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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Mar 2, 2013 22:19:47 GMT -5
First of all sorry for taking so long to start and decide on the theme(s) for the contest.
Anyway the stipulations are as follows: 1 point for any Irish movie or movie that has to due heavily with being Irish 2 points for any werewolf, vampire or zombie themed horror movie 3 points for any Irish or Irish themed horror movie 4 points for any Irish or Irish themed horror movie that contains any of the three aforementioned monster
As always honor system in effect and the contest ends midnight Pacific time on March 31st.
I really liked the idea for the monster based contest because as a child me and one of my friends would almost always pick monster based horror movies because you never knew what the monster would look like, sometimes its ridiculously bad and other ti mes it looks incredibly real and scary.
Bring it on LOB!
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 3, 2013 21:46:16 GMT -5
It's Zombie time for LOB.
Starting off the month with George Romero's Land of the Dead, Unrated Director's Cut (2005). I like this movie a lot and first saw it during it's initial run on the big screen. Actually, I watched it last week, but re-watched it last night. First with the negative. I didn't like some of the CG blood, but it was added for the director's cut for the fans. Romero held off on his theatrical release so as not to have to deal with the ol' MPAA too much, but added more guts, gore, and scenes for this version, so I'm not too mad about the CG blood and gore at times. The one Zombie I didn't like had a CG head/neck effect that was too ridiculous even for fiction, so that one bugged me a little. The second thing I didn't like was that Zombies carried things around from their "previous" lives like tambourines, briefcases, and butcher cleavers. Well, I liked the butcher cleaver to be honest. I will get back to this in a moment.
I loved the acting from Asia Argento, Dennis Hopper, Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, and a huge Samoan actor whose character was called "Pillsbury". I loved Pillsbury, and he stole his every scene. I need to look up this actor sometime on IMDB. I loved the practical effects especially the gore & blood, two puppet Zombies, matte painted backgrounds, gunfire, and the Zombified makeup. I loved the use of Day for Night scenes, they looked great! I loved the actor who had really been scarred heavily in a fire in life. I love how Romero used this in casting his character who was loyal to the main character who had saved him from a really bad fire. Very smart and to me, classy of Old George.
I especially liked that this was a continuation of the "Bub" motif from Day of the Dead, this time using Big Daddy to further this idea and evolution of Romero's ghouls and "stenches". But he did take it too far with the tambourine and briefcase, which he did also in Day of the Dead with a Zombie who after being long undead, still clenched an unlit cigar between his chompers. Sadly this evolution would lead to La Bomba known as Survival of the Dead and a Zombie girl riding a freaking horse for most of the absurd movie, and the idea of keeping the Zombies satiated by feeding them other meats, say like horse meat.
Oh yeah one last thing. I am way more anti-Bush Jr. than most people ever were and earlier on in his illegitimate Presidency. I was protesting against the coming of our invasion of Iraq for a year before our tragic involvement there and I never, ever believed in lies about WMD. I was proudly wearing a "Fuck Bush" tee-shirt months after 9-11 and for the next eight years at least once a month as we watched America creep closer to Orwell's 1984 nightmare vision. That said, Romero has always been into social commentary via horror from his Dead movies to The Crazies, which I can appreciate to a point, just George being George, a truly decent man concerned with who we are and what we have become since the days of Night of the Living Dead, Vietnam, and the Civil Rights movement. This movie suffered from this social/political commentary with Dennis Hopper (RIP, badass!) single-handedly playing the entire two-faced Bush Administration even with lines along the likes of "You are either with us or against us" or some such thing. This movie is a birth child of the age of The War on Terror and the Patriot Act with a blurring of which side is truly bad. Too much social commentary for my liking because it didn't feel natural but heavy handed and preachy. Sorry, if you are an undead bastard trying to eat my forehead, YOU are the bad guy. Zombies should rarely be the good guy with the exception of Fido. 'Nuff said.
I'm going to like this competition. Monster movies were how I first got into Horror as a tiny tyke.
