Wyrmwood (Road of the Dead) - review

2014 (Australia)

2015 Studiocanal Blu-ray R(B/2)

Contains mild spoilers.

It just goes to show what be achieved with a bit of ambition, a lot of effort and no excuses. Writer and director Kiah and writer and producer Tristan Roache-Turner's high octane, highly-styled Mad Max meets Night of the Living Dead is not just a triumph of independent film making but easily one of the most refreshing, vibrant and original zombie films released in the last few years. With meticulous attention to detail, both the script and film's composition provide a tight, and believably personal zombie experience presented in a hyper-real, hyper-violent, audaciously confident comic book style. There's probably a name for the cinematography adopted by the brothers; akin as it is with the aforementioned Max Max, Travis's Dredd, and going back even further the Matrix trilogy; but with erratic and unique use of speed and angles they've successfully applied the formula, producing a film that feels compellingly modern and fused with energy, yet evocatively disquieting and uncomfortable. 

One of the ways Roache-Turner's story telling works is to keep everything tight and localised, and yet also allude to a further reaching, possibly global level catastrophe, without resorting to derivative radio and television reports. It's clever and something a cosmic, earth-affecting event such as the meteor shower used here allows; and maybe something Romero wasn't given enough credit for back in '68. Also like Romero's Night of the Living Dead the whys and wherefores are also deliberately vague. The meteor shower is Wormwood the great star from John's Revelation, summoned from the Angel's third trumpet call to make bitter a third of all the water on Earth, bringing death to mankind. Then again it could just be some freak virus or bacteria infecting all but those whose blood type isn't A negative. Either way, it doesn't really matter; there's now a great airborne infection, and only if you're lucky enough to find you're immune, and you're also able to survive the fact the person next to you isn't then you're good. Barry (Jay Gallagher), car mechanic and our hero is; unfortunately his daughter and wife aren't.

One can't help but see the parallels with Mad Max. The broken hero in a broken world; fundamentally decent and nice, yet forced towards increasingly violent means and methods just to survive. There's also the cars and his mates as Wyrmwood is both a road movie and buddy one. Teaming up with Benny (Leon Burchill) and Frank (Keith Agius) they fashion a good post-apocalyptic vehicle and a quickly fashioned, yet touching, temporal and authentic understanding with one another. They then head out, first with the plan to survive, then later to rescue Benny's sister Brooke (Bianca Bradey) who in the nearby town of Bulla, Victoria is having quite the adventure herself.

Wyrmwood's zombies are gnarly, gritty and every bit the modern post Romero / Boyle gut-muncher; docile by day, ferocious by night and in quite the numerical ascendancy they really do pose the threat. As much as Roache-Turner's have adhered to the template however, they're not averse to having a little play. The whole day / night cycle is driven by the fact that zombie's blood and breath have become for want of a better phrase, the Earth's new fossil fuel; at night they keep the energy-juice to power themselves and during the day they kind of power down, with it allowed to leak out allowing others to capture it to say fuel engines and whatnot. Put like that it all sounds quite the ridiculous and far-fetched array of b-movie ideas yet Kiah and Tristan have the respect and talent that the viewer feels he or she is with the characters discovering and unveiling in its natural course; things are never forced with obvious or insulting exposition. I've not even mentioned Brooke, Queen psychic zombie and her ability to warg (Game of Thrones) / borrow (Discworld) into and control the slightly less cognisant dead yet; but safe to say again her abilities feel a coherent part of the new world as plausible / implausible as idea of the zombie itself.

Whilst hard to fault; Roache-Turner's exquisite debut is not completely without fault. In my opinion the Doctor and the military goon squad are all played a little faceless and their motives a little too unfathomable. Also with a post-apocalyptic narrative that wasn't yet into its second week I couldn't quite come to terms with a character quite so eccentrically sadistic, flamboyant and well, unconventional. These interludes rather than cementing a coherent world vision, tended to act as distractions, diversions and even though they were always entertaining and disturbing, in a good way I felt they could have been handled better. It's a small nit-pick, and I don't want to use it myself to distract from what is a sumptuous riotous pummelling-paced thrill ride. Wyrmwood stands out as a breath of fresh air in what is becoming quite the stale cinematic wasteland. For a reported $160,000 what Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner have produced is quite magnificent; especially given that there's no redundancy; not a single wasted shot or surplus moment. With zombies and effects that would still be commended if they have ten times the budget, a tight well-crafted, minimalist script and narrative with actors who unanimously do it justice; it's a labour of love that deserves every zombie fans full attention - 8/10.

