description of the “Garbage Man” and his slithering yet awkward brothers and sisters in the first stages of their lives. From otherworldly and weird these garbage creatures quickly turn menacing as they begin to grow and pose more a threat to Shreve.

The novel kind of feels like it is in two parts…one is the story of the citizens of Shreve, including Mason Brand, while the second part tells of the birth of the garbage monsters and their attack on the town. The characters are extremely well-developed, but I will say that maybe too much time is spent on the human characters as opposed to the creatures. I would have liked to see more creatures early on. Also, some of the characters’ secrets that are revealed in the first part of the book are never really brought up again…I was expecting their “secrets” (like a father that is a pedophile and a mother that has an affair with a much younger boy) that had been buried in the landfill were going to somehow resurface to haunt and torment them once the creatures were released. Unfortunately, they aren’t really touched upon again.

Other than that, Garbage Man was another stunning work from Joseph D’Lacey and a book that I could barely put down! It was a real page turner and really makes you think, just what if Mother Nature gets tired of our trashing her and decides to cleanse the planet…?

Better start recycling…

Available from Amazon!

Book Review: The Good Humor Man by Andrew Fox

In 2041, the government, or what’s left of it, has banned all fatty foods, making a pound of real chocolate worth more than a kilo of cocaine on the black market. Groups of Good Humor Men, government-sanctioned vigilantes, patrol the country and destroy any illegal contraband foodstuffs they find. Meanwhile, shady nutraceutical company MannaSantos controls the market with genetically engineered foods, but people and animals are still wasting away from a mysterious, quick-spreading disease that is a result of a MannaSantos experiment gone horribly wrong.

Only Dr. Louis Shmalzberg, a fallen Good Humor Man and plastic surgeon, begins to uncover the evil behind MannasSantos and holds the key to humanity’s salvation – in the form of Elvis’ liposuctioned belly fat from a surgery his famous plastic surgeon father performed. Yet, Dr. Shmalzberg must travel across the country, getting entangled with an assassin who wants the Elvis fat for a foreign dignitary, a cult evangelizing anorexia, clones from MannasSantos, a voodoo queen, hit-men dressed as Elvi and a woman addicted to liposuction, to hunt down the preserved Elvis fat.

Will Dr. Shmalzberg track down the Elvis before he is captured, killed or before it becomes too late for humanity?

The Good Humor Man is an amazing novel that tackles serious issues like obesity, nutrition, genetically engineered food, the agricultural business, body image and many, many other important topics in a very entertaining, darkly humorous way. In the tradition of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, The Good Humor Man makes us question just where we are headed as a nation and what we can do to prevent author Andrew Fox’s vision.

We all know that America as a country is F-A-T. We are one of the most obese countries in the world and in September 2008, the World Health Organization named the United States as #9 in a list of the most obese countries, with 74.1% of adults, or 237 million Americans, being overweight. So, what if all fatty foods were outlawed in the U.S.? What if a huge agribusiness like MannasSantos took over and made genetically engineered foods like “Leanie Lean” meats for the masses? Sure, the nation’s overall health would probably improve and people would lose weight, but at what cost? What if some genetically engineered experiment went awry and millions of people and animals began to waste away? This is the kind of catastrophe Dr. Shmalzberg must deal with in The Good Humor Man, but the threat of this happening in real life is definitely a possibility. Which is why the book is so engrossing and entertaining. It may be fiction, but author Andrew Fox weaves enough facts and “what if’s” about the possibility of this really happening to the U.S. to completely capture the reader’s attention.

Fox also captures the reader’s attention by giving them a wild ride with The Good Humor Man. Though he puts Dr. Shmalzberg into impossible after impossible scenario, you can’t help but keep reading to see just how he’ll get out of his next scrape! Fox deftly writes the character of Shmalzberg, along with the multitude of other colorful characters, so that they are all believable.

The book is also extremely fast-paced, though it took me a few chapters to really get into it. As soon as Shmalzberg hits the road in search of the Elvis, though, I was hooked. Shmalzberg deals with so many different characters, settings and predicaments on his journey that at times I felt too much was crammed into the book, but Fox somehow makes it work and continues to entertain the whole way through.