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 3, 2013 21:46:52 GMT -5
Oops, LOB-2.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Mar 6, 2013 2:30:11 GMT -5
May Contain Spoilers:
First I watched George Romero's 1985 zombie horror movie Day of the Dead for the first time and thus meaning I finally watched the original Dead trilogy. This was my favorite of the Dead films so far. It's about the conflicting tension during the zombie apocalypse between the civilians, scientists, and soldiers doing research on a possible cure for the outbreak. The gore and zombie makeup in this movie by Tom Savini is just great all around, so realistic and brutal. I also liked the soundtrack (though so 80's) and of course the idea of how people isolated will slowly go nuts and turn on each other. The actual acts of violence also looked pretty realistic. I have to agree with you though that the acting is good except for the guy playing Miguel who's voice sounded like Richard Pryor or Dave Chapelle imitating a white guy. I particularly liked the one soldier's screaming when he was getting torn apart near the end. The movie also managed to scare me almost immediately at the beginning with all those hands bursting out the wall, which I was completely unprepared for. I thought Terry Alexander and Sherman Howard were great as John and Bub respectively ,but I don't know how I feel about zombies learning to use guns, although I do like how they do past activities out of habit. Really good movie.
Second I watched Leon Klimovsky's 1970 Spanish horror movie The Werewolf vs The Vampire Woman which is a vampire and a werewolf who get into a little feud and eventually fight. I'll start with the positive: the gore looked really good and realistic, the soundtrack was good, and like alot of European horror movies it had above average cinematography, taking advantage of rundown or abandoned houses and ruins, and the werewolf( which was more of the wolf man variety) looked good. Now for the bad: the acting was bad, the fight scenes were bad, I thought the vampires looked bad because of their really fake looking fangs, and overall I just thought the movie had this really weird sort of pacing where characters would just accept things as if they made total sense and had always been that was, and some really bad dialog that was intentionally funny. God I was so tired during this movie , which coupled with the fact that it wasn't very good just had me wishing it would end, I haven't wanted a movie to end like that since watching Requiem for a Vampire.
After that I watched 2010 vampire movie Stake Land which is about survivors in the aftermath of vampire plague. This was a great movie: the soundtrack, acting, gore, makeup, cinematography, and actual fight scenes were all great. I liked how there were different types of vampires and how do to the collapse of society the little settlements reminded me of a western. Don't want to give away much ,but this is a recommend.
Finally I watched Ian Palmer's 2011 documentary Knuckle which is about the ongoing feud between various Irish Travelers families and how they settle it through unsanctioned bareknuckle boxing. This has great cinematography and a great soundtrack ,but more importantly it does a good job showing how the families, which are usually related somehow, fight because of money or as revenge ,but it does a really good job showing how out of hand the vendettas get. People get into fights because they want revenge for something someone else did to their family or because other members of their fa miles start trouble and they feel obligated to fight. I thought the ending was poignant showing how the kids are brought into it and how nothing really ever comes of it. I also thought it was really funny how they made videos calling each other out like pro wrestlers. Great documentary and another recommend.
JAS-7
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 11, 2013 0:22:10 GMT -5
Watched both Dawn of the Dead movies.
First I watched the classic by George Romero from 1978. This is about my sixth or so watching. I picked up on the running theme in all of Romero's Dead movies; the adaptation of the undead in this new dark world of theirs. In Night of the Living Dead we have the original Zombie from the cemetery use a rock (a tool) to break Barbara's car's window and pull down the power line for the farmhouse later in the movie. In Dawn we have "Flyboy" upon reanimation remembering the false wall he and his friends had built in the mall, leading to the loss of the last refuge in the mall. Day of the Dead has Bub learning his basic gun-rights and Land has Big Daddy leading an undead army like a Zombie general.
After this viewing, I think this is my favorite Romero Dead film, but with each new watching of one of the original three, well whatever is my current view seems to become my favorite. I love so much about this movie, the SWAT team raid at the start of the story, the use of a mall as a new home during the continuing Zombie disaster, and Tom Savini's great and revolutionary at the times effects, make-up, and Zombie kills. I liked all the actors and their corresponding characters especially Roger and Peter (Kentotis Alvin "Ken" Foree, his real name and what a bad-ass). In this movie, my favorite Zombie is the Moonie and that makes me feel old. What ever happened to the Moonies, they used to be in every airport selling flowers and running laundry mats in some major cities? Oh well, not my problem anyway. I am glad that there is a cameo role by Tom Savini as the head of a biker army, machete and all. I am also glad that he makes a cameo in Land of the Dead as the seemingly undead version of this character, machete and all. If you only watch one Romero flick, I recommend this one slightly ahead of Night of the Living Dead, but I think the awesome simplicity of the black and white would turn most new "refined" and "savvy" viewers off from the original.
