War of the Dead (2011) - Zombie Horror Film Review

I don't quite know why Nazis and zombies go so well together. I guess with that group being a universally agreed upon real life villain from history (agreed upon by sane people at least), and with their record of performing horrific experiments on prisoners it isn't a big leap to have them in a fictional setting creating the living dead. Writer and director, Marko Makilaakso's (It Came from the Desert) War of the Dead has all the required elements to create a fun zombie horror, yet there is something missing from this to cement it as a classic of the genre.

It is 1941 and the world is at war. Captain Martin Stone (Andrew Tiernan - 300, 300: Rise of an Empire) is in command of a platoon of American soldiers who have teamed up with a platoon of Finnish soldiers in order to locate and destroy a secret German bunker hidden deep in a Russian forest. After encountering and killing a group of Nazi soldiers they think their troubles are over for the time being. However, they are shocked to find their enemies didn't stay dead for long, returning as near unstoppable walking corpses. With the majority of their respective platoons decimated, the only two survivors, Captain Stone and Lieutenant Laakso (Mikko Leppilampi), along with a Russian soldier they stumble across (Samuel Vauramo), and a scared civilian woman decide to press on and try to finish their objective, pursued by the reanimated dead from both sides.

After a prologue showing a prisoner being experimented on the film opens with a black screen of text filling in some context. It then wastes no time in throwing the viewer straight into the action. Because of this there wasn't any time given to develop characters and I spent the entire first third of the movie not only struggling to make out characters from each other, but also finding it hard to determine which side was which due to the clothing everyone was wearing looking the same. Due to this I found my attention wondering away more than once and I admit because of this I missed the key aim of the soldiers in the story. This is a murky film that mostly takes place at night, and with grey and brown locations everything started to bleed into one. It was only really in the third act set in the German bunker itself that I finally began to be able to tell the different characters apart.

No Way Out (2020) - Horror Film Review

No Way Out is the directorial debut of Joe Hamilton (production designer on The Frankenstein Theory), the story for this film done by Chris Levine, who also plays one of the main leads. The film tries to tell its story in a way that the viewer mostly only really ever experiences what the characters are witnessing. While this makes what happens creepy, it also makes the lack of any real explanation a tiny bit frustrating.

Kyle (Christopher McGahan - Virus of the Dead, segment 'Life') and his girlfriend Norah (Jennifer Karraz) have gone away on a camping trip to Alaska with their friends, Blake (Levine) and his girlfriend, Jessica (Johanna Rae - Apocalypse Rising, The Amityville Harvest). Kyle wants to go as he secretly plans to propose to Norah, Blake on the other hand openly hates camping, but feels it will do his struggling relationship some good. As a child his family lived in remote Alaska, something terrible involving his father happened back then, so this is the first time he has returned since moving to the city. Their first night in the wilderness they encounter an angry man wearing a gas mask, then after the second night they awake to discover their tents have been attacked. This is just the very start of the friends troubles...

By having the focus on what characters were witnessing themselves a lot of the horror happens behind the scenes. This led to a bit of a disconnect with characters seeming to act a lot more freaked out than I felt. Mainly I was confused as I was never sure if the group where actually being stalked or if it was in their heads. It uses a similar idea to The Blair Witch Project in that the camera rarely picks up on the horror, instead the suspense occurs due to such things as characters who vanish into thin air overnight and them picking up on cues that I (possibly being dense) didn't notice. It also sometimes slips into first person perspectives of the apparent gas mask man still haunting the group. By No Way Out's conclusion I really was a bit lost, the general story beats were there but I was full of questions that hadn't been satisfactorily answered (again, this could be me being dense!). I have to admit that coming back to this review after a day away from the film I have now kinda pieced together my own explanation for what went on.

Serena Waits (2018) - Horror Film Review

Serena Waits is a revenge horror with a difference, mainly that the focus of the movie is on the perpetrators of a crime rather than the victim. It was directed by Hunter Johnson (Irrational Fear) and I was pleased to see a few actors I recognised and whose performances I had previously enjoyed. There were some elements here that I didn't think worked as well as others, but this was still an entertaining movie that felt suited to the '#metoo' era.