My only complaint was towards the end when the book did begin to drag, weighted down by too many old characters that decided to pop up for one last showdown with Shmalzberg. I felt that the ending was drawn out and could have been pared down for a smoother ending.

Other than that minor issue, The Good Humor Man is a very satisfying read that gives you plenty of food for thought!

Available from Amazon!

Book Review: George A. Romero Pocket Essential Guide

 

People usually associate George A. Romeo with zombie movies due to his reinvention of the zombie subgenre with his groundbreaking film, Night of the Living Dead and his masterful follow-ups, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. His zombie films are memorable not only because they are so spectacularly scary and gory productions, but also because they are socially conscious, delivering commentary on consumerism, racism, war, etc. that is still relevant today.

Romeo went on to make two more zombie films in his Dead series – Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead – and has plans to make more, but people don’t realize just how varied his filmography really is. People tend to overlook his other horror films like Martin, The Crazies, Bruiser in favor of his zombie yarns, but these underrated flicks deserve to be seen too.

In Tom Fallows and Curtis Owen’s new book, the George A. Romero Pocket Essential Guide, the two authors explore many of George A. Romero’s films, horror or otherwise, with an in-depth analysis on each of his works. They chronologically cover Romero’s films, giving us a kind of timeline to chart Romero’s maverick career. Each film is broken down over several categories, including a synopsis, any trouble the production ran into, trivia, social commentary within the film, history, etc. Each entry offers an insightful look at the filmmaking process and Romero’s career.

Authors Fallows and Owen do a marvelous job of covering Romero’s filmography from his well-known Dead series to lesser-known works. The direct and strong writing style ensures that the authors cover a ton of information in a small amount of space. The amount of trivia, facts and other information they have compiled is pretty expansive and covers Romero’s films in-depth. Their enthusiasm is engaging and really makes you want to check out lesser-known Romero titles or re-watch ones you already have. The only complaint I had was what I saw as unfair treatment of Land of the Dead. They barely covered the film and gave it a pretty scathing review, though most of the other films were treated with reverence or at least respect (even the awful Diary of the Dead!).

Beside that, though, the book made me fall in love with Romero’s cinema all over again and actively seek out and re-watch many of his films. George A. Romero Pocket Essential Guide is a must-own for any George A. Romero fan, whether you own all his films or have just seen a few. Either way, you’ll learn a lot about the “Don of the Dead” and come to appreciate his films, both well-known and obscure, much more.

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Poultrygeist (2008)

Make sure you’ve got your seat belts fastened tightly, because Poultrygeist is one wild ride. Filled with puke, poop, killer poultry, putrescent gore and plenty of bad nudity, Poultrygeist shows Troma at its trashy (and socially-conscious) best!

Arbie (Jason Yachanin) and Wendy (Kate Graham) vowed they’d always be together…but a year after consummating their love in the Tromahawk Indian Burial Ground Wendy has come back to town a changed woman. She is in town protesting the bulldozing of the burial ground and the erection of fast food joint American Chicken Bunker in its place with her militant girlfriend Mickie (Allyson Sereboff). Yep, Wendy has turned into a lipstick lesbian much to the chagrin of lovesick Arbie. He vows to get her back and promptly takes a job at American Chicken Bunker. He joins the colorful group of employees, including high-strung manager Denny (Joshua Olatunde), backwoods dead chicken f*cker Carl Jr. (Caleb Emerson), gay Mexican Paco Bell (Khalid Rivera), and burka-clad Humus (Rose Ghavami) who has her own prayer mat in the kitchen to pray to Mecca every day.

Besides the angry protesters outside, Arbie and his co-workers must also deal with the angry spirits of displaced Native Americans as well as the souls of all the chickens American Chicken Bunker has slaughtered. Soon, people start ending up dead and/or start turning into horrific (and hungry) chicken-like zombies.

Can Arbie and his friends save the world? More importantly, can Arbie win Wendy back in the process?