Than I watched the re-make from 2004. I really enjoy this movie and first saw it on the big screen, and it unnerved me. Thumbs up for that. I love the soundtrack, the effects and make-up, the use of conventional effects except for the CG propane explosions, the actors and once again the corresponding characters, the Zombie kills, and the use of actors with real-life amputations to render the torn and eaten up aspect of their deaths.
This movie reincorporates a mall as the setting for this modern feeling retelling about the rise of the Dead. One huge plot difference is that the people in this movie want OUT of the mall, instead of enjoying it like the crew from the original. Personally, I would stay and try to live life as close to the "Flyboy" from Day of the Dead's "take it easy" life philosophy in the face of the Apocalypse. This movie also uses the iconic "green" BP trucks, but once again, differently. Of course an impulsively nuts redheaded teen girl fucks up the situation that was already fucked up. Good times, and I recommend this movie, controversial running Zombies or not.
LOB-6
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Mar 13, 2013 3:06:45 GMT -5
Spoilers Below:
First I watched John Badham's 1979 British vampire horror movie Dracula starring Donald Pleasance, Laurence Olivier, and Frank Langella. This was a really good movie. The cinematography was great and I thought the gore looked great as well. I also thought that the makeup on the ghoul vampires looked great and while simplistic actually managed to scare me in one scene. All of the acting was good and I thought that Langella as Dracula was great, I loved how he was suave and charming, but at the same time there was something off and sinister about him. Speaking of the Count, I thought they also did a good job demonstrating his vampiric abilities such as his strength and agility and how when he was transformed into a wolf that wolf looked particularly big and fierce-some. The soundtrack was done by John Williams so of course it was great. The one part that wasn't good and kept this from being a great movie was the problem that alot of Dracula adaptations and the vampire genre in general have, taking them out without making them look weak. Basically they just undo this 500 year old badass by hooking his clothes and hanging him out in the sun, which I'm sure if done right could look cool, but here it was done poorly and looked really bad. I did like the ambiguous ending though. I decided to watch this movie for two reasons: firstly because the poster intrigued me and secondly because I realized that like Neal I haven't seen a Dracula movie that I could say I liked and realized that I hadn't really seen that many good vampire movies in general. Watching it was an ordeal though, I went through three different uploads on Youtube before finding one that didn't have the cinematography tampered with or wasn't dubbed in German.
Second I watched John Hayes 1972 vampire horror film Grave of the Vampire which is about a dhampyr son trying to get revenge on his vampire father for both raping his mother and giving him his curse. The acting in this movie reflects the movie over all, bad ,but funny. The soundtrack was pretty good and I also thought that the gore looked good. What also surprised me was the above average level of cinematography. I did like the idea of this centuries old vampire being a common rapist and serial killer and the idea shown at the end where if you kill the host vampire instead of being let free you become a full vampire. God the climatic fight scene in this movie was so hokey and yet it was really amusing. This is the first time I've ever seen a vampire stop, drop, and roll. I decided to watch this movie because the description on Netflix intrigued me.
After that I watched Tom Hollands 1985 vampire horror movie Fright Night for the first time. So much was great about this movie: the cinematography, soundtrack, gore, and special effects. All of the acting was good ,but I thought that the antagonists in particular, Chris Sarandon and Johnathan Stark as Jerry Dandridge and Billy Cole respectively was great. I liked how they would act so affable and yet would also subtly intimidate the protagonist and I also liked there dynamic together as genuine friends, instead of the cliche I've seen numerous times before where one treats the other badly and then gets turned on for it. Loved the look of the vampires in full beast mode and liked how like in Dracula (the novel) they can also shapeshift into wolves, I also loved the effect for their eyes when it changed color, and thought the vampire bat looked great and monstrous, and I really liked how they showed Jerry's strength. The only thing I didn't like were a few moments where I think they should've been serious instead of going comedic. Overall this was a really good movie.
Finally I watched Tony Scott's 1983 vampire horror movie The Hunger starring David Bowie, which was about a vampire couple and their eventual intertwinement ,with a researcher trying to find a way to stop aging. The cinematography had some great indoor shots and a few great outside ones. The acting was good, particularly David Bowie who had a real presence. The soundtrack a mix of traditional 80's horror syth, rock music, and classical music was great. I thought the gore looked really good as well and in a few scenes was great. The one weakness of this movie was pacing and the fact that not much really happened throughout the entire movie. Still I thought it was really good and liked how the vampires weren't traditional, they could be in sunlight and didn't get blood through fangs. I was also glad to knock another movie off of my list that I started and didn't finish.
