Daybreakers Review (2010)

Daybreakers

Okay, before we start anything here, can we talk about how awesome this one-sheet is? (One-sheet for those who don't know, is the industry word for poster). For me, this is the perfect kind of movie poster. It's simple. Has the title. Has the realese date. Catches the viewers attention, and you pretty much know what it is going to be about. I've been looking forward to this movie for a long time, even before it was officialy announced. Why and how you ask? Let me explain.

Back into 2003, the directors of this film, the Spierig Brothers, made a little independent zombie film called Undead. It had a budget of around $1 million, and was given limited realese, along with some festival screenings. The film sold incredibly well on DVD, and while not being a great movie by any means, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Now, six years later, the Brothers are back again, this time with vampires and $30 million. I heard they were making a movie about a world overrun by vampires, about a year after this was announced, I saw the Daybreakers trailer, and basically, I had a freak-out

Now, in case you don't know, Daybreakers takes the premise of your typical zombie and vampire films, and turns it on its head. The world has been virtually overrun by vampires. Not crazy, insane, brainless vampires, but vamps that run buisinesses, and drive, and drink blood coffee. People that do not get enough blood, go crazy and turn into your run-of-the-mill brainless vampire. There are a few humans left in the world, and those who are, simply try to survive. Unfourtanetly for the vampire society, the human population is almost extinct, and they are running out of blood, so soon, every will be "Underdwelers", going crazy, ravenous, and consuming all.

For a weird horror genre-bender, Daybreakers actually has a fairly nice cast attached to it. Ethan Hawke plays our main vampire, with Sam Neill as the evil corporation executive. Then we have our heroes, played by Claudia Karvan and Willem Dafoe. Surprisingly, the cast does fairly well for the most part. Ethan Hawke does a fine job as our main character, and Willem Dafoe is always fun, especially in supporting roles.

The Spierig Brothers (Michael and Peter) do a good job for the most part, adapting their script to the big screen. Unfourtanetly for them, they aren't the best of writers, and these wonderful actors are given some pretty bad dialouge to read. Most of the effects are done decently, and there is a substanstial amount of gore in the film as well. The only problem is, the entire film takes place in one town, which would be fine, but the entire world is suppose to be overrun, and all we ever see is the tiny little town. Also, a good surprise, the Brothers managed to fit a little political message in here as well, and hopefully people will pick up on this, with the healthcare bill just being past and all.

Overall, Daybreakers was a fun goofy ride. It was a film about vampires taking over the world, and thankfully, it knew what it was, and never took itself to seriously. The make-up, and visual effects are done rather nicely for a moderate budget, and they had some very good actors to play some interesting roles. Unfourtanetly, the budget was a little to small for the scope of the project, and the dialouge is a little weak. But like I always say, there is a difference between a good movie, and a fun movie, and Daybreakers was definatly a fun ride.

I Give Daybreakers:

4 Zombi's out of 5

Cloverfield Review (2008)

Cloverfield

One of the most secretive films of recent times, Cloverfield, didn't have an official title, until about two months before realese, and was only known my it's realese date, 1-18-08. The film became famous for that date as well, breaking January box-office records, which it still holds. Much of it still remains a mystery, as we get no real answers throughout the movie, if you want answers, you'd have to sift through dozens of websites, created for an intense, and very smart marketing campaign.

The idea for Cloverfield, was created by the leading sci-fi writer of the decade, J.J. Abrams, creator of Alias, Lost, Fringe, and the remake of Star Trek. He was on a trip to Japan, when he looked inside a toy-store, to find one of the most popular items was still Godzilla merchendise, he decided it was time for America to have its own monster, and thus, Cloverfield was born. Abrams should get some credit for this film, but not all, he created the idea, but did not write or direct, only produced. Matt Reeves should get some attention, for directing one of the hardest genres, the shaky-cam.

Cloverfield has an impossible backstory, which I will not attempt to explain here, as the average movie-goer would not go to the lengths I did to find the answers, I will give you the story the film does. Rob is getting a new job in Japan, as VP of a drink company called Slusho, a group of friends decides to throw a surprise party, and record his last night stateside. But, a horrible accident occurs as something emerges from the Harbor, and begins stomping around Manhattan. We get very little invitation, as the film is done completly through a hand-held camera. We get the same amount of information we would, if we were really on the streets, one of the reasons some people hated it, but one of the key reasons, I enjoyed it.

