A Virgin Among the Living Dead

There's gourmet chocolate. It's refined and delicious. It melts in your mouth bursting with wondrous flavor combinations and sensations. Think SUSPIRIA or BLOOD AND BLACK LACE or DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING.

Then there's A Virgin Among the Living Dead - the M&Ms brand of chocolate that's not magical or expensive, but still tastes pretty darn good and makes you happy.

A young woman's relative is ill, so she pays a visit to her estranged family at their villa in the country to see her before she passes away. She makes it just in time to say her goodbye and gets a sinister warning. "Run. Run far away!"

It took me a while, but I'm a big Jess Franco fan now. I kinda get him. He loved horror. He loved women. He loved film making. He just went up to 11 on everything. Nude women romping through horrific situations as his wild camera followed them kinetically. They are so much fun. And this "Old Dark House" style film delivers all of the above and more as the mystery unfolds. And of course, Jess is right in there as one of the family members, so that's fun too.


And the film as some fantastic, Franco dialogue as well as his wild storyline and convenient situations.

"Poor soul! Beyond words! You must get away from here. You'll fry in your own hell, believe me. Ask me no questions, just get away from here."

"Run! Get out of the valley! Can you see everything here is dead?! Get out of here!"
"Come on. You're not going to believe a crazy old man."



"Come and try it. There's nothing like the taste of blood. Try it. Try it, Christina. hahahahahahah" 

It's a warm blanket of a film that delivers up some crazy characters, giggles, lot and lots and lots of camera zooms, and....yeah...a lot of nudity.  The film does have a great, shadow filled look to it that makes me happy. Everything is lit by candles and dim, but then you'll enter a room and it's bright as day in the middle of the night! heheheh  I love it.

Seventies horror lovers need to check this one out for sure. I don't know what else to say here. Is it a good movie? Well, it's very entertaining and fun, so I'd say yes. But, it's not good in that "good" way. It's good in a "what the hell am I watching here?!" sort of way that I love. You watch things unfold and giggle as you mutter little quips and jokes as the film plays on. I dare you to give this a go!

I think I might have to snag a Franco box set. His films are so strange and interesting.

A Haunting in Connecticut 2

I checked out A Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia. No, I didn't loose a bet, I wasn't drunk and I'm not into self abuse. It just looked like it might have some redeeming value and it was streaming on Netflix, so what the hell.

"Dude, get over the name thing."

First, the damn name. This is a huge pain point for me - these movies that share a name with another film and little else.  





I, Robot - Yes, it's about robots and so is the original novel. That's pretty much where it ended. Why? They couldn't get the rights originally, so they started shooting another robot script...until the rights came through. Then, they just....blended the two scripts in a blender and shot what poured out. 

Last Exorcism..uh...Part 2   Did it really need to dovetail off? I mean, it has the same girl in it, but it could just be another ghostie, right? Anyway....

Well, this Connecticut film is the same way. Firstly...A HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT. CONNECTICUT!!!! Jebus - at least have it happen there if you're going to use the friggin' title! LOL  But....like I said....I moved on.


Things are simple here yet again. Family moves into a new home. Family has their own "ghosts" they are dealing with. Family starts seeing ghosts all over. Hot sister in law used to fly fighters for the Galactica. Oh...wait...sorry...got confused because Katee :::sigh::: Sackhoff is in it. (Battlestar Galactica) •ahem• Anyway...yeah...so...



Oh....yeah...ghosts all over the place. Kid talks to ghosts. Yadda yadda yadda. You know the drill. However this had a story that I found to be very interesting. I won't give too much away, but it has to do with the Underground Railroad, slavery and a "Stationmaster" that helped slaves escape. There was some actual meat to this storyline and it got me involved eventually. I wasn't just waiting for effects shots to pop up.

AND, the biggie - I didn't call it like I usually do. Usually I can call out exactly what's going to happen in these films. A fall, a stumble, a jump scare, etc. Some were hilarious when I got going. I felt like I was willing the film to unfold before me. (The Possession comes to mind) This film didn't do much of the simple stuff. It choose to rely on story to get it's points across. The only sad thing was there was so much story that they had to resort to a section of flashbacks and exposition to explain what was going on at one point. I forgave it, however, because I found myself saying, "Ooooohh....I get it...Huh!" out loud when it happened.