Troma’s take-no-prisoners humor is readily apparent in this gloriously low-brow film and everyone from liberals to minorities to huge corporations get skewered. I especially liked how no group was left unscathed…as soon as fun was poked at big corporations, they’d switch it around and start making fun of the protestors standing against big business. Of course, this being a Troma film it’s also heavy on toilet humor…dick and fart jokes abound and this definitely isn’t a film for those easily offended!!

You expect the toilet humor (like a guy having massive diarrhea…from the point of view of the toilet bowl, someone adding his own “special sauce” to the fast food, chicken carcasses getting raped, etc.) from a Troma film, but what surprised me was the high quality of the special FX! The budget for Poultrygeist was pretty low, but they still managed to pull off some amazing effects. Highlights included a zombie hand going through someone’s ass and out their mouth, a meat grinder accident with a spectacular spray of blood, someone’s face getting cut into perfect deli slices in a meat slicer, dozens of people throwing up green puke and tons of other gross-out moments. The effects in the film were impressive and by far some of the best shown in any Troma film in the indie studio’s 35 year career!

Also a personal best for a Troma film was the acting in Poultrygeist. The actors gave it their all here, with very enthusiastic performances. Even though the characters were way over the top, you couldn’t help cheer for them anyway. In the wrong actors’ hands, the quirky characters could have quickly fallen flat…Luckily, we get a near-perfect cast that delivers and hams it up just enough without going too overboard in this over-the-top film! They even manage some fun musical numbers!

Yep, I said musical numbers! These will even be enjoyable to those that normally don’t like musicals (trust me, I watched this film with my musical-hating boyfriend and even he loved it). The lyrics, including songs about sex, bodily fluids, love, and more sex (usually of the anal variety), are just so damn offensive that they are plain hilarious. Plus, the audio is great and the actors can really sing! The songs even manage to propel the narrative along and aren’t just there for schlock value (though they do help!). We even get to see Uncle Lloyd (wearing a skirt, no less) join in on one of the musical numbers as he sings and dances!

Poultrygeist also tackles some socially conscious issues and though they are covered in poop and puke (and chicken feathers), the message still shines clear. The take jabs at big business, fickle and hypocritical protestors, consumerism, American’s fast-food addictions and so on. And through it all you’ll be laughing your ass off…unless you’re blowing chunks, that is!

Poultrygeist is the most fun you’ll have with chicken-zombies, Native American spirits (the ghostly kind, not the alcoholic kind), lesbians, skirt-wearing men and fast food this year! This is a fowl, gross-out movie that super-sizes the fun and comes with an extra side of AWESOME!

Available from Amazon!

Satan's Little Helper (2004)

I love a good Halloween horror movie, and I’m not talking about your usual haunted house flick. No, I’m talking about movies that put you in the spirit to spook, movies that haunt your dreams with visions of Halloween and really inspire you to get in the season.

One such gem of a Halloween film is Satan’s Little Helper, part perverse satire, part vicious horror film and a whole lotta fun!

Young Dougie (Alexander Brickel) is obsessed with a video game called Satan’s Little Helper, in which a character helps Satan send people to Hell. It’s Halloween day, and Dougie and his kooky, spacey mom (Amanda Plummer) are picking up Dougie’s sister Jenna (Katheryn Winnick), who is back home from college just so she can take Dougie trick or treating. Problem is, Jenna’s brought her boyfriend Alex (Stephen Graham) home for the holiday and Dougie is pissed…so he storms off to wander the neighborhood alone, clothed in his own Satan costume.

Dougie comes upon a creepily masked serial killer who is going house-to-house, killing people and then re-arranging them on front lawns and porches as macabre Halloween decorations. Dougie thinks he’s finally found his Master and brings Satan home to meet mom and sis. They think the person under the mask is Alex, trying to please Dougie, so they think nothing of the weird behavior. Dougie goes on a crime and killing spree with “Satan,” thinking it is all just a game…until his “Master” attacks his family that is.

