Controversy and the games industry go hand in hand like Ico and Yorda if you’ll forgive the incredibly nerdy analogy. And if you’ll forgive that, please forgive my blatant theft of a quote from Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw. Despite it not being an original comment of mine, you know the saying; if the shoe fits and there is no more snug fit for this comment than Left 4 Dead 2.

A comparison to the original Left 4 Dead is inevitable in any review. You can dodge it all you want but in the end, reviewers must face the fact that this is a sequel. So let’s get one thing straight: Left 4 Dead 2 is NOT Left 4 Dead. The underlying principles and gameplay mechanics are all there but so much has changed that a direct comparison between the two is unfair. With that out of the way, let’s get into the sole of Left 4 Dead 2.

Taking things a few steps beyond the traditional point and click affair of the genre, Valve have taken old concepts and utilised them in new and unique ways. Melee weapons are by far not a new idea within first person shooters but they’ve always played a background role, something you rely upon once you’ve exhausted everything else, or a way to humiliate that AWPing scumbag who didn’t have the foresight to move after he killed you last time. There is an impressive array of melee weapons to choose from and, despite what you might have heard, they are not all the same with a different skin, Some are more powerful, some are faster, some even have larger areas of effect. However when it comes right down to it, they all perform the same basic function and once you know how to utilise them it simply becomes a matter of preference whether you prefer a Katana, Cricket Bat, Guitar or any of the other 5 melee weapons in the game.

Valve also more than doubled the selection of weapons available from Left 4 Dead but considering the range of choices back then this may be seen less as an improvement and more as a necessity to add some variety to the mix. You now have a range of primary weapons to choose from all with different attributes to suit every gamer and the introduction of the new pistol (Desert Eagle) is very welcome. Not content with simply providing new weapons however, Valve also gives you a small ability to upgrade them with Laser Sights which increase accuracy dramatically and two new types of ammo; Incendiary and Explosive. These new ammo types either set on fire or stun targets respectively. Nifty little tools which add another element of strategy to the game.

Speaking of strategy, it hits the ground running right from the beginning and if you don’t catch up, you will be left behind and you will die. With the introduction of three new special infected and 4 new uncommon infected, the forces stacked against your chances of survival have greatly increased since last time. Particularly in the new Realism mode, players must work very efficiently as a team if they hope to make it to the end of the campaigns. The difficulty has been stepped up since the previous game and you’ll also find that the pathing on infected has greatly improved along with the number of ways that they can approach you. The “running climaxes”, despite sounding like a dirty movie, really seal the deal in making Left 4 Dead 2 feel like a frantic struggle for survival in a highly dangerous world. It captures the feeling of survival that you might obtain by being the sole surviving team member on a paintball field, or watching from your University Classroom as “zombies” stream past in a game of Humans versus Zombies.

The campaigns are more evocative and story focused than they previously were. There is a much greater emphasis on story this time around and each campaign links to the next, creating a wonderful sense of progression from Dead Center all the way to the thrilling finale of The Parish. Standard old game types are back with Versus rearing its ugly, trash-talk inducing head. Survival, which was a recent addition to Left 4 Dead, returns and little has changed there either. Scavenge is an interesting new game mode similar to versus except the survivors must obtain enough gas to escape and the infected must stop them and I’ve already mentioned Realism mode. In regards to replayability, if you don’t play Left 4 Dead 2 with friends you probably won’t feel like you’ve gotten your moneys worth. This is a game where you really need to play it with other people to obtain the full satisfaction of working together to complete some quite difficult scenarios.

That and the AI is absolutely terrible. No really, there were complaints about the survivor AI back in the original and in a surprising case of back-pedaling, Valve has managed to make the surivor AI worse. Whether this is to further encourage teams and social play I don’t know. Oh there’s another thing I need to mention; you can now form teams and go up against other teams to make Versus and Scavenge matches a little more balanced for Average Joe who just hits “quick match”. I don’t know if this will really catapult Left 4 Dead 2 into the competitive market but you never know.

In the end, what is Left 4 Dead 2? It’s certainly fun. I would say it’s a lot more fun than the original Left 4 Dead, but I still don’t agree that it’s a sequel. To me, Left 4 Dead 2 feels more like the final release of a beta. A beta I had to pay fifty US dollars for. I would go so far as to say that it’s worth the investment, with the caveat that the original Left 4 Dead was not. Having seen how much they were able to improve upon in one year and knowing that it certainly wouldn’t have taken them that long to impliment these changes in the original game I can’t help but feel a little bit cheated out of money that I had a year ago. So I’d put this up as a recommendation. It’s a fun game with truly interesting concepts and I’m not going to get into the whole censorship debacle because we’re saving that for a different article. Enjoy your zombie killing mayhem!



…aunque esta en realidad no es tanto asi como de zombies sino de humanos rabiosos… Soy fan del ozcarizado Danny Boyle, incluso elementos permanentes de este espacio pertenecen a ideas sacadas de su trabajo; Trainspotting, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire y la precuela del film que hoy quiero presentarles son parte de mi colección de favoritas. El realizador britanico me parece excelente en todas sus chambas y luego de haber difrutado hace ya varios ayeres de “28 Days Later” o “Exterminio” como se llamó en Latino América me había quedado con ganas de ver la secuela que aunque no dirijió el, si produjo y estuvo muy cerca de la filmación.

Así pues un desconocido Juan Carlos Fresnadillo fué designado para llevar a cuadro “28 Weeks Later”(Exterminio 2), el español la verdad que hizo un buen trabajo y ya investigando un poco sobre el en internet, me parece necesario ver “Intacto” uno de sus trabajos anteriores y el corto “Esposados” por el que estuvo nominado al Oscar. Fresnadillo además parece ser apasionado aficionado al fútbol pues en “28 Weeks…” no dejó pasar la oportunidad de vestir a uno de los protagonistas con la camiseta del Real Madrid o usar un descuidado Estadio Wembley para una escena memorable. En la pelí la secuencia inicial es buenisima y desgarradora, asi como grotesca que es algo de lo mas atractivo que manejan las películas dentro de la categoría de “Zombies” o humanos rabiosos que para el caso es lo mismo. Robert Carlyle quien ya habia trabajado para Boyle en Trainspotting como el memorable Francis Begbie, protagoniza en esta pelí con una interpretación destacada en lo que se podría llamar digamos una interpretación doble.

La historia comenzó a contarse en 2002, cuando un grupo de activistas soltaron el virus de rabia en el Reino Unido que terminó por exterminar gran parte de la población. La historia continuó con la novela gráfica 28 Días Después: Las consecuencias para en 2007 estrenar la pelí con los sucesos que se dieron luego de 28 semanas, ya se a hablado de una tercera parte que volvería a dirigir Boyle y que posiblemente se desarrollaría en Francia y Rusia con fecha para el 2011 habra que esperarla ya con mas exigencia para Danny Boyle que ya es director de primer nivel luego de ganar tantos Oscar por Slumdog Millionaire…

I’ve never really been much into horror movies. Mostly because of associations with films like Nightmare on Elm St. and such, which aren’t really my cup of tea. However, realizing the silly popular horror films aren’t representative of horror films in general, I want to broaden my horizons a bit into the hugely diverse realm of scary(ish) movies. Thus, this year, I was struck with the inspiration to watch a different movie from the horror (or similar) genre every night on the days leading up to Halloween, culminating in a joyous viewing of my favorite related film, Shaun of the Dead.

Most of the films I watched were films I already planned on watching and this was just a good excuse to finally get to them, while some of the films were movies I probably never would have seen were it not for this Halloween themed celebration of film.

As your friend, I HIGHLY recommend checking out the trailers for the films, especially if you are unfamiliar with a particular film!

Day One: 28 Weeks Later

Sequels are always a dicey proposition. We’ve all had franchises we loved murdered by the likes of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the At World’s End type films of the past. Thus, when 28 Days Later got the sequel treatment but Danny Boyle didn’t return as director and none of the original cast came back, I avoided it like the plague. My assumption (an unfair one as it turned out) was that an American film studio had cranked out another mindless horror film and slapped the 28 Days Later moniker on it to add credibility.

Since it was while watching 28 Days Later a few weeks ago that I got the inspiration to watch a different horror movie every night leading up to Halloween, it only made sense to kick it off with 28 Weeks Later. It didn’t hurt the cause that I learned after deciding to watch it that Danny Boyle was involved creatively on the project even though he didn’t direct (he even directed some secondary unit stuff!).