Now, don't get me wrong - this film isn't perfect. Not at all. There's still a lot of fluff in here and not even a special appearance from Cicely Tyson could lift it into the realm of "great".  The film got 5/10 on IMDB and a sad 26/100 on Metacritic. (Oddly, The Possession got a 45. I liked Connecticut better) I didn't expect ANYTHING from it and it actually managed to give a lot - I appreciated that about the film. There is a lot packed into the film and, unlike some recent "paranormal" films of late, I wasn't bored 10 minutes in and just CRYYYYYYING out for SOMETHING to HAPPEN! :)

If you want to see some ghosts, some rotted corpses and some TOOL-like rock video flash-cut ghost edits, then you may want to toss this film on one night and give it a go.

Rebound

Again with the undead? Really?

Oh...wait...but you're doing it right and with a focus on story and good acting?! That's a different matter. :)

France's REBOUND  is looking wondrous with an emphasis on story. Based on the 2004 movie Les revenants (They Came Back) , the series focuses on the mysterious events that bring the dead back from beyond. It looks like it's playing heavy on the dramatic with a twist to the side of not everyone who is coming back is a lovely, angelic being. Some of them were murderers and villains.

I love the concept of the dead coming back in this way, not just hungry monsters. I also welcome story based plot and some good situations playing out. I have to say it...but, basically everything I didn't get from WALKING DEAD. But....that horse as sailed. :)

The series was picked up by the U.K.'s Channel 4. 

VARIETY article can be FOUND HERE

Check it

CARGO

BRILLIANT short film. Really well done. It manages to breath new life (...so to speak...) into a tired genre. Mere minutes is actually better than the WALKING DEAD on AMC. Honestly, if I had to pick one to stay and one to go....well...buh0bye Walking Dead. :)

This is only a short and at a scant 7 minutes long, it's a testament to great story writing.

Horror fans and story fans alike will love this grand effort. Fantastic. As a parent...wow.

In The Flesh

Ok...I need to hunt this down. It looks like it's going to be fantastic.

Again, the BBC is presenting some quality programming (even though it is another zombie undertaking...so to speak. :::grin:::)  with it's series IN THE FLESH .


If you've seen COLIN, you might dig it. It has a very cool look and feel with a post-human sadness to it.

Stay tuned for reviews!

The Undeading

From EMPTY KINGDOM

"The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada teams up with filmmaker Vincenzo Natali (SPLICE, CUBE) to produce The Undeading, a smart and inventive short about spreading the importance of hands-on CPR, set against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse."

I think this is fantastic! Topical horror and humor come together to help a great cause. The edits are great and the effects and direction are grand. They have some nice behind the scenes footage and making of material on their site as well. http://www.theundeading.ca/

 I think this is a great use of the drastically overplayed zombie genre to serve good instead of the evils of corporate greed and film studio pockets! :)

Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection

 There are times where I feel so out of touch. This is one of those times. I remember seeing this teaser ages ago and now during a random search I see that the film came and went this year? Really? Did anyone know? Did anyone see it?



Evidently, it opened in the UK and is rolling, but I have not heard much about it. DREAD CENTRAL has the UK dates up and a new trailer. I have to say, it doesn't look very promising which means they might not be able to break the DAY OF THE DEAD and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D curse.

At least we still have the awesome BUNNY VERSION to fall back on! :)

Salvage

Man, I'm still not sure how I feel about this film. I didn't hate it - I'll start there.

The plot is somewhat simple. A container washes ashore and something is in it. Something bad enough to send a group of special ops military personnel in to deal with it. But, are they enough? I've misled you a bit, however. That's not the main story.





The real lead here is a mother who is separated from her husband and who has her daughter over the Christmas break. After a really bad start on top of existing feelings of abandonment from the daughter, there's a lot of patching up that needs to be done. Of course, Neve McIntosh will need to do everything in her power to find her daughter and keep her safe while the small town they live in falls apart and it's residents are shot by one side and ripped apart by another. 

