Much like almost every horror fan out there, I’ve seen “Night of the Living Dead,” and had my cherry busted by it when I was five. Since being in the public domain, Romero’s movie has been open to many, many re-workings, one of which occurred in 1990 when his protégé Tom Savini got the wild idea to remake “Night of the Living Dead,” and you know what? It wasn’t bad. In fact his remake stands as one of the better remakes of a Romero film to date, and Savini enlists much of the same dread and horror and instills it with a bleak tone of greens and dark blues to invoke a film that’s quite gritty, bleak, and hopeless even in spite of changing a lot of character actions and increasing the tension. It also helps that he enlists the talents of special effects guru Gregory Nicotero to turn the walking dead in to shambling harbingers of death that I still have difficulty looking at to this day. The song is almost like what you’ve heard in the original.
Splice (2010) (Combo Pack)
Vincenzo Natali’s “Splice” was one of my favorites of 2010. It’s a surefire Frankenstein tale about two scientists on the precipice of creating not only a brand new species but a brand new gender. When they venture in to the depths of their scientific realm and work outside the confines of their regulated laboratory, they soon discover that they’ve created the ultimate being. Named Dren, she is a pure unadulterated force of nature, both of the emotional and the sexual. What begins as a science experiment gone awry soon turns in to a clear cut case of God Complex coming in to fruition as characters Clive and Elsa (ignore that clunky reference, and you’ll be fine) attempt to create a life, still stifled by their ability to do so in a relationship filled with ambition and mutual respect, but little to no intimacy.
Red, White & Blue (2010)
I honestly had no idea what to expect going in to “Red, White & Blue” mainly because Simon Rumley’s horror thriller is an animal that’s impossible to peg down. It’s a character study, a thriller, a romance, a drama, and a slasher movie all rolled in to one little package of pure excellence that takes a long time to really roll. I admittedly found myself impatient and restless while watching, but for horror fans expecting an all out balls to the wall gore fest, patience is your best friend. You’ll thank yourself later.
The Sky Has Fallen (2009)
For a movie about the end of the world through an Ebola-like virus that infects people and turns them in to demonic killing monsters that feast on the living, while shadowy specters wait in the darkness carrying off the innocent and the dead, I was surprised at how utterly bored I was through most of this movie. In fact “The Sky Has Fallen” literally had me watching the clock and completely apathetic to its entire premise. As someone who adores almost any movie about the end of the world, director Doug Roos really doesn’t put an argument as to why his movie stands out among a slew of better indie films about the apocalypse and the undead.
My Name is Felix and I'm a Kinemortophobe
Acrophobia, Nictophobia, Mysophobia, and Kinemortophobia. These are my primary phobias that plague me day in and day out. But… mainly that last one has been a nagging more insane but very troublesome phobia that has grabbed on to me since I was old enough to walk and hasn’t let go. Kinemortophobia (or Ambulothanatophobia) can be described as fear of the undead, or more importantly fear of the walking dead. Sure to some of you, it may sound idiotic and something to laugh at, but when you’re a little kid trying to sleep unable to go five minutes without looking behind you or sleeping near the edge of your bed, it’s not funny. And it’s quite traumatic. No, this is not meant to be a satirical article, this is quite real to me. I simply can not explain it. I’ve tried to figure out why since I was a child, but I simply can not explain it. I have a fear of zombies. Not vampires, or mummies, or anything else undead, but specifically zombies. The walking dead, the brain munching, gut gnawing, glazed over, staggering, shambling, moaning, groaning, mobile, green skinned, mouths agape, oozing, bleeding, rotting monsters that have become so absolutely prevalent in modern death obsessed pop culture.
Circle (2010)
I held out almost little hope for Michael W. Watkins crime thriller slasher film about a Greek mythology obsessed serial killer who has a penchant for gathering and murdering his victims on the basis of fulfilling some need within him to manifest some Greek legend, but “Circle” gradually proved me wrong as it progressed. While it’s not a masterpiece by any definition, it definitely is a solid horror film with some roots in the formula cop sub-genre in which we’re following two mismatched hard boiled cops on the track of the vicious Bennett, a mastermind and genius psychopath who manages to break free from his asylum after ritualistically killing off a group therapy session he was engaging in.
Woman's Intuition (2006)
I continue to be a big fan of Patrick Rea’s for the simple fact that he’s a director that loves to screw with his audience. And when he usually does it it’s not to insult or annoy his audience, it’s to keep us coming back for more. He’s a storyteller with a slew of short films very much in the vein of “Twilight Zone,” and his early short entitled “Woman’s Intuition” is a very good example of Rea screwing with his audience with an ending that’s surprising and clever.