Steven@WTD.

Night of the Comet - review

1984 (USA)

2014 Arrow Video Blu-ray R(2)

Contains spoilers.

Truth be told, as much as I like a good gory undead rampage, I'm also rather partial to the big grand apocalyptic event. Whether I'm just anti-social, or if we're going deep, probably acutely too social, the portrayal of such extreme sudden escapism from all social responsibility or more accurately accountability is salivating. I know it's all illusionary, and the burden of isolation in reality wouldn't be quite so appealing, I mean look at Castaway, but small fantasy interludes, offered by such films as Night of Comet do satiate some hunger that wishes everyone would, even for a just an hour or too, just bugger off. Sartre was quite right when he proclaimed 'Hell is other people.'

  

The other good thing about finding out you're truly alone in a world where electricity still works, water still flows and all the bodies, both human and animal, that would normally pile up, rot and introduce another problem all together, is the great sand box you have to play in; or more specifically shop in, especially if you have your sister by your side.

This is the new world, the valley girls, who just wanna have fun (more on the kicking eighties soundtrack later) Reg (Regina - played by Catherine Mary Stewart) and younger sister Samantha (Kelli Maroney) find themselves in. Okay, there's the initial shock and acceptance that everyone they know is now a pile of red ash, that there's the odd deranged cannibal pyscho aka zombie on the prowl, and getting a new boyfriend might be a bit of a struggle, but overall I felt they acquitted themselves to the end of the world pretty well. It also helped they were both well versed in self-defence, and had a father who wasn't shy about guns. This all isn't to say director / writer Thom Eberhardt hasn't been sensitive to the Reagan inspired eighties paranoia, that mutually assured destruction was mere moments away, just that this film wasn't going to be too serious about it. A tear may be shed for lost love but primary this is a heart-warming tale of two incredibly likeable sisters who find themselves together in an intense situation, get into a few scrapes, but try to make the best of it.

Night of the Comet is an audio and visual delight made truly stunning with this nice crisp clean HD transfer by Arrow and Eberhardt captures the look and feel of the desolate dead cityscape to perfection. Sweeping shots of early morning downtown Los Angeles, empty, deserted and shrouded in the red dust smog left behind by the doomsday comet is eerie and foreboding, yet calming and beautiful. This is not end of the world zombie or meteor collision or catastrophe, the only destruction is the human loss; this is 'Empty City'; electricity and water still runs, it's like someone just waved a wand and everyone disappeared.

Well, not quite everyone. There's Reg and Sam of course, then there's also Hector (Robert Beltran / Chakotay from Voyager), truck driver and leather-clad b-movie hero, who arrives on cue to deliver hope, that there may be other survivors, but also fear, that there is also a darker threat. Whether the antagonists he tells them of are zombies or not, for once is easily answered; Chakotay says they are, and I'm not going against Chakotay, so they are. Snarling, cannibalistic, devoid of humanity and compassion they also certainly fit the zombie bill, even if they're not actually dead, can ride motorbikes (okay this was in a dream, but I'm still using it), can talk a bit and probably wouldn't have made my cut a few years ago. They're degenerative humans exposed to the red dust, and the only shame is other than Sam's dream sequence and an early spat Reg has newly emerged from her theatre retreat, is the bulk of the girls troubles come from encounters with humans somewhere on their debilitating descent, and not with the full made up undead-alike's themselves. Whether the sociopath warehouse boys or the desert brain cult who want to harness them for their blood its the humans exposed who are demonstrating a loss of humanity, drive for self-preservation and acute deterioration both physically and mentally that provide the biggest threat.

Night of the Comet is a sumptuous dead-city post-apocalyptic piece of cinema with addictively likeable characters and a well-paced flowing narrative full of wit and heart. Eberhardt intelligently tells a story that's truly dark and menacing with enough gentle parody, that fear and the threat of menace never truly overwhelms, and yet, it neither at any point descends into infantile or farcical. Again the characters, both full of cliché and superficiality constantly hint at inner depth, and are portrayed by the main three actors triumphantly with measure and nuance. Night of the Comet wears its eighties heritage proud, with an ever upbeat synth rock/pop musical score and some even louder haircuts and costumes and it all helps cement a unique identity that stands tall against all the other end-of-the-world films. The perfect blend of tension, humour, horror, action and sisterhood, it's a film that can't help but leave a smile on your face and is now a huge personal favourite - 8/10.