Satan’s Little Helper is a fun, darkly humorous flick that borders on satire. You’re never quite sure if director Jeff Lieberman (who has created other cult classics like Just Before Dawn, Squirm, Blue Sunshine) meant it as a social commentary on kids being desensitized to violence or if he just wanted to have a bloody good time, but whatever the case he succeeds in creating a cult classic!

Though the character of Dougie is unbelievably naïve at times (what kid, no matter how desensitized, would think that an old lady being hung out of a window is all part of a game and not real?), I couldn’t help but get sucked into the imaginative story. The whole Halloween setting really helps with the story, especially due to the fact that everyone is in costume and things are expected to be gruesome. The killer, whom we never learn much about, has it pretty easy since no one can see his face and no one really takes the dead bodies he leaves in his wake to be real. My favorite part is when “Satan” gruesomely kills a black cat (very cringe-worthy in of itself!!) and uses its blood to write “BOO” on the side of a house he’s already decorated with a very real body. A lady with her two trick or treating kids asks our killer to pose for a picture, which he obligingly does!

Now, this is by no means a perfect film. For one, the character of Dougie does grate the nerves with his stupidity. For another, the acting at times isn’t all that great. The film also has a low-budget look (it was shot on digital in 2004) that will turn some viewers away. The story is engaging, but towards the end it starts to drag a little bit. Still, despite these flaws Satan’s Little Helper is an extremely fun and clever horror movie.

Available from Amazon!

Trick or Treat (1986)

To get in the Halloween spirit, I decided to watch the festively named Trick or Treat, the one that features Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons in cameo roles. Trick or Treat isn’t a great movie by any means, but it has a certain spellbinding charm that keeps it entertaining, and not just for metalheads.

Eddie (Marc Price, or “Skippy” from Family Ties as most people remember him) is a metalhead outcast at his high school. The jocks always pick on him and pull cruel pranks on him, like pushing him naked out into the school gym when the girl’s volleyball team is practicing. His outlet for all his anger and pent-up frustration is metal music, and his idol is rock star Sammi Curr (Tony Fields). When Sammi dies in a hotel fire, Eddie is devastated. A radio DJ (Gene Simmons) gives Eddie the studio master of Sammi’s unreleased record to cheer him up. After playing the record backwards, Eddie unwittingly unleashes the spirit of Sammi. At first, Eddie finds Sammi to be useful at getting revenge on the jocks, but soon realizes Sammi is evil. Sammi becomes more and more powerful until he materializes in the flesh on Halloween night to raise hell…

Trick or Treat was quite a surprise and I really found myself enjoying it. Though there aren’t any scares, its entertainment value alone makes it worth watching. The story is pretty original and I love how the filmmakers took a look at metal music and the big controversy that surrounded it in the ‘80s.

My one big gripe with the film was the poor pacing at the beginning. The first 30 – 45 minutes just crawl by and consist of scenes of Eddie being tormented at school, then getting home and blaring his metal music, then going back to school and being hassled again and returning home to listen to more metal in his gloomy room, rinse, repeat…you get the idea. I think just one scene of this would have elicited enough sympathy for Eddie at which point we could have gotten to the real action of the film.

The real action doesn’t start until somewhere around the one-hour mark, when Sammi is finally unleashed and starts strutting around, zapping people. My favorite part is when Sammi crashes the high school’s Halloween dance and puts on a killer performance – literally! He shoots electrical charges out of his guitar that basically pulverize his victims. He can also move through electrical currents and can get you pretty much anywhere there’s electricity.

The logistics, as well as the how’s and why’s of Sammi’s satanic, electrifying ways are never quite explained, but that niggling little problem is easily quieted by the overall fun you’ll have watching this flick. Besides a few unexplained, illogical plot points and a slow start, the film’s story (by Rhet Topham, with the screenplay written by Joel Soisson, Michael S. Murphey and Rhet Topham) is actually quite inventive. I mean, where else could you find an outcast metalhead conjuring up his dead rock star idol with a satanic ritual, causing irreparable harm to the neighborhood on Halloween? Not to mention all the killer ‘80s hair metal fashion – leather, chains, piercings, tattoos, and who can for get the big, frizzy, poofy hair!

