Body Melt

HOLY CRAP! heheheheheh


Now, BODY MELT isn't a great film, but if you're a body horror fan and love practical effects films from the 90s, you're going to want to check this one out!

Classic "evil scientists come up with a medicine / vitamin with horrid side effects" plot that really makes little to no sense, but after you sink into the madness of it, you just kinda accept it all and wait for the gore and goo to fly again. And fly it does.

Evidently, the film was based on four short stories by the writer/director Philip Brophy and it feels like several stories woven awkwardly together. However, you're really not here for the story in this one. The story is a bit of a mess, honestly. It's all over the place and is disjointed and odd. However, the "HOLY CRAP! That was SO F%^&* GROSS!" factor makes this WELL worth a viddy!

Australian madness! This is a new favorite for sure!

Wither

Vittra - made in 2012 - was kicked out here in the States as WITHER. I caught it on Amazon Prime here in the US and it was a fun little ride.

This is basically Sweden's EVIL DEAD take and, while it's not the EVIL DEAD, it's very entertaining and keeps things interesting and bloody.  A group of friends heads to an abandoned home in the woods (far cleaner than the cabin in Evil Dead!) And, in this film it's another ancient evil up to no good - a sort of wood fairy spirit being who can take your soul just by looking into your eyes, turning you into an evil, monstrous creature.

This start of slowly, but ramp up into some rather fun, gory goings on. Sadly, the pace falters from time to time, but it's well worth sticking it out through some heavy dialogue and WTF? moments to get to more of the evil beings.

The F/X work is grand. Blood flows and awful things happen to the group as the evil is spread through some wicked bites and gross out blood spraying. Little touches here and there - like glowing, milky eyes - really set this film apart from some other Evil Dead "homage" movies I've seen since the original film came out. They are doing Evil Dead for sure, but they do the copy-cat with their own, gruesome touches.

The acting is rather good. Or, at least I think it is seeing as the film is in Swedish. It was language that came off sounding bitchy to me - not sure why.  Like everything that was said had a snarky tone to it. Interesting language.

There are some great shots like the one above that really play on that "something is creeping up on you" feeling. However, there are also some moments where I was thinking, "Hmmm...the house isn't THAT big. Wouldn't the other folks hear this guy and girl struggling and growling in the room six feet away?"  Those moments took me out of things for a minute, but the film isn't all that serious anyway, so I managed to let it go after a time.

All in all, WITHER was a fun ride that is well worth a viddy!

Black Mountain Side - A slow burn that's worth the wait

SPOILER FREE as usual.

The other day, I got another "blind Twitter follow" from a man named Nick Szostakiwskyj. I get these a lot. An unspoken, "Oh! You like movies?! I make movies! Check one out, please!" I actually appreciate this. It means folks are making an effort.

So, I checked out his Twitter page and website and they both looked really professional. One of the images on the site drove me to look up the film Black Mountain Side.

Intrigued, I checked out the trailer ( ...which I do not recommend that you do!! Seriously ) and immediately went to Amazon and added it to my watch list for that very night.

Now, let me get the small negatives out of the way right off the bat. There are not many, but they will make some people run around screaming. ::grin::: 

This is a slow, SLOW burn. It's like Carpenter's THE THING with several of the action, pulse pounding scenes removed from the first and second acts. Folks sit and talk and you soak in their conversations as the wonderfully shot film spins along crafting it's story. There were a few moments where I wished they went to the "show, don't tell" mode of film making - it might have helped the pacing a bit. Actually seeing some of the things that are talked about after they happen when the characters regroup here and there might have boosted the energy of the film a bit. 

Based on what I've seen from horror fans, this will make many people crazy. They'll bark at their screens yelping, "THERE'S NOTHING HAAAAAAPPENING!!!!" and will start tearing at their skin like wild animals.
To them I say, "Do us all a favor and don't watch this film. I can't take hearing your commentary on it, honestly. Go watch SAW XXI and be happy."  There IS stuff happening, you just need to listen and work it out without seeing jump scares, things popping out at you, and blood spraying 20 feet in the air.


The only other caveat I have about the film is that things are NOT spelled out for you. If you want that, you won't find it here. There are expanses as wide open as the films bleak and beautiful landscape - again, superbly shot  - in the film. If that makes you crazy, skip it. 



And, that's the end of the negatives. Let's move on to why I really loved this film. 


This is a very THE THING like tale. But, more along the lines of the original book WHO GOES THERE? by John W. Campbell, Jr.. It's a character and story based movie that has moments of shock and horror, not the other way around.