Steven@WTD.

Night of the Creeps - review

1986 (USA)

2009 Sony Pictures Blu-ray R(All)

Contains spoilers.

Now I need to be a bit careful with this one as I believe Fred Dekker's Night of the Creeps is a bit of a fan favourite and I'm aware many people hold the horror-comedy b-movie close to their denim clad hearts. But here's the problem. I'm a Night of the Creeps newcomer and not swathed in nostalgia. I've jaded forty year old eyes and I've now seen my fair share of zom-rom-coms; I don't have that sweaty adolescent sentimentality to keep me going between people dying and heads 'sploding. Anyway, the point I'm trying to get to; the point I'm dallying around, is though Night of the Creeps is good, I mean I did just say heads 'sploding, it's just maybe not quite as good for us, as those who watched it some 28 years ago without their parents knowing.

Things start absurdly and b-movie brilliantly, with weird looking giant Dr Who inspired 80's space slugs battling it out and a particularly grumpy looking one blasting what we learn to be a parasitic space slug to Earth against the others wishes. It's 1959, we know this because things are black and white, and investigating the shooting star that's landed, a young confident college boy out with his date ignores the warnings of an axe murderer escaped from the local mental institute gets her violently dismembered and himself infected and cryogenically frozen. As I said brilliant stuff.

Then it all goes a bit 80s and brat pack with J.C. During (Steve Marshall) trying to win Cynthia Cronenberg (Jill Whitlow) as a date for nerd friend and roommate Chris Romero (Jason Lively); yes I did spot the names. With the only obstacle to their success, obviously, admittance to the most popular fraternity J.C. and Chris agree to break into the university medical centre and steal a highly experimental corpse, which just conveniently happens to be said cryogenically frozen bug hibernator from 1959. Of course they conveniently manage to defrost him, he conveniently happens to be not well guarded, and it conveniently starts a rather nasty series of events that soon spiral out of control.

It's b-movie parody, it's funny, it's well directed and well fleshed out with a preposterous narrative that sways from semi-coherent eighties teen angst movie to The Return of the Living Dead and over the top horror like a metronome on amphetamines. One minute it's geeky guys trying to get a prom date or hitting each other with pillows, the next it's audaciously absurd space aliens shooting one another with ray guns or twenty-seven year old axe murdering corpses up having a second swing at it. What should be a little disconcerting does actually work though creating that b-movie duality where there's the normal world where people worry about their hair and their dates, when all the while we really know there's a second reality only a block away holding an axe and full of alien space worms. My one small gripe was some of the more excessive contrived convenience, which even though I know is part of the b-movie charm, came across as a little too forced. It's one thing to learn that fire is the thing that can kill the little space leeches, it's another to just happen across a box of matches on the floor of your toilet cubicle lighting the last one at just the right moment as one rushes over to its flammable end.

You just can't beat a good old alien brain parasite; well you could with a fiery stick, but there's just something about scurrying little black super slugs with the singular intent to zoom up trouser legs,  throw themselves into open mouths and take over brains, that makes me smile. Why do they want to do it / what's their motive? No idea though I guess the usual world subjugation. All I know is, once in place it's zombie time, staggering about looking for someone new to explode their head in the direction of. I keep saying exploding heads; whether cat, dog, recently deceased or long decayed it would appear they use the brain as some kind of incubation chamber with which to breed (asexually?), then assume control of the host body before popping the noggin wide open to great cinematic applause to fire new space slugs at any new hosts that might be dumb enough to have their mouths open. By this point it's really all over for the hosts, the best they can hope for some sympathetic soul putting a stop to it all with a one, two, blast to the head, heavy duty incineration of the little critters hiding inside.