Frat boys, Miles (David Wesley Marlowe - For Jennifer) and Jack (Colton Wheeler - Ugly Sweater Party) are on their way home one dark summer night when they bump into a very drunk girl, Serena (Brialynn Massie). Taking advantage of her state they convince her to come back to their house. Once there things quickly get out of control and in the heat of the moment it seems Jack has killed the girl. They call for their friend, Scott (Charles Chudabala - Irrational Fear, Ugly Sweater Party) and without asking too many questions he agrees to help the duo dump the body. A few months pass and the three friends are trying their best to get on with their lives and put that event behind them. All of them are plagued by nightmares, which comes to a head one fateful night when justice comes looking for them...

First off, as fun as it was to see Gregory Blair (Garden Party Massacre) in a small role here in the movies prologue sequence I did think this part of the film wasn't needed. His dance instructor appearance is short lived when he gets killed in a traditional slasher style manner. What I didn't like about this part was how clearly it spelt out the direction the film was going to go in. Later suggestions in Serena Waits don't really pick up any traction due to this prologue existing, and it was by far the most film like part. Revenge horrors usually keep the focus on the victim, but with Serena here apparently dead (despite no reports of a body being found) a large portion of the movie centres on the three friends with not much horror happening at all. There was always the anticipation of that coming at some point and so I liked the anticipation.

Attack of the Unknown (2020) - Sci-fi Horror Film Review

Attack of the Unknown is a sci-fi action horror that gets around its budget by having a huge alien invasion occur, but then has the focus on a small group of characters as they try their best to survive. This was directed by Brandon Slagle (The Dawn, Area 51 Confidential) who also wrote the screenplay based on a story developed by Michael and Sonny Mahal (producers who also came up with the stories for Art of the Dead and Party Bus to Hell).

A SWAT team transporting a high ranking cartel member, Hades (Robert LaSardo - The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence), In Hell) to a detention centre in Los Angeles get their plans interrupted by a sudden UFO invasion. With the city swiftly invaded by near indestructible aliens the team, that includes among them, Vernon (Richard Grieco - Art of the Dead), and Hannah (Jolene Andersen - voice of Ada Wong in the Resident Evil 2 video game remake) take refuge, but soon find themselves up against the deadly blood drinking Earth invaders...

From the location alone I was reminded quite heavily of Battle: Los Angeles, but this film does things a little differently. I thought the idea of following this SWAT team who were just trying to survive, rather than soldiers directly battling the alien threat was a neat one. The story wasn't concerned with some Independence Day style war to repel the invaders, that was all occurring elsewhere. Instead this was an intimate look at just some of the people in the city that day. The opening act of Attack of the Unknown played out like a cop drama, with an assault on a criminals hideout. It was a wild turn then when the aliens show-up. The groups SWAT training meant they were better prepared than most. While I didn't catch the names of most of the team, Vernon and Hannah stuck in the mind, as did the comedy character who joins them in the form of a video game obsessed blogger. Despite not knowing most of the names I did enjoy the camaraderie of the SWAT team, and the enjoyment of wondering which of them would be next to fall prey to the villains and aliens they are up against. 

We Die Alone (2019) - Short Horror Film Review

Glass Cabin Film's We Die Alone is an award winning short horror film that was directed by Marc Cartwright (Savor, Sloven), he also came up with the story and co-wrote the screenplay along with Cassie Keet. This deals with the topic of finding love in the modern age, as well as how being socially awkward can impede this search for happiness.

Baker Chase Powell (Irrational Fear) stars as Aidan, a man in a desperate search for love. He is so preoccupied with this that he is oblivious to the attention of his thrift store co-worker, Elaine (Ashley Jones - True Blood). In fact his pursuit has almost become an obsession for him, so much so that he even has a creepy mannequin with which he practices his dinner dates technique on. A chance meeting with new neighbour, Chelsea (Samantha Boscarino - The Clique) makes Aidan believe she may be the one...

