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Comments
10. Dead Alive
I have seen and reviewed this movie many times and consider it to be a horror comedy classic, so today I'm having my 15-year-old daughter Jillian review it after seeing it for the first time.
A small zombie outbreak that's miraculously contained in one house is started after an evil monkey bite the protagonist's over protective mother on the arm.
The movie is chock full of funny tropes that provide a somewhat satirical tone to the movie. The cartoonish violence also increases the comedic value of the film. It's also delightfully grotesque, and even with the silly nature of the movie, it still succeeds in shocking and horrifying the viewer, and I would even say that the jokes even enhance the horror, which is always nice to see. The only thing that really bothered me was how the protagonist's girlfriend's grandmother was continuously shown predicting that bad things would happen to him, but she never did anything other than give the guy a magical amulet. I feel that a bit more could've been done there, but that's just nitpicking. There's also some logical inconsistencies concerning the behavior of the zombies, but it would be ridiculous to expect a movie like this to be perfectly logical. Overall, it's a silly and violent movie that's an absolute blast to watch, but it won't really change your life unless it ruins your appetite for pudding.
I'd give it four out of five stars.
4 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2020 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Viy (1967) 4/5 (FTV)
2. Night Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
3. Tigers Are Not Afraid 5/5 (FTV)
4. I Trapped the Devil 4/5 (FTV)
5. Vivarium 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Kiss of the Vampire 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Invisible Man (2020) 4/5 (FTV)
8. Horrors of Malformed Men 3/5 (FTV)
9. Come to Daddy 3/5 (FTV)
10. Dead Alive 4/5
Again, radiation and a crazy scientist create big spider. We have to have a love interest. And this is extremely misogynist. The real horror here was these men and their attitudes towards women! I'm terrified!
Lots of familiar faces. Mr. Drysdale from The Beverly Hillbillies, John Agar (who was married to Shirley Temple at one time), Clint Eastwood --
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
Beautiful write up, kiddo! 💜
I don't think I've seen this before, but I enjoyed it. It was different, had humor, interesting in a creative fun way.
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
11. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (FTV)
Acting troupe, led by a manipulative and cruel director, raise the dead on an island graveyard for kicks, then realize they're in way over their heads.
Low budget with stilted and windy dialog, saddled with a pompous and unlikeable lead character, SCPWDT is problematic, but it has its odd charms. Released to grindhouses and drive-in theaters in 1972 as a knock-off of "Night of the Living Dead", the film was an early directorial effort by Bob Clark, who went on to direct "Porky's", "A Christmas Story", and "Black Christmas". The obnoxious lead is played with hammy glee by Alan Ormsby, who also did the special effects and makeup, and went on to invent the "Hugo, Man of 1000 Faces" toy. You'll either love him or hate him, maybe both at the same time--after all, he's the real bad guy in this movie.
The movie has a weird jokey tone, and while some of the jokes land, it seems that this humor would have been dated and odd even in 1972, as if someone had read a "How To Be Funny" book before writing the script, relying on odd wordplay and wiggling eyebrows rather than organic chuckles that are true to the characters. The middle third sags heavily, as they spend a lot of time talking and take their time getting to the zombies, which I suspect was purely budgetary (this whole film was reportedly made for around $50k). Most viewers in the grindhouses and drive-ins probably tuned out at this point for other, ahem, pursuits. But the film really comes back to life when the zombies start rising out of their graves, and the mayhem begins. Watch the first 30 minutes, then skip ahead to the last 30, and you have yourself a nice little zombie flick.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2020 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Viy (1967) 4/5 (FTV)
2. Night Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
3. Tigers Are Not Afraid 5/5 (FTV)
4. I Trapped the Devil 4/5 (FTV)
5. Vivarium 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Kiss of the Vampire 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Invisible Man (2020) 4/5 (FTV)
8. Horrors of Malformed Men 3/5 (FTV)
9. Come to Daddy 3/5 (FTV)
10. Dead Alive 4/5
11. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things 3/5
So far,
01. Dracula's Daughter
02. Son Of Dracula
03. House Of Frankenstein
04. Rogue
05. Crawl
06. Count Dracula
Mrs. Amworth,
Is there a vampire stalking a quiet English country village....
So far,
01. Dracula's Daughter
02. Son Of Dracula
03. House Of Frankenstein
04. Rogue
05. Crawl
06. Count Dracula
07. Mrs Amworth
This one scared the bejesus out of me when I was just a kid. Couldn't get over that huge spider...lol.
I really enjoyed this. I watched the T.V. show Fantasy Island, so seeing how they twisted this up was great. It had comedic moments of silliness and humor but also some real intrigue and mystery. What exactly is going on here?
There are little gems thrown in that made me laugh, "the (da) plane! the (da) plane!" And there is a Tattoo.
Worth a couple hours. Not sure what kind of reception this has gotten but I think they did a creative job with some old material.
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
12. Swallow (FTV)
The lonely wife of an up-and-coming business executive finds that swallowing inedible household objects is the only thing that makes her feel alive.