I've moaned a lot that it's not perhaps grade A eighties schlock horror but in truth it's not far off. Dekker has fashioned a competent cohesive b-movie wannabe that entertains and shocks nicely and equally and flows by to a satisfactory conclusion. Exploding head, alien parasite zombies were never going to disappoint and honestly one could never get bored watching them pop. Detective Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins) who I've not mentioned so far is the undoubted star of the show, with one-liners and a personality that rivals even Sir Bruce Campbell in its dry delivery and inventive punch. A fun entertaining little ride with some truly outstanding scenes, but as a whole, one that maybe hasn't aged quite as well as some might have us believe. It's never going to be my favourite eighties horror spoof but thrill me, it did, 7/10.

Steven@WTD.

Slither - review

2006 (Canada / USA)

2006 Eiv DVD R(2)

Contains mild spoilers.

Alien Parasites. They're nothing new to the zombie myth and I've reviewed my fair share of films that saw little grubby predators weasel their way into the living and dead to take control. I'll admit though to always feeling a little wary when it comes to little green, err, things infiltrating and mimicking the native population, while all the while working towards the ultimate goal of global dominion. I mean, where the parasites take control of cadavers it's easy to shout zombie; they're reanimated dead and they look the part. What about when the hosts are still alive with their pre-parasitical personality suppressed or even joined with? What if the parasite has introduced a new uncontrollable desire or drive like sex (procreation) or hunger (survival); does an insatiable all-consuming addiction constitute enough of a loss of self, will, ego, being to semantically at least proffer the idea of zombie?

Director James Gunn's horror / comedy / alien parasites land on earth and look to take over zombie flick Slither both tasks me to ask this question while at the same time lets me off the hook completely. Three quarters of the way through the film after watching the very foreign parasite take its first victim, the town big shot Grantford Grant (the brilliant Michael Rooker), successfully find a mate and procreate with Brendalynne Gutierrez (Brenda James) and finally look to step things up spewing thousands of slug like throat guzzling parasitical spermatozoon on the world, Slither did the decent thing and allowed the hosts to die first. The resulting dead controlled by the will of the shared single conscious alien super disease are as close to the modern zombie as one is likely to get; their old selves, other than perhaps access from the new host to memories, are gone; they stumble about like something from a Romero film and they like to feast on flesh.

Slither lists itself as a horror comedy but I always felt the tension, gore and scares outweighed any desire for outright laughter. Ok, alien parasitical take over stories are out there and the film is chock full of audaciously brilliant set pieces that could certainly be seen as uncomfortably funny but there's no throw-away gags or cheap easy farce. The film takes its subject matter seriously but isn't afraid to be playful in a non detrimental way to the core story and atmosphere and it works brilliantly. Nathan Fillon as town sheriff Bill Pardy is the dry wit and hero of the film and arguably does have the lions share of one line quips but again they're never out of place or jarring; in many ways he's the Indiana Jones or Han Solo lightening the mood now and again but never at any expense.

The film has a comfortable cohesiveness, a singular vision, and flows with an effortlessness that signifies a cast and crew who were not only professionally invested but were actively enjoying the ride. All the sequences work, there's no dead dialogue or scenes and all the themes played with work; Gunn has cut and shot the film to perfection. Pacing is on point and the climax is satisfying and not drawn out and even though the central idea of the film is ludicrous it somehow manages to avoid any thoughts that it might be; it's a clever trick and shows it knows what it's doing.

As to the earlier question of whether the increasingly 'alien' but alive Grantford Grant is a zombie I'm happy to leave it up in the air. He's definitely had his self repressed but there's definitely a bit of the old person still there. It's all deliberately vague and disturbing, hinting at a precariously easy malleableness to a definition of self we consider so resolute and absolute. Also, if I start at this juncture including alien possessed films where do I stop? Species and The Thing are obvious starters, but I'd soon move on to any and all films that had someone temporarily possessed by someone / thing else and I'm not sure I'm ready to throw Wrath of Khan with Chekov and Terrell succumbing to Khan's indigenous eels into the mix just yet.

Slither is a triumphant alien parasite spectacular with first rate acting, a tight on point story that never languishes and lavish over the top special effects that manage to avoid ever degrading to farce. I'll admit to enjoying this far more than I expected and I was surprised I'd no memories of ever watching it before which is odd as it's the sort of thing I would have actively sought out. An alien parasite film, with tenderness, scares, laughter and zombies, this is definitely an extra-terrestrial recommendation, 8/10.