Lots of zombie fans dislike the 28 films because they don’t like the fact that the infected aren’t officially undead and fans loathe even more the fact that the ‘zombies’ are fast (although Danny Boyle insists they aren’t zombies, much like George Romero did after Night of the Living Dead came out). I understand the trouble with zombies being created by a rage virus, but it isn’t a problem I share. 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later are both great films and while they do turn the zombie genre on its head, it is in the best possible way. The first 5 minutes of 28 Weeks Later may be the best zombie sequence I’ve ever seen.

28 Weeks isn’t as strong as 28 Days Later, but we still had a great time watching it. It will certainly make an appearance during ‘Halloween Moviefest 2010.’

Click the photo below to watch the trailer for the film, and to be honest, watching the trailer again I wonder why I waited so long to watch the movie!

Day Two: Let The Right One In

This film was hands down, by far, in every way my favorite new film watched during HM2009. It was quiet, understated, beautiful, while also deeply disturbing and troubling in the best possible way. It wasn’t particularly scary in the traditional sense, but maybe that’s just me. However, it was brilliant, moving, engaging storytelling that ruminates on the violence and desperation of vampire mythology, while also making it human by setting it in the pain, brokenness and grit of real life and childhood.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who can stomach a fair amount of blood and violent content. Again, click on the photo below to see the trailer.

Day Three: The Orphanage

The Orphanage was the second movie in a row that was more creepy than scary, which I am realizing is a great thing. Fortunately, it also continued the trend of great storytelling. A story of tragedy, loss, unfailing love, and creepy ghost children, it didn’t bring anything new to the table as far as ghost stories go, but it used the old conventions and devices to weave a moving, engaging tale. There were many similarities between The Orphanage and Poltergeist, but in all the places where Poltergeist swung and missed for me (which I’ll get to later) The Orphanage hit it out of the park!

As of night three, we were batting a thousand for film selections.

Day Four: Ghostbusters

What needs to be said? The primary reason for the inclusion of Ghostbusters is that it is the only film I knew my wife Emily would watch with us, so I wanted to get her in on the fun.

The movie is a classic, there aren’t many a child who grew up in the 80’s for whom the Ghostbusters weren’t a regular part of their lives. From Hi-C Ecto-cooler to ‘The Real Ghostbusters’ cartoon series, I would be a rich man if I had a dollar for every time I pretended to be busting ghosts as a kid.

Day Five: Poltergeist

This was included because of its status as a classic in the ghostly activity genre. I looked forward to catching up on what I’d been missing since I had been too much of  a wuss to watch it when I was young. Sadly, while it was intentionally funny fairly consistently, it was also unintentionally funny even more consistently. It wasn’t scary as much as it was flat out ridiculous. Maybe it was the era, maybe it was just my personal tastes, maybe it was how dated it is by now; whatever it was, I wasn’t impressed. I wasn’t scared or creeped out, I didn’t care about the characters at all, and I found myself wondering how much longer it was until the movie was over.

I respect the fact that it is a classic, that it was really well received critically, and that it was huge in the 80’s, so it must be me, I just wasn’t into the Poltergeist action.

Day Six: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

I had never seen Night of the Living Dead before. Obviously, as a fan of zombie lore I needed to finally be initiated into what became the inception of the modern zombie sub-genre. Sadly, much of the punch the film would have had for the original audiences was lost on me because I’ve already seen this material rehashed so many times, as well as because the legendary ending had been spoiled many times over.

However, I couldn’t help but appreciate how the effectively creepy, siege based storytelling which gives every viewer the opportunity to imagine how they would respond in the same situation spawned the sub-genre so close to my heart. If I had to pick characters from various zombie films who would be in my corner in the event of  a real zombie apocalypse, the films main character, Ben, would certainly be included!

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Day Seven: Part I – Evil Dead

Who doesn’t love Ash? There are plenty of complaints one can have about the Evil Dead franchise, and rightly so, but as a character you can’t find a more absurd, hilarious, over the top, bad ass than Bruce Campbell as Ashley Williams. I hadn’t actually seen Evil Dead before, I’d only seen Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. Since we knew later in the day we would be watching Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell it made perfect sense to kick things off with the film that started it all for Raimi. It was everything one might think it would be, much more an absurd, ultra-violent, ridiculous gore-fest as opposed to anything scary or frightening. Well, it was potentially frightening in one way, you may be frightened by the horrible thing on screen you just laughed at in any given scene like a pencil to the ankle or lopped off head.

Part II – Drag Me To Hell

Watching the trailers alone I had no plans to see Drag Me To Hell. However, when it consistently received great reviews from critics and wasn’t discarded as another mindless scary movie I took notice and decided to include it in HM2009. Boy am I glad I did. Drag Me To Hell was like Evil Dead with a brain. It embraced all of it’s camp and silliness and reveled in it. Staples to the forehead, a sacrificed kitten that resurfaced in the most ridiculous way later on, and a scary, gross old lady as the villain are just some of the delightfully absurd thrills the film offers. At the end of the day, it was just loads of fun to watch, and it was nice to see Raimi back at the top of his game.

As is always the case for trailers with embedding disabled, click on the photo to view the trailer.

Day Eight: Trick ‘r Treat

For the most part, I enjoyed Trick ‘r Treat. We are all quite familiar with stories that celebrate the joy, peace and love of the Christmas spirit. Well, this is a film that celebrates the fun, danger, terror and mischief of the Halloween spirit. Not as much a continuous story as a loose connection of stories that intersect (á la Pulp Fiction). Each storyline acts as a playful interaction with various conventions and myths of Halloween. It succeeds on a number of levels as a fun 90 minutes to spend on an October evening. It includes everything from Anna Paquin turning the story of Little Red Riding Hood on its head, to Dylan Baker as a serial killing principal, as well as Halloween’s version of Scrooge getting a dark lesson in celebrating Halloween the right way.

The biggest disappointment came from what had been my favorite part of the film for the majority of the movie. Wandering throughout the story is the spirit of Halloween. What looked like a creepy little kid trick or treating was actually a murderous little menace who had a list of who was naughty and who was nice, purely by Halloween standards. Instead of getting a lump of coal, you would instead die a gruesome death. The reason it wound up being a disappointment was because for a few brief minutes they remove the characters mask, and it was utterly ridiculous in the worst possible way. He immediately went from my favorite character of HM2009 to the most disappointing one. Sad. Hopefully I can have enough of a selective memory to edit the brief lame portion out of my head.

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Day Nine: Dead Snow

You really only need two words to understand what you’re getting into with Dead Snow: Nazi. Zombies.

As I tweeted immediately after watching: Dead Snow was campy, hilarious, gory as all hell, filled to the gills with movie reference tips of the cap, and soooooooooooo fun!

The folks who made this film love movies, and more, love zombie movies, and it comes through in every moment of this film. It was at once campy and beautifully shot, it was pitch perfect, and it had everything you could possibly want in a zombie movie, including bad ass victims who aren’t willing to go down without a fight. Also, while I won’t ruin the surprises for those who choose to watch it, it has one of the best scenes in the history of zombie films, as well as some of the best zombie fighting. Also a strength is that their numerous movie references are often subtle, and are always used to great effect as opposed to just pointing out that they are referencing a movie, it actually works on a storytelling level too.

These aren’t your grandfather’s zombies kids… well, unless your grandfather fought in WWII, then I guess technically they are his zombies. As opposed to being mindless flesh eating monsters, they are a bunch of bastards so evil and greedy they won’t stay dead, thus they still think and act like humans hellbent on getting back their Nazi treasure. When these zombies eat flesh, it’s because they think it’s fun, not because of a zombie bloodlust. Again, a different twist on zombie lore, and a great addition to the family!!!

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Day Ten: Dawn of the Dead [2004]

Sadly, I’d have to call the updated Dawn of the Dead the biggest disappointment of HM2009. I enjoyed it more than Poltergeist, but I wasn’t expecting as much. I really thought Dawn of the Dead was going to be an entertaining film, but instead it was just dumb. More often than not I was just yelling at the screen because of how frustrated I was with how infuriatingly dumb and illogical the characters in the film were. Also, while I don’t have a problem with fast zombies, the zombies in this film were more superhuman in their speed and agility. It makes sense that Danny Boyle’s zombies would act the way they do because they were overcome by pure rage, why Zac Snyder’s zombies have their attributes is completely inexplicable, but little girls can suddenly jump up like cats and zombies with no legs can swing around from pipes like apes. WTF?!?

As I summed it up on Twitter later that evening: Dumb.

