Halloween Movie Month
Foreign Friday 28 Days Later (2002)
R
Even though I have obviously not been successful in watching a horror movie every day of October, I'm still doing my best to provide as much horror coverage as I can...all in preparation for Halloween! This year, I have themed days: Musical Monday, Terrible Tuesday, Wicked Wednesday, Toothy Thursday, Foreign Friday, Psycho Saturday, and Silent Sunday. Up next is Foreign Friday and my review of...28 Days Later!!
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Hellgate starts with a group of college students in a cabin outside of town (not quite a "cabin in the woods") who are telling ghost stories to each other. One of the stories told is a local legend about a girl who was killed by a motorcycle gang. The girl is the daughter of the owner of a ghost town tourist stop. The grieving father comes to poses a magical crystal that can bring things back to life, the power of which also fuels his lust for vengeance.
Hellgate is a terrible movie, but it is the kind of terrible that is a lot of fun to watch. There are ghost stories, a cabin in the woods, supernatural forces, the dead being raised, bikers, a demon fish created by the crystal, zombies, possessions. It is like they took all of the possible horror movies and turned it into a game to see how many they could cram into one. At times, all of the pieces actually almost work together. At other times, it just feels like there are too many things going on at once without any focus.
Along with being a goulash of horror genres, there are also some very awkward sex scenes (and suggestive scenes). Before the girl is killed by the biker gang, they are accosting her in a diner. The cook comes out and shoots a shotgun to get them to leave, but does nothing to try to stop them from taking the girl. Apparently he was fine with whatever they were going to do to her, he just didn't want them doing it in his diner. A girl is smoking during sex, but her face (with the cigarette in it) is in the couch. A girl is naked several times in front of her father. There were a lot of topless scenes, and almost all of them were just super awkward.
The dialogue is cheesy. The acting is cheesy. There are a ton of plot holes and things that do not make sense. At times there are too many things going on without any clear reason as to why/how they are happening. But, overall, it was a fun movie. There is some heart. There is a slight amount of tension. There are some gory scenes, including one of the best demon fish I have ever seen. There is nothing to especially make it stand out or to become an iconic horror movie, but it was a fun little romp leading up to Halloween. Hellgate hits a lot of the right horror notes (scary music, monsters, things jumping out of the shadows, nudity, etc.), but it doesn't hit any of them out of the park. It is kind of like a casserole - it has a lot of things that I like and overall it is not horrible, but it could easily get lost among any number of similar items that do the same or similar thing better.
Rating and Recommendation: 2.5/5. Enjoyable and worth seeing for free. If you are able to add Hellgate to your queue or catch it somewhere like Hulu, I recommend doing so. I would not actually spend money on it, but I enjoyed it enough that I would watch it again if given the opportunity. Reminder - my current rating system is based on how much I enjoyed watching the movie and not necessarily a reflection of the quality of the movie. The enjoyment level of Hellgate was much higher than the quality level.
Be sure to check back soon for more reviews in Halloween Movie Month! In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other) review, follow me here and on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know what movies you'd like for me to review for Halloween Movie Month!
Deadheads is about a zombie outbreak, but where two zombies retain most of their humanity...except for the whole being alive thing. The two zombies team up and go on a road trip so that one of them can win back his love from when he was alive.
Deadheads was described as a horror comedy with romance. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to any of those descriptions. The biggest problem was that everything felt too forced. There was an homage to Dawn of the Dead, but it was a little too on the nose (especially since the cop on the phone was actually talking about Dawn of the Dead). The comedy was a bit too slapstick and too vulgar. I certainly don't have anything against vulgar humor, when it is actually humorous. But, a lot of the "humor" felt too much like "we are being vulgar...isn't that funny?!!?"
The "buddy comedy" angle was forced too quick. The music was too "comedic" and too persistent. There was not enough to actually show the love story - it felt so empty. Practically every aspect of the movie took me further out of it, rather than bringing me more into it. Nothing is actually done to establish any real emotions. The audience is told what they are supposed to feel, but there is nothing behind it to actually make the audience feel anything. There was one scene that had some actual emotion, but even that felt too forced and too out of place.