Steven@WTD.

Kill Zombie! (Zombibi) - review

2012 (Netherlands)

2012 Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment DVD R(2)

Contains mild spoilers.

This one, it turns out, is an amateur zom-rom-com Dutch production set in its own capital. It's an unabashed unassuming little Shaun of the Dead wannabe that never strays too far from what's expected and doesn't really do anything wrong. All in all it's quite light, fun, the characters are likeable and quirky, the whole thing is very well presented and there's the odd memorable over the top bit of action or gore. The thing is, with zombies the current zeitgeist and a market flooded, not bad, quite pleasurable, nothing wrong, isn't really enough any more. I mean, unless your a true zombie nut, like yours truly, willing to watch absolutely everything out there you're only really going to pick the genre darlings and this unfortunately isn't going to one of them, despite, as I say, actually being quite good.

Aziz (Yahya Gaier) is Shaun from Shaun of the Dead, a shirt and tie wearing miserable disenchanted 9 to 5er. The only thing keeping him going is his dream of romancing co-worker Tess (Nadia Poeschmann) but on the eve of his first date a series of unfortunate events looks to have scuppered his chances. First he's fired, partly because his free and easy bum of a brother Mo (Mimoun Ouled Radi) can't stop phoning him but mostly because he has a jealous petty-Hitler of a boss. Second, he and his brother are arrested and thrown in a cell for the night after getting into a spat with a pair of Surinamese goons at a barbecue / pool party. And third, and this one's the most significant, a Russian Space station / satellite has crashed to earth covered in toxic green moss and turned the whole population of West Amsterdam into dangerous flesh eating zombies; oh, and Tess is still stranded at the office, which also happens to be ground zero.

Directors Martijn Smits and Erwin van den Eshof know how to paint quite the apocalyptic vision. Azis, Mo and their now Surinamese survival companions, Jeffrey (Sergio Hasselbaink) and Nolan (Uriah Arnhem) emerge from the cells into a picture-perfect (if that's the right phrase) ruined cityscape complete with building fires, abandoned cars and putrid green pustule covered alien-zombies. Everything looks great, the CG doesn't actually look that fake and the zombies are authentic appearing and quite gnarly. After a quick altercation with a wheel-chaired old lady zombie, emphasising at once the danger they're in and that we shouldn't be taking this all too seriously, the gang are ushered back into the police station and we're introduced to Kim (Gigi Ravelli) the films glamorous, kick-ass leading police lady.

As stated, there's nothing wrong with the film. Action and comedy guides the narrative and the group stumble from one location and goofy fight to the next all the while pitching Aziz's desire to rescue the damsel in distress with Mo, and the rest of the group who want to get the hell out of dodge. The various set pieces are well put together, stylish and playful with Smits and Eshof not afraid to go all Dead Rising with the extensive use of wacky and humour-some zombie dispatching weaponry and methods, and interspersing it all on occasion with zany comic-book / video game sequences straight out of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

The word alien isn't actually mentioned, and it could well be some Russian biological experiment gone wrong, but the green goo spewing zombies are sure made up to look not of this world. It still suffers a little from the 'if touching the green goo turned the first into zombies, why are these particular survivors apparently immune', syndrome but as is the case with the not so serious zombie films, total coherence isn't necessarily the number one priority. The infection, or what ever it is, is transferred through the standard zombie bite with the victim deteriorating rapidly, zombiefying, dying then reanimating with a hunger for flesh, either alive or dead. There's also the hint everyone's infected anyway and the bite merely hastens death and the inevitable turn. Behaviour wise they're your usual slow shufflers, though as is the way the odd faster gnarly zombie appears sporadically to spice up the action, and even a completely out of place comedy zombie makes an appearance here and there though they kind of feel a little awkward and overly contrived.

All in all, Kill Zombie! is a quirky little Dutch zombie film. It's quite fun, quite coherent, quite well written and quite well acted and quite well paced. The zombies are well made up, the sets are lavish and expansive and there's more than one great, gratuitous memorable scene. The comedy compliments the action well despite the fact I never felt it was quite as funny as it thought it did and the cast do a good job with either their dry straight-man or slapstick roles. It's fine, honestly; a nice evenings viewing and it definitely scratched that apocalyptic zombie itch but, and here's the crutch. It does everything adequately, nothing more, coming across a tad stale, a tad going though the motions and derivative, like a poor mans Juan of the Dead or a trite Dutch multicultural Shaun of the Dead, both of which are fresher, more original and more authentic. Kill Zombie! is good, don't get me wrong, it's just good isn't good enough in a subgenre packed with truly great, 5/10.