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Day Eleven: Shaun of the Dead

The crown jewel of my plans for HM2009, this isn’t just one of my favorite zombie or horror movies, it’s one of my favorite movies. It succeeds on every level possible and delivers me so much joy, laughter and fun that it should probably be illegal. I LOVE this movie, and I’m so happy to have discovered another excuse to watch it. When we do HM2010, Halloween night will once again involve a viewing of Shaun of the Dead 

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I enjoyed doing the themed movie nights so much that I have already decided to continue doing more of the same. I did find out during this little experiment that they already do something similar over at Ain’t It Cool News, I guess great minds think alike or some such nonsense.

Next will be a Time Travel themed week or two of movie goodness. So far, off the top of our heads, the titles to be included are Primer, Time Bandits, Timecrimes, Back to the Future I & II, and Donnie Darko. I would LOVE suggestions on other great time travel movies that should be included! Sadly, I checked and Hot Tub Time Machine doesn’t come out until March. We aren’t waiting that long.

“Bleiben Sie hier drinnen, Ihnen wird nichts geschehen!”

Mit 28 Day Later wurde eine moderne Variation des Horrorfilms geboten, die mich seinerzeit sehr beeindruckt hatte. Vor allen Dingen die Eröffnung mit dem menschenleeren London hatte es in sich und leistete viel für die weitere Stimmung innerhalb des Films, der zwar an manchen Stellen vielleicht nicht immer logisch, dafür aber atmosphärisch top war. Fünf Jahre später schickte sich die Fortsetzung an, es dem Film gleich zu tun, und Skepsis ist bei Fortsetzungen, und besonders bei Fortsetzungen zu Horrorfilmen, ja grundsätzlich nichts Verkehrtes.

Der Film beginnt seine Handlung parallel zum ersten Teil: In einer abgeschiedenen Hütte hat sich eine Gruppe Menschen verbarrikadiert. Als das Haus von Infizierten gestürmt wird, kann Don Harris fliehen – allerdings mit dem Preis, seine Frau zurückzulassen. 28 Wochen später: Die Infektion ist besiegt und London wird wieder mit Menschen besiedelt. Auch Don wohnt schon dort und kann endlich seine Kinder, die während der Infektion in Spanien waren, dort aufnehmen. Als diese jedoch eines Tages ausreißen und ihr altes Haus besuchen, staunen sie nicht schlecht: Ihre Mutter lebt! Und obwohl sie infiziert ist, ist das Virus bei ihr nicht ausgebrochen. Die Ärztin Scarlet wittert die Chance, einen Impfstoff herzustellen, als erneut die Hölle über London hereinbricht…

Das war jetzt eine erstaunlich lange Inhaltsangabe für das, was in dem Film dann letztendlich tatsächlich passiert. Es passiert zwar einiges, doch lässt sich das auch in wenige Worte zusammenfassen: Eine stark schrumpfende Anzahl von Menschen flieht vor rasenden Infizierten. Das “rasend” ist übrigens mehrfach deutbar: Zum einen macht der Rage-Virus die Menschen tatsächlich wütend und rasend, zum anderen hat Boyle Glück, dass es sich um Infizierte handelt und keine Zombies, denn Zombies rennen ja bekanntlich nicht, aber die Kollegen aus diesem Film rennen wie der Teufel. Was irgendwie, und das war es leider auch schon in Teil 1, nicht ganz so bedrohlich wirkt wie langsames Schlurfen. Das man da leicht weglaufen kann, ist natürlich nur ein Gerücht, denn ich denke schon das wahre Zombies den gleichen Trick anwenden wie Leslie Vernon.

Während für manch einen London oder England im Allgemeinen für sich genommen schon angsteinflößend wirkt, so hatte die menschenleere, verlassene Stadt aus 28DL noch eine verstärkte Wirkung in diese Richtung. Die Fortführung baut darauf auf, immer wieder werden Szenen aus der Vogelperspektive gezeigt, in denen die Stadt daliegt wie eine Geisterstadt. Ganz im Kontrast zur wohl stärksten Szene des Films: Die angesiedelten Menschen fliehen aus einer Tiefgarage auf einen Platz, der vom Militär gesichert ist. Diese, unsicher wer noch Mensch und wer schon Infizierter (“Lebst du noch oder blutest du schon?”) erhalten den Befehl, alle zu töten. Was der Zuschauer dann ertragen muss, aus diversen Kameraperspektiven, unter anderem direkt durch die Visiere der Scharfschützen, wirkt schlimmer als das brutalste Abtrennen diverser Körperteile.

Der Film hat gute Szenen, keine Frage, davon auch mehrere. Das ist aber auf der anderen Seite auch sein Problem: Eine Aneinanderreihung großartiger Szenen, unterlegt mit etwas Tanzmusik, macht noch keinen großartigen Film. Was 28 Weeks Later fehlt, ist eine Identifikationsmöglichkeit mit den Akteuren. Mir war jedenfalls im Grunde jeder der Beteiligten relativ egal, die Motivation Dons seine gerettete Frau zu besuchen war mir scheißegal und den Zweifel des Scharfschützen dessen Namen ich schon wieder vergessen habe an den Befehlen seiner Vorgesetzten konnte ich auch nur erahnen. Das die Gruppe der Hauptpersonen im Laufe des Films auch immer kleiner wird, unterstützt das natürlich noch: Wieso soll ich mit Leuten mitfiebern, die ja eh gleich verrecken. Was ist überhaupt die Motivation der einzelnen Leute? Egal. Schnell zum nächsten Showdown.

Im Nachhinein finde ich es daher echt schwer, dem Film eine Bewertung anhand meiner Skala zu geben. Für eine Sieben fehlt mir eigentlich etwas, eine Sechs hört sich dann doch schlechter an als der Film tatsächlich ist, und etwas dazwischen gibt es nicht. Nehmt den Text als Grundlage, die Zahl als notwendiges Übel und packt etwas guten Willen dazu:

It all makes sense. They’re executing code red. Step 1: Kill the infected. Step 2: Containment. If containment fails, then Step 3: Extermination.

– Scarlet

The slick-looking 28 Weeks Later is a slight departure from the gritty goodness of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later. I actively avoided seeing this at the theater, because I thought that it would be a retread of a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo took over the director reigns with Danny Boyle serving as executive producer. This movie is a worthy follow-up.

This story follows a different group of survivors from the outbreak than the previous film. Donald (Robert Carlyle) and his wife, Alice (Catherine McCormack) are hiding out in an older couple’s house when the infected bust into the house. He cowardly leaves his wife behind with the infected in order to escape.

Over the next 28 weeks, the infected with the rage virus have died from starvation. American forces resolve the situation in London. It is declared free from the infection. The rebuilding begins with the survivors.

Fifteen thousand survivors are allowed back in London before they go into quarantine, then the refugee camps. The survivors are living on the Isle of Dogs, a safe haven for the survivors aka District 1. The surrounding areas are contaminated for the dead infected that hasn’t been cleaned up yet.

Donald’s kids, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) are reunited with them. They wonder where their mother is at and Donald bends the truth about what happened to her.

After having a nightmare, Andy fears that he might forget what his mother looks like. The kids sneak away from the island where a sniper, Doyle (Jeremy Renner) spots them. They go back to their old house. In the process of getting their, Andy finds his mother hiding in the upstairs. She appears not to be an infected.

She is quartered in a special area of the Island where Scarlet (Rose Byrne) examines her. She determines that Alice contains the virus, because of her genetic mutation is immune to the infection, but she is a carrier of the virus. Unbeknownst to Donald that sees her later on when the virus is reignited.

This movie is more schizophrenic that it’s predecessor. Some sequences were too jarring and frantic for my taste. I didn’t like at the last half of the movie. The texture is a little off trying to make midday into night. There are some inconsistencies and plot-holes that bothered me. I will discuss them in the spoiler section.

There were some interesting ideas in this movie about Andy and how his same mutation could help contain the rage virus.

Judgment: A solid installment in this franchise that does have its flaws.

Rating: ****

(SPOILER SECTION)

The amount of time that the rage virus takes effect varies. When one girl is bitten, she turns in two seconds flat. When Don is bitten, there has to be a minute sequence for him to change.

I don’t understand how when Doyle, Scarlet and the kids got into the car when the nerve gas waft in. They were covering up their mouths. When the infected swarmed the car, why did the kids have to scream with their uncovered mouths?

When Don gets turned into one of the infected, he follows the kids from the containment lab to the streets of District One to that abandoned subway station. Huh?

The last shot of the movie when the infected are running towards the Eiffel Tower. How could that happen? Did they swim the English Channel to get into France?

With each successive episode of STARGATE UNIVERSE, I like the abrasive characters more and more.

