#397: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Director: George A. Romero
Cast: Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea & Karl Hardman



While Barbra and Johnny are visiting their father’s grave, Barbra starts to get the willies. Johnny jokes that a man across the cemetery is coming to get Barbra, without realizing… he is, as are thousands of other people who seem to be acting as if in a trance. Barbra escapes, though Johnny isn’t so lucky. She finds safety in a house found a bit off the beaten path, as did a few other survivors. Despite their best efforts, there is no way of knowing how long their barricades will hold…

Who would have thought that such a low-budget film could be so terrifying? I somehow never got around to seeing this classic until today, and even 40 years after it was released, it’s still pretty damn creepy. Ebert actually criticized parents who allowed their kids to see this film, after he witnessed a young girl crying in her seat. The ending is also absolutely awful, leading social commentators to go nuts – though this take on the script was apparently unintended.

Despite being filmed in black and white far after color made its way into the mainstream, the special effects got me a bit squeamish. It probably would have been even worse if I knew that the ‘things’ (which are never called ‘zombies’ in the film) were actually eating ham with chocolate sauce.

This film was ahead of its time. Compare it to Hitchcock, who was the master of horror at this point in time. It’s as if Romero said, screw this psychological crap, let’s just freak the crap out of people! What a classic. Two detached thumbs up!

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

The zombie hand that Tom (Keith Wayne) hacks up with a kitchen knife was made of clay and filled with chocolate syrup.
When the zombies are eating the bodies in the burnt-out truck they were actually eating roast ham covered in chocolate sauce. The filmmakers joked that it was so nausea inducing that it was almost a waste of time putting the makeup on the zombies, as they ended up looking pale and sick anyway.
S. William Hinzman and Karl Hardman, two of the original $300 investors had small roles due to a shortage of available talent. Another investor was a butcher, who provided some blood and guts.
One of the Walter Reade Organization's publicity stunts was a $50,000 insurance policy against anyone dying from a heart attack while watching the film.
Some of the groans made by S. William Hinzman when he's wrestling with Russell Streiner in the cemetery are authentic. During the struggle, Streiner accidentally kneed Hinzman in the groin.
The Evans City Cemetery was the cemetery used in the original version of the film, but it could not be used for the 30th anniversary edition. Before filming the new footage, a tornado had torn through the Evans City Cemetery, and ironically, it unearthed several graves.
SPOILER: The social commentary on racism some have seen in this film was never intended (an African-American man holing up in a house with a white woman, a posse of whites shooting a black man in the head without first checking to see if he was a zombie). According to the filmmakers, Duane Jones was simply the best actor for the part of Ben.

#415: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Director: George A. Romero

Cast: David Emge, Ken Foree, Gaylen Ross & Scott H Reiniger

Soon after the events depicted in Night of the Living Dead, pandemonium has spread across the country. At a television station in Philadelphia, reporters have few facts to report on the cause of the reanimation of the dead. The traffic helicopter pilot, Stephen, decides to hijack his chopper and flee the city with his girlfriend, Francine. They soon encounter two SWAT team members, Roger and Peter, who are clearing out tenement buildings of the undead whose former families kept their bodies in the basement. The four find refuge in a barricaded shopping mall, awaiting for the day when it is safe to go leave the building.

This movie's got nothing on the original Night of the Living Dead. Romero toys with his work, making everything seem a-okay until somebody's head is blown off. It's never quite clear how comedic he intended the film to be, and it doesn't seem all that serious at all. Comparing this to Night of the Living Dead, where there is absolutely no hope left for the survivors, this film was a let down to me.

Only mediocre acting, horrible choices of music (which never help depict what should be dread), not such a great script... the only good thing was the depiction of disembowelment. I promise, my review (which I wrote last night) for Night of the Living Dead will be more positive.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Tom Savini chose a friend to play the helicopter zombie because he was notorious for having a low forehead.
• Tom Savini used the same dummy throughout the course of filming. During that time it was blown up, burnt, shot, and beaten, among other things.
• While writing the script for Night of the Living Dead (1968), George A. Romero and John A. Russo contemplated how they should have the zombies destroyed. Co-star and makeup artist Marilyn Eastman joked that they could throw pies into their faces. This is undoubtedly the basis for the pie fight scene in this film.
• Director George A. Romero has said several times that David Emge's zombie walk is his favorite out of all the Dead movies. He has even gone on to go on to say that the performance is worthy of Lon Chaney.
• SPOILER: Real cow intestines were used in the scene where Sledge (Taso N. Stavrakis) gets his guts ripped out. Tom Savini said that he lived near a slaughterhouse and that's how he got the idea to do the effect.