WTD.

Days of Darkness - review

2007 (USA)

2008 Revolver Entertainment DVD R(2)

Contains spoilers.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Days of Darkness is unquestionably one of the worst films I've reviewed, an inconsistent and frankly ludicrous mish-mash of ideas, excruciating dialogue, laughable effects, terrible zombies with minimal make-up and all played out slightly too seriously, and all slightly too forced. It's even been filmed or transferred poorly with a picture that appears grainy and far older than it is. It's what WTD would call a right stinker.

It's amazing what can happen over night, no truly. Couple Steve (Travis Brorsen) and Mimi (Roshelle Baier) have spend the evening camping under the stars, drinking champagne and looking wistfully into each others eyes. Returning down the mountain in the morning with a skip in their step, they're immediately confronted by a world destroyed by zombie apocalypse with undead, roaming free and unbound. Even though they've only been out the picture for the night , and fortunately for them, a group of desperate survivors have managed to escape the maelstrom and hole up in a convenient, and local 'decommissioned NORAD microwave centre or something', and they just happened to send one of their group out to look for anyone still alive and human.

What makes or breaks a tight low budget end of the world character drama is funny enough, the characters. Unfortunately the disparate group Steve and Mimi end up tired, confused and hungry with are a trite, uninteresting self centred ensemble with no redeeming qualities and not a single good idea between them. From Kylie (Marian Tomas Griffin) the self-pitying ex-porn star who can't go thirty seconds without mentioning how many men (or animals I kid you not) she had sex with the previous week to the instantly unlikeable Chad (Tom Eplin) the misogynist bully boy producer/ranch owner, to Trent (John Lee Ames) the bible quoting cliché bigot who blames the uprising on 'faggots', they're a horrible bunch, poorly realised with bad lines, poor direction and little or shallow depth. Never did I feel any connection with any of them and never did I really care if any of them lived or died.

And die most of them did, though not through bites, scratches or in any expected traditional zombie way. Days of Darkness (though it's never actually dark during the day, anyhoo) is a film of two parts. The first half of the film is a poor mans zombie survival story as the group struggle to come to terms with what has happened and how they might survive for longer than a few days. We soon start to suspect this may be a film off the beaten survival track though as Steve's early bite fails to fester, and this fact is picked up on by the group. The second big hint that we're not dealing with your common-or-garden zombie infection is Herbert's (William Cannon) a zombie chained up in the basement, genitals falls off and is replaced by an egg sack and alien hybrid embryo.

The zombies you see are being controlled by alien parasites which are using them as incubators for their hybrid alien off spring which will then be free to take over the planet, and the reason Steve didn't catch zombie-itus through the bite, is that the parasite is air born in the dust off a recently dissipated comet, and everyone who could catch it has already done so. Everyone breathed it in, everyone died and everyone became a host, and it sounds like an alien slam-dunk to me, except, and I won't spoil it for you, there's one thing they didn't count on and it's the reason these few guys survived. My first thought though, was if this is really a cause for immunity, not only would I be fine, but I'd expect a pretty high survival rate here across Europe too.

This second half story of Invasion of the Body snatchers mixed with Alien is in truth a bit better than the survival stuff and even managed to evoke the odd moment of tension and raise a smile. They're brief mind, let's not get carried away and all daft and badly presented, but they're still moments. I should mention the zombies too. They're pretty crap. I'm guessing the only quality the director mandated from the many people who volunteered to stagger about, arms outstretched with a smidgen of blood on their face was an ability to groan grrrr and gurgle a bit. They're never frightening or visceral and as I watched them casually flounder at the survivors (with remarkable success at times I might add) or jostle the camps fence limply, I couldn't help remark their base-behaviour was more slightly agitated than rabid.