Dr. Rush

This week’s episode gave us a closer look at perhaps the most abrasive, Dr. Nicholas Rush, who appears to be a literal mad scientist. Robert Carlyle is best known on U.S. shores for starring in The Full Monty, but I last saw him in the horror sequel 28 Weeks Later, in which he also played a character that was difficult to like. But nothing like Dr. Rush. While the rest of the crew stranded on Destiny tried to joke about their terrible predicament – witness the cracks about Eli’s and Scott’s personal hygiene – Rush was rushing about, snapping at people.  He even threw Riley up against a wall for daring to “interrupt” his work. Col. Young is willing to try to work with Rush, but Rush acts like every word he is forced to share with someone else costs him in blood or life-force. Rush recognized the cascading power failures are a dire threat, but he could not be bothered to explain it to the others, who thought the blackouts were just annoying. Rush thinks that if no one else can understand the scope of a problem, they should at least accept his assessment without question.  After all, if the great Dr. Nicholas Rush thinks it’s important, then it is important. Volker, the astrophysicist, tried to help, but Rush shouted him down and belittled him like a child. I think the key to Rush was encapsulated in his rant to Young, in which he charged: “It was your reckless, pointless attempt to dial Earth that robbed me of the time I needed to solve this problem!” There it is: Rush is   personally offended by all the others acting as if they might save the day. This should be his moment. After all, as he also pointed out, “I’m the only qualified person!” But then he passed out due to the combination of stress and caffeine/nicotine withdrawal, so… so much for that super brain. What a guy!

For me, it’s a toss-up between Rush and MIT-dropout Eli (more on him later) for favorite-character honors.

Ok it’s that time of year when it gets cold and you put on your costume also know as October. What do you think of when you hear the word October? Candy? Costumes? Parties? A month? No the right answer is SCARY MOVIES! So here are a few scary movies that will knock your socks off. Click each movie to see a trailer.

Note: not all movies listed below are suitable for all ages.

1. The Exorcist
2. ALIEN
3. Dawn of the Dead, remake,
4. Halloween, remake
5. Night of the Living Dead, remake
6. The Shining
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street
8. Psycho
9. Friday the 13th
10. An American Werewolf in London
11. Carrie
12. May
13. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, remake
14. The Descent
15. Jaws
16. The Silence of the Lambs
17. 28 Days Later ( after this 28 weeks later then 28 months later )
18. Shaun of the Dead
19. The Sixth Sense
20. Saw ( after this saw 2, the saw 3, saw 4, saw 5, saw 6)
21. Final Destination (after that final destination 2, then final destination 3, then the final destination)

If you have any other movies that you think should be on the list leave a comment

In the country nearby London, Don, his wife Alice and a few survivors live hidden in a farmhouse. When infected people break in the house, Dan panics and does not help his wife to escape, running away and leaving Alice trapped inside the room. Twenty eight weeks after the outbreak that annihilated the population of Great Britain, London is considered safe and the British survivors return under the coordination of the American Army, that keeps the city under permanent surveillance. The teenager Tammy and her younger brother Andy travel back from Spain to live with their father Don in London. They miss their mother and decide to escape to their old house to retrieve pictures and some other personal belongings. However, they find Alice surprisingly alive and the Army brings her to the base. After some blood test, the biologist Scarlet discovers that Alice is a carrier of the lethal virus and somehow has immunity to it. Meanwhile, Don sneaks through the facility to say how sorry he is to Alice, who forgives him. When he kisses her, he is immediately contaminated, spreading a new epidemic.

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1. The Science Of Superheroes – University of California at Irvine.

The world of superheroes is one of magic, achieving the impossible, and ultimately a perfect world. However that’s not to say that science does not fuel such a world. For example, I think it’s common knowledge that Superman has to take into account how much drag his cape is producing in order to successfully fly through the air at a certain speed. Of course, Batman has to use that supercharged brain of his to use the correct mathematical angles applicable in unbelievable circumstances to pull off a successful grapple hook latching. That’s not even bringing in the possibility of genetically engineered human beings as the result of radioactive spiders, whose silk’s tensile strength beats that of industrial grade steel. All of these things are explained, and even encouraged in this bizarre yet ultimately wonderfully engineered course to explore the realm of implausible impossibility.

2. Philosophy and Star Trek – Georgetown University.

Let’s be honest here, how many of you would like to know the probability of achieving warp speed? -raises hand- Oh, I’m the only one. Oh well. Unfortunately that question is probably not going to be answered in this course, but they do apply philosophical ideas to the Star Trek universe, such as the ‘Brain in the vat’ theory, and ask questions such as ‘Is time travel possible? Can we really go back and kill our own grandfathers? and ‘Can data be a person?’. The course is described as:

An introduction to certain topics in metaphysics and epistemology philosophy, centered around major philosophical questions that come up again and again in Star Trek.

3. Religion and Conflict in Battlestar Galactica – Washington University

What more could a Battlestar Galactica fan ask for? No really, what? Because if you aren’t convinced by the mention of it, just read what Washington have to say: “The contrasting theologies of the humans and Cylons, their mutually exclusive destinies, and the many moral and ethical issues raised provide us with an accessible point from which to delve into real problems.  Some of the topics include: religion in government, suicide terrorism, monotheism vs. polytheism, and bio-ethical dilemmas.” The beauty of it, is that no previous knowledge of Battlestar Galactica is required. In fact, every week on the course, select episodes are chosen and watched during lectures and afterwards, the themes presented in the show are discussed. Sounds like a star of a course to me.

4. Zombies in Popular Media. – Columbia College, Chicago

How much did you love Shaun of The Dead? Dawn of The Dead? Day of the Dead? Night of the Living Dead (anyone see a pattern here?). What about the upcoming Zombieland, looking forward to that? Well if so, you can now opt to do a course in Zombie studies at Columbia College. According to the website, this is what the course is about:

This course explores the history, significance, and representation of the zombie as a figure in horror and fantasy texts. Instruction follows an intense schedule, using critical theory and source media (literature, comics, and films) to spur discussion and exploration of the figure’s many incarnations. Daily assignments focus on reflection and commentary, while final projects foster thoughtful connections between student disciplines and the figure of the zombie.

5. Stepping Through the Stargate: Applied Ethics with a Kwoosh – University Of Washington (again?)

Much like the Battlestar Galactica course, this offers the same academic path in terms of the use of the show during lectures, with similar discussion afterwards. They had this to say: ”Science fiction offers a fertile ground for the exploration and study of ethical issues, but is often set in dystopian or utopian cultures very different from our own. This coure intends to utilize the near-present science fiction television series Stargate: SG1 to explore issues of applied ethics as they relate to our contemporary society. Set only a week or two ahead of our own time, this show offers an ideal framework to explore a broad variety of culturally relevent ethical issues.”

Zombieland (2009)
★★★ / ★★★★

I love zombie movies because I’m fascinated with the idea of the dead taking over the world of the living. (Did I mention I have nightmares about zombies?) Not to mention zombie flicks usually have social commentaries which were not absent in this little gem. “Zombieland,” directed by Ruben Fleischer, stars Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus, who wants to make his way to Ohio to be reunited with his parents. On the road, he meets Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee, a man on a mission to find Twinkies; Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as Wichita and Little Rock, respectively, sisters who initially look innocent but turn out to have a knack for survival. The very “28 Days Later”-like gathering of very different people was smart because all of them yearned for that rare human connection in a world full of flesh-eating monsters. All four of them eventualy head to Southern California in order to find refuge with other humans. I love this movie’s self-awareness. It seemed to know its strengths which were highlighted in the beginning of the film as Eisenberg described his survival guide. It was done with such craft because the jokes were genuinely laugh-out-loud funny so the realization that it was all a gimmick later on became insignificant. The flashback scenes were done well, especially how Eisenberg’s character reflected on how much of a loser he was back when humans still ruled the planet–staying in on a Friday night playing video games, not socializing with people, and not getting enough attention from girls. A lot of people compare him to Michael Cera but I think there’s an important difference between the two. I think Eisenberg’s awkwardness is edgy and his characters usually have a certain toughness. Cera’s awkwardness, on the other hand, is softer and cuter–the kind that makes you go “Aww” and maybe pet him afterwards. That awareness was also highlighted via pop culture references from Russell Crowe, Facebook to Ghostbusters. Comparisons to “Shaun of the Dead” is inevitable because it is a horror-comedy about zombies. But I think “Zombieland” is a little scarier because the characters didn’t stop to analyze a zombie, imitate, and make quirky comments about them. All of that said, I had one problem with the film. I thought it slowed down a bit somewhere in the middle because it spent too much of its time showing the characters bickering on the road. It got redundant and such scenes could have been taken out and instead added terrifyingly slow suspenseful scenes. Lastly, I thought the final showdown at the carnival was inspired. The movie was able to find ways on how to kill zombies using the rides or the characters using the rides to their advantage. It made me want to ride a rollercoaster right then and there. I’ve read audiences’ reviews about how surprised they were with how good the movie was. To be honest, right after I saw the trailer for the first time, I had a sneaky feeling that it was going to be good. It certainly didn’t disappoint and in some ways exceeded expectations. If you love zombie movies, blood and guts, cameos, and pop culture allusions all rolled into one, then see this immediately. It’s total escapism and it has the potential to get better after multiple viewings.