I have a low tolerance for awkward situations in films and TV, so much so that there are particular shows I have had to give up on due to not being able to get through uncomfortable scenes. While I did get through We Die Alone (not exactly hard as it was excellently made) there were two scenes in particular where I just had to pause the short and whisper admoninations at Aidan, before taking a deep breath and continuing. Despite the Norman Bates style vibes I was getting off his character there were some elements to him that were easy to identify with. I think a film has been successful when you find yourself wanting to take a particular person to one side and just set their wonky perspective on life straight! While Aidan is certainly the main lead I enjoyed how all the other characters are given enough development to show they are more or less just as flawed as he is. Elaine giving advice that she herself doesn't follow, Chelsea forever on the move, not wanting commitment. The actors were all perfectly cast, which really helped with selling the story. The plot was not as predictable as it first appeared it would be, which was a nice surprise.

We Die Alone was filmed in an attractive fashion. The editing helps create tense moments, and there was some great cinematography going on. There isn't much wrong with this short, the 23 minute run time flew by. We Die Alone is being released on 21st August on Amazon Prime and on Gunpowder & Sky's Alter this Halloween.

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Killer Raccoons 2: Dark Christmas in the Dark (2020) - Comedy Action Film Review

You might wonder what a comedy action film is doing getting reviewed on this blog when it doesn't really have much to do with horror. Well, it is the sequel to Travis Irvine's 2005 comedy horror film Coons! Night of the Bandits of the Night. The humour is very low brow, the effects terrible, and the acting questionable, yet there is some charm with this, and it actually works very well as a sequel.

It is ten years since the events of the first film in which a weekend of partying at a camping ground turned into terror for a group of college kids when they were attacked by a pack of rabid raccoons. Since that time, one of the only survivors, Ty Smallwood (Yang Miller - Arcadia) has been locked up in prison for underage drinking. Upon his release he agrees to meet up with the sister of his deceased girlfriend, to tell her exactly how her sister died during the raccoon incident. They meet up and get on a train out of town, but it just so happens to be the target of a group of terrorists. The terrorists are made up of highly trained raccoons and led by Ranger Danger (Mitch Rose) and a group of other men who were all believed to have been killed during the climactic battle in the first movie. They want revenge not only for the government cover up which led to them having to fend for themselves, but also because the local Mayor at the time teamed up with the government in order to turn the campsite into a training ground for the vicious raccoons discovered there. Ranger Danger has hijacked the secret weapons satellite known as PEN15 and intends to use it to destroy Colorado where the former Mayor is now stationed...

I had never heard of the first film in the series, and due to the title being completely different it took a while to find details of it. Killer Raccoons 2 works very well as a sequel, it features many returning characters (even if only a few of them are actually played by the original actors) and plays off of the things that occurred there. I particularly liked the idea of people presumed dead back as bad guys, angry at being forgotten. All of the non-raccoon bad guys are covered in scars, and each one has an eye patch giving them a unified look. While much of the comedy wasn't to my liking I did enjoy each time one of these men were killed that as they die they gurgle "I'm dead, for real!". This is a film where you would get so much more from this if you had seen the first one. As for me, I read a few different reviews of that to piece together the story, and paused this one on quite a few occasions to check IMDB to see if not only characters had returned or not, but also to check the actor names to see if they were reprising their roles or not.

Fido (2006) - Zombie Comedy Horror Film Review

Fido was a zombie film that I had heard mentioned plenty of times over the years, yet it wasn't something I ever really felt an urge to watch. Mainly I think due to not really being too keen on Billy Connolly (who plays the titular role). I was so out of the loop on this one that I thought it was first released in the early 1990's and so was quite surprised to find out this was released in 2006, two years after Shaun of the Dead. Fido was directed and co-written by Andrew Currie who had some slight previous experience of zombie movies with his 1997 short, Night of the Living.

The film takes place during an alternate 1950's America in which some years previously there had been a zombie apocalypse. A solution to this problem was found with the creation of large impenetrable walls around the towns and cities, as well as the invention of a special collar which in effect domesticates the undead and allows them to perform menial jobs. The film starts when Bill Robinson (Dylan Baker - Trick 'r Treat) and his wife, Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss - The Matrix trilogy) get their first zombie helper (Connolly), a ghoul who their young son, Timmy (Kesun Loder) takes an instant liking to. Due to a malfunctioning collar Fido ends up killing a neighbour, this begins a chain of events that leads to a local zombie outbreak, and Timmy's desperate attempts to hide Fido's slip up.