Now, Cloverfield is not the type of film to win any major awards, but it is very fun. It's not a film that's just plain bad and fun, (Transformers), it's actually decent. Matt Reeves does an excellent job of directing mostly improv lines, and making the film seem real. A key player, and major credit need to go to Kevin Stitt. His name is barley attached to this film, but he made it what it truly is. As the editor, he makes every transition, and cut seem fluid and effortless, which would be very difficult with the film type he has to mash together. The visual effects are pretty nice as well. The film is short, lasting only about 1 hr. 15 mins. but we do get a few very nice shots of the secretive monster, buildings being destoryed, cars crashing, and the Statue Of Liberties head crashing to the ground.

Surprisingly, these are decent performances. My favorite character was Hudson, or Hud, as he is mostly called, he plays the cameraman, and gives excellent comentary throughout the film, and adds a bit of light comedy to a mostly dark movie. Here is one of my favorite lines:
Rob: Hud, will you just shut up for five seconds!
Hud: Sorry, I have to talk about something, or I'm literally gonna shit my pants in the stairwell!
The only problem with the acting, is it has very little matter, as the objective that is driving them to get through the city (and not to a safe zone) is rather stupid. But, all these actors and actresses are very good, performing in mostly improv roles, particularly T.J. Miller, as Hud, and Lizzy Caplan as Marlena.

Overall, Cloverfield is a fun, monster-movie experience for the modern age. It's isn't particulary scary, but definatly has some thrilling moments. The effects are pulled off nicely, for having to add them into constantly shaking footage, the editor and director definatly deserve more attention than they get, and the performances are done rather nicely. The only problem for the film, is it's near lack of story (which can be done well), but not really here, though I respect the creators for truly trying to make it as real as possible. If you can't tell, I thoroughly enjoyed Cloverfield, and own it on DVD.

I Give Cloverfield:
4 Zombi's out of 5.

Gremlins Review (1984)

The 1984 classic has finally worked its way into my blog. Gremlins is an interesting little film, whether it is to be called "Family Friendly" is questionable. You see, back when Gremlins was first realesed, the MPAA hadn't yet created the PG-13 rating. And Gremlins certainly didn't have enough bad content to qualify an R rating, so PG it was. This is a very violent movie, and a very gory movie despite its rating. Gremlins get chopped, cut, thrown, and even put into blenders and microwaves. Wow, this movie easily could have traumatized some little children in 1984.

I don't feel I should even have to explain the plot of this movie, but I will anyway. Out late looking for a Christmas present for his son, an inventor father is in Chinatown, and comes across an old man, who has a little creature called a Mogwai, (I have no clue if that's it proper spelling), the old refuses to sell the Father the creature, but his nephew isn't so reluctant. Upon giving him the animal the nephew tells the man that tere is only three rules he muse follow:
1. They don't like the sunlight
2. Don't get them wet.
3. Never, ever feed them after midnight.

Gremlins is a fun little flick. It is very reminiscent of the 80's and has all the cooky plot devices we've come to expect from films of that era. While people's opinions vary on the age recomandation for this film, I'd say this is okay for any 8 year old. The comedy easily outways the gore. The comedy is actually more of what this film really is. And it is very well done. Some moments actually made me laugh out loud with hilarity. But if you are a horror fan, don't be turned away by this movie just for that fact.

Aside from being a funny film, it is also a very intense one. While I wouldn't really call it scary it does have its moments. Scenes in which, you see a cup of water spill, and head toward the box, then the camera turns, and you see the sillhouette of some creature coming up out of it are very chilling. Steven Speilberg knows what he's doing in these movies, he is an excellent producer. But, lots of credit must also go to Joe Dante, the films director. He does an excellent job of balancing comedy with scares and keeping the actors up with the film.