Dnia wczorajszego pomyślałem, iż dzisiaj uniknę dołowania się, oglądając filmy. Naiwne niczym słoń ukrywający się za myszą, ale w końcu czemu by nie. Pozostał tylko wybór gatunku. Dramaty to nie najlepszy pomysł, komedię mam zarezerwowaną na poniedziałek… któryś, zaś science fiction wymaga porzucenia wszelkich myśli. Został horror. Teraz, po jakie sięgnąć produkcje? W ciągu kilku, ostatnich lat, przed moimi oczami nie przewinął się żaden film, który mógłbym określić strasznym. Owszem, było parę takich, co zapadły w pamięć, ale nic poza tym. Zaufajmy więc ocenom na internetowych serwisach. “28 dni później”, “28 tygodni później”, “REC” oraz jego amerykański remake, “Kwarantanna” i “Sierociniec”.

Czemu twórcy są tak mało oryginalni? Mówię teraz o “28 dni później”, jak i również jego kontynuacji. Tajemnicza choroba, rozprzestrzeniająca się jak plotka z kolorowych pism o orientacji seksualnej Zakościelnego, która zdziesiątkowała ludność Wielkiej Brytanii, zamieniając jej większość w istoty będące przykładem ostatniego etapu ewolucji człowieka. W tym wszystkim znalazło się paru ocalałych, którzy mają gdzieś aktualny stan rzeczy i obchodzi ich jedynie dołączenie do innych żywych, by przypadkiem nie umierać samotnie. A i tak na koniec, Angole, nie chcąc być samolubami, wysyłają wirus jako prezent do innych krajów. Klimat do tej scenki tworzy jednak przede wszystkim muzyka, która musiała być komponowana przez głuchego i w dodatku upośledzonego. W końcu przyjemniej jest się przyglądać spokojnemu spacerkowi głównego bohatera przy mocnych brzmieniach, czyż nie? Pierwsza część, “(…) dni (…)”, nieco lepsza o dwójki, “(…) tygodni (…)”.

Hiszpański “REC” oraz jego amerykański odpowiednik, “Kwarantanna”, najwidoczniej postanowiły nie wychodzić z tłumu, dając straszne “coś”, opierające się wyłącznie na szybkim machaniu kamerą. Czemu ludziom tak bardzo spodobał się film “Blair Witch Project”? Czyżby sądzili, że całe nagranie było naprawdę autentyczne? Nowatorskie podejście do przedstawienia całego filmu z perspektywy zwykłej, kamery cyfrowej, dzierżonej przez jednego z bohaterów. Pomysł całkiem niezły, ale wykonanie do bani. W każdym razie, teraz twórcy kopiują tę ideę i osadzają w nowych klimatach. Reporterka, próbująca za wszelką cenę zaistnieć, postanowiła odwiedzić strażaków wraz ze swoim kamerzystą, podczas nocnej zmiany. Trafiła akurat, na jej nieszczęście, na akcję, dzięki czemu cieszy się niczym dziecko, które dostało lizaka. Na miejscu, po pewnym czasie okazuje się, iż wszyscy ludzie wewnątrz budynku mają najzwyczajniej w świecie przesrane, bo jak inaczej nazwać wirusa, który najpierw zamienia człowieka w bezmózgiego idiotę, a potem każe mu szukać następnych do zabawy. Mówiłem już o braku oryginalności twórców? Tak, czy siak, budynek zostaje odizolowany, a ludzie zostawieni samym sobie, no i oczywiście bezmózgi zostawione samym… ludziom. Wszyscy kolejno giną, naturalnie pozwalając dwójce głównych bohaterów umrzeć na samym końcu. Kamera zaś zostaje na strychu i to pewnie bardzo zirytowana, ponieważ najwidoczniej ma nigdy niekończącą się baterię. Jak już mówiłem, próby przestraszenia widza ograniczają się tylko do machania obrazem i darcia mordy. Nic ciekawego oraz słaba fabuła. Tak swoją drogą, śmiesznie było usłyszeć tekst “Lepiej, byście nie używali zbyt ostrego języka” od Jennifer Carpenter, grającej w serialu “Dexter” przyrodnią siostrę głównego bohatera, która słynie właściwie jedynie z rzucania wykwintnymi wulgaryzmami.

Na sam koniec “Sierociniec”, o którym będzie najmniej. Czemu? Bo nie mogę tego nazwać horrorem. Dramatem i owszem, ale z pewnością nie tym pierwszym. Jedynym, straszniejszym momentem było nagłe zamknięcie drzwi od szafki, jednak poza tym nie wydarzyło się nic, co zmusiłoby moje serce do szybszego bicia. Film o idiotce, która przez adoptowanego syna, postanowiła odrzucić prawdziwe życie i zamieszkać razem z osieroconymi dziećmi, z którymi mogła bawić się w dom i inne pierdoły. Ajć, zdradziłem zakończenie. W takim razie przynajmniej o wszystkim przed tym nie będę opowiadać, bo w zasadzie nie ma o czym. Ot, pewna pani mając bardzo ciekawą przeszłość, postanowiła wraz z mężem otworzyć sierociniec. Przez całkowite olanie adoptowanego, chorego na większość paskudztw świata synalka, gubi go gdzieś na przyjęciu. Po dziewięciu miesiącach wreszcie wpada na to, by zacząć jakiekolwiek poszukiwania, czego efektem jest stopniowe tracenie kontaktu z rzeczywistością i w końcu dołączenie do swojego, przepraszam, nie swojego syna w nowym, lepszym świecie. Usypiacze w dużych ilościach górą! Oj, a miałem nie mówić. Film nudny, dziurawa fabuła oraz idiotyczne zakończenie.

To nie były recenzje. To były tylko jak najkrócej opisane moje poglądy o wybranych filmach. Jest już po pierwszej w nocy, a ja jutro, właściwie to już dzisiaj, muszę wcześnie wstać, więc nie mogłem sobie pozwolić na dłuższe pisanie. W każdym razie, żadna z tych produkcji nie zrobiła na mnie jakiegokolwiek wrażenia. Czy jeszcze trafię na horror, podczas którego będę się zmuszać, by nie odwracać wzroku? Naprawdę chciałbym.

Periodically I will list my top 10 list for films in certain genres. These films are my favorite of the genre and not necessarily the best reviewed, but I don’t care if people disagree.

Since it’s the first day of October, I guess it’s time to get in the Halloween spirit. Below is my top 10 list for best horror films.

10. The Ring- Watching this movie 90 times since it came out has lessened the scariness of the film, but it’s still a great film. The weirdness of the video when you first see it and the manner people’s bodies are found after a visit from the little girl are very freaky. Always wondered what would happen if you smashed the tv screen before she came out of it, or didn’t own any television or computer screens?

9. Night of the Living Dead (1968)- A classic Romero zombie movies. Personally, I love zombie movies, but it’s hard to find good ones. This one is a classic and probably would be terrifying if I saw it in the 60’s. It’s not very scary now, but still very well done. The scene where the little girl kills her mother in the basement still gives me the chills.

8. Amityville Horror (1979)- The 1979 version is much creepier and closer to the supposed “true story,” than the newer version. It has some classic horror scenes that remind me of “The Exorcist.” Plus, there is just a grittiness to 70’s horror movies that I love.

7. Halloween- The only slasher movie I can really enjoy and watch multiple times. There is just genius in this film and some great scares. The Rob Zombie doesn’t even come close to the original, though it does have a cool soundtrack.

6. Dawn of The Dead (2004)- Like I said before, I love zombie movies. This is the only one of the Romero re-makes that were cleverly done and a lot of fun to watch. The opening scenes are also pretty creepy, zombie children are messed up.

5. 28 Weeks Later- The sequel isn’t as good as the original, but this is still an incredible movie and scary. These zombies don’t mess around. They are all like zombie versions of Usain Bolt, not the old slow clumsy kind. Also, the opening scene in this movie is classic.