This is basically the idea presented at the end of Shaun of the Dead (zombies domesticated) and fleshed out into a feature length movie. While I'm not keen on Connolly I was also put off by watching this for so long due to all the quotes stating how funny it was. I had a feeling the comedy wouldn't be the kind I like and I was pretty much correct. A lot of the humour revolves around how stereotypically 1950's small town America this is, juxtaposed with rotting corpses walking around everywhere. In a way it shares a feeling with the Fallout games. Families are made up of stern fathers, mothers who cook and clean, and children who play baseball, all set in the roles you would expect for the time period. The zombies add in a curve ball, and it was amusing how little concern for death and destruction people have. The middle act of the film has Timmy trying his best to cover up Fido's kills, yet him, and those around him don't treat any of this as much more than business as usual. There is a macabre underbelly to Fido, a darkness that lurks around the corners but never stains the genial facade of the movie world. Things are mentioned in passing that show how twisted this all is, such as the fact that there are no prisons anymore, instead people who commit crimes are thrown out of the walled towns and cities to fend for themselves in the 'wild lands'.

Sinful (2020) - Horror Film Review

The Coronavirus pandemic has ruined pretty much everyone's year, yet it is good to see how creative types have gotten around the various restrictions in place. UK short anthology, The Isolation Horrors had various filmmakers creating their own little movies. With director/writer, Rich Mallery's Sinful you have a film where the protagonists are not able to leave the house they find themselves in. Whether this idea had already been in development prior to this year I don't know, but it is one which lends itself well to self isolation, and one which was shot during California's stay-at-home Order.

Salem (Nicole D'Angelo - Heartbeat) and her girlfriend, Remy (Christina Lo - Choke) are hiding out in an uninhabited house after having committed some type of crime. Tyler; an acquaintance of Salem, had told them to wait there while he sorted them out some fake I.Ds, but it has been two days and they are starting to get nervous. As the days drag on both start to get increasingly paranoid and anxious, Remy begins to start seeing a masked figure (Chris Spinelli - Choke, Heartbeat) appearing around the house, while both experience vivid nightmares. Could all their problems be down to the stress of the situation and the amount of alcohol and drugs they are taking, or is something far more sinister going on?

I loved the concept of two characters sat around waiting for someone to turn up, kind of like a horror version of Waiting for Godot. With no way to contact the outside world it sets up a good reason for why, despite all that is going on, neither of them ever attempts to leave. With the duo presumably wanted for whatever crime they took part in the paranoia and mistrust feels natural, and so as the horror ramps up over the 75 minute run time it seemed to be heading to a particular conclusion. I expected with just the two characters that Sinful might start to get a little dull, yet this was tense and thrilling in equal measure, admittedly by the hour mark things were getting a tiny bit stale. There is always new information thrown into the mix that really helps keep your attention. Things, such as a previously locked room revealing some curve balls, plenty of sequences that then turn out to be nightmares, and quite a few scenes or instances that only make sense after some context appears later in the films run time.

The Dead Undead (2010) - Zombie Horror Film Review

I have my first time off my day job since February and it came to me on Friday evening that I should use my holiday time to get through some of my zombie films and books I have yet to experience. This blog, as the title may suggest, was created to celebrate everything undead. Over time this has spread to include all horror, so it is always nice to dip my toes back into the sub-genre that I so love. With zombie films you hope for one of two things, either that the film is great, or that the film is terrible, anything else usually results complete boredom, but which would The Dead Undead fall into? 

A bunch of annoying stereotypical teens pull up at a remote lakeside motel for a weekend of partying, however they soon find themselves assaulted by scores of strange creatures. Luckily for them a team of heavily armed people show up. This group, led by Jack (Luke Goss - Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Blade II), and including among them, Viper ( Matthew R. Anderson, who also co-directed), Doc (Edward Conna, the other co-director, as well as writer of this) and Gabrielle (Spice Williams-Crosby - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) do their best to save the teens, and while they are only partly successful the survivors are thankful enough. Their saviours quickly explain that these creatures are actually vampires who got infected by drinking the blood of mad cow disease afflicted cattle. Due to this the creatures cannot survive in sunlight, and Jack just happens to know the location of their daytime hiding spot.