Yet another film inaccurately tagged as "horror", Swallow is really a gripping psychological mystery with occasional gross-out elements. Some have compared it to David Cronenberg's "body horror" but I don't see the comparison--this is more Hitchcock than Cronenberg, although it's not really a white-knuckle thriller. That said, this actually isn't a bad movie at all, once you get past the misleading marketing. Every October I try to watch at least one "gross-out" movie and this film delivers on that front; it is definitely not for the squeamish, particularly if you are uncomfortable watching someone swallow sharp objects. But in Swallow it's not done for sensationalism--the camera simply matter-of-factly records the most horrific aspects, which is a far more effective approach.
Lead actress Haley Bennett, who I have previously reviewed positively in the criminally under-watched Joe Dante film, "The Hole", puts in an excellent performance in what had to have been a demanding role. She conveys a strong sense of inner emotional turmoil without resorting to more stereotypical hysterics, but despite her seeming passivity is very forceful when she needs to be. With her narrow eyes and short hair, she looks a bit like a young Shirley MaLaine, but plays things straight. Also look for the unusual casting of David Rasche (television's "Sledge Hammer!") and an underutilized Laith Nakli (Uncle Naseem from Hulu's "Ramy") who plays a body guard assigned to protect the young woman from herself.
I give this one credit for trying something different in a mature take on the mental disorder of pica (eating inedible objects), for excellent performances for potentially less sympathetic characters, and for a few surprises that I won't spoil here.
4 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2020 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Viy (1967) 4/5 (FTV)
2. Night Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
3. Tigers Are Not Afraid 5/5 (FTV)
4. I Trapped the Devil 4/5 (FTV)
5. Vivarium 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Kiss of the Vampire 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Invisible Man (2020) 4/5 (FTV)
8. Horrors of Malformed Men 3/5 (FTV)
9. Come to Daddy 3/5 (FTV)
10. Dead Alive 4/5
11. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things 3/5 (FTV)
12. Swallow 4/5 (FTV)
This was a very quick short story and an NB recommend. I enjoyed this because of Glynis John. She was in one of my favorite Halloween Movie Marathon movies, The Vault of Horror (which is #4 on my list) , where she plays the wife of Terry-Thomas. She was also in Mary Poppins and The Cabinet of Caligari, two other great performances I especially enjoyed. She always has such a kooky charm to her. Naive and kind.
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth*
Yes, this is a comedy, but the main character had real fear, of everything. Simon Pegg comes in with another quirky movie, this one about a children's author who is taking the time to write about serial killers.
I had fun with it.
1. Ghost Stories*
2. American Murder*
3. Christmas Evil*
4. Vault of Horror
5. The Green Slime*
6. The Blue Elephant 2*
7. Theatre of Blood
8. Ghost Ship
9. Deathdream*
10. Fiend Without a Face*
11. Maniac* 1934
12. Books of Blood*
13. Escape Room*
14. The Severed Arm*
15. The Binding*
16. The Cured*
17. Friday the 13th
18. Tarantula*
19. Jennifer's Body*
20. Fantasy Island*
21. Mrs. Amworth
22. A Fantastic Fear of Everything*
13. One Cut of the Dead (FTV)
Low-budget filmmakers attempting to make a zombie movie in one uncut take keep the cameras rolling as they find themselves caught up in a real zombie invasion.
This Shudder zom-com is going to be difficult to review without spoilers, but I will try not to spoil anything because that's a huge part of the fun of the movie, watching things unfold before your eyes, particularly in the final third. The movie is essentially told in three distinct acts, and the first one is actually the least impressive. The first 35 minutes were watchable enough, average J-horror, but had me wondering why I had heard so many good things about this movie. It seemed awkward at times and limited in scope, and the visual qualities were lacking.
In the middle third, however, we realize something new about what we just saw, which puts it into a new light, and we get more into the characters and their motivations, and are introduced to new characters and a wider perspective. This sets up nicely for the third and final act, in which everything that has been set up pays off in huge dividends. There just such a joy and energy to it, I found myself elated that they were able to pull it off despite every obstacle being thrown their way. In the end, this movie is about the triumph of human will, and a celebration of the creative act of movie making, with blood and zombies.
I know I talked around this movie more than about this movie, but you have to see it to really get it. That's not to say this is one of those movies that depends on a big twist that you can figure out, it's just more of a perspective shift than an informational revelation. But you have to get past those first 35 minutes, hang in there until the very end!
4 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2020 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. Viy (1967) 4/5 (FTV)
2. Night Visitor 3/5 (FTV)
3. Tigers Are Not Afraid 5/5 (FTV)
4. I Trapped the Devil 4/5 (FTV)
5. Vivarium 3/5 (FTV)
6. The Kiss of the Vampire 3/5 (FTV)
7. The Invisible Man (2020) 4/5 (FTV)
8. Horrors of Malformed Men 3/5 (FTV)
9. Come to Daddy 3/5 (FTV)
10. Dead Alive 4/5
11. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things 3/5 (FTV)
12. Swallow 4/5 (FTV)
13. One Cut of the Dead 4/5 (FTV)
I was inspired by Deejers' write up, so just had to see for myself: The Cured.
It was brilliant, very emotive and kept me fully engaged throughout.
I only crapped myself like maybe... 4 or 5 times.
Highly recommended.
1. The Cured
So far,
01. Dracula's Daughter
02. Son Of Dracula
03. House Of Frankenstein
04. Rogue
05. Crawl
06. Count Dracula
07. Mrs Amworth
08. The Wolf Of Snow Hollow