4. Exorcism of Emily Rose- This “true story” is nothing like the actual true story, but is scarier. There are many terrifying scenes in this movie, from the boyfriend waking up to Emily contorted on the floor, to her screaming talking many different languages in a barn.

3. 28 Days Later- This zombie flick revitalized the zombie movie genre, giving it new life. This is a zombie movie that will actually scare you. The soundtrack is also pretty creepy.

2. The Shining- A classic. One of the few Stephen King novel turned movie that are actually good (sorry, Sometimes They Come Back… Again). Jack Nicholson is the perfect crazy person. Some of the images are truly disturbing and terrifying. The scene when Nicholson goes into the room and the woman comes out of the tub is one of the scariest scenes ever.

1. The Exorcist- Don’t really have to say much about why this is number 1. If you watch it you know. Incredibly scary, especially for movies that came out in 1973. When I was little I loved horror movies, I used to watch Jason, Chucky, Freddy, and a bunch of other bad 80’s horror films all by myself at night, from the time I was 4 to 6. My parents naturally thought something might be wrong with me. One day my father came home with “The Exorcist,” and said to me, “let’s see how much you love scary movies after you watch this.” I maybe made it 25 minutes. I never fully watched this movie again until I was 14.

This decade has not been very good for horror movies. The types of horror movies that plagued theaters this year were either J-Horror remakes, torture porn, or remakes of classic horror by untalented individuals whose only directing experiences is making music videos.

However, that does not mean that all horror movies were bad. When there was a horror movie that stood apart from the rest it was usually crowded pleasing or truly great. These movies were not necessarily straight horror movies. Some were more dramatic, some were comedic, and some were more thriller than horror, but due to the poor state of the horror genre they will be included here.

Without further ado, here are my picks for the best horror movies of the decade.

10. House of Wax

Jaume Collet-Serra, 2005

I had a really hard time deciding whether or not to put this on my list. On one hand, it is a horribly written movie with some really bad performances and full of the usual horror clichés. On the other hand, it is meticulously produced movie with a couple of good performances, a great finale, one of the most inspired villains in horror movies (but that’s not saying much), and one of the most pleasing death scenes in probably the history of cinema. Eventually the latter reasons won, because there were not many horror movies that could claim the same things.

9. The Strangers

Bryan Bertino, 2008

Most recent main-stream horror movies rely on shocking images to scare the viewers (i.e. cutting off limbs, gore, gruesome images), so it was nice to see a movie that relied on atmosphere and just creepy images to achieve its goal, and it succeeds. The dark cinematography combined with the simple masks, and effective performances from Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, makes an effect that creeps up your skin throughout the movie and by the end you are completely terrified and makes you go out and check if there are no creepy people stalking you.

8. The Ring

Gore Verbinski, 2002

This was the first of the many J-Horror remakes and it remains the best. The script was not a play-by-play remake of the original but rather adapted it for American audiences and fixed the flaws that the original had. Also, Gore Veribiski’s direction and Naomi Watts’ great performance helped the movie feel more believable. After this studios would approach the original directors to make the remakes of their movies. That didn’t always work because some of the scares got lost in translation and the actors did not bring the seriousness that Watts brought to her character.

7. The Orphanage

Juan Antonio Bayona, 2007

Althought there were aspects of this that annoyed me quite a bit, such as the set designs, this is a great ghost story. Juan Antonio Bayona, in his directorial debut, crafts a suspenseful and unpredictable mystery, anchored by Belen Rueda’s great performance. Hopefully Guillermo Del Toro, an executive producer on this one, will get some equally bright talent for the upcoming remake.

6. Slither

James Gunn, 2006

Based on the commercials I knew that this wasn’t going to be a typical zombie movie. I mean, alien worms coming to earth in order to expand their kind by turning people into zombies? I had never seen that before. Add to that a clever script, James Gunn’s fun direction, Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks and you have one of the most memorable horror comedies in a while, and it was until #2 on the list came out.

5. The Skeleton Key

Iain Softley, 2005

This movie came out as the PG-13, J-Horror remake craze was on it’s downturn. They were starting to be bad and audiences weren’t paying much attention to them. For this reason, this movie was somewhat of a financial failure. That is too bad, because this ORIGINAL story was better than all the remakes that had come out and come out since. Kate Hudson gives her best performance since Almost Famous as a nurse who is taking care of an elderly couple. Strange things happen in the couple’s house, some coming from the Lady of the house, the great Gena Rowlands. Although the movie is PG-13, that does not mean that it doesn’t have a few scares. It relies on the supernatural to deliver the thills rather than the gore, and the ending I did not see coming.

4. 28 Days Later & 28 Weeks Later

Directed by Danny Boyle, 2002 | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007

The best of the many zombie movies of the decade. Danny Boyle’s Days explored the lives of a few survivors of a biological attack in London that turned people into super zombies, that is zombies that can run fast. The script by Alex Garland had character that we cared about and sometimes hated and it delivered on the scares. The sequel, executive produced by Boyle but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, continues  the story as a select group of survivors are transported to a zone that has been cleared off, but there is danger out there, and the conscience of a man who made wrong choice will make everything happen again. Weeks is more action-oriendted, but that does not mean it is inferior. It has equal amounts of thrills as the previous one and the social commentary is still there.

3. Let the Right One In

Tomas Alfredson, 2008

Not a horror movie like others, but rather a love story involving vampires. It will forever be compared to Twilight for this (or as long as that fad lasts), although they could not be completely different. In terms of story, this is about finding a friend when no one seems willing to be one; about the consequences of being an immortal creature and the effect it takes on those that care for them, about the way society looks at outcasts. In terms of filmmaking, Alfredson has more talent than any one who has signed on for that other franchise. He, along with his team has crafted a film that relies heavily on the cinematography and the performances to establish and carry the mood of the movie. The script is brilliant, and the score is subtle but breathtaking.

2. Drag Me To Hell

Sam Raimi, 2009

Sam Raimi started his career directing horror movies, among them the Evil Dead series, which now has cult classing status. After many years, he finally returned to his roots with Drag Me to Hell, and it did not disappoint. First off, this movie is fun. It features some great visual gags, and fights that had the audience I watched it with laughing. There were also some genuine frights, among them the impressive opening scene and the unexpected ending, but since this is a Raimi movie, I should have expected it. The I thought about the ending for days after I watched it, which is something that only #1 on the list did

1. The Mist

Frank Darabont, 2007

No other studio-produced horror movie left me this shocked. Rather than being about the unspeakable horror that lie in the strange mist, this movie is about how humans react to such situations; about how religion takes hold of most people, leaving rational thinking behind. Throughout the movie we get to care for the characters, which makes the ending even more shocking. I can’t say too much without going into spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that The Mist is the best horror movie of the decade, the only movie that delivers everything that a horror movie should offer.

Honorable mentions: The Others (2001), The Host (2007), Trick ‘r Treat (2009), Bug (2007).

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave your comments about the list.

Today I was inspired to write about zombies. Mostly because of my boyfriend, who had a dream about them – and who thinks we should have a plan just in case of an apocalypse. But to be fair, what exactly are the chances of both of us surviving, and finding each other when one lives in Norway and one in Scotland? Needless to say, I am the pessimist in our relationship.

Not sure what movie this is from, does anyone know?

Origin of Zombies
A zombie is a creature who can be found in myths, folklore and popular culture, and is usually a reanimated and mindless human body with a wish to kill. The stories originated from the Afro-Caribbian spiritual belief system of Vodou. A sorcerer has the ability to resurrect dead people, and as the zombie has no mind of its own, it remains under the sorcerers control. Wikipedia tells the following story: Zora Neale Hurston was in 1937 in Haiti researching folklore when she came across the case of a woman returning to town. According to locals, she was Felicia Felix-Mentor, a woman who had died and been buried 30 years earlier. Hurston explained that the affected must have been on powerful drugs, however she was not able to prove it. She said the following: “What is more, if science ever gets to the bottom of Voodoo in Haiti and Africa, it will be found that some important medical secrets, still unknown to medical science, give it its power, rather than gestures of ceremony.”

In the 1980s Harvard-ethnobotanist Wade Davis claimed that a living person can be turned into a zombie by two special powders being entered into the blood stream (usually via a wound). The first one contains the same poison found in pufferfish – tetodrotoxin, and the second one is a phsychoactive drug. Apparently these two powders combined will put the victim in a death-like state and be under complete control of the sorcerer. His theory has been critizised by many scientists. It’s not very likely that haitian witch doctors can keep people in such a state over several years, and the symptomes from being poisoned by these powders doesn’t match Davis’ claims.

