Nov '14
Who here understands life and death? No one. That’s why I’m here to explain it to you personally.
First comes life, both cuddly, squishy and sandpapery. All two of those three things at once. Then comes the knowledge that you’re not alone, that you’re a part of a system of other similar creatures bearing the same physical make-up that, if you inspect it far enough, is the same right down to the cells, chromosomes, genes and anatomical make-up. The only thing making you different from... Continue »
First comes life, both cuddly, squishy and sandpapery. All two of those three things at once. Then comes the knowledge that you’re not alone, that you’re a part of a system of other similar creatures bearing the same physical make-up that, if you inspect it far enough, is the same right down to the cells, chromosomes, genes and anatomical make-up. The only thing making you different from... Continue »
One of my favourite sub genres in horror is rape and revenge. There's just something so inspiring watching a chick who was previously a victim, kick the shit out of the men that assaulted her. Among this sub genre, you'll find classics like;
Franck Khalfoun's Maniac (2012) is a remake of the 1980 movie of the same name. Taking place in Los Angeles this time, the overall plot is still very much the same. Socially awkward Frank Zito (Elijah Wood) stalks women, taking his victims' scalps to attach to his mannequins, sending fear throughout the city. Some of the women he stalks are charmed by his somewhat shy behavior. Others are fucking terrified as he follows them, making his intentions of harming them very well known. 
John Wick (2014), starring Keanu Reeves as a the titular character, grieving his late wife. Before her death, however, she left him a lovely little puppy as a parting gift, which he quickly grew to love. However, home invasion and robbery result in a second loss for poor John Wick. This time, he wants some good old-fashioned revenge. Against the mafia.
So I watched this movie again the other night. But it felt like for the first because Scorpion released it to Blu-ray restored. Before it was dark and I could hardly make anything out. To All a Goodnight(1980) is a typical Christmas slasher. It's directed by David Hess of all people, but there isn't any rape scenes in this slasher. 
For two decades after Day of the Dead, George Romero didn't do any new movies with zombies. I'm not sure if that was because Day of the Dead didn't get great initial reviews or if he was just burned out on zombies. Maybe it was a combination of both. But when it was announced that Romero would be doing a new zombie movie called Land of the Dead (2005), I was very excited. By that point, I knew the first three films very well. Being able to finally see one in theaters meant a lot to me back then and it still does.
If Dawn of the Dead was an upgrade of Night of the Living Dead, then George Romero's Day of the Dead (1985) was an upgrade to zombie genre as a whole. Even better make-up for the zombies and better gore effects? Check. A polished score by John Harrison that never feels out of place? Check. A great cast of characters who all grow on you in one way or another (yes, that includes this movie's main and, well, only living female character, unlike those two before...)? Check. This movie has it all and that's despite having its budget chopped in half, forcing Romero to change much of his original script to fit the lower budget, keeping only some of the characters and the basic ideas of the original script.
George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978) was released exactly ten years after his first zombie masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead. In many ways, it's an upgrade of the first movie. It's in color, there's a lot more violence, the locations are grander, and the music is now a combination of stock music and music recorded by Italian progressive rock band Goblin, who were brought in by the movie's producer, Italian horror director Dario Argento. When I first saw Dawn of the Dead around 2000 or so, I didn't even realize that it was a sequel to anything, but I knew from the first moments of the movie inside of the television studio that I was watching a movie that was going to be nothing like anything I'd ever seen before. The music alone told me that. And it only got even better from there.
In wanting to do something special on Trash Epics for October, I've decided to write a four-part series of reviews, which will cover the first four movies of George Romero's Dead series: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), and Land of the Dead (2005). I'm skipping Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009), both because they kind of reboot the series and because no one cares much about them anyway. And I'm not going to beat around the bush here: I love this series. It's easily my favorite horror series and these reviews will most certainly reflect that.
In honor of autumn, I figured it would be fitting to do some seasonal content. For most of us, seasonal content means horror movies. I spent the past few weeks trying to come up with a list of the best Halloween films... but I couldn't. I'm terrible at making lists, which is why I took another approach...
When most horror fans think of cannibal movies, they probably think of the ones that came out of Italy during the 1970's and 1980's, particularly those by Ruggero Deodato. But Antonia Bird's Ravenous (1999) has nothing to do with Italy and their cannibal movies, besides the fact that it's also a cannibal movie. I wouldn't even call it inspired by those. It's nowhere near as gory, though it's still quite bloody.
When I was a kid, I remember seeing a few short parts of George McCowan's Frogs (1972) on TV. Of course, since I was a giant pussy about horror movies as a kid, I never sat down to watch it in full. But I recently noticed that it's on Netflix and decided to finally see this movie in its entirety, despite the somewhat low rating it seems to generally receive.
Here's an interesting little film. Why it's apart of the Troma catalogue is beyond me, as it would be a better fit on a Something Weird Video double feature with some William Grefe' snooze-fest. An interesting film nonetheless. Written by none other than Larry Cohen of all people. But something about this film annoys me. Several things, actually. First off, the main character, Janet. This disagr... 
I've been following James Rolfe's work for years now. To most people, he's The Angry Video Game Nerd, but to me, he's more than that. He's an inspiration. He reviews shitty old games for a living, but he also knows film, and has a true passion for what he does. He wouldn't have become such a legend if his heart wasn't in the right place.
Over the years, he's always teased us with a review for the alleged worst game of all time: Atari's E.T. However, he would take it up a notch and not do a mere review, but an entire movie based on the mystery of this turkey, taking the premise of his debut feature into the Atari landfill territory. This bases our film on actual facts, whereas several Atari games where in fact buried in a landfill in New Mexico. Read about it on Wikipedia if you don't believe me, because Wikipedia always tells the truth... right?