Rating and Recommendation: 2/5. Like too many of the movies that I have seen recently, it's not that this movie was necessarily horrible...it's just that there was too much potential that was left unfulfilled. If they had just gone with a romantic comedy, it might have been ok. As it is, they tried too hard to also make the zombie funny and I do not think that it worked at all. If they had just spent a little more time on developing any of the various aspects of the movie, it could have been more enjoyable. As it was, I didn't care about any of the characters. I wasn't scared. I didn't laugh. Essentially, the "horror comedy with romance" was none of those things. If you want a zombie comedy, just stick with Shaun of the Dead. Then, watch Shaun of the Dead again. Seriously, it's awesome.
Be sure to check back soon for more reviews in Halloween
Movie Month! In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other)
review, follow me here and on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know
what movies you'd like for me to review for Halloween Movie Month!
Dead Within is about a young couple that is living in an isolated cabin after an outbreak (similar to the rage outbreak in 28 Days Later, but a bit more zombie). There are flashback scenes of the couple prior to the outbreak, but the majority of the movie is focused on the slow descent into madness and paranoia as a result of extreme isolation and fear.
My biggest complaint with Dead Within is that I did not care about the characters. In order to really care about what happens to the characters, you need to see more of the actual descent into madness. However, this movie starts out already showing the two main characters as being desperate and crazy. How do we know that they weren't terrible people to begin with? How do we know that we should empathize/sympathize with their suffering? There just wasn't anything that gave me any reason to care about what actually happened to them. More than an hour into the movie (and it is only 91 minutes long), I still did not care at all about what happened. The closest that the movie came to actually showing anything to make me care about the characters wasn't until the credits. At that point, there was no reason to start caring about them.
There was one scene that was pretty creepy, but it was definitely just a startle. The movie lacked the "horror" aspects of deeper scares that stay with you long after the movie ends. Also, all of the "scary" scenes lacked originality. They were the same tired scenes that you see in practically every horror movie. The lack of originality extended until the very end of the movie. The end of the movie was treated as a major reveal...except that there was nothing surprising or revealing about it. The title of the movie (Dead Within), as well as the cover, give away the ending of the movie almost instantly.
Rating and Recommendation: 1.5/5. This one is definitely a pass. With such a small cast, this movie actually did have some good potential to draw you into an intimate setting where you care so deeply about the characters that anything that happens to them feels like it is happening to you. If they had just shown some humanity at the beginning, then you would have been able to see the humanity get stripped away by their isolation and suffering. They tried to show some of their humanity through flashbacks, but it was not enough to keep me caring about them through the movie.
Be sure to check back soon for more reviews in Halloween Movie Month! In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other) review, follow me here and on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know what movies you'd like for me to review for Halloween Movie Month!
Another October has come and gone, and with it, Halloween has now passed. If you've been following me for the past few weeks, you know that I've been trying to post a review of a Halloween movie every night for the month of October. Even though I wasn't actually able to post every night, I did pretty well with posting about every other night for most of the month. But, as Halloween drew closer and closer, I started finding myself being busier and busier working on costumes, prepping my beard for the beard competition at work, and getting ready for CONjuration Con with New Monster Project.
1st place beard competition
Hagrid at CONjuration Con
I had plans to end out the month with something a little bigger - maybe 5 movies that I give a rating of at least a 4.5. Two of the movies that I watched and started reviews for were Night of the Living Dead and The Shining. Along with those two movies, I was also going to review corresponding documentaries. With Night of the Living Dead was Birth of the Living Dead and with The Shining was Room 237.
I know it is a little late to watch them now to watch them in preparation for Halloween. But, there is no reason why you can't watch them to help close out the Halloween season on a horror high note before prepping for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Rather than providing a full review right now, let me just say that Night of the Living Dead and The Shining are absolutely must-see! In fact, I'm going to go ahead and say that they are a buy. Birth of the Living Dead was incredibly interesting and I highly recommend adding it to your Netflix queue. Room 237 was interesting, but it was just other people's speculations about The Shining - none of the people involved in the movie were actually a part of the documentary. Room 237 was interesting enough to see, but I would put it much lower on the queue. I will post full reviews at a later date (possibly a much later date), but for now, go watch The Shining and Night of the Living Dead! If you have extra time, watch the corresponding documentaries.