Archaeologists uncover a massive underground structure in Northern, "REALLY OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE" Canada that dates back ten thousand years. The team brings in an expert to bless the find and get them much needed funds to continue their research.  As the find is verified and debated, things start to slowly and steadily break down.


This is another film where it feels like you are reading a book. (In a good way) You're allowed to really sink into the story and character development washes over you as the tale unfolds. There were several moments where I ended up saying things like, "Well...this is bad," out loud to my wife who was next to me on her phone. THAT is another check in the PLUS column for this film.

My wife is NOT a horror fan. She can stand them at times, but more often than not, she stands up and says, "Enjoy your movie - I'm off to bed," and is gone by ten minutes in. However, BLACK MOUNTAIN SIDE had her completely invested by the midway point. She was positing theories and wondering what was happening right along with me. Wen the movie ended, we had a very interesting series of conversations about the plot, scenes, and what we thought happened at the films climax. All around the midnight out, two hours after her usual bedtime. She really enjoyed the movie which is saying A LOT. 

Nick Szostakiwskyj nails both the Direction and script. The film looks fantastic and the script is riveting, really. It's one of those film stories that doesn't lay it all out for you, but that you find yourself thinking about long after the film is over. Theories spun through my mind all last night and this morning about the movie.

The cast was fantastic as well. In some of these smaller budget films, the cast stumbles through dialogue as they make an effort to play out an emotional range they are not capable of hitting while choking out lines of memorized dialogue. However, these folks do it effortlessly. They are not only believable as who they are playing, but they manage to deliver some very intricate dialogue to the point where I found myself wondering if they found actual archaeologists that happened to do acting as well. :::grin::: 

 If you're a fan of remote chillers, story, and tales of madness and the supernatural, you really owe it to yourself to fire up BLACK MOUNTAIN SIDE, settle in with a whiskey or cup of tea, and let this grand tale wash over you like a warm blanket of creepy! :)  I plan to revisit this film again in the winder months...when it's cold...and dark...

Nightmare City

I was an 80s horror kid. VHS tapes rented, junk food purchased...I would snuggle in and watch horror all weekend or stay up late on Friday night watching horror triple features with my pals playing "Who's gonna fall asleep first" as we plowed through gore filled grinders.

NIGHTMARE CITY was one of the 1980s wonders. An Italian gorefest that was filled with the crazy crap we loved to laugh at. It wasn't really scary. Nothing that would have you checking around corners for as you went to bed. This was pure Italian blood spraying at silly levels.

Don't like gore? DO NOT bother with this film! LOL! It's packed with the goo.

Umberto Lenzi has 65 director credits from 1958 to 1992 including fab splatter like EATEN ALIVE!, CANNIBAL FEROX, THE HELL'S GATE and NIGHTMARE BEACH to name a few. He's classic Italian, tossing stuff in all over the place and keeping the action high even if it makes no sense! :) The film had three writers which I find funny because it still really doesn't have a plot! hehehehe  MAN, I LOVE THIS FILM! hahahahaha

NIGHTMARE CITY stars the fab Hugo Stiglitz (...who's name was used in Inglourious Basterds...) who is forced to battle these violent, radiation zombies. They don't only eat people. On NOOooo...they just....LASH OUT and RAMPAGE throughout the movie. Guns, knives and whatever else they can get their crispy little hands on. The movie bounces from scene to scene as people stumble around making little to no effort to avoid the massive plague of radioactive psychos as they kill everything in sight.

In short - a FANTASTIC popcorn movie to put on with fellow gore-hounds!!!  Breakout the adult beverages, pass around the popcorn and have a few "WTF?!?!?!", laugh out loud moments. :)

Contracted

I recently re-watched CONTRACTED from Director / writer Eric England. I'm happy that I did.






My first viewing was fine. I watched and took it all in and enjoyed the film, but I wanted more. I won't say much about the plot here. Suffice it to say that a one-night-stand sends the lead - the wondrous Najarra Townsend - on one bad, bad health issue filled ride. But, I found myself wanting more and railed against certain aspects of the film. I liked it, but wanted to re-write parts.

Here's where the Internet got cool again for me.

I posted my thoughts on Twitter.

"Watching CONTRACTED. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to laugh or not. Odd."  Something like that.

"Some Guy" replied with "You can laugh - there's humor in there for sure! :)"

We had a little "chat" about the film there on Twitter and he seemed really invested in backing the film. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS THE DIRECTOR - ERIC ENGLAND!!!! HA! Pretty cool. He was bringing things up and I was agreeing, then I looked him up and had a laugh. I had no idea. His points were solid and I bookmarked it for a re-watch.



When I did re-watch recently, I got it. England kinda nailed this film and, as a genre fan, I was happy with the results once I was key'd into what England was trying to do.  When I checked out other comments, I could see that I just didn't "get it" at the time and I was one of the few who didn't, really.



Townsend is great as the lead Samantha. Not fully seasoned, as it were, but pretty solid throughout.
Veteran Caroline Williams is Sam's mother and nails that role, of course.


I guess the doctor role and writing is the last bit I didn't like even on second watch. Minor, really, but it just came off silly with lines tossed out like, ":::odd pause::: You have a sexually transmitted disease.:::blink:::"   :)   All in all, not a deal breaker.


This is a must see. Check it if you have not already. Chime in in the comments if you dug it or hated it. I'd love to hear from you!

Mutants

 Another quickie review for the film MUTANTS - a French film that might be overlooked. I was zooming around the NETFLIX horror list a few years back and saw the cover for Mutants and was intrigued. It looked promising, so I gave it a go. I'm happy that I did.

The plot is simple - a plague situation is sweeping through the world and changing human DNA. A med-tech and her husband are traveling through the snow and are seeking out refuge after hearing a radio broadcast from a help center. (Memory is fuzzy here, but I think that's close) Of course, some of the most frighting things they need to deal with our other humans.

It's a tough one to drop into a bucket. It's not vampires, not zombies....they are...well...mutants. They come close to the 28 DAYS LATER infected - that's the closest. They look great and are frightening for sure.





The pace is slow and there is a lot of character interaction more than action, but it's really well done and the acting is grand and the tension high. It's always great to see a strong, female character kick some butt as well. No mincing around here - she knows what she needs to do and does it. Great to see.



Seek MUTANTS out if you like story based horror. Especially now that the weather is colder. The cold plays a part in this film as well. So.....cold.....   :)  It's still on Netflix streaming at the time of this posting.

Let me know what you think!

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 Bay

Well, I can see why The Bay might have missed the mark with a few folks at the box office. It's not 28 Days Later-like as the trailer kinda leans towards. It's more of an eco-horror film about the "what ifs" involved in pollution in a local area. And, I loved it.

Firstly, Barry Levinson Directed it. Barry "The Natural, Good Morning Vietnam, Rain Man, and more" Levinson. The man is fan-frucking-tastic!

The film is a found footage film, but it's done properly. They've used various video sources, but they do it in such a way where the framing isn't perfect and the aspect ratio of the visual changes based on the device. As someone who is constantly rolling his eyes as perfectly framed found footage, this aspect helped to keep me firmly locked in the reality the film was trying to present to the audience.


Which brings me to another aspect of this film that I loved - the story. Barry Levinson and Michael Wallach (with just The Bay under his belt currently) present a scenario that I found to be believable and frucking frightening. Thought a series of political, economic and tragic events, a bay in Maryland - Levinson's birth place - is polluted and some of the small creatures that live in it's waters are not so small anymore. They have also managed to get into the town's drinking and use water...which can't be a good thing. The body horror in this film had me squirming. It's not "slasher fear", it's grotesque and nasty business that was made very real.

I really enjoyed this film. The pace and flow of it was grand. We're introduced to characters enjoying 4th of July festivities who we are told are going to be dead by the evening and it brings a rather dark tone to the whole of the film. And, an intense feeling of dread. We know things are going to get very bad very quickly and we are not given a chance to warn anyone - it's already over. And, the fact that there are very few recognizable faces in the film makes things more believable as well. Kristen "Cabin in the Woods" Connolly actually wrecked this for me. When I saw her, I thought, "Oh...it's her," and it took me out of the film a bit.

This is far from an action film. It's not a zombie film, infected film or anything of the sort, either. It's a monster film if anything. Very tiny, nasty little monsters.

Like a slow burn, plot based gross out with a very real feel to it? You'll love The Bay.


METACRITIC gives it 65 out of 100. I'd go 80 easy.

[REC]3

Ok...firstly, just stop. Take a minute.

Let's just call this film WEDDING DEAD or Til DEATH DO US PART right off the bat. If you go into it like this, you'll be happy and will have so much fun in this silly, action packed romp.

The MAIL ORDER ZOMBIE folks were expecting another [REC] film and were really disappointed in [REC]3  . (Great podcast, by the way) But, if you go into this film with the mindset that you're just going to see a fun zombie film, you're golden. Because, [REC]3 is just that - a big mess 'o' fun!

Paco Plaza delivers up something a bit new here. If you've seen the first two [REC] films, you know the drill. We're dealing with "special zombies" here and it's grand. Watching them back to back late at night is BRILLIANT! But, [REC]3 steers away from those films and the biggest problem with him doing this now is exactly what happened with the MAIL ORDER ZOMBIE podcast folks - people expected something else.