Nazis are creepy, zombies are creepy. Voila. Norwegian movie Død Snø - Dead Snow

Zombies in popular culture
Needless to say, zombies are amazingly popular, especially in books, games and movies. There are too many movies to even begin listing here, so I’m gonna cheat and link you to Wikipedias list of Zombie films. What is important to be aware of here though, is that the original concept of mindless bodies being controlled by someone else is interperated in many ways. Although some of them are controlled by evil geniuses, some of them also pop out of their graves for unknown reasons, and a theme that have grown in popularity over the past few years, are people being zombified by a virus.

Left 4 Dead, (a zombie game I enjoyed to the length of seeing zombies when I closed my eyes) is only one of many zombie games on the market today

I am Legend (2007) features a cancer vaccine gone wrong. 28 days later (2002) is about a virus outbreak that started when chimps infected with “rage” are released. [REC] (2007) is a spanish movie about a strange outbreak hitting an apartment complex – and also a movie I can highly recommend. Dawn of the Dead (1978+2004) features a mysterious outbreak which leads to a massive amount of zombies.

28 Weeks Later - sequal of 28 days later - is a fast paced zombie movie

The list goes on and on, but what seemed to spark the zombie-interest in popular culture was George A. Romero’s black and white movie Night of the Living Dead from 1968. I haven’t seen the movie, but looking at the written plot it’s about an ‘epidemic of mass murder’, with a female main character (who has later been critized by feminists for being helpless and catatonic). Colourised versions have been released later, in 1986, 1997 and 2004. Several spin-offs have also been released, and this movie has been a major inspiration of many, many of todays zombie movie directors.

Night of the Living Dead - an inspiration for many of todays zombie movies

Zombies and swine flu
What I discovered today while browsing through zombie-related pages on the internet, was the story of (A)H1N1 – or swine flu – having mutated into a new strain called H1Z1. This story was released earlier this year, in May as far as I understood from the various sources. It started as a website looking identical to the BBC news website, where the headline was “EU quarantines London in flu panic”. The article describes how the new virus restarts the heart as long as 2 hours after death, and how the victim behaves with extremely violent and angry tendencies. Further on it tells that the World Health Organisation (WHO) urges everyone to stay at home, and it pulls out examples of happenings world wide – one of which a 3 year old child came back to life and leapt at his mother.

The website has now been closed as far as I know, but if anyone has a readable screenshot, or the text, feel free to put it in the comments section. A well-planned hoax that many people fell for, should we believe comments on various sites online.

Michael Jacksons 'Thriller' features dancing zombies

Surviving an apocalypse
So, with zombies being such a big threat for us at the moment, everyone should be prepared for the apocalypse. Luckily, many books and websites tell you exactly what to do to survive. If you’re clever, you can even calculate how fast the virus will spread etc. If the maths doesn’t comfort you, you can buy Max Brooks’ book the Zombie Survival Guide. Or, if you’re not interested to pay for advice, you can always look online. Here are 3 of the pages I came across when googling for help:

- Wired.com – How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse
- Kuro5hin.org – How to Survive a Zombie Attack
- Youtube.com – How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse (video)

So, are you prepared?

Plants Vs Zombies, a strategy game where you defend your house by planting epic plants. Highly recommended.

I am Legend is about a cancer vaccine gone wrong. As a sidenote, this movie spread fear about the safety of vaccines.

[REC] (2007)
★★★ / ★★★★

Having seen and being impressed with the remake called “Quarantine,” I just had to see the original. I think both are very effective even though they pretty much had the same scenes. In “[REC],” astutely directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, it had less exposition but the audiences quickly cared about the reporter (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman. The reporter had a certain spunk and enthusiasm and what the cameraman saw, we saw so there was an automatic connection there. Everything starts off pretty light as the reporter interviewed the firemen about their every day happenings. Things quickly went for a darker turn when the firefighters got a call from an old apartment complex. At first, they thought it was just an old woman that fell and needed help. But when she started attacking and biting people, everyone pretty much knew that something more sinister was going on. People started dying in gruesome ways in the hands of zombie-like infected people and they get quarantined by city officials without an ounce of explanation. What I love about this film was its natural ability to build tension after each scene. There were moments when I thought that if I was stuck in the building with them, the exact same thing could happen so I was definitely more than engaged. “The Blair Witch Project” was undoubtedly this picture’s biggest inspiration but it managed to tilt just enough to have an identity of its own. The best part of the movie for me was the last fifteen to twenty minutes when they finally made it inside the apartment on the top floor. Such scenes revealed to us that it had more to it than “28 Days Later”-like zombies. The disease had a history and I wanted to know more about it. (Maybe a sequel?) But, of course, the scares did not end there. I felt like I was in that dark room with them as they tried to use the night vision option on the camera. I tried not to blink because I was expecting those “shock”/”jumpy” moments. But even then I was surprised and things popped out of nowhere. If one is a horror film fan, this is a must-see. However, this is definitely not for those who dislike shaky cameras in order to add some type of realism to its craft.

Somehow at work I seem to have become known as the girl who likes zombies. I find this somewhat perplexing given the fact that, while true, I have never really discussed zombies with the majority of my co-workers. That’s, of course, not to say that I haven’t spoken about them some, they’re bound to come up from time to time. After all, they are zombies and thus inherently awesome.

The first zombie movie I ever saw was Tom Savini’s version of Night of the Living Dead. I was at a horribly awkward party and I found that focusing my attention on the television screen was a much better use of my time than socializing with the people around me. [Yes, this is somewhat consistent in my life, I’ll admit. I’m a horrible socializer, and there was a television. Though I do think I have improved by spades, mostly with the careful (or not so careful) application of alcohol. I can be very chatty when properly lubricated.] I’d like to say that watching this first zombie film was a revelation in my life, but it wasn’t. It was just another movie; it wasn’t until much later that my love of the genre peaked, and I honestly couldn’t tell you when. But the fact remains; I love them. I even love the crappy ones. I don’t play video games, and I will say that if Resident Evil had been about pretty much anything else I might not have liked it, as it is… I’ve even watched the sequels. 28 Weeks Later… was ridiculous (I’m sorry, they flamethrowed their own, for no apparent reason. Random flamethrowation.) But I’ve considered buying it, just to round out my collection, of course, and even though they are technically not zombies.

The thing that impresses me about zombie movies is this; no matter how the dead were reanimated to become said zombies the way of killing them generally remains the same. While zombies are walking corpses with an insatiable hunger for human flesh their existence always seems dependant on one thing, the brainstem. You can shoot a zombie through the heart at point blank range with a semi-automatic Remington 1100 and all you’ll get is a hole in it’s chest. You can send a rocket launcher after those things. It might be blown apart, but so long as its mouth is still somewhat intact its head will loll and still try and bite you. What’s worse, they’re still contagious. However, destroy the brain, destroy the zombie.

K and J and I have a pact drawn from considerable zombie movie watching. It seems like, at least, once a film a character becomes unwilling to dispatch with another infected character just because of who they used to be. Newsflash: That’s not your friend anymore. Your friend, presumably, does not eat people. Your friend is gone, gone, gone. KILL YOUR FRIEND. This, of course, is the pact. I get bitten, I fully expect K to immediately blow my brains out, and I (like any good friend) would do the same.

I will not give all my (35 today!) readers a list of things to do in case of zombie attack, for that I will simply refer you to The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, which brings me to the crux of this post: Zombie books.

This is apparently the reason I am ‘the girl who likes zombies’ at The Job. I’ll admit, I suppose I have been sort of heavy on the zombie literature lately, but I do not really think that I warranted the comment “Oh yes, you only read books about zombies”. ‘This most certainly isn’t true’, I thought. Indignantly. And it really isn’t. Sure I was halfway through, and fully absorbed with, World War Z when the comment was made, but it clearly was not taken into account that it was sandwiched in between two books decidedly not about zombies. So much so that one coworker, all excited like, felt the need to tell me about how she’s never in her life picked up a zombie book and managed to pick up two on the same day. Apparently, and it’s probably true, no one else would appreciate this information but me. And, I don’t know; yesterday as I rested my insanely stupid (yet insanely entertaining) zombie Torchwood book on top of my copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies I had to sort of wonder if my coworkers had a point.