Until next year, I hope you've had an amazing October and enjoyed Halloween Movie Month!!
Be sure to check back soon for more reviews! In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other) post, follow me here and on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know what movies you'd like for me to review!
This is an anthology film of five short stories that are loosely (very loosely) tied together. The synopsis on IMDB and Netflix (about a man that gets bitten by a flesh-eating clown and then starts transforming into a clown himself) is only one of the five short stories. While that story certainly wasn't terribly amazing, it was probably my favorite of the five. I wish that they had just made the entire movie about the clown story. The second and third stories were decent little short stories, but I think that the clown story could potentially have stood on its own if it had been more fully developed.
The reason that I think that the clown story could have stood on its own is not because of the creepy clown (which, when you do see the guy transformed into the clown, IS pretty creepy), but because of some of the other implications. To me, the story was more about turning into the monster you fear, losing your family and loved ones, suffering for the ones you love, and being doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Rating/Recommendation: 2/5. Pass. While I think that the clown story had glimmers of being a decent story, and some of the other short stories were fine for what they were, the overall film just didn't work for me. As I have mentioned in previous posts this month, what makes horror movies good is not the gore or the startles, but the implications and the underlying fears that so many people have. Of course, there are also the horrorible movies that are enjoyable to watch just because they are so ridiculous (e.g. Sharknado). Scary or Die is one of so many movies that falls short of both categories. It wasn't profound enough to make you think or to really delve into the depths of the human psyche. But, except for parts of the clown story, it also wasn't ridiculous enough to enjoy for the sheer idiocy of it all.
Be sure to check back soon for more reviews in Halloween Movie Month! In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other) review, follow me here and on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know what movies you'd like for me to review in the last few days of Halloween Movie Month!
Oasis of the Zombies (or The Treasure of the Living Dead) (1982)
Netflix streaming
This movie is listed as Oasis of the Zombies on Netflix, but IMDB lists it as The Treasure of the Living Dead. Both of those titles sound like they could be campy, cheesy movies that are enjoyable because of how comically bad they are. Unfortunately, that isn't the case and there isn't all that much more to actually say about this movie. The film quality is worse than a 70s home movie. And there is so much zooming in and out that you almost need Dramamine to be able to watch it. Seriously, just about every other camera angle change starts with slow zoom in. Technical shortcomings aside, this movie is just boring. The only way that it would be enjoyable to watch is if Mystery Science Theater 3000 had covered it. But, there are topless scenes, so they would never have been able to show it (even those scenes are boring too).
I wish that I could say more about it, but Oasis of the Zombies was so boring that there isn't even much to say about how bad it was. If you want to see a movie about Nazi zombies guarding their gold (that's the plot, by the way), then skip Oasis of the Zombies and go straight to Dead Snow (the review of which can be found here).
Rating: 1/5
Recommendation: Pass. The only way this movie would be watchable is if and your friends are fans of MST3K and you enjoy getting together to make fun of bad movies. But even then, it's still pretty boring.
Be sure to check back soon for more reviews in Halloween Movie Month! In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other) review, follow me here an on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know what movies you'd like for me to review for Halloween Movie Month!
We are in the countdown of the last 8 days til Halloween. I am certainly going to do my best to review a movie for each remaining day. But in case I am not able to watch a movie everyday, I am going to go ahead and provide a list for my top movies to watch leading up to Halloween. These will be the movies that I plan to watch and review in this final pre-Halloween week. Even if I am not able to watch these movies this week, I have seen them enough times before to know that they are awesome! Every movie on this list is going to be a definite must rent. Some of them will be must buy, and others will be worth buying if you find it at a good enough price. So here are some of my favorite Halloween movies, in no particular order:
Young Frankenstein. One of Mel Brooks's best films, this black-&-white horror/comedy pays homage to classic horror films, most notably Frankenstein (obviously). It's not quite as "silly" as some of Mel Brooks's other films, but in my opinion it's one of the funniest. The fact that the actors play the roles seriously helps to serve a contrast to some of the more amusing lines. You should be able to find the DVD for around $5, and the Blue Ray for around $10. Regardless of extras, the rewatchability alone makes this a must buy.