The acting in Gremlins is decently done by all. They keep up with the films rapid change of pace and genre, as I said above, and do it nearly flawlessly, in fact, most of this film is nearly flawless. In fact, the acting is the main promblem I had with this film, and it wasn't even that big of an issue, but, was still very annoying at times. Corey Feldman makes an interesting guest appearance, and you are a fan of the 80's you should definatly check ot this movie, if for that reason alone. Wait, if your a fan of the 80's why haven't you already seen this?

The effects in the movie are also very nice. They still hold up pretty well into with todays modern technology, even though they are noticably puppets. For 1984, the effects are amazing, the combanation of puppeteering, animatronics, and visual effects blend nicely together and make the film that more awesome.

Well, if you can't tell already, I am pretty much in love with Gremlins. Of course, I have loved this film ever since I was a little kid. The story is fun, and the action is nice. The film manages to be gory, scary, and funny all at the same time, and has something for the whole family to enjoy. The being said, the acting isn't to terribly amazing, and noticably bad at times, but I personally don't mind. The effects make this film worth seeing alone, and that combined with everything else just make it a really cool movie. But, the acting still bothers me, and my admitted bias do hinder the film slightly.

I Give Gremlins:
Four Zombi's out of Five.

The Descent Review (2006)

Coming in straight from 2006 is director Neil Marshall's horrific tale of The Descent. Neil Marshall, the previous writer and director of Dog Soldiers, made his return to film in a cave. Being one of the most positivly reviewed horror films of the past decade, by both fans and critcs alike, the real question was, does The Descent live up to the hype. While the film is now known all around the world, everyone should know that it is a majorly British film. With a mostly British cast, a British script, and was filmed in England and Scotland. All that for a movie set in America.

Now, before I officially begin this review you need to know a few things about this movie. Firstly it has two shockingly different endings. The European ending, and the American ending. The film was realesed nearly a year later in America than it was in European countrys. And upon test audience results, filmakers learned that most audiences on the western hemisphere found the original ending to dark. A small bit of editing fixed all that. I am here to tell you that I know both versions of the film, like the original ending more, and will be reviewing THAT film here today.

The story of The Descent is actually quite simple. It's about six women who go on an annual vaction in which they perform some sort of extreme sport, whether it be white water rafting, rock climbing, sky diving, it is always sure to be dangerously fun. So when the new year comes into effect they begin to plan their latest trip. They decide to hike up the Appalachin Mountains to go cave spelunking. Now for those of you who don't know, cave spelunking is when you repel down into the open mouth of an underground cave, and explore its trenches. So, once these women descend into the cave, they get trapped. And upon futher inspection, they realize that they are not alone in the frigid caverns.

I feel that the story for the film is great. I mean, though old, and pretty predictable, the setting of a cave is one that you hardly see anymore. Other than this film, it's hard for me to think of really other big ones that have come out in the past ten years. Anywho, a cave is the perfect place for a film to be set, it is a naturally creepy place because of all the cartoons we see as a kid, its cold, dark, wet, and the cave that was in this film (even though it was a set) was really good, because it had tight corners, and barely breathable air. And no matter how old you are, you're biggest fear, your worst nightmare, virtually everyone has some kind of fear of being stuck, not being able to move. The Descent takes your natural claustrophobia and exploits it, which is acutally more frightening than the beasts.

The acting in this film was decent. It wasn't spectacular, but I don't think that it really needed to be. Most scenes deal with six women in a cave. But, this is also where the acting hits its fault. Neil Marshall wanted to make the film with an only female cast because women talk about their feelings more than men do. So when it comes time to make these scenes become a reality, I lose faith in the film because I don't believe these women are fearing for their life. They are simply speaking lines, that you could tell someone had already written for them.

As for effects, the sets that were used for the caves were spectacular. I thought that they were real until I read that they were in fact sets on a studio. The blood in this film was extreme. I thank God, for, once again, for NEIL MARSHALL! He only used practical effects for the blood and gore in this film. Which is amazing because there is so much of it. And with the way most horror films are using are using blood and gore withe CGI, I just loved watching it. The only thing that I didn't like about the practical production was the actual monsters themselves. I wish that they would've stuck with darkness and claustrophobia for natural scares and tension, and left the monster to be implied. Since everyone has a natural fear of being stuck, the monsters kind of took away from natural scares, and a fear that the audience could relate to.

