With the rise of the zombie sub-genre, every filmmaker and their brother have their own story to tell. With zombie media at an all time high in popularity, there are an abundance interesting approaches toward the zombie sub-genre. And unfortunately there are also countless forgettable attempts. Immediately, “Chronicles of the Dead” from 3N films is under pressure to perform outside the norm and offer a form of zombie fiction that is entertaining and unique. “Chronicles of the Dead” so far has potential in the range of tone, atmosphere, and direction, it just has to now step up its game and provide us with a story that we can get behind. With only episode one to judge on, the series can go anywhere at this point. We may end up with a web version of “The Walking Dead,” or we could end up with a web version of “Night of the Dead.”
Tag Archives: Indie Film
Waffle (2010)
This is one of the few times in my life where I’ve seen a waffle filmed on-screen and felt a twinge of disgust watching it. Director Rafael DeLeon equates the edible waffle desert with the character Wendy in his short film “Waffle,” and uses it as a symbolic way of revealing her apparent deformity that’s never quite revealed. The local high school alpha queen Dana indulges in a creepy dinner with local science genius and deformed high schooler Wendy and her mother.
6:14 (2012)
Fourth Wall Studios has invested in a project that I found quite fun to experience, even if the concept doesn’t totally make a lot of sense. “6:14” is one short film in their series of short horror films that doesn’t just make you the viewer, but the game player. After inserting my phone number and information to Rides.tv for my account, I watched “6:14” ready to see what would occur. Ethan Embry plays a man who keeps waking up at odd times during six o’clock. Whenever he awakens he finds he’s in a closed off environment and there is someone waiting in the darkness prepared to murder him in the most violent and creative fashion.
Split the Check (2012)
Director Patrick Rea seems like a reserved and well mannered man, but his films are just so filled with lunacy and demented humor, it’s shocking he could ever come up with movies so filled with sick twists and turns. “Split the Check” is a short but sweet Patrick Rea cinematic snack that will leave you with your jaw on the floor. That is the basic result of most of Mr. Rea’s films. Always be ready for a final twist. “Split the Check” is a dark comedy with a horror twist that is perfectly suited for its short format.
The Backwater Gospel (2011)
Who needs a monster when you can allow people to become the monsters themselves? When you throw in a bunch of bigoted narrow minded individuals together, and hand them superstitious hokum to chew on, you’re going to get a good idea of who they are and who they will become in due time. The town in a desert hole finds itself fearing the reaper every time the dreaded undertaker comes around to take measurements for death’s latest toll, and uses their Christian beliefs as a shield against his menace.
Dark Times (2010)
Directors Peter Horn and Jared Marshall’s short science fiction horror film is, as the kids say: The shit. “Dark Times” is a rollicking and creepy gore fest that takes every advantage to be unique and original. Foregoing any opening and closing credits, “Dark Times” takes every single advantage of every second to tell a fun story that is just so damn thrilling to behold. As seen through the eyes of a hapless man, a group of workers from the Blue Skies Nuclear Power plant flee from a horrible explosion that is sending them running in to the woods as radioactive debris rains from the skies taking down survivors.
Caesar and Otto's Deadly Xmas (2012)
As a follow-up to “Summer Camp Massacre,” Caesar and Otto’s latest adventure with psychopaths and horror icons isn’t quite as good. It definitely has its share of laughs and head scratching moments that have become standard with the comedy duo of Caesar and Otto, but the sad part of “Deadly X-Mas” is that it really loses steam in the final ten minutes. In either case, Caesar and Otto are able to come out looking great in the end as one of the few comedy duos with antics built on and around the horror film. They’ve confronted almost every situation imaginable, and still haven’t died.