Well after watching a quartet of vampire movies I thought it was cool that they either had some original elements to them or just did older less used elements of vampires well. Dracula and Fright Night are definite recommends, The Hunger was different, and Grave of the Vampire was at least entertaining.
I really liked the DOTD remake as well and I like running zombies. I don't really think running or non-running zombies are better or worse than each other, but I do feel that they evoke a different feeling. The traditional ones have this feeling of unrelenting, claustrophobic, and trapped dread, while the running ones have this more intense in your face feeling.
JAS-15 points
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 14, 2013 6:39:21 GMT -5
Well Jake, there is the rub in the whole running Zombie argument. In the original Night of the Living Dead, the cemetery ghoul, the first Romero Zombie in film history, runs while chasing Barbara in her and Johnny's car. So from day one, the dead could run, but not like now; the infected in 28 Days Later changed the dynamics of the genre (Wulf was right, I was wrong, they are not Zombies). It has been said that every generation gets the Zombies it deserves. I suppose that speaks about our need to have things sped up with less slow burn suspense.
I loved Fright Night. That might be one of a very few vampire movies I watch this month. Not going to lie, I'm not huge into Vampires.
And Jake, beware Andy Warhol's Dracula.
And by the way, what state do you live in?
I watched my favorite Zombie comedy, Fido from the Great White North. This movie blends Leave it to Beaver, Romero's Night of the Living Dead and his adapting Zombies that can now work for Mankind (not Mick Foley), and the great book, World War Z.
My fifth viewing of this fun film. I love the humor that works, the beautiful cinematography and bold 1950s colors and Technicolor brightness, the jazzy soundtrack including two songs by Squirrel Nut Zippers, and the great cast. The little boy, Timmy is played so well by K'Sun Ray and Fido is wonderful as portrayed by Scottish-born (I think if I remember correctly) Billy Connolly. A big recommend.
LOB-8
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 18, 2013 2:48:06 GMT -5
Okay, I've watched some Zombie flicks. Four of them. First I watched George Romero's Day of the Dead (1985). I love this movie and am going to settle on it as my favorite from Romero, and thus my favorite Zombie movie. The Zombified make-up is right the fuck on compared to the bluish dead from Dawn of the Dead. The Zombie kills, gore, and well, the make-up (so nice I had to bring it up twice) is the best in my opinion in the genre. I still hate Miguel. I watched the movie with the commentary by Romero, Savini, and the main actress on. They never made one comment about the actor playing Miguel or his performance but touched on every other detail that they could. Racially, Romero is a weirdo. He features African-American characters as the lead good guy (even Big Daddy) but portrays Irish as drunks and calls Hispanic people Spics which is fine but in two movies as an insult to a Hispanic character Romero's script uses the slur "Yellow" ( ?), and what a dumb schoolyard insult, I guess. Never seen a yellow Mexican.... Latinos are brown and proud! I stole that from El Vez who "borrowed" it from James Brown. Romero's commentary here is about distrusting an inept government and its military and scientific leaders. In Dawn it was about American Consumerism and Women's Lib and maybe something about the Moonies. In Night it is about the angry 1960s and a new generation not conforming to the ways of the Fifties Generation and American leadership especially the Sheriff, police, National Guard, and Good Old Boy mob representing the U.S. military's lack of being able to protect the puppet South Vietnamese government, which Ben represents. Trying to save the day, they do more harm. I don't think George was making any racial commentary here, and chose his lead solely based on acting skills. I think Romero is a good man who is so ignorant of racism inside his own psyche that he flubs when insulting Latinos. But the drunk Irish thing from Day and Land, I just don't know. Anyway.... Next I watched George Romero's original Night of the Living Dead (1968). I first saw this movie on Night Flight on the old and cool USA Network of the mid-1980s when I was seven or so. I was surprised but impressed by the grim end with Ben's death. I have been a life long fan of this movie with over a dozen watches, possibly over twenty watches in thirty some years. NOTLD is still a revolutionary film in the annals of American Horror. With his "ghouls", Romero created a wholly American monster with it's own (Romero's) rules. The Living Dead is our contribution to monster lore which includes Vampires, Werewolves, Witchcraft, The Frankenstein Monster, Mr. Hyde, etc from Europe. George Romero's Living Dead are the monster equivalent to American Jazz music standing