28 Days Later. This is a good take on the zombie flick, because rather than being "undead," they are filled with the "rage virus." Great soundtrack, good cinematography, great actors, and good horror/gore. One of the things I really like about this one is the philosophical questions that arise from the "zombies" being living beings filled with a rage virus, rather than being undead monsters. Are they still people? Is there any still humanity left in them? There is an alternate ending presented via storyboards and narration. This ending was never filmed because they kind of back themselves into a corner that wouldn't have ended up working out. But even just the narration and story boards still provide plenty of drama. There is a 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later combo pack, but I don't know if it has the extras. I suggest you get the version that actually has the special features. So double check before you buy.
Shaun of the Dead. This movie is absolutely hilarious! I love the use of running jokes, and this movie is full of them. The more that I watch it, the more that I pick up on things that happen in the first half that are then repeated in the second half. It's also a decent zombie flick, and not just "for a comedy." Even watching it as a serious zombie film, it still holds up.
Psycho. This is one of Hitchcock's greatests. Everyone knows the iconic shower scene. But if you've seen the movie, you know that there are several other great scenes with a lot of tension and a lot of suspense. Even though this film has been around for over 50 years, I'll not spoil this one for those who haven't seen it. There is no excuse for missing this one...go buy it right now!!
Nosferatu. I already reviewed this one, so I won't be re-reviewing it this week. But, it is definitely a must see. The entirety of the movie might not be the most amazing, but Schreck's portrayal of Count Orlock is almost disturbingly creepy. Check out my full review here.
The Thing. In case there is any doubt, I am talking about John Carpenter's original, not the prequel that was released a year or two ago. John Carpenter's The Thing combined many classic horror themes, such as being trapped with no escape, not knowing who or what the creature is, and doing everything they can just to stay alive. Some of the special effects look pretty bad in comparison to today's CGI (though, they also look better than a lot of bad CGI), but it's the performances of the actors that really drive this suspenseful thriller. If you've seen The Thing before, check out the video below. But if you've not seen the movie before, skip this video for now...you don't want to ruin the film for yourself. Even though this is not a scene-for-scene recreation, it is still close enough to contain major spoilers for the movie:
30 Days of Night. These are not your dreamy, romantic vampires that have somehow invaded teen romance media. These aren't even your charming, cultured Dracula-esque vampires. These are the creepy, disturbing vampires that hunt without mercy. Part of what makes this film so scary is that the characters must survive for 30 days (of night) without access to food or resources, and must remain almost completely quiet - unlike most horror movies where they "just have to survive the night."
Rocky Horror Picture Show. This one isn't scary at all. In fact, there are more scenes of whores than there are of horrors. But, it is pretty funny and has catchy songs that get stuck in your head. The main reason this one is on the list is because it has become a cult phenomenon, and it is almost impossible to go out on Halloween and not see at least one person dressed like one of the characters.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, and there are plenty of other movies that I would recommend for this week (Gojira, Devil's Rejects, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween {the original, and Rob Zombie's remake}, Alien, Aliens). But, those are the films that immediately come to mind when I think about what movies to watch leading up to Halloween. I will post reviews for the ones that I am able to watch this week. But even without reviews, I highly recommend them!
Be sure to check back soon for the next review in this last week of Halloween movie month.
Basic plot: A group of friends vacation in a mountain cabin, where they encounter Nazi zombies.
