Re: Zombie Movie Appreciation Thread
Zombie 5: Killing Birds
From the opening:
Zombie 5: Killing Birds is another in the series of unrelated Italian zombie films. It may carry the Zombie moniker, but it is not related to Zombie 4: After Death nor Zombi 3. Also, you will notice that midway they even decided to change the spelling of zombie, from the Italian to the English versions. So, the Zombie tag is nothing more than a marketing gimmick at this point. You will also notice that when the film starts, it is merely Killing Birds, no Zombie to be found. Once the film completes, you will also discover that it has very little in the way of birds or zombies, both are much more prominent in (still unrelated) Zombi 3. The last thing you will discover, if you make it all the way through, is that it is easily the weakest of the bunch, and offers none of the nonsensical fun that previous installments provided. Again, this is assuming that you make it all the way to the conclusion.
Stacy written back in 2004.
From the opening:
You know, I've been sitting here for the past half hour trying to come up with how to approach reviewing this movie. What I have come to is that no matter what I write, I will not be able to do this film justice, nor will I be able to adequately convey just how bizarre this movie is. I first heard about it almost a year ago in a Doogan's Views column at The Digital Bits. It also had reviews of Versus, which I have also tracked down, and may review at some point, and Junk, which I am still tracking down. The theme of the column: Zombies.
Undead also written in 2004
From the begining:
I read about this movie first over a year ago when it was reviewed at Ain't it Cool News. At the time the film makers were having the initial meetings in hopes of picking up a US distributor. Unfortunately, a year later, it doesn't look like that is going to happen. The review was very enthusiastic, and the movie went on my must see list. Since it did not not get a US distribution, I eventually forgot about it. Then a few weeks back it somehow came to mind, I think it may have been mentioned in another review or something, I really don't remember. I decided to look it up, and found it at an Australian based DVD retail site, Atlantic DVD. Seemed like a good deal for it, and I decided to order it. Two weeks later, it arrived in my mailbox directly from the land down under. I eagerly ripped off the plastic and dropped it into my gloriously region free DVD player. What I was presented with was a wonderful concoction of horror, suspense, action, and comedy inspired by the likes of George Romero(Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead), Sam Raimi(Evil Dead I+II, Spider-Man 1+2), and Peter Jackson(Dead Alive, Frighteners, Lord of the Rings Trilogy).
Still raiding old reviews:
Wild Zero
Here is a bizarre film, no hidden meaning or anything here, at least not that I can tell. I heard about this awhile back from a group of reviews which consisted of this, Stacy, Junk, and Versus. It was over at The Digital Bits, I believe. I had already had Versus, which I really liked, then a few months back I obtained Stacy, still haven't gotten Junk yet. Well, my experience with Wild Zero began again when I found a couple of copies at Best Buy a few weeks back, both were rattlers (you know, you pick up the case and here the disk loose inside), I decided to take a chance on one of them and lost. I returned it, as the other copy was loose as well. A week later I was back in there and they had another copy, guess what? It too was a rattler. I was just not having any luck with this title. Again, I was in there the other day and found yet another copy. I was sure it too would shake, but it didn't, finally I could buy it. Brought it home, ripped it open, found nice unblemished disk, slipped it into the player and started. Now all I had to worry about, would it live up to the hype that was growing in my head. The answer, yes and no.
Written in 2006
All Souls Day
From the beginning:
All Souls Day began life on the Sci-Fi Channel as one of their original films. I remember watching it and not really thinking all that much of it. Now, here we are, a few months later, and Anchor Bay has just released the film in all of its uncut zombie filled glory. Well, sort of.
Cemetery Man
Zombie horror meets arthouse. That's a fitting way to describe this truly bizarre rumination on the nature of love and death. The film plays by it's own rules, it is quite clear that this film does not take place in the same world that we live in. Black comedy married with gore, with a dash of the surreal, sprinkled with the profound. I'm sure there is much more to this film which is on the surface, but I haven't peeled away all the layers yet as what is on the surface is so much fun.