It's not a good film. Even taking into account it's extremely limited budget it's not a good film. The meandering narrative and totally uninteresting characters and dialogue ultimately pound the film into the halls of mediocrity, and it's certainly not something I'll look back with, never mind fond, any memories at all. I will say the acting for the lines and shallow characters is reasonably strong, but with such drivel to work with, whether it's a long rambling back tales recanting their final few hours, or one of the many forced clumsy arguments or exchanges, like the narrative there's never a moment it feels convincing or interesting. A strange film that desperately feels like it wants to be a b-movie but fails in all ways to be funny, witty or particularly over the top, missing the point entirely, 2/10.

WTD.

Bong of the Dead - review

2011 (Canada)

2012 Left Films DVD R(2)

Contains mild spoilers.

A surreal zombie grind-house buddy road trip comedy, book ended with lavish extravagant comic-book sequences and all enveloped in a post production drug haze. One thing writer, director, producer, score composer and artistic lead Thomas Newman can't be accused of is playing it safe. An original idea he claims at the end of the credits was actively thwarted at every opportunity Bong of the Dead is the very epitome that belief and perseverance can win out however crazy and possibly misguided the dream.

At its heart Bong of the Dead is a buddy film. Edwin (Mark Wynn) and Tommy (Jy Harris) have survived the end of world by maintaining a consistently high state of shit-faced-ness. The embodiment of stoner buddies they witnessed the demise of civilisation from the comfort of their own self induced tranquilised euphoria, their only real concern where their next hit would come from.

Edwin, a life long grower searching for the ultimate hit stumbles upon green-goo fertiliser made from dehydrated zombie brain but the army has done such a good job of ridding the safe zones from the undead, the brainless duo are forced to take a dangerous road trip to source more. The films success, much like Shaun of the Dead which Newman cites as an influence, hinged on whether Edwin and Tommy / Mark and Jy could form an on screen partnership and while it's a bit of a slow burn, I definitely warmed to their inherently dislikeable narcissistic personalities and quite endearing bro-mance. They're dope heads so the dialogue and jokes are never going to be sharp or witty, but they're a likeable duo and their slapstick interaction plays well. They're eventually joined by Leah (Simone Bailly) who adds a timely third pivot at a time there was a danger the joke would run thin and the three play off each other well through to a explosive and ridiculously over the top finale. Like the guy's addled and easily distracted train of thought, and as with all good road trips, the guys do off piste and the storyline all goes a bit daft, but it's fun and bad in the sense it knows it is and knows how to make it still work. 

I've read Newman shot the film on a single camera over fifteen days but then spent the best part of three years alone on a Mac in post production, adding his own score and FX claiming the film only cost $5000. If this is indeed the case, the results are nothing less than spectacular and puts larger budget efforts to shame (looking at you Troma / The Asylum). Add to this some downright guttural, gory, grubby and extremely authentic  zombies made-up by effects wizard Mike Fields, and a quantity of blood the likes of which I've not seen since Dead Alive (Braindead), for a low budget film it's quite the cinematic tour-de-force. With stylish directing, the ambitious comic-book production and the confidence to give the film a post production grind-house sheen, Bong of the Dead offers a genuinely original and unconventional aesthetic befitting the narrative.

The zombie origin is deliberately ambiguous and obtuse. Meteors struck, there was something alien inside and green gas that infected those were first on the scene causing boils, deformities and a particularly nasty cannibalistic hunger. They're slow, cumbersome and destroying the brain is the only way to destroy them. Newman hasn't been afraid to play around with our friends and the film is chock full of absurd zombie deaths and parody. It's sick and quite often in extremely bad taste jarring against a central narrative that despite the outlandish main premise tries at least to maintain a degree of cohesiveness, but it all adds to the films unique charm. There's also the play some zombies retain, or regain their self awareness, while keeping their hunger for flesh and deire to see the demise of the living. It's not explained but it doesn't need to be.

This film holds the esteemed title of holding the lowest IMDb score of any I've reviewed; yes a whole one point below Osombie and I find it hard to understand why. I like my zombie films to have good zombies, check, an interesting and original take on the end of the world, check, convincing acting, check and most of all a degree of authenticity and respect that makes me feel those involved cared about what they were doing, and this has that in abundance. Look, I'm not saying it's the best zombie film either. It does have dub problems (the actors had to rerecord all their lines post-production), and pacing is too slow at the start and too rushed at the end, but it's individual style and identity, memorable and convincing acting, and stylish direction certainly warrants you give it a go. A daft, gratuitous, doobie smoking, zombie bro-mance, that as long as you don't take too seriously, man, is quite the fun ride, 6/10.