We’ll begin with World War Z, again by Max Brooks, shall we? This is perhaps one of the most complicated and insanely researched books I have ever read in my entire life. Several times, while reading, I felt the need to go downstairs and start telling my mother about parts of it. The book is set up like a collection of stories collected from a man trying to chronicle the Zombie War, World War Z, whatever name you chose because in the novel they certainly hadn’t come up with anything definite. What was especially impressive was the so many different points of view the author thought up. What happens to the people left on the International Space Station while the world is going to hell? What kind of benefit can a dachshund be fighting against the undead? What happens to the blind? Those who’s lives exist more online than in the real world? Brooks answers all these questions, to just… ridiculous detail. Honestly, can’t recommend this enough.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Eh. That’s all I have to say. Eh. Okay that’s a lie; I obviously have far too much to say on the subject. This book is a great idea. The first time I saw it lying on a table at Borders my excitement levels jumped to, frankly embarrassing, heights. It took me ages to actually purchase it, as I had no money and stacks of books to get through, so when I finally did it was with great anticipation. This was proved to be stupid anticipation. Great idea, yes. Great book, certainly not. All the elements Austen’s classic are in place except all the character have been perverted by things that simply would not and could not have happened. The author clearly does not know the characters at all choosing thoughts, actions, and situations for them that are not true to them at all. The Bennet sisters have all been shipped to China at some point prior to the start of the book to train under a Shaolin monk in the ‘deadly arts’ and have returned to England seasoned and brutal warriors, ready to kill more ‘unmentionables’ than any of their peers. And somehow, in Regency England, this is a commodity. Elizabeth is still headstrong, but now she wants to slit Darcy’s throat for his insults. He calls Longbourne the town where the Bennet’s live (note: it’s their house). Also, if they know that the dead are going to rise again, which they do as they have apparently stopped buying expensive funeral clothes that will only be dragged through the dirt when they rise from the grave; why are they burying them in the first place? Or better yet, why aren’t they decapitating the corpses before burial? The whole thing is just off somehow, off. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to finish reading it, of course, but on a whole… I am unimpressed.

Torchwood: Bay of the Dead, by Mark Morris. Yes, I am reading a Torchwood book, yes its lame. But honestly, it’ll take me two days tops, I have to think about it very little, and there are zombies! Of course, I am sure that it will turn out to be some sort of alien zombie thing, but for now it’s entertaining enough. I really don’t have much to say about this cause I’ve just started, and even though I am sure it won’t bear mentioning, but it belonged in the group.

Obviously, I’ll take my zombies any way they’re available. Whether film, print, or… I don’t even know what other medium zombies can take, but I do know that when the Cleveland Zombie Walk rolls around again, I’ll be there.

Byrne was born in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, of Irish and Scottish descent, the daughter of Jane, a primary school administrator, and Robin Byrne, a semi-retired statistician and market researcher. and She attended Balmain Public School and Hunters Hill High School before attending Bradfield Senior College in Crows Nest. She has an older brother, George, and two older sisters, Alice and Lucy. She began taking acting classes at age eight, joining the Australian Theatre for Young People and also attended the University of Sydney. In 1999 Byrne studied acting at the Atlantic Theatre Company developed by David MametWilliam H. Macy. Rose was not raised in a religious family. Both of her parents are atheists, while she describes herself as agnostic.

There are two main types of zombies that I’d like to discuss.  Your strategies will vary depending on which of these is present during the plague.  I’ve never heard tell of both being present at once, and this is likely a good thing, for us.  Learning to deal with both simultaneously would complicate issues.  Even so, it’s something to bear in mind.

Moaners:

Run of the Mill Moaner zombies.

These are the zombie that most people are familiar with.  The sort that we’ve seen in such movies as “Night of the Living Dead”.  Their vocabulary is limited to moans, groans, and maybe the occasional ‘braaaaaaaiiiiinnnnns….”   These are slow moving, mindless creatures.  Their most dangerous attribute is their sheer relentlessness.  They will shuffle inexorably towards their goal.  They need no sleep, they suffer no distractions.  As their numbers grow they become more dangerous and the chance of being herded into a dead-end alley increases.  Luckily for us, they are slow and unthinking.  They’re unable to come up with a strategy beyond following dinner.  Walking quickly and staying alert can keep you ahead of these guys.  A machete or a fire-axe will probably suffice when dealing with these guys.  Shotguns and pistols seem a little melodramatic for something that shuffles with so little coordination.

Ragers:

Rage zombies from 28 Weeks Later

Rage Zombies are another story altogether.  They can be seen in movies such as “28 Days Later”.  Far more predatory, these zombies run, climb, and jump in order to make you into a tasty morsel.  Their vocabulary consists of grunts and screeches and the occasional “Raaaaawwwwr!”  What makes these guys so dangerous is how quickly they can appear and overwhelm the unsuspecting.  Or even the wary.  To escape these guys you’re going to need a Vehicle or a fast horse.  Forget about fire-axes and machetes with these guys.  You’ll be far safer with firearms.  But do learn to hit a moving target.

Others:

In a few places (Such as “Day of the Dead” and “I am Legend”) we can find another type of zombie.  An evolving and thinking zombie who has learned to use tools and form strategies.  To this I say “Pshwwww!”  I see no point in including them in further posts.  They are pure fantasy.

MAY 10, 2007—Even though it didn’t deal with the undead, 28 Days Later was extremely influential in reviving the zombie horror subgenre. So it was inevitable that the murderous hordes of director Danny Boyle’s 2003 chiller—the victims of a virus known as the rage—would once again overrun the streets of England.

In 28 Weeks Later, the infected are dead and the crisis appears to be over. But just as the U.S. military is beginning the long process of repopulating London, another outbreak of the virus starts to spread among the survivors. The key to a vaccine appears to lie with a young boy, assuming he can make it out of London without being killed by his infected father (Robert Carlyle).

Boyle, whose next film is the upcoming sci-fi epic Sunshine, choose to sit out 28 Weeks Later. Stepping in is Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, the Spanish-born director of the acclaimed thriller Intacto.

I spoke with Fresnadillo, during a recent visit to Miami, about making a sequel that stands on its own merits, the ramifications of 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy’s decision not to make a cameo in 28 Weeks Later, and laying the groundwork for a third film in the series.

Given 28 Days Later’s success, what pressure did you feel making this sequel?
When dealing with a sequel, you have the first movie chasing you. So, to me, it was important when I talked with Danny Boyle to hear these words: “I love Intacto, I need you to make a new movie with a personal vision. We need fresh eyes. London needs to be seen through different eyes.” That was fantastic. That removed the pressure I would feel from the first movie. I love the first one, but I needed to start over. It was a challenge, but the concept of reconstruction, the rebuilding process, is one that is close to my heart.

So was it a relief when [28 Days Later star] Cillian Murphy turned down an offer to make a cameo in 28 Weeks Later? His appearance certainly would have brought with some unwanted baggage from 28 Days Later.
The producer understood we needed to make our own story, without characters from the first movie or any references to them. The only link is the infection, the rage. Fortunately, from the very beginning, we agreed to start from zero. It made sense to create new characters with the concept of reconstruction.

You seem to pay as much attention to developing the characters as you do in advancing the action.
The relationships are the heart of the story. I always believe that an apocalyptic thriller needs characters that are real. Otherwise it is not interesting. I need the audience to feel for the characters under these horrific circumstances.

Did you intend to draw parallels between the U.S. military’s presence in London in the film and its presence in Iraq?
The intention with the military was to follow a real procedure. We did a lot of research to see what would happen in a situation like this. We show in the movie a true reconstruction. But when you’re trying to control a situation like this…. I can understand why the general’s plan is to destroy everything, which might be too much, and why a sniper would abandon his position to help people survive this destruction. Every human reacts in a different way regardless of whether they are a soldier. I want to give this a human face more than make a political argument. You see Robert Carlyle abandon his wife [when she’s cornered by the infected]. I love to put people in difficult situations and force them to take a position in a split second. These are decisions that affect the whole world. It’s scary and it’s real. So I can understand why people connect the events in the movie to what’s happening in the world at this time. When you bring a sense of reality to a movie like this, it becomes a mirroring to what’s really going on. But I also hope it’s an entertaining movie that people enjoy.

28 Days Later ended optimistically. 28 Weeks Later ends pessimistically. Was this done intentionally to make way for a third film?
When we shopped it around, we did not think about [the possibility] of making a third part. We’re tracking the concept of people out of control, the isolation of human beings, preservation. That’s why the ending makes sense. I understand that people will find it a link for the next chapter. If they decide to make another one, that means the movie worked.

Would you like to be involved?
I wouldn’t participate in another movie. Much in the same way that Danny was generous to let me direct [28 Weeks Later], I should do the same way and let someone else direct.
This interview was previously posted May 10, 2007 on Film South Florida.com.