This Norwegian import follows the formula for your standard "cabin in the woods" horror film (not talking about the film Cabin in the Woods, but about that genre of horror films). A group of college students (in this case, med students) go to the mountains for a ski trip, and stay in an isolated cabin where there is no cell phone reception. Shortly after arriving at the cabin, a mysterious old stranger shows up out of nowhere and warns them of the evil lurking in the mountains. Dead Snow not only follows the cabin horror genre, they also acknowledge the fact that they are following the formula. Eight minutes into the movie, one of the characters asks as they are hiking up to the cabin, "how many movies start with a group of friends on a trip to a cabin with no cell phone signal?" The self-referencing in horror movies has started to become so common, that it is almost a horror genre in and of itself. Thankfully, there are only a couple of scenes where a character directly makes a horror movie formula reference - so this doesn't play up too much of the self-referencing.
Playing on the horror genre actually helped to make some of the early sequences even more suspenseful. Since you know that the cabin horror genre frequently either has something jumping out of the dark, or being there when a character turns around, you know that is eventually going to happen. And there are a few scenes where everything is quiet, it is almost pitch black, and you think to yourself "this is where a zombie is going to jump out." So you prepare yourself. You are on the edge of your seat. The tension rises. You know it's about to happen. And then.....nothing. This rise in tension, without the release of a scare factor, has you even more tense the next time a similar situation occurs. I'm not going to say how many times that happens, or what is going on when the zombie finally jumps out though. I don't want to spoil all the suspense.
The opening chase sequence is set to the tune "In the Hall of the Mountain King," and I really like that decision. Not only do I love the song, but the crescendo and increasing speed of the song lends itself nicely to raising tension during a chase. It helps that "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is Norwegian and is about monsters, and whatnot. The rest of the music, I didn't enjoy as much. I wish that all of the songs had been classical music - I think it would have worked very well. As far as ambient music to set the tone, this film actually relies more on silence to set the tone.
Visually, it was pretty decent. It wasn't a major blockbuster or anything, but the production quality was actually pretty good. The effects were realistic enough, and the actors played the roles seriously enough, that it didn't have the "cheesy, B-movie" quality to it. And honestly, when you read a description of a movie about Nazi zombies, you kind of expect it to be in the B-movie range. The effects of the zombies weren't very zombie-ish, but I think that might have been intentional. There were a few things about these zombies that strayed from your typical zombie, which makes me think that maybe they were supposed to be something else. For starters, these "zombies" moved fast. But, there have been other zombie movies that have had fast zombies...so that's not enough to think they're something different. Beyond just being fast, these zombies have coordination. They get into fights, like punching, rather than just grabbing/clawing/biting. Plus, these zombies bleed like they still have blood pumping through them, rather than just what is left over from when they died. And at one point, you see the breath of one of the zombies in the cold. It didn't look to me like it was just an oversight, or something that they couldn't edit out. It looked to me like they were intentionally showing the zombie breathing. There were a few other things that led me to believe that they aren't actually zombies, but I'll not spoil them...you'll know them when you see them.
Recommendation: Overall, it was an enjoyable zombie flick. Even though you basically know what is going to happen, there are some good moments of tension and actual suspense, aided by the use of silence and close ups (so you can't see if anything is coming). As with most horror movies, the tension of waiting for something to attack is more suspenseful than when the zombies are actually attacking. But after the zombies do start attacking, there is some pretty good action. And I like the fact that these characters actually fight back, rather than just running and screaming the entire time. It follows the basic formula for a cabin horror story, and it does it pretty well, but there isn't really anything about it that makes it stand out above the rest. The fact that it is foreign, and that the zombies are Nazi zombies, helps to make it a little different - but not significantly so. Although the actors do a good job, and play their roles seriously, the characters themselves aren't really all that developed. So you don't really have a connection to any of the characters when any of them die. Overall, it's done pretty well, and worth seeing. But if you are sick of the "cabin in the woods" story line (again, the genre, not the actual Cabin in the Woods film), then you can skip this one. There isn't anything about this movie that makes it amazing or a "must see," but there also isn't really anything that makes it horrible or a "must pass."
Side note: There are several scenes where blood and/or dirt splatters on the camera. Sometimes that works to help you feel more immersed in the world of the movie, and sometimes it just gets in the way. And in this case, it didn't work. It didn't really happen often enough to completely get in the way, but it definitely was unnecessary.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for the next review in Halloween movie month.