side-by-side with the Classics of the Old World. Third I watched a Zombie movie bankrolled by The Bank of Ireland, filmed in The Isle of Man, and sponsored by The Irish Film Board, Boy Eats Girl (2005). The undead this time have an origin, Black Magic. The movie grew on me but I dunno. Felatio and Teenage Suicide are two recurring themes. I don't like how snakes are treated in movies; a snake is a major resolution to the Zombie problem here but still gets manhandled but not treated as bad as the kingsnake in Friday the 13th or the cobra in Sssssss. I liked this movie but won't recommend it. The Zombie kills via farm machinery close to the end was epic though. (Four Points!) Last I watched Mimesis Night of the Living Dead (2013) which was awful. It was like the plot of Saw and Night of the Living dead intertwined. The CGI blood was just plain shit as well as the story which was an attempt, I believe, at Meta and the director to come of as "smart". The director failed. A terrible plot twist and Zombie make-up, which was boring and unimaginative, made things worse. A stupid movie through and through. The only slight good was Sid Haig being in this film abortion. A special Cheers! to Wulfie. LOB-18
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 22, 2013 1:08:32 GMT -5
Okay, I was surprised. I watched a Zombie movie that I expected to be a cheap turd. It was only cheap, not a turd, and that's alright with me. Zombie Rednecks (1989), by director Pericles Lewnes, was a very good and fun movie TO ME. The plot: A barrel of radioactive waste is lost out in the woods. Some demented rednecks find it and use it as part of their still. Everybody who drinks from the liquor they produced turns into a zombie (credit IMDB). I would recommend it to select people like all Troma fans and people who don't mind extremely cheap movies and loved movies like Repoman, Straight to Hell, Putney Swope, Shakes the Clown, The Magic Christian, and other absurd cult comedies, and also love films that pay tribute to Horror classics like Chainsaw Massacre Parts 1 and 2, Psycho, and Evil Dead 2, and also who are fans of slapstick comedy gold like The Three Stooges specifically and The Beverly Hillbillies. This movie was made for less than $10,000 and is considered a "very low budget independent horror comedy trash film". I loved it. The make-up was pancake batter at its glorious best and at the special effects were Hammer-era and reminded me of their version of Dracula. But the gore effects were Savini-inspired from the 1970s, it was better than I expected. Here is the mighty Wikipedia: The film was released on VHS and DVD by Troma Entertainment. The movie is notable for being one of the first films shot entirely on videotape and then released to the homevideo market (making it a straight-to-video film). The title of the film was once used as an answer to a question in an 1980s edition of Trivial Pursuit, the question being "What film has the tagline 'They're Tobacco Chewin', Gut Chompin', Cannibal Kinfolk from Hell!'". Director Pericles Lewnes went on to work as a special effects supervisor on several other Troma productions, including The Toxic Avenger Part II, The Toxic Avenger Part III, and Troma's War, as well as Shatter Dead. I like the Troma movies I've watched but it is only a handful of movies from their huge catalog. I'm going to try to watch some of Pericles' "films" in the future. Fun freaking times. My favorite of the band of Zombie victims was the camper who had absolutely no dialogue but was consistently taking a pull of Whiskey from a cheap glass pint bottle, and always had another bottle in a back pocket. I also, strictly speaking Horror movies here, thought the "Zombie Attack Theme" was creepier and better than practically ANY such theme I've heard before. Good stuff. SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER My favorite scene was the Hitchhiker scene which completely lifted the dialogue exchange from Chainsaw but changed butcher to shaver and the boltgun to electric shavers. He even pulls out his own razor, and his and the driver's blood flow, as the driver re-enacts Franklin Hardesty. SPOILERSPOILERSPOILEREnds. LOB-20 Started a very entertaining and again, absurd comedy Zombie movie. This one has a gang of fake Elvises in one "arc" and four wannabe Jesuses on motorcycles as the heroes. Oh and the town they stumbled on, unreal. Gonna start it from the start tonight. EDIT: A Costa Rican Imperial Lager Cheers! to Lloyd Kaufman, possibly our generation's Russ Myers/Roger Corman.
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 24, 2013 23:44:32 GMT -5
Watched two Zombie flicks.
First I watched Gory Gory Hallelujah. I loved this movie and it was my kind of humor, weird to surreal. Zombies appear in the last act and reminded me of Romero's Dawn's undead and those from Thriller. I will say little but apologize for so heavily pasting from IMDB but a point is made. I will quote from the first five viewer reviews. Apologies. Here goes.
