Well upon even further review I've decided to completely stop updating and posting to this blog any longer. When I started my intentions were to give me someplace to put the reviews that I had been writing for the films that I loved. That need has now been replaced by my participation in Bloodtypeonline.com For the couple of loyal readers that used to check out my reviews (and there were a couple of you) thanks for the feedback and encouragement. I hope that you follow me to the new site and continue to read my reviews.

In closing I would like to say Bloodtypeonline.com check us out!

Due to work and other things creeping up on me I'm going to have to cut back to one review a week. I will be posting my reviews on Monday. I hope to go back to a second review when I manage to catch up. Please watch for my next review on Monday.

Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (2005)

Synopsis: Some jackass guys decide to use the name of a Romero classic to further… Oh wait a synopsis of the movie. Okay there is a mental hospital and the patients are infected or something with DNA and then start to eat people. Yeah and somehow they try to tie that in to explain how the events in the Romero films got started.

The Good: Well it was only 103 minutes I mean it could have been 104 minutes right? So that is a pretty good thing.

The Bad: Gee where to start? The film’s pacing is just awful. I found the movie to be really slow at points. In fact there are several sections of the film, which really have no bearing on the rest of the story and could have been cut to speed the film up. Also the acting is pretty bad. It is pretty clear that several of the actors were reading queue cards because you can see there eyes moving! Those actors that managed to memorize their lines are very wooden and bring very little to the screen. The effects are very crude and amateurish. Normally I would give a low budget zombie film a pass on effects, but this is Day of the Dead 2 so to hell with being nice! Over all this was just a painful experience for me as a Romero fan.

The Score: 0 out of 4

Just because you “own” the rights to a good film doesn’t mean that you can make a sequel or remake it. Everyone involved in this mess should be ashamed that they even tried to attach themselves to the work of George Romero.

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No review today (work is kicking my butt!) I'll have another review up on Monday.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Synopsis: This movie opens with an exhausted woman named Ana nearing the end of her shift as a nurse. We watch as she heads home to her suburban home and spends a romantic evening at with her husband. The next morning they wake up to find a little girl standing in the doorway to their bedroom. The girl’s face is horribly mutilated and before they can react she attacks and kills Ana’s husband. From this point on the movie is a non-stop zombie attack until Ana and several other survivors end up barricading themselves in a mall.

The Good: The cast in the movie is pretty damn good. Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, and Jake Weber all do an excellent job of portraying a few of the survivors. Also genre vet Matt Frewer gets a small but very interesting part as a doomed father. The script is fast paced and keeps the scares and gore coming at the viewer. That is both a blessing and a curse. We the viewer aren’t given the chance to get bored, but at the same time the script leaves very little time for character development. When I was more concerned about the fate of the dog than I was of the humans that can be a problem. The best example of this is the character of Steve who is supposed to be the sleazy villain among the survivors. Ty Burell does the best he can to make him an effective character but the script neither gives him the time or the material to work with. The gore is pretty well done with a minimum of CGI and the zombies look great.

The Bad: The lack of character development isn’t the only issue that I had with the script. I really hate the ending of the film I mean I detest it. If you don’t want to ruin what should have been the ending don’t watch the credits. In addition to the ending you also have a character make a really stupid and unnecessary decision to sacrifice himself. Perhaps this was an issue with the way the film was cut but I still can’t figure out why the CJ character stays on the bus. Oh yeah I really, really hate zombies that run. Sure it was there movie and maybe they think that is scary, but as a fan I think that it sucks. Also I was a bit put off by the CGI fest that was the escape from the mall. Can anyone really say that it doesn’t look totally fake?

The Score: 2 out of 4

Maybe I’m being picky in this review but then I’m not the one who chose to put the name Dawn of the Dead on my film. If you are going to remake the classic Romero film then you automatically are going to have to deal with comparisons. While I enjoyed this movie it is nowhere near the original.

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Well I've decided after doing my Romero special to review the remakes that have been spawned by his original trilogy. With that in mind I've posted my review for NOTLD 90. Enjoy.

Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Synopsis: This remake closely follows the original Romero classic from 1968. Johnny and his sister Barbara are off to visit a grave when the reanimated dead attack them. Barbara is soon on her own as Johnny is attacked and killed by a zombie. She ends up at an isolated farmhouse where we are introduced to the rest of the cast. Ben, who arrives in a truck with a nearly empty tank, the Coopers and their daughter who were hiding in the basement round out the cast. With the Coopers are a young couple Judy and Tom, who is related to the now dead owners of the farmhouse. The small group of survivors begins barricading themselves in the farmhouse as an ever-growing mob of zombies surrounds them. Finally Ben decides that they need to fuel up the truck from the gas pump that they see in the back yard and make a break for it. From here on out the group is slowly reduced in number. Will any of them survive until they are rescued? Check out this movie to see.

The Good: I’m not a big fan of remakes, but in some ways this movie gets a pass from me. First of all George Romero gave this movie his blessing and wrote the screenplay. A screenplay that makes a few adjustments from the original without loosing what made the 68 version of the film so classic. Also makeup effects wizard and longtime Romero collaborator Tom Savini directed this version of the film. Not only is the movie paced really well but you can tell that the effects shots were well planned out and shot with a lot of care. Not to mention that the lead zombies in this film will rival anything that appeared in either Dawn of the Dead or Day of the Dead. I was also very impressed by the cast that they assembled for this movie. Patrica Tallman embraces the entirely new take on the character of Barbara that the script provides and runs with it. No longer is she a catatonic weak link to the survivors. In fact by the end of the movie you will be cheering her actions by the end of the movie. Genre vet Tony Todd also does a really good job as Ben picking up where Duane Jones left off in the original.

The Bad: While this is an enjoyable movie and works very well it is still a remake and I just can’t ignore that. Still that is the only negative that I can find to mention.

The Score: 3 out of 4

If you enjoy a good zombie film then I guarantee that you will like this movie.

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Scarecrow (2002)

Synopsis: The movie opens with three guys smoking pot in a field of corn and telling scary stories. One of them begins to tell the story of Lester Dwervick and this is where the main plot of the movie starts. Lester is a high school student who is picked on by all of the popular kids, yelled at by a teacher, and has a drunken whore of a mother. After one particularly bad day his mother brings home a “date” that is rather foul tempered. Lester runs off only to see the one girl that was nice to him kissing a jock who has been picking on him. Well apparently he has had enough so when he runs back home to the trailer he gets into a fight with his mother’s date. Next thing you know old Lester in dead in a field by the scarecrow after being strangled! Of course not wanting to go to jail his mother and her date make it appear that Lester has hanged himself and everyone goes on with their lives. That is until Lester comes back as the scarecrow to take his revenge.

The Good: Well I’m reaching a bit here to find anything that is good about this movie. The makeup on the scarecrow is pretty cool and does look creepy. Also the scarecrow does throw around a few one-liners ala Freddy Krueger that are funny. All in all I suppose in a better movie the scarecrow could be a good character. Also whoever was the cinematographer did a really good job. They clearly didn’t have great equipment but all of the scenes are well defined and look really professional.

The Bad: Where to start? Well first of all the acting in this movie is just awful. I don’t know if this was everyone’s first film, but I sure hope so. In addition the casting is so very wrong. These actors are supposed to be in high school are all obviously in their mid to late 20s. The movie drags in many places and several scenes are clearly being dragged out to pad the runtime of the movie. Also the editing is really bad with the movie switching from day to night and then back to day. This give the impression that it takes hours for the sheriff to respond to a murder that takes place in town in broad daylight! I suppose that I can sum this movie up with one scene. The final confrontation between the female lead and the scarecrow she pins him against a wall with her truck and reaches over to grab a can. Luckily we all know what is in the can because of the big black letters against what appears to be a white label that says GAS! Yeah this movie is that good.

The Score: .5 out of 4

Better luck next time guys because this is a bad movie.

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