I had plans to end out the month with something a little bigger - maybe 5 movies that I give a rating of at least a 4.5. Two of the movies that I watched and started reviews for were Night of the Living Dead and The Shining. Along with those two movies, I was also going to review corresponding documentaries. With Night of the Living Dead was Birth of the Living Dead and with The Shining was Room 237.
I know it is a little late to watch them now to watch them in preparation for Halloween. But, there is no reason why you can't watch them to help close out the Halloween season on a horror high note before prepping for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Rather than providing a full review right now, let me just say that Night of the Living Dead and The Shining are absolutely must-see! In fact, I'm going to go ahead and say that they are a buy. Birth of the Living Dead was incredibly interesting and I highly recommend adding it to your Netflix queue. Room 237 was interesting, but it was just other people's speculations about The Shining - none of the people involved in the movie were actually a part of the documentary. Room 237 was interesting enough to see, but I would put it much lower on the queue. I will post full reviews at a later date (possibly a much later date), but for now, go watch The Shining and Night of the Living Dead! If you have extra time, watch the corresponding documentaries.
Young Frankenstein. One of Mel Brooks's best films, this black-&-white horror/comedy pays homage to classic horror films, most notably Frankenstein (obviously). It's not quite as "silly" as some of Mel Brooks's other films, but in my opinion it's one of the funniest. The fact that the actors play the roles seriously helps to serve a contrast to some of the more amusing lines. You should be able to find the DVD for around $5, and the Blue Ray for around $10. Regardless of extras, the rewatchability alone makes this a must buy.
28 Days Later. This is a good take on the zombie flick, because rather than being "undead," they are filled with the "rage virus." Great soundtrack, good cinematography, great actors, and good horror/gore. One of the things I really like about this one is the philosophical questions that arise from the "zombies" being living beings filled with a rage virus, rather than being undead monsters. Are they still people? Is there any still humanity left in them? There is an alternate ending presented via storyboards and narration. This ending was never filmed because they kind of back themselves into a corner that wouldn't have ended up working out. But even just the narration and story boards still provide plenty of drama. There is a 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later combo pack, but I don't know if it has the extras. I suggest you get the version that actually has the special features. So double check before you buy.
Shaun of the Dead. This movie is absolutely hilarious! I love the use of running jokes, and this movie is full of them. The more that I watch it, the more that I pick up on things that happen in the first half that are then repeated in the second half. It's also a decent zombie flick, and not just "for a comedy." Even watching it as a serious zombie film, it still holds up. 
Psycho. This is one of Hitchcock's greatests. Everyone knows the iconic shower scene. But if you've seen the movie, you know that there are several other great scenes with a lot of tension and a lot of suspense. Even though this film has been around for over 50 years, I'll not spoil this one for those who haven't seen it. There is no excuse for missing this one...go buy it right now!!
The Thing. In case there is any doubt, I am talking about John Carpenter's original, not the prequel that was released a year or two ago. John Carpenter's The Thing combined many classic horror themes, such as being trapped with no escape, not knowing who or what the creature is, and doing everything they can just to stay alive. Some of the special effects look pretty bad in comparison to today's CGI (though, they also look better than a lot of bad CGI), but it's the performances of the actors that really drive this suspenseful thriller. If you've seen The Thing before, check out the video below. But if you've not seen the movie before, skip this video for now...you don't want to ruin the film for yourself. Even though this is not a scene-for-scene recreation, it is still close enough to contain major spoilers for the movie:
30 Days of Night. These are not your dreamy, romantic vampires that have somehow invaded teen romance media. These aren't even your charming, cultured Dracula-esque vampires. These are the creepy, disturbing vampires that hunt without mercy. Part of what makes this film so scary is that the characters must survive for 30 days (of night) without access to food or resources, and must remain almost completely quiet - unlike most horror movies where they "just have to survive the night." 
Rocky Horror Picture Show. This one isn't scary at all. In fact, there are more scenes of whores than there are of horrors. But, it is pretty funny and has catchy songs that get stuck in your head. The main reason this one is on the list is because it has become a cult phenomenon, and it is almost impossible to go out on Halloween and not see at least one person dressed like one of the characters. 