WTD.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - review

1968 (USA)

2008 Optimum Home Releasing Blu-ray R(B/2)

Contains spoilers.

This is when it all got serious. There had been zombie films before but with Night of the Living Dead George A. Romero and John A. Russo stuck a giant undead flag in the ground proclaiming a new era for the genre and dictating how zombies would behave for a generation.

Night of the Living Dead follows the fortunes (or misfortunes) of a small band of disparate survivors brought together in cramped conditions having to cope with the highly confusing and ultimately dangerous situation of dozens of mindless killers banging at their door wanting to come in and eat them.

The iconic film opens with Barbra (Judith O'Dea) and Johnny (Russell Streiner) on the annual pilgrimage to their fathers grave when they're accosted by what would arguably become the signature modern cinematic zombie, played by Bill Hinzman. With Johnny overcome the hysterical Barbra flees for her life over roads and fields until she comes across a farm cottage. Here we're introduced to the hero of the film Ben (Duane Jones) who seems to have not only some-idea about what's happening but the ability to act on the knowledge to defend and protect himself and Barbra.

The duo are soon joined by married couple Harry (Karl Hardman), Helen Cooper (Marilyn Eastman) and their injured daughter Karen (Kyra Schon) and teenage couple Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley) who have all been hiding in the cellar. What we end up with is power struggles, disagreement on what they should be doing and petty squabbling all intensified by the pressure. This becomes the template for survival zombie films for years to come; the idea of putting a small mixed band of characters together in an intense volatile life or death situation and seeing how they react and interact, and you can see its influence in everything up to and including The Walking Dead.

Obviously influenced heavily by the US space program and the alien invasion films of the previous few decades Romero and Russo originally came up with the idea that the monsters would be flesh eating humans infected by aliens but ended up with the idea of the dead come back to life; flesh eating still the main trait though. Romero has stated that this was part based on a short story he wrote that ripped off Matheson's I Am Legend, which had vampires albeit slow zombie like ones in it. The space influence didn't get pushed off the table altogether and hints that the cause of undead rising is actually from radiation from a satellite that returned from Venus, though Romero and Russo are keen to point out that this is neither confirmed or denied in the film and the actual cause was left ambiguous.

An interesting feature of the Night of The Living Dead ghouls is their hatred for light and fire and some slightly higher brain functions than the mindless meat-heads seen in later films. Probably brought across from I Am Legend's vampires, these zombies actively smash headlights with rocks, stay away from the house while the lights are on and shun fire.

One failed escape to a government sanctuary later and once the lights and electricity of the farm house go out that the heat turns up on the survivors. This leads to a faster paced action laden final 20 odd minutes with all the gore and scenes that riled up the press back when it  was shown (albeit in a time before certification and to young adults and some children who were expecting a light horror matinee experience), including a quite harrowing scene even by modern standards with a young girl and her mother.

For a film made on a self financed shoe strong budget, the quality of acting and production is quite high, Duane Jones being the pick of the bunch. Casting a black lead at the time and pitting him successfully against an antagonistic self absorbed white Karl Hardman also saw Romero and Russo accused of deliberately creating an anti-racist sub text, but I really don't think they could ever be accused of thinking that hard, he was lead simply because he was a good actor and at most they were happy to cause a little trouble. And ok, one could pick holes in some of the other acting, especially Judith Ridley, but none of it really detracts from the experience.

The viewer should also be careful when selecting a version to watch. The film is in the public domain due to a copy right bungle back in 1968 so anyone is free to make a release. There's quite some debate as to what version to buy but the Optimum Home Releasing Blu-Ray version I've reviewed seems to be the best for picture quality, which I'd testify to but is beaten by the some of the DVD releases for commentaries and extras which this version is sorely missing.

Night of the Living Dead holds up pretty well even today. For a 1968 film , shot on a low budget with b-movie actors and a very slow first hour it's still pretty captivating stuff. Ok there's plenty to laugh at too these days from the special effects to the shambling groaning zombie horde yet it all really still works. It's the formula that's right and there's a reason others stuck to it. A film that inspired a genre, I'm coming to get you Barbra, 8/10.

Steven@WTD.