While I did enjoy “The Dead,” I also admit that it spooked me a bit, if only for the Ford Brothers’ ability to depict the walking dead as a truly horrifying, a talent that’s tough to accomplish with our current glut of zombie films dominating pop culture. “The Dead 2” isn’t a far departure, sticking to what made the first film such a success, while switching elements around to regard it as another chapter in the epic continent trotting tale of the zombie apocalypse. There still hasn’t been much of an explanation of the particulars of the zombie virus and where it originated, but that’s irrelevant once the dead are knocking down doors.
Tag Archives: Horror
The Battery (2012) [Blu-ray]
After a zombie apocalypse has overtaken most of the country including New England, former baseball players Ben and Mickey have found themselves stuck together. They’re too frightened to be alone, and yet don’t like one another enough to stay together. Thus they form an uneasy pact with one another, roaming the more desolate landscape of New England looking for food, shelter, and new means to keep themselves from going absolutely stir crazy. With the rising population of the dead, and the lack of human contact, it’s becoming a task that’s increasingly difficult to conquer day by day.
Grindhouse Trailer Classics Volume 1 (DVD)
Volume 1 of “Grindhouse Trailer Classics” brings fans fifty five of the best grindhouse trailers around, and they’re all available on one compilation on volume one of the DVD from Intervision Picture Corp. There are zombies, Nazis, cannibals, and exploitation galore with some of my favorite grindhouse flicks present and accounted for. They’re shameless and very well put together trailers that revel in the insanity of the films and deliver onslaughts of really surreal imagery.
Pumpkinhead (1988)
“Pumpkinhead” is one of the many horror movies from the eighties that is unparalleled. It’s a movie series that opens with a bang and continues on with many inferior sequels. Alas, “Pumpkinhead” remains a single entry horror revenge thriller, depending on how you prefer to look at the storyline. That said, “Pumpkinhead” is a fine and atmospheric yet flawed revenge thriller that features some pretty incredible special effects by the late great Stan Winston, who also directs. And how can you not like Lance Henriksen?
Super Zero (2014)
Zombie movies are the order of the moment for so many filmmakers working right now, and it’s tough to really find any good zombie entertainment. How do you take a pretty tired concept and turn it in to something interesting or worth investing your time in? Shockingly director and writer Mitch Cohen found a way. Rather than basing his entire short zombie movie on zombies, he instead explores the more humanistic element of the apocalypse, centering on a small group of people trying to survive, and how one seemingly irrelevant young man becomes their savior.
The Walking Dead: The Complete Fourth Season [Blu-ray/Digital]
Season four of “The Walking Dead” is a big leap forward for the series, in where it re-captures a lot of the dread and urgency of season one, while also rebooting the narrative once more. After the big war in season three where the group managed to beat an army by cunning and sheer luck, Rick and his surviving group from Hershel’s farm, along with the remnants of Woodbury, have now settled down in the prison, and have built a respectable society for themselves. Rick is now committed to farming alongside Hershel as his apprentice, while he’s also focused most of the time on giving Carl a childhood, however twisted it may be. The series has a good time with misdirection, and begins the season premiere with Rick outside the prison farming and listening to music, drowning outside noise. As he turns to look back at the prison, we cut to a wide scene of the walking dead clutching the gates in droves only inches from Rick. Try as the survivors might to pretend otherwise, the world is still for the dead.
Motel Hell (1980): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray/DVD]
I’ve seen “Motel Hell” almost five times in the last two years and goodness knows I’ve tried so hard to love it. At risk of getting my horror fan boy card revoked, I sincerely do not like “Motel Hell.” Kevin Connors’ horror comedy is a silly and often dull attempt to ape “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” I’m one who has often found much of what unfolds in “Motel Hell” absolutely dull and monotonous with the attempts at absurdity kind of forced and tedious. It’s almost like “Eaten Alive” where there’s another effort to catch lightning in a bottle that just doesn’t quite hit its mark. And I’d still rather see Tobe Hooper’s “Eaten Alive” than ever really re-watch “Motel Hell” ever again.