The music, performed mainly by Fastway, is actually pretty good. It’ll put you in that metal state of mind! And, of course, the cameos by Ozzy Osbourne (as a conservative, religious/political pundit speaking out against metal music on TV) and Gene Simmons (as a radio DJ) are pretty enjoyable as well!

Surprisingly, the acting (even by Osbourne and Simmons) is well done. Marc Price plays a convincing teenager that’s fed up with the status quo and the mainstream. He is very relatable and I know many people (myself included) can relate to him and what he is going through in high school. I also loved Tony Fields’ portrayal of Sammi Curr…he completely nails it and had me checking on IMDB to see if he really was a rock star! He is just that good!

For a nostalgic kick, Trick or Treat is a fun movie that’ll take you back to hair metal’s heyday. Don’t expect any scares, but you’ll definitively be entertained by Trick or Treat’s music and unique story.

Metalhead or not, Trick or Treat is a definite horror movie treat!

Available from Amazon!

The Grapes of Death (1978)

After being introduced to Jean Rollins’ work through the film The Iron Rose, I decided to take a look at a few other of his films. I decided to start his 1978 film The Grapes of Death (aka Les Raisins de la Mort)as the premise, location and promise of gore lured me. The film was said to feature zombies, be set in the vineyards of France and be one of Rollins’ most ooey and gooey horror films.

I didn’t see any zombies or French vineyards, but the gore certainly was present and accounted for!

The film opens with a group of vineyard workers spraying down the rows and rows of sickly grapes with harsh pesticides. Despite the fact that they are all wearing “protective masks” (which are little more than painter’s masks) one man falls violently ill. Meanwhile, a young woman named Elizabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal) is on her way into the region via train. She is going to meet her fiancée at the winery where he works. The same man that fell ill in the vineyards boards her train, kills her friend and attacks her, all the while a large, oozing wound on his face is rapidly spreading.

Elizabeth hightails it into the French countryside, but encounters more people with the same pus-filled sores that try to attack her and anyone else who remains unaffected. The infected are not only violent, but they are also organized and sneaky. Can Elizabeth make her way to her fiancées winery and get help…before it’s too late?

This movie was pretty hit and miss with me. It was touted as a zombie flick, but I think that is a grossly inaccurate description. It wasn’t clear if the infected died and came back as pus-filled atrocities or if they were just sick. Besides stumbling around a little bit, they certainly didn’t act like zombies either, as they could speak and manipulate people. I was also expecting a bit more violence or action, but the movie dragged in many places. I’d say the bulk of the movie featured the heroine running, climbing and walking through the rocky French countryside (no vineyards in sight!).

The best part of the film was the special FX done on the afflicted. The greenish-yellow pus, the raw red sores and the bright red dripping blood reminded me of the over-the-top effects used in Street Trash or Slime City. While The Grapes of Death didn’t use the extreme bright color palate of either of those films, the effect of being grossed out was still achieved!

The signature Jean Rollins style of filming is definitely apparent in The Grapes of Death. The slow, languid shots give the film a dream-like quality, while the small flourishes of close-ups (of eyes, faces, etc.) are evident throughout the film. Visually, the color palate of the film is rather dull, making the colorful seeping sores on the infected pop all that much more.

The story is pretty straightforward and simple, but the ending is pretty powerful and even a bit surprising. I also loved the scenes with the woman in white, who absolutely stole the show!

The Grapes of Death isn’t a film I would recommend everyone see, but for those interested in Jean Rollins filmmaking it is a must-see. As many before me have said, the gore is phenomenal and fun and it pretty much makes an otherwise drawn out movie very enjoyable.

The Grapes of Death pairs excellently with a nice bottle of French Chianti.

Available from Amazon!

The Lost (2008)

Hanging out in the woods one night, Ray Pye (Marc Senter) and his two friends Tim (Alex Frost) and Jennifer (Shay Astar) stumble across two women (one who happens to be Erin Brown, aka Misty Mundae, in the nude) camping. After spying on them for a bit, Ray suggests they “pop” them with his rifle. He notes how exciting shooting rabbits is, but says it would be more thrilling to shoot these two innocent girls. Ray gleefully goes through with his plan, viciously shooting the defenseless girls while his petrified friends go along with it as well as helping Ray cover up the crime. They are as scared of Ray as they are enamored of him.