FilmAholicAnonymous wrote: "Wacked. But brilliant, too, in it's dark, harsh wit (nothing is sacred, not even goats). Definitely different, definitely surprising and delightful. I love independent film and occasionally the raw freshness of first films (that is, if they're not just trying to emulate Hollywood), and this had that fresh touch without being clumsy, and enough real smarts to make me feel like I was on the ground floor of something great". "Four actors meet at a casting call for the role that each of them has fashioned their (very different) lives after. The role: Jesus. Who gets the part? None of them. So they hit the road together, but end up facing a horrible world filled with back- woods xenophobes and a coke-snorting gang of Elvises. How will each of them use their image of holiness to concur these evils?"
Weezeee: "Each time I see this movie I love it even more. Director Sue Corcoran has conjured up a fast-paced and wonderfully shot feature for fans of the midnight movie genre. My personal favorite scene: a knock down, drag out, balls-to-the-wall brawl between a motley gang of Elvis impersonators and our 4 Jesus protagonists. Or maybe its the MGM musical number at the end complete with singing and dancing zombies. It's debauchery with a message, mayhem with a moral, and of course the most glamorous apocalypse imaginable. Gory Gory Hallelujah is delightfully shocking, whip-smart and funny as hell. With stellar acting performances from the cast and a great score to accompany the action."
christinel692000: "Its sounds like one of those religious jokes " four Jesus's walk into a bar......"What follows is a bar brawl with Elvis impersonators, including a "Midget Elvis" (Elvi?)and unfair incarceration. A crooked town administration and Jury and a coven of witches round out the excellent and intricate cast of characters in this comedy/horror. It is unfortunate that this incredibly entertaining and sometime cynical film is listed in some circles as campy, this film is definitely more witty than the term 'Camp' implies."
naomiserviss: "If you like your horror drenched in black satire, 80s'-flecked acid-trippy, and offensive to everyone, this one's for you." "This is for die-hard fans of zombie parody, Peter Max-inspired graphics out-there bad wigs, over-the-top costumes and funny as all get out.... Lotsa fun. Lotsa laugh. Lotsa Gore. Enjoy!"
vincentgates1: "Never before have the politics of "playing Jesus" been so naughty and yet so much fun! It's a bubble bath of a film that washed the dirty complacency from the recesses of my mind. Gory Gory Hallelujah made me laugh and challenged me to think about current events, politics, religion, and the fused web of all three combined. I really enjoyed this film and you will too if you dig films that take chances with colorful humor, streaky flair, and saturated wits!!!!!!!"
bittercrow: "This movie was brilliant!! It starts you out in a hilarious take of a real-life situation, and by the end, you can't believe where you have landed! The outrageously, in your face humor, was surpassed only by the subtle moments of farce. The characters were ludicrous, and in a great way. And the story line is enough to make you pee in your pants. Definitely not for the weak of heart, or humor. It pokes fun at a whole range of humanity. It is definitely the little hidden gems of humor that were my favorite. Its one of those movies, that the more you watch it, the more little bits you notice every time. Definitely see this movie, and get ready to laugh... "
seamunky30: "For a good time cry out GORY GORY HALLELUJAH! At times i laughed so hard I almost wet my pants. This is a must see!!!! It is a very intelligent comedy for those with a twisted sense of humor. Do you like Bruce Campbell, are you a fan of John Waters, do you own a copy of Faster Pussy Cat Kill Kill? Than this is for you, make a point to see this movie. You will not be disappointed. I promise."
Okay. Great reviews, all of them. The film's budget was estimated roughly at $100,000. Opening weekend this film brought in $2,360. IMDB list it's total gross as $11,798. Are you fucking kidding me? I easily recommend this smart and fun ride. Second I watched Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2. This is one of the few movies and the only Zombie movie that unnerves me. I have eyeball and splinter issues. The shark scene and all the underwater action was superb. This movie is of the Romero Zombie rules variety with a dual zombie invasion that starts in a Caribbean island ruled by Vodun fears and beliefs, and continues off-camera as an invasion of Manhattan. Seeing the Twin Towers in this movie is something else. A creepy movie that I recommend and my fourth viewing. Not good times, just Horror as it is meant to be, brutal, absolute, and disturbing. Good stuff.
LOB-24
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 25, 2013 23:21:29 GMT -5
The Full Moon is nigh.