#416: Bad Taste (1987)

Director: Peter Jackson

Cast: Terry Potter, Pete O'Herne, Craig Smith, Mike Minett & Peter Jackson

Have you ever wondered why there's never been a movie about aliens invading a small town in New Zealand, killing the inhabitants to sell at intergalactic fast food restaurants? You have no need to wonder anymore, because it's already been made. Five men are all that's left of the small town of Kaihoro to fend off the extraterrestrial invaders, and one of them is slowly losing his mind. Or, rather, his brain.

This movie comes off in every way as a homemade movie. And that's because it is. It's really easy to bash this film - the acting sucks, the camerawork is extremely shoddy, and there's nothing to brag about with its effects. But looking at it from the perspective that it really was made by Peter Jackson piece by piece, with a cheap camera and props handmade, it's pretty impressive.

However, you really need to have a certain (ahem... bad?) taste to enjoy this. Blood squirting everywhere at every possible moment, brains getting squished, aliens being sliced in half... you get the idea.

Blegh.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Director Peter Jackson shot the film on weekends over a four-year period with friends playing the lead roles. Jackson funded most of the film himself until towards the end of the shoot when the New Zealand Film Commission gave him money to finish his project after being impressed with what he'd already produced. There was never a script for the movie; each scene was filmed from ideas the director had come up with during the week.
• Peter Jackson made all masks in his mother's kitchen. The heads of the aliens are bent backwards because otherwise they wouldn't fit in the oven where the latex was hardened.
• The "firearms" in the film are all non-functional replicas made by Peter Jackson. For example, what appears to be a WWII Sterling submachine gun is actually a length of aluminum pipe, a handle made from Fimo, and a piece of wood to stand in for the ammunition magazine. The actors shook the props to simulate recoil, and the muzzle flashes were added in post-production.
• The name of the town 'Kaihoro' under attack is a Maori word that can be translated as either "Food Town" or "Fast Food" - Kai meaning Food, and Horo meaning Village and also Quickly, depending on the context.

#456: 28 Days Later (2002)

Director: Danny Boyle

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson & Megan Burns

Jim wakes up in a London hospital after a crash, and finds that nobody is attending him. In fact, nobody is in the building, or on the streets. He walks through Central London to find that the city had been evacuated. He soon finds out why: an infectious disease has spread, rendering its victims into a zombie-like state. Jim is saved from his first attack by Mark and Selena, who inform him that it's been 28 days since the disease began to spread, and they don't know of any other uninfected people besides themselves.

My synopsis doesn't really do it justice, because I can't give away the climax of the film. It takes a very different twist from most zombie films, turning man against man. It was certainly a creative and interesting move in the script, and I'd recommend it to any zombie fans out there.

However, I'm not one. I was never a fan of horror movies, really, so I'm a bit biased. The acting just never seems that good in horror flicks, and usually the only reactions I elicit from them are:

1) Boredom

2) Laughter

3) Queasiness (not a good thing, IMO)

This movie didn't give me any of those reactions. I didn't really react at all, actually, besides a hint of respect for the film because of the aforementioned twist.

Eh. One thumb up just because I know that people who like these movies are sure to like this one.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• For the scenes in London, poilce would close the roads at 4am and filming would begin immediately. It would last for one hour, and at that time the police would reopen the roads. As well as having to deal with traffic, the producers also had to ask clubbers to find alternative routes home. In terms of the traffic, the producers correctly predicted that asking drivers to either wait for up to an hour or find another way might cause some considerable consternation. As such, they employed several extremely attractive young women (one of whom was Danny Boyle's daughter) to make the necessary requests. This plan had the desired results, as the drivers responded quite amicably to the young girls.
• The tower block where Hannah and her father lived was condemned and has now been demolished.
• Horror novelist Stephen King bought out an entire showing of the film in New York City.
• The crew filed all of the necessary papers to destroy the petrol station in Canary Wharf, but the police were unintentionally not notified. When the explosives were detonated, police responded as if a petrol station had really exploded and sent fire brigades (although there was already one present). Danny Boyle finally resolved the matter after several hours.
• The angelic song that plays in the background, particularly during the car trip, is called "In Paradisum" by Gabriel Fauré.
• The scene where Jim and Selena celebrate with Frank and Hannah was shot on September 11. Danny Boyle has said it felt extremely strange to be shooting a celebratory scene on that particular day.

#461: Halloween (1978)

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes & Donald Pleasence

Fifteen years after 6-year-old Michael Myers murdered his sister with a kitchen knife, he escapes from the mental institution and returns to his Illinois hometown. He begins to stalk Laurie, who stepped onto his abandoned house's porch, as well as her two friends Annie and Lynda, all of whom are baby-sitting that Halloween night.

This film was the inspiration for a slew of horror films, as well as quite a few parodies. The cliches created by this film are first-person camerawork, the apparently invincible murderer and the female heroine who usually is the virgin, substance-free member of her group of friends. Films which follow these rules are Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream (which also outwardly explains what these rules are).