Four years later, the original detective on the case, Charlie Schilling (Michael Bowen), is still convinced Ray is the killer and keeps a careful watch on the womanizing charmer. Meanwhile, Ray’s despotic rule over his friends slowly crumbles as Detective Schilling applies pressure to him and the group.

The usually slick and smooth Ray finally snaps, going on a merciless shooting rampage and taking several hostages up in an isolated house. Can Detective Schilling find him before more people are brutally killed?

More about a group of lost, disaffected youths than about a budding serial killer, The Lost is Chris Sivertson’s film adaptation of the Jack Ketchum novel of the same name. Initially, I didn’t enjoy the film at all, but a few days after viewing it I found it had grown on me a bit. While I’ve never read this particular Ketchum book, his trademark dark portrayal of suburbia/society is evident in the film.

Ketchum’s trademark nastiness is most evident in the opening scenes as well as in the conclusion. The opening scenes capture Ray’s viciousness as well as his ability to manipulate those around him. While the opening scenes start with a bang (literally), the middle of the film feels more like an after-school special about the dangers of peer pressure, abusive relationships, and drug and alcohol abuse than a horror movie. There’s even a large chunk of the film devoted to Ray “falling in love” (obsessing is more like it) over the sultry Katherine (Robin Sydney). Things quickly feel like they are developing into a teen drama with the added love triangle between Ray, Jennifer and Tim. The horror finally kicks in again at the end, when Ray is wronged one too many times and starts brutally shooting people, but it comes a little too late.

Jack Ketchum himself has praised this adaptation (you can hear him on the DVD’s commentary track), but I just wasn’t completely sold on it. It feels a bit too uneven and I know many horror fans won’t enjoy this film. Blame mustn’t be placed on Sivertson, though, who does a wonderful job with the direction. Though his screenplay might be a bit rough at times, it always feels like Ketchum material, examining the nittiest and grittiest underbelly of society.

The performances from the actors were extremely convincing, though I did want to knock some sense into Tim (Frost) and Jennifer (Astar) for being friends with Ray after all the abuse and threats they suffer. Also, while Marc Senter gives a maniacally charming performance as Ray, at times his portrayal felt a little too forced and over the top. Still, he makes Ray into a good-lookin’, smooth-talkin,’ intense guy and really made me believe people would fall for his charisma.

Fans of Ketchum’s book The Lost will no doubt be impressed by this film, but as for the rest of us…it feels a little lacking. Not even a short cameo by Dee Wallace Stone helped to perk things up. The Lost has intense opening and closing scenes, but the rest of the film is lacking suspense, tension or much else to keep your attention except for a few intense performances.

Still, this movie has “cult film” written all over it and I won’t soon forget it.

Available from Amazon!

The Signal (2008)

Our parents always told us that TV would rot our brains and the three filmmakers of The Signal have really taken this warning to heart. The team of David Bruckner, Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry has created a film where an electronic signal sent through the television, the radio, phones, etc. changes normal people into raging homicidal maniacs. The mysterious signal distorts perceptions and scrambles receptors in the brain so people’s logic is skewed and they do things they normally wouldn’t do…like kill everyone in sight.

When The Signal premiered at Sundance Film Festival last year, it generated a lot of buzz. It follows three different perspectives (broken down into segments or “transmissions” in the film) that are each written and directed by three different people. Transmission 1: Crazy in Love follows Mya, Transmission 2: The Jealousy Monster follows Lewis, and the final Transmission 3: Escape from Terminus follows Ben. Does the film live up the hype? Only one way to find out…keep reading!

As a brief Grindhouse-era film plays (a very realistic recreation by co-director Jacob Gentry), it is interrupted by a pulsating, blurry signal. The signal looks almost organic, and we can almost make out shapes in the psychedelic colors, but not before they become distorted and turn into something else.

