Movie Review: 28 Days Later (2002)

 

28 Days Later is one of those films that I only remember watching once or twice, despite its immense popularity. Catching up on it now, it's still not exactly one of my favorites, but I can definitely see why people love it. Simple and inventive, 28 Days Later is a wonderful post-apocalypse story that is very effective, even despite some flaws.

A group of animal rights activists breaks into a research facility to rescue chimpanzees that are being experimented on, and unwittingly release a dangerous virus of pure rage onto the populace. Twenty-eight days later, four survivors navigate the desolate country, trying to find a safe place to stay.

One reason 28 Days Later is impressive is because at least most of the movie was shot on DV. More convenient than huge film cameras, director Danny Boyle used DV cams to achieve some of the shots that they needed to get quickly. There are many parts where the lesser quality hurts the movie, simply because DV will never look as beautiful as film. It's disappointing, but the style quality is there. There are many different locations over the course of the movie, and Boyle uses them all to their full potential both visually and emotionally. He makes a simple shot of a family of horses running through a field almost bring tears to the eye, and turns an elegant mansion into a creepy house of horrors. All the makeup effects are realistic and beautiful in their own way - I like the simplicity of the use of the scary red eyes on the infected.

Cillian Murphy is our mysterious leading man Jim, who is buck naked when we first meet him. There are some wonderful iconic shots of deserted London as Jim wanders around, not knowing what happened and looking for any other signs of life. Soon, he meets up with survivors Mark and Selena, and then later the core group becomes Jim, Selena, Frank, and his teenage daughter Hannah. Each character has qualities important to the story and traits that play off of each other. Frank plays as the father figure to them all, and Hannah is no useless little girl, as she is quite defiant and skillful. Cillian's gaunt body makes Jim look weak and in comparison to Selena, who saves him from a group of infected, he is. However, when he is put to the test by the military guys who threaten Selena and Hannah, Jim proves that he can be quite vicