Scary Movie 3 (2003) - Comedy Horror Film Review

I had to work at my day job this morning (being a Saturday as I write) and so I wanted something easy to watch for review as I was feeling a bit tired. After flicking through my dauntingly large Netflix queue I noticed that the horror parody movie Scary Movie 3 was due to be leaving the streaming platform at the end of March so figured I would give it a watch. As a teenager I saw both Scary Movie and Scary Movie 2 at the cinema. Then, like now, the sex and gross jokes didn't appeal to me, but I did like how they parodied popular horror films. It all started as a joke version of Scream, while I recall the second film was to do with a haunted house. Having now seen the third film, it feels a product of its time, many of the jokes aren't that great, but it weirdly did a decent job plot wise of combining two different films.

Cindy (Anna Faris reprising her role from the first two films) works as a journalist, and sick of the same old stories her station runs she takes interest in news of the appearance of a strange crop circle at the home of Tom (Charlie Sheen - Two and a Half Men TV show) and his wannabe rapper brother George (Simon Rex - Scary Movie 4). Elsewhere, there is a creepy VHS tape that local legend says kills whoever watches it seven days after they do so. After Cindy and her nephew Cody (Drew Mikuska - Scary Movie 4) end up watching the tape she finds herself in a race against time to break the curse, and discovers it has something to do with the possible arrival of aliens.

So from the synopsis it is clear the main two films parodied here are The Ring and Signs. I admit I did actually appreciate how these two films were merged. I also liked how the film replicates some of the cool effects from The Ring, such as a scene where a creepy girl crawls out of the TV, and a scene where a fly on the TV screen becomes real. Other films referenced were not horrors but there had been a precedent for this series not only taking inspiration from horror films. Most notably, you have a brief 8 Mile subplot at the film's start which doesn't really go anywhere, it did however introduce the characters of Mahalik (Anthony Anderson - Transformers) and CJ (Kevin Hart - Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle). There are also plenty of ill fitting The Matrix: Reloaded scenes, this makes sense as the film would have been out roughly around the same point.
On the subject of actors, I was surprised to see so many big names here, I had figured by this point the series was direct to video but apparently not. Other notable names included in the cast are Pamela Anderson (Barb Wire), Denise Richards (Starship Troopers), Queen Latifah, Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun series), George Carlin (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure), even Simon Cowell has a guest appearance.

Autumn: The City (2003) by David Moody - Zombie Horror Book Review

First off I must mention that I met David Moody a week ago, it was a pleasure to meet him, he was a friendly and interesting man. The Autumn series of zombie novels are as I have said many times before my favourite horror series. Autumn: The City is the second book in the series and a vast improvement on the first (though that too was a good book). Some mild spoilers ahead but if you have not yet read Autumn then you should probably read that first anyway!

A lot of The City takes place at the same time as Autumn. The first book followed some survivors heading out into the countryside to escape the undead menace. Here, as the title kind of implies much of the book takes place in a city. A large group of survivors are holed up in a University complex but their every move brings more and more of the undead to their location. Meanwhile a group of soldiers emerge from an underground bunker where they had escaped to prior to the disease that wiped out most the worlds population. The virus still lingers in the air so the soldiers must wear full body suits when outside. On a recon mission to the city one of their number; Cooper gets separated and by chance discovers he is one of the naturally immune. Meeting up with the survivors at the University they formulate a plan to make the journey to the bunker and to safety.

The most unique thing about the zombies of the Autumn world is their ever changing behaviour. Around the first half of the book takes place over the same time span as the first book, later more changes are displayed in the undead as they start to get angry and more violent. Everything is bigger this time around, there are more zombies, more survivors, more action and the plot while simple is exciting. The fast pace of the story led to me being unable to put the book down after the first forty pages.

I admit when it comes to book reviews I suck, in general I spend far too much time talking about plot rather than the craft of the thing. Moody is great at creating images in the mind with his descriptions, I swear reading the thrilling finale it was almost like I was watching a film, I could hear the characters talking, I could picture where they were and what they were doing. One thing I do always struggle with is remembering just who is who, mostly due to the large number of characters. Ones such as Cooper totally stick in my mind, but quite a few of the sub characters such as the old University guy, the angry bloke who wants to get drunk, and the doctor all just meld into one so I am eternally confused just who is talking.

The sheer number of the zombies is really something to picture, though the bodies are far more frail than other zombie fiction so they are no problem for any of the survivors to dispatch or even force their way through. One of the messages of the book though is that they are legion, it doesn't matter how many you kill there will always be more, and even just by killing them you attract more as in a dead, silent world any sound is a beacon shining out.

Autumn: The City just gets better as it goes along, I immediately went straight onto the third book in the series as soon as this one was finished, awesome stuff.

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