Interesting, right? Well, yeah, it was. It was a film that held my attention and that rattled me at times. There were a few jump scares that had my coffee cup sloshing for sure. The acting was great across the board from the major players to the more minor roles. The action and pace was great, rolling from scene to scene with a growing sense of urgency that I loved. Great stuff.

But...here's the (spoiler free) rub.
 
The movie ended and I was really happy with the way things worked out and the way it all wrapped up, but I was left with a sort of Chinese Food Hunger® after about 30 minutes. :)

"Wait...what happened? What....did it......is there more? Did I turn it off too early?" Nope, it's just a fruckin' odd film on the writing side. There are character arcs that are rather complex, then another whole group of arcs that are very strange and minor. The flow was good, but the story was as murky as the water the shipping container washes up from.

It reminded me of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, not that I think about it.  Who are your neighbors? Do you trust them? How about your Government - do you trust them? 

I think this film is well worth a watch. Neve McIntosh turns in a rather powerful performance ad is striking in her "Ripply Like" efforts to save her daughter. Let us know what you think!

Hidden Horrors

THE HORROR SHOW has it's sights set on some yummy looking, hidden horror this month. You may have missed these here in the states due to numerous adverts for THE AVENGERS and DARK KNIGHT RISES filling the air. :)



WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT
Creepy ghosties. 





A NIGHT IN THE WOODS
Just three buddies...hanging out in the woods.




BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO
One way trip. And I thought my job had it's bad sides.
Some great sound design here.



STRIPPERS VERSUS WEREWOLVES
Ok...admit it...it looks like fun. Sit down, eat your popcorn and don't judge me. :)





ELFIE HOPKINS
A fun, strange looking tale of detective work gone wrong in a sleepy village.  DEAD SET's Jaime Winstone stars - what more could you want?





WITHER
This just looks creepy good.




Wither - Trailer from NonStop Sales on Vimeo.



And, I think I'm the only person who actually liked this film. I watched it, stared at it and got a little caught up in it. Sure, it has it's missed opportunities and writing hitches, but what it delivers is good old, WHAT THE F?! horror that I really enjoyed.

YELLOW BRICK ROAD



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HALLOWEEN LIST 2012: THE UNDEAD

"When there's no more room in hell, the dead will appear in every horror film and studios will try to cash in on the word zombie whenever they can."  Malcolm Johnson  :)

UNDEAD

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I have to say, I'm somewhat tired of zombies and the undead. When you start seeing ELLEN mentioning zombies or they appear on children's t-shirts, it's time to pack it up and put it away. :)
However, there are certain nuggets that I find myself returning to time and time again - usually around midnight...in the dark....curled up in a comfy chair.

If you've missed some of these, check them out at once. If you have a favorite, let me know in the comments section. I won't bite...






Undead
The dead downunder. Wacky, Peter Jackson style madness.A unique and fun film.


 

Shaun of the Dead

The pinnacle of  modern horror comedy. Zom-Rom-Com.

REC and REC2

The undead ravage an apartment building in Spain. Shocking. 

Return of the Living Dead

Some blissfully awesome undead, gory comedy from the 80s. 

Braindead

Splatter-gross dead from the twisted mind of Peter Jackson.

Cemetery Man

Nightmare meets madness in this horror romance from Italy. 

Planet Terror

Robert Rodriguez brings his spin to grindhouse dead. So good. 

Doghouse

The battle of the sexes with a UK comedy twist. It's no Shaun, but it's trying hard to be.

Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things

A favorite of THE HORROR SHOW from the 70s. Slow pace. High creep factor.

Versus

Asian zombie sword swirl with a dash of WTF?! Good, bloody battles.

Dead Snow

Dead Nazis rise from the snow and RUIN a groups mini-vacation. (Norwegian)

ZombiE

Italian classic. 1979 goodness from director Lucio Fulci. Main thing: SHARK VS ZOMBIE!

Dead and Buried

An interesting look at the undead, this film is packed with atmosphere and has a great story.

Pontypool

"The thinking man's zombie film". This takes place in one location and plays like a play. Fantastic.

La Horde

Step One: Remove brain. Step Two: Enjoy! This wild ride is packed with...everything, really. Great!

The Dead

A return to the ultra slow moving zombie film, THE DEAD takes place in the vast expanse of the African plains. Suspense and character based, this film rolls along nicely.