I watched Zombieland (2010) for the umpteenth time last night. This is a movie you need to see going in having read no spoilers. One of the greatest surprise film cameos occurs during this movie. The Zombies are not of the Romero type and are not even dead. They are infected and spewing blood and bile from their orifices according to the director of the film, Ruben Fleischer. So I guess they are very much in line with The Crazies and 28 Days and Weeks Later.
I love the cast of four, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and the little girl Abigal Breslin. Basically a road trip starts as a buddy trip between a college kid leaving Austin, Texas and heading to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and a crazed Twinkie seeking hardcore nutjob who excels at killing Zombies. Two gals join them later and they head to Los Angeles, California seeking an amusement park, all the while the United States has become a land of infected cannibalistic Zombies.
This movie is visually beautiful, stunningly at times. The colors are incredible in some scenes especially the gorgeous scene in the Native American Wampum shop. The Zombie kills are awesome. The effects both practical and CG are perfect to my eye. The plot and script are top-notch. I consider this and Young Frankenstein to be the two best made and all around best Horror comedies. Oh yeah, great soundtrack starting with the opening of the film with Metallica's classic "For Whom the Bell Tolls".
I was very lucky to watch this movie at the 1910 era theate and legendary silver screen at the wonderful Paramount Theater during that year's FantasticFest for Zombieland's premier with a Q&A with the director and cast after the movie. I guarandamntee that everybody there that day had a great time.
The next day sadly was the world premier of Survival of the Dead. The movie was so bad, that when I had a chance to walk up to George Romero who was walking around close to the lobby, and talk to him, well I didn't. I am a fan, but he was apologizing for the movie (explaining to the audience this and that about the film's production) before the movie started to prepare the audience for his newest take on his created genre and world. I wish Romero still made good movies worth watching. I watched Diary of the Dead at the Dobie Theater (RIP) years before and I was so surprised at what Old George's great mind had wrought. I figured, one strike, and Survival of the Dead would have to be good. I erred like Groo. Cheesedip?
LOB-26
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Mar 27, 2013 4:59:52 GMT -5
Spoilers Below:
First I watched Craig Gillepsie's 2011 vampire horror movie remake of Fright Night starring Collin Farrell. I have mixed feelings about this movie. For example the gore was great at some points and horrible at others, for example the actual gore on a person or say on the ground was practical and looked great, but whenever the gore was coming out of someone during the action it was CGI and looked really bad, which was really weird and jarring. The acting was good and I liked Colin Farrell as Jerry Dandridge, but man the CGI for the vampire special effects, particularly on him, looked really bad. I thought the cinematography was great and liked the idea of setting it in Las Vegas and how they explained it'd be perfect for vampires because of all the transients. I liked how it would bait and switch you with your expectations by making you think of the original and then totally changing it, I also liked how they updated Peter Vincent to a Chris Angelesque magician, and I thought the soundtrack was great. Also liked how near the end the protagonists were smart enough to blow holes in the wall to let in light ahead of time and loved the idea (even though it looked bad because of the aforementioned poor CGI) at the end of a vampire being burnt to the point of exposing it's internal organs and then impaled through the heart. Overall not exactly a good movie, but a fun one.
Second I watched George Romero's 1968 modern genesis of the zombie movie , a special colorized version of Night of the Living Dead. Not much to really add about this movie except that I was surprised how great the outdoor cinematography and gore looked colorized, which I wasn't expecting at all. This is probably my least favorite of the original dead trilogy, but it's still an incredibly influential film.
Third I watched Roman Polanski's 1967 vampire horror-comedy The Fearless Vampire Killers, which I really enjoyed. I loved the cinematography and sets in this movie which I thought were great. Also thought the soundtrack was great. Liked all the random slapstick comedy and especially the part about crosses not working on a Jewish vampire. This was a fun movie ,but man I'm glad I came into it knowing it was a comedy. I'd heard various conflicting things about this movie that it was bad, good, serious, and funny so for along time I didn't really know what this movie was going to be like. I'd really like to see a serious Polanski vampire movie, because he did such a great job with all the little details here.
Finally I watched Mark Price's 2008 British zombie horror movie Colin which was made on a budget of $70. The way this movie was described to me was as this incredible low budget masterpiece ,but I have to disagree. I'll start with the negative: acting, sound effects, combat scenes, and cinematography were all really bad. I did think the soundtrack was good and the gore was really good/great throughout. It also had good ideas which were poorly executed such as: showing the movie through a zombie's perspective, having zombies fight over a corpse like wild animals over food, the Romero character zombie (a street performer with a Bob Dylan harmonica holder, banjo, complete with him dragging his hat with change falling out everywhere), and I thought the idea of using a slingshot with coins that have razors attached was not only original,but cool. Not a good movie ,but I guess it is better than most would be with a $70 budget. That being said I don't get how someone could think this is a masterpiece.