When you have something as cool as  the [REC] films, you face the issue of people just wanting more of the same. He would have been better off calling it something else and doing a bit of a re-write to separate the tales.

That said, this is just a fun (and at times, silly) film with lots of great scenes and some great gimmicks.

Leticia Dolera is delicious in this film. So cute. So adorable. And so wicked cool. And cute. :)

We run into the same sort of plot with this film - there are zombies of a special origin and they are eating people. The fact that it takes place during a wedding adds some dimension as well. You have two people's closest family members there...and being killed. The bride and groom get seperated and spend a lot of the film looking for each other. There are chases. There's a chainsaw. It's all brilliant and fun and light and well worth a watch.

That's really it.

WELL worth a viddy. Just keep it light and calm and fun and you'll love it. :)

Mark Powell

http://www.markpowellart.com/

Artist Mark Powell creates some truly creepy and wild miniatures. These mini nightmares are fantastic, creepy and cool. They seem like H. R. Giger meets Silent Hill - the stuff that tends to haunt you after you see it. And, the stuff you would never really want to be a part of if it were real.

You can find more images in his Gallery - http://www.markpowellart.com/gallery

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ZONE 261

Back in 2010, I started to hear about ZONE 261 and sometime earlier this year is the first time I saw the video below. Well, the video popped up again when I was doing a little research on THE WALKING DEAD and I felt like the film was in some sort of film limbo. I needed to find out more.

To sum up:

Landskrona, Sweden, 2013. Strong ethnical hatred between immigrants and native Swedes. A ship crashes into the harbor dock. Police enter the wreck - and are attacked by the infected crew. Bitten policemen fall in a coma - and wake up as rabid monsters.

The disease spreads like a wildfire. Everyone tries to escape.

But the city is quarantined - the military erects a concrete wall around the city. The few non-infected - Swedes and immigrants alike - take shelter in the citadel.

As the infected try to claw their way into their sanctuary, the non-infected have to decide who the worst monsters are: their former enemies inside - or the infected on the outside.

As the tension inside the citadel escalate to boiling point, the non-infected, in order to survive, have to decide if they view their former enemies as monsters - or as brothers and sisters; if they see each other as immigrants and Swedes - or as fellow humans.



Pretty straight forward overall. A little politics tossed in - sure. Weapon slinging zoms? Ok. Make it interesting. Most of this film will rely on execution and directorial style. We'll see...if and when it gets made.

I think this was a sort of viral effort to get funding. I love the look of it, though there are a few things I'd like to see changed, of course.





According to the films FACEBOOK page posted 9 hours before I wrote this article:

Dear Zone 261 fans. Our monster project is alive and kicking. If everything goes according to plan we will start shooting the film next year!

We've just updated our homepage where we now have a crowd funding tab. Check it out at www.zon261.com

We will be making most of our announcements from our other facebook fan page ZON 261. We would very much appreciate it if you'd like this page as well.

/ZONE 261 team

I guess we'll see where things head in 2013. It seems that pre-production was originally slated for 2011, but that might have been held up a bit by funding. Understandable. You need cash to make a film.

I've also been reading some of what is being said about the film and there are some interesting bits out there. The things I thought were rather funny were what people were upset about.

"The zombies looked bad."

"They used weapons - I didn't like that at all."

"That roar was off-putting."

"I hated when the gas station zombie in LAND OF THE DEAD picked up a weapon and learned how to use it. Dumb."

(Culled from an article found at QUIET EARTH )

I can't agree, personally. Films are about taking concepts and applying a spin that either the writer or Director sees for the production. Woody Allen has made mysteries and Francis Ford Coppola has made a horror film. Holding their films up to other works will show some major differences in style and content.

Why do zombies all need to do the same thing? Look the same way?

By that reasoning, The Almighty Romero's "zombies" (called the dead or undead) are not "true zombies" by the old old school term. There were no real references to flesh eating or brain eating or anything like that. They were basically slaves to do the bidding of someone who knew voodoo.

THANK GOODNESS (Badness?) people took the legend and lore and changed it! Romero and his dead coming back to life for no reason and their trying to eat people. Dan O'Bannon, Rudy Ricci, John A. Russo, and Russell Streinerfor coming up with the awesome "BRaaaains!" and undead antics in RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. Hell, TONS of new takes and new ways to show zombies done in film over the past three decades and more. Why not try zombies with weapons and add more to the mix? Make things even more dangerous and frucking scary!

Kudos to thinking out of the box and trying something new! I wish more people did. I anxiously await ZONE261!