Ben (Justin Welborn) wakes up to the mysterious signal playing on his TV, which has turned on by itself. The woman sleeping next to him, Mya (Anessa Ramsey) is cheating on her husband with Ben. After realizing how late it is, she has to rush home, but not before Ben tries to convince her to stay. He tells her they can leave the city, Terminus, together and never look back. He tells her to meet him at Terminal 13 tomorrow so they can go away together. He gives Mya a mix CD he’s made for her as a present, and she sets off towards home with the CD playing through her headphones.

When she gets to her car, she notices a homeless man that has been stabbed and another man that rushes up to her as Mya struggles to get in her car. When she arrives home, things aren’t quite right there either. There are people arguing in the hallway of her apartment building and she can hear many raised voices behind closed doors. When she finally reaches her apartment, she finds her husband Lewis (AJ Bowen) and his two friends trying to fix the TV, as the same signal that she saw at Ben’s is also on their TV. The phones are all out as well, and she uses that as a handy excuse to lie to her husband about why she is home so late.

Things in the apartment soon escalate between the three friends and after someone is bludgeoned repeatedly with a baseball bat, Mya runs out in the hall…only to find dead bodies littering the floor and an ominous man with a pair of gardening shears coming towards her. She finds refuge in the apartment across the hall until morning. In the morning’s light she sees how messed up things really are and flees the apartment complex to head to Terminal 13…and thus ends Transmission 1: Crazy in Love.

Transmission 2: The Jealousy Monster shows us Lewis’ story and his determination to track down Mya no matter how many people he has to kill to protect his happiness.

In Transmission 3: Escape from Terminus, the story is told from Ben’s perspective as he battles Lewis to get to Mya first.

With big Hollywood movies, more directors and writers usually spell disaster for a film. Too many cooks in the kitchen can create a big mess of a film. Such is not the case with The Signal, though, as you can barely tell there is a distinction between the three different segments. They all flow together seamlessly and each holds quite a few surprises. It is evident that co-writers/co-directors David Bruckner, Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry worked closely together to create a scary, fast-paced, and oftentimes funny, horror film. The direction was gritty and really gave the audience a close-up of the craziness that the characters were experiencing. The writing was witty, funny and realistic with more than enough twists to keep you guessing as to who is crazy and who isn’t.

With a complex script that featured unreliable characters whose perceptions you couldn’t trust, the filmmakers needed to find excellent actors to match. Luckily, the filmmakers found actors who can flip the switch between happy and enraged in the blink of an eye. I was very impressed with AJ Bowen’s performance as Lewis, the wronged husband. His sudden emotional changes coupled with a skewed perception were impressive to watch. He made Lewis a very unlikable character and yet we couldn’t get enough of him! Anessa Ramsey also made quite an impression as Mya. It’s just a pity we didn’t see more of her! The rest of the cast did an amazing job as well and really helped make this movie a success; without these particular actors I’m convinced the film couldn’t be as good as it is.

As for the gore, there are plenty of cringe-worthy scenes that even had the two huge metal guys I was with recoiling in their seats! The kill-or-be-killed mentality of The Signal leads many to compare it with the philosophy of many zombie films. The sudden violence of the film certainly lends itself to the comparison, as does the brutal scenes of gore. Still, The Signal is more intelligent and much scarier than any run-of-the-mill zombie flick. The crazies in The Signal can still think, albeit in a distorted type of way where their logic becomes twisted. They are not just acting on instinct as zombies do, but their reactions are ruled by the corrupting signal and sometimes you can’t tell who is crazy and who isn’t. It also feels realistic with its allusions to brainwashing, the power of advertising that we are exposed to every day and terrorism.

The Signal is a daring and fresh approach to the intelligent person’s horror movie. What if social etiquette was ignored and lawlessness ruled the land? What if an electronic frequency was high-jacked to make us devolve into savages and turn against our fellow man? Can you imagine the terror of a world in which seemingly rational people turned into not just crazed killers, but crazed killers with logic behind their violence? The Signal delves into each of these questions and more to make a completely terrifying and entertaining independent film.

This is not a test…go see The Signal today!

Available from Amazon!