First off LOB sorry for being absent for so long I've been busy helping family which really ties into the Romero idea of people being unable to cooperate and being their own worst enemies even during a zombie invasion. I used to be convinced people would be able to work together during a zombie apocalypse ,but man alot of experiences I've had the past few years have convinced me otherwise, people can't even handle basic simple situations , how could they handle zombies all though I guess you could make the argument that people could band together in more serious situations. Anyway I live in California.
JAS-23
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Mar 27, 2013 5:01:22 GMT -5
I really enjoyed Zombieland and am glad I watched it in theater's I loved the Double Tap rule it exemplifies something amlost every horror fan is aware of so simply.
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 27, 2013 19:25:00 GMT -5
Last things first. Every fan of the Zombie genre, if you haven't watched Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, I recommend it so much. My first watch was last night. This was one of the best Zombie movies I have ever seen. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1973) was directed by Bob Clarck, who is famous for Black Christmas, A Christmas Story, and Porky's and like the Porky's movies, it was shot in Florida, this time Miami, Dade County. This movie was made five years after Romero's classic NOTLD (1968 after the death of The Hays Commission and it's rules over freedom), but five years before Dawn of the Dead (1978). Comparing it to Romero's first two films, the gore effects are gone, the Zombie kills are gone, there is no mystery to why the recent dead have risen, and the living hide in and fortify a cabin. The Zombie make-up was different but I liked it so much more than NOTLD. Also I hate to admit this, but this film came out a year before The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Hooper lifted the visual, if not the idea, of the skin mask that Leatherface wears from this movie. It looked so much like a Chainsaw prop. SPOiLERSPOILERSPOILERS A bullying egomaniac and disturbed and macabre theater director, Alvin, and his chosen crew spend the night on an island just off of Miami in order to have a Satanic ceremony to raise the desecrated dead that were reburied on the island the previous night in a rebuilt cemetery. When Alan's black ceremony ends in seeming failure, he curses and mocks Satan. One of his actresses gives it a go and tauntingly asks Satan to raise the dead. One cadaver, Orville is severly disrespected, and carted around, and even "married" to Alvin in a hilarious ceremony presided by Jeff, the fat and funny fat guy. The dead finally rise, supernaturally, and are focused, cunning, and vengeful. And extremely successful. The performances are "hammy" but it works here as the characters are obnoxious theater and drama types. The movie is comedic, but dark, and when the Zombie carnage begins, the laughs turn to bloody screams of death and horror. Great freaking stuff her, folks! SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER Ends. Bob Clark was to do a remake of "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" in 2007, but tragically, died in a car accident before production could get underway. This is topical with Gay Marriage being looked at by the U.S. Supreme Court this week. Credit IMDB. The 1990 reference book "Uranian Worlds: A Guide to Alternative Sexuality in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror" by Eric Garber and Lyn Paleo lists "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" as one of the first horror movies to show positive (though stereotyped) gay male characters who also have an important role in the story. With the help of these two gay men (actors Roy Engleman and Robert Philip) made-up as corpses, Alan plays a practical joke on the other characters that frightens them so badly that one wets his pants.The sun is setting over Central Texas. The moon will be full tonight. Time to pay respect to the Wolves. If you have been there, out of respect, let out a Howl for a loved one, and if you have a glass in your hand, raise it towards the moon, ain't she grand? LOB-28
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Post by loverofbeers on Mar 27, 2013 19:43:18 GMT -5
Hey Jake, I hope everything is fine and steady in your family. And yeah, i was so much more a fan of humanity years ago. Human experience, life experiences if you wheeeel, and keeping up with current events have soured me on our species. I was once told that I would become an Anarchist one day. I said no because without laws and rules we humans would be the monsters. And in tribute to the Jewish Vampire in Roman Polanski's dark comedy classic and "The Scary German Guy" in The Monster Club, "Never Forget"...
I'm glad you enjoyed The Fearless vampire Killers, it's a favorite of mine.
Time to pick up some grub before I watch some lupine-loving movies. Twilight is here, the moon rises. Beware the moors and stay on the road....
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