The co-directors of The Dead Undead are both stuntmen. This was the directorial debut of both men and this can kind of be seen with the quality. The film is not a good movie, but it never tries to come across as one. Instead the directors seemed very aware of their limitations and set out to make something that was undeniably fun entertainment. The whole set-up of mad cow disease infected vampires is ridiculous and is an idea that can't be taken seriously. I loved that there was a switch and bait early on with the main leads, all but one of what appears to be the main cast (the irritating teens) are gone before the movie's first act is even over. This is a good as they made the first ten minutes or so the worst part of the film. The armed group are a lot better. It's a slight spoiler to say that it is revealed very early on that they are secretly vampires, but these are the nicest vampires I think I have ever seen. Because they are vampires we are treated to some wonderfully cheesy flashback moments to show how each member of the group first got turned. This includes a trip back to Viking times, the Vietnam War and the Wild West. The inclusion of these zombie-less flashback sequences really added to the stupidity of the movie and were a most welcome inclusion. The Viking scene the best as not only did the costumes there look terrible, but characters still spoke with American accents!

Irrational Fear (2017) - Horror Film Review

When I first read the synopsis for the Hunter Johnson (Virus of the Dead) directed and co-written horror film, Irrational Fear it gave me a nostalgic feeling that I could not place at the time. It was only while watching it that that feeling clicked. From the title all the way down to the content this felt to me like a Point Horror book come to life (a collection of horror books geared towards teens). That may sound like a slight, yet there was something nicely uncomplicated about the story told here.

Doctor Sanders (Charles Chudabala - Ugly Sweater Party) is a psychologist who has arranged a weekend outing for six people who all suffer from irrational fears. These include Taylor (Leah Wiseman - Dismembering Christmas) who suffers from a fear of being touched, Kelly (Jennifer Nangle - Ugly Sweater Party also) with a fear of drowning, Jake who has a fear of germs, his father who has a fear of dentists, a woman who is afraid of looking ugly, a guy afraid of choking (Hunter Johnson), and Sanders' assistant, and former best friend of Taylor, Zach (Baker Chase Powell - Little Dead Rotting Hood) who used to have a fear of ghosts. The weekend session takes place at a remote cabin by a lake, initially it appears things are going to go well. It is not long however before people start to go missing. It seems that someone, or something is forcing the phobics to confront their fears, with a high penalty for failure...

First up with the acting. There are some people here who are much better actors than others, thankfully most of these are relegated to bit parts. With the style of this film though great acting isn't specifically required. Characters are not really designed to be layered, fully dimensional beings, instead they play into their roles well, their phobias making up a lot of their outward personality. I would say the only real exception is Kelly who does transform over the course of the picture. To begin with she just seemed downright nasty, yet as the film goes on she becomes a lot more likeable. The best character was Doctor Sanders, and this is down to Chudabala's extremely spirited performance as a somewhat manic person. Get past the fact that he is meant to be an established Dr, yet looks like the youngest person in the film and you have someone who comes across as desperately earnest, suspiciously so in fact. He reminded me a bit of Hugo Strange from Gotham, I love what they did with this memorable character, and the pure energy that Chudabala brought to the role.

Unidentified (2020) - UFO Documentary Review

Every know and again I get sent a documentary for review and it is always a nice change. Unidentified's goal is to inform about 'What the Government REALLY knows about UFOs'. I imagined this would be the American government but it does actually branch out to also include the UK in one chapter. This covers a lot of ground in its hour run time, some of which is the obvious, such as Roswell, but it also goes to some places I hadn't heard about before.

The documentary is split up into around 8 chapters, each covering a different aspect. In addition to Roswell we get Project Blue Book, we even have a chapter dedicated to the apparent sightings of UFO on the moon during the original moon landings. There are a lot of reconstructions used, static images of obviously fake UFO images, and people getting interviewed. There are also genuine recordings made by army personnel and astronauts, as well as images of official documents, and photos of the various people being talked about.