I appreciated the ending of this film and felt that it was an amazing addition to the film itself. It also, almost, made up for the lack of emotionality the charecters had. The ending was deep, heartfelt, and utterly disturbing. And I felt that it was the true ending, over the American version.

Overall, The Descent is one of the most intense, crazy, scary, frightening, well done, excellent, horror films of the last decade. The sequel is set to come out soon, and I am only somewhat excited to see, but I am for sure going to see whatever Neil Marshall does next.

4/5

Slither Review (2006)

Slither, is a little horror/comedy film that was realesed about three years ago, the film went widley unnoticed though, and was a financial failure, with a budget of thirty million dollars, and making only thirteen million. It was written and directed by James Gunn, he was the writer of the remake of Dawn of The Dead, which was more successful. That's not saying much. While it didn't do well money wise, Slither was universally enjoyed by fans and critics with few exceptions. It was a throwback to the classic b-movies of the 70's and 80's, which really stuck a nerve with the audience.

The film opens with two bumbling idiot cops, sitting in a car, patrolling a highway or something like that, in the background a giant meteor falls from the sky and crashes in the woods behind them. Meanwhile a man who is busy cheating on his wife, he finds a whore in a bar, and they go into the woods for some fun. They find the meteor and feel the need to investigate. Something shoots out of the large space rock and impales the man in the heart. This man slowly starts turning into a horrible monster, that REALLY craves meat. Later the entire town goes to a party to celebrate the start of the hunting season, meanwhile, he is infecting another woman with his alien disease. Later, after the police officers find out about what has been goin' down, they track the infected woman to an old barn, where they find that she has become extremely fat. She keeps growing, and growing, until she eventually explodes realesing a massive group of small leaches, and as it turns out, if you get bitten by these leaches they infect you as well. Damn, that would suck.

As interesting as this film it, it's only as good as its worst scene. The movie tends to drag a little bit in the beggining, but as soon as the fat lady explodes things move along fast enough. The movie is gory enough, funny enough, and entertaining enough to warrant both horror, and comedy fans should give it a looksee. Nathan Fillion, (of firefly fame) stars as one of the many cops who rampage throughout the film with guns ablazing. Elizabeth Banks (shes from scrubs) stars as the women whos husband was infected in the beggining. The film is especially fun if you know the material. If you were a child of he 70's and 80's drive in, you will really enjoy this films commitment. The only thing this movie is missing from that genre is the nudity. None is here. Oh, well. But, if your a fan of Quentin Tarantino you'll know what I mean when I say this film is a piece of genre cinema.

Thank God for whoever did the special effects for this film. I hope that whoever it may be, they get paid very highly. The effects are great because they are not practicul effects, not CGI. The fake blood is really there, its not digitally added later. The monsters look like they were created for Gremlins, they don't look like Gremlins, but the movements are very similair. While the gore factor in this film isn't extreme, it's enough to give non-horror fans a queasy stomach. Scenes in which a monster/man/squid thing are shown are very nice, with classic make-up effects from a very smart crew. Whenever a monster or creature is on the screen, awesomeness was infused into every frame.

The acting in this movie was decent enough, I enjoyed the main characters, and the side characters enough to where I didn't notice if they were good or bad. All were funny when they needed to be, but serious also, and pulled of the change rather well. What people forget by looking at the case is that this is a comedy. It had some great running jokes, as well as some perfect one-liners. Nathan Fillion did a great job with the comedy stuff, as did Elizabeth Banks, and it seemed as if they knew that this film was a genre, not a movie. One of the background cops was also very funny as well, he was an older man, and I can't seem to find the actors name which is a shame, I think that if you see this movie you'll know who I mean.

This film was one of the kind that was hopping back and forth between genres. At the beggining it wanted to be a 50's sci-fi classic, and about halfway through, it finds that it wants to be a 50's creature feature, but then it thinks it wants to be a 70's explotation flick, things would have run a lot smoother if this had been figured out in the beggining. Also dull at moments Slither comes up just under perfect, but still an amazing flick for fans of any genre. And I'm telling you this is a COMEDY too.

Little Kid: What's a Gina?
Guy: It's a country, it's where...Ginese people come from.

Overall, Slither gets Four zombi's out of Five.