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| I know, I know, I'm working on it... |
Howdy troops,
It has been a very slow summer, movie-wise, for the Doc. If it weren’t for blood brother Doug Lamoreux and my unerring dead-ication to the Kryptic Army, I might not have sat down in front of the magic window at all. Strange days, indeed. However, with my two horror mentors goading me on, I managed to knock out a few “classic” Japanese sci-fi features, as well as a couple undead flicks with a twist. Not to worry, we stepped it up a bit in the weeks that follow, so stay tuned...
Click on the
movie titles to be taken to the full reviews. As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.
Enjoy!
HORROR:Aaah! Zombies!! (aka Wasting Away) (2007) (1st viewing) d. Kohnen, Matthew (USA)
**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**Habit (1995) (4th viewing) d. Fessenden, Larry (USA)
**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**Menace from Outer Space (1956) (1st viewing) d. Morse, Hollingsworth (USA)
I leave this to
Movie Mis-Treatments, because it’s silly and they do it justice.
http://www.movie-mistreatments.com/Menace%20From%20Space.htmlKRYPTIC ARMY JUNE ASSIGNMENT: FLAG DAY (FOREIGN HORROR) Gamera: Super Monster (1980) (1st viewing) d. Yuasa, Noriaki (Japan)
**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**Gorath (1962) (1st viewing) d. Honda, Ishiro (Japan)
**CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW**Warning from Space (1956) (1st viewing) d. Shima, Koji (Japan)
And I'll let the good folks at
AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A SCIENTIST! tell you about this one because there's no point in trying to improve upon perfection...
http://www.aycyas.com/warningfromspace.htm2013 Totals to date: 151 films, 143 1st time views, 81 horror, 48 cinema
Aaah! Zombies!! (aka Wasting Away) (2007) d. Kohnen, Matthew (USA)
When a batch of super-secret-super-soldier-super-serum takes a tumble off a military truck, coming to rest next to a bowling alley’s tastee freeze mix, the delicious soft serve becomes a brain mush mainline for a young quartet of friends. A novel bit of apocalyptic stage setting, but director/co-writer Kohnen’s clever little zombie comedy earns big points for hitting upon an original take in an increasingly tiresome subgenre by taking us behind the eyes of the shamblers themselves.
Do zombies
know they’re zombies? Our infected heroes look at their surroundings – which are now moving very,
very fast – and see a world gone mad. Everyone they encounter either runs away in terror or tries to savagely kill them, not to mention the fact that human flesh and gray matter have now become irresistible. They discuss the puzzling situation calmly and rationally amongst themselves ... conversations that amount to so many moans and groans to the living inhabitants they encounter. Viewers are given both sides of the equation, as Kohnen flips back and forth between the “real” world shot in black and white with the infected viewpoint in vivid color. It’s an enjoyable conceit, one that carries the day through what turns out to be a fairly routine undead teen horror/comedy.
The foursome is played with great enthusiasm by studly meathead Matthew Davis (
The Vampire Diaries), his brainy lady friend Julianna Robinson, shy nice guy Michael Grant Terry and cute blonde Betsy Beutler. While all have their moments, Terry and Beutler’s unconventional courtship stumbles off with the movie thanks to the pair’s hilarious lack of vanity and equal degrees of likability on both sides of the undead fence. If you’ve ever wondered what a passionate zombie makeout session would look like, look no further.
I would have preferred the Kohnen screenwriters (Matt and Sean) had resisted the comic antics of a third act bowling competition between drunken league players and Davis and Terry’s decomposing duo – a plot device that makes no sense and only elicits a few cheap laughs – but overall this is a refreshing and sadly unsung independent effort with brains and heart in all the right places.
Look past the terminally lame distributor title (seriously, whoever came up with that one needs to be punched in the throat right now) and enjoy.