Usually you would expect a whole bunch of 'talking heads', people who are experts in the field. Here we get just the one guy, Gary Heseltine (I believe) who is very much of the belief that not only are UFOs real, but that this has purposely been covered up in various ways over the years by governments. He was a likeable guy, seemed like he was going to burst into a smile at any moment. Still, it would have been nice to get some variation and have a couple of other people talking. Unidentified doesn't sit on the fence, it is clearly designed to bring the viewer to the conclusion that there has been huge cover-ups since the 1940's all the way up to present day. It didn't convince me though, as much as I want to believe I just feel if they were real there would have been undeniable proof in this day and age where everything is recorded.

As an introduction to UFO government cover-ups this worked well. It doesn't go too much into depth with any of the subjects covered due to the span of time investigated. Still, it was interesting enough and something easy to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Unidentified is due for release thanks to High Fliers Films.

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The Last Request (2019) - Horror Film Review

The Last Request is a low budget indie horror that was written by and stars Dallas Ryan and Ryan Vania, with Dallas also directing. This was an odd film that became quite experimental at times. While it is a bit rough around the edges the general idea behind it was decent enough.

John (Ryan) and his brother, Michael (Vania) wake up in a strange house with no recollection of how they got there. John soon discovers a letter which informs the siblings  that Michael's daughter has been kidnapped, and that unless they play a series of cruel games she will be killed. They are also told that any attempt to leave the house will also result in the girl's death. Bizarrely, they have also been given a small dog which they are instructed they must take care of.

This is a low-fi movie in which everything is suggested and barely anything is actually shown. The brothers are on board to do what the letter instructs without any real evidence to support the claims. It starts off innocently enough with them told a watch they find has been fitted with a bomb. As the day goes on the two get told to do more and more sadistic things to each other. All of this occurs off camera, when trauma does happen this too is all just suggested with no blood or anything. This is working to the limitations of the budget but it also created a feeling of low stakes. The fact that their kidnapper chose to speak to them via printed letters hidden around the house fits this weird low stakes situation.

Animal Uprising! (2020) - Horror Anthology Book Review

Any frequent visitor to The Rotting Zombie will know I absolutely love anthologies due to the variation they always bring with them. Any anthology worth its salt will have a theme, and by the title, Animal Uprising! it shouldn't be too much of a surprise to discover the theme here is, of course animals...and insects as it turns out. Included in this anthology are 14 different short stories, each of which written by a different author. Some of the stories included here might not be as good as others, or not particularly to my liking, but all of them are well written with even my least favourites fitted in well.
Rather than go through the stories in order I have instead tried to group them together as best I can into four different categories. These are magical and mythical stories, stories about made-up animals, stories about insects, and stories concerning real life animals. 

Magical and mythical stories make up nearly half of the 14 here and are a varied bunch. Michelle Mellon's The Goat is the books first story. It wasn't bad, but having a goat possibly be a devil in disguise is something I have seen done to death in plenty of other media and so it felt maybe a bit too familiar.
Old Shuck by Patrick Winters is another one that uses a familiar idea, this time in the form of a dog that portends doom. I did like the industrial revolution setting used here though.
How Does Your Garden Grow by M.R Deluca is one of only a couple that injects some humour into things. This one is about a nosy journalist whose curiosity into the secret behind a woman's award winning garden leads to great misfortune for him.
Jacob Floyd's Taxidermy Nightmare does exactly what the title suggests. Like so many stories in Animal Uprising! this is a cautionary tale, made all the better by a hunting enthusiast's twisted taxidermy creations coming to life to get their revenge!

Now everyone dislikes the deceitful and sinister animal that is the fox and Judith Baron's The Fox is a good example for why that is the case. I really loved this one, both with the unique setting; a car in Hong Kong one dark and rainy night, and how it blends myths and legends into real life. Sure it was obvious where this was going but it was a great read.

The final magic based story is the collections one true comedic story, J.T Haven's The Lion, The Witch, and The Walrus. This was sandwiched in between two much darker stories and so it was a breath of much needed fresh air.