Aside from its influence on the genre, I personally didn't like the movie. Maybe it's too outdated. But when a guy gets stabbed in the head twice, shot about four times and falls out of a second story window, he should be dead. It's just stupid when he's not.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Due to its shoestring budget, the prop department had to use the cheapest mask that they could find in the costume store: a Captain Kirk (William Shatner) mask. They later spray-painted the face white, teased out the hair, and reshaped the eye holes.
• Tommy Doyle's name was from Rear Window (1954) and Sam Loomis' name is from Psycho (1960).
• Inside Laurie's bedroom there is a poster of a painting by James Ensor (1860-1949). Ensor was a Belgian expressionist painter who used to portray human figures wearing grotesque masks.

#476: Santa Sangre (1989)

Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Cast: Axel Jodorowsky, Adan Jodorowsky & Blanca Guerra

(Spoiler alert)

Well, there’s certainly no way to describe this film better than the DVD’s back cover. Ahem:

“A bizarre love triangle turns deadly when a circus strongman, Orgo, is caught fooling around with a tattooed lady by his wife, Concha, an aerial performer. Incensed, Concha throws acid on him. Orgo retaliates by sawing off her arms, then killing himself. All of this is witnessed by their son, Fenix (Adan Jodorowsky, the director's son), who goes insane and is sent to an institution. Years later, Fenix (also played by Adan's older brother Axel) is rescued by his armless mother. Angry against the world for her unfortunate circumstances, Concha plans a murderous revenge spree, and maybe play a little piano. And she needs Fenix to be her arms for both tasks. Violence spawns more violence in this terrifying, psychedelic, horrific, and ultimately unforgettable film by Alejandro Jodorowsky.”

I swear it’s not as weird as it seems. Through this disturbing story, Jodorowsky creates a visually stunning film chock full of Oedipal and Freudian symbolism, as well as some hidden criticism of the Christian faith. His style is a mix of Buñuel, the Brothers Quay and a little bit of old-school Tim Burton. The soundtrack is one of the most fun that I’ve heard in a very long time, featuring exclusively Mexican classics such as Dámaso Pérez Prado’s Mambo No. 8.

The best way I could sum up this film is it’s a mix of Big Top PeeWee, Psycho and a pretty intense LSD trip. Despite the impossibility of summarizing the film without mentioning its grotesqueness, it really is a film that’ll keep you thinking.

I give it 1.5 thumbs up. The reason I don’t give it two thumbs up is that it’s simply not a movie I would ever want to watch more than once or twice. The reason I still want to give it more than one thumb up is its ability to be a conversation topic that can last for a long, long time.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Alejandro Jodorowsky's sons Adan Jodorowsky & Axel Jodorowsky both play the part of Fenix at different ages.
• The project was launched when Alejandro Jodorowsky was commissioned to write and direct a film based on real-life Mexican criminal named Gregorio Cárdenas.
• As a tribute to Mexican horror films, Santa sangre (1989) includes a scene with masked wrestlers and a "superwoman" named La Santa.

#499: Saw (2004)

Director: James Wan

Cast: Leigh Wannell, Cary Elwes & Michael Emerson

It's never a good idea to trust a writer to be a good actor. This film is a great case to prove that point. That's right! Leigh Wannell, one of the lead actors in Saw, was also the writer. At least he has an excuse for why he failed so miserably at making his character realistic in the slightest bit. To his credit, he and Wan did come up with a nice little twist at the end.

I was also very disappointed with Cary Elwes. Man, has he gone downhill in his career. From The Princess Bride to Robin Hood: Men in Tights to Liar Liar to this? Tsk, tsk.

Aside from the poor acting, I felt as if the film was made by an amateur. The style made me feel like I was watching a teenager playing Resident Evil while listening to some heavy metal. I'm sure this would be a great movie for a teenager on Halloween. But Empire's Top 500? Poor taste.

I was surprised at how easily I made it through this film. I started it with much trepidation, but I wasn't actually very disgusted by much of it. Of course, there's some gore - but it's nothing like I anticipated. I think I mixed the title up with Hostel.

Anyway, to sum it up, I think the only good thing to come out of this film was to give a huge boost to Michael Emerson's career. Lost wouldn't be the same without him!

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Filmed in 18 days.
• Originally intended for a straight-to-video release. After positive screenings, it was given the nod to become a premier movie.
• Contains many references to the films of Italian horror/giallo director Dario Argento. The creepy painted puppet is a reference to Argento'sProfondo rosso (1975), while the unseen killer's black gloves are one of Argento's trademarks and can be seen in almost all of his films.
• After Amanda stabs her cell-mate she is searching with her hands through his guts, the guts are actually pig uterus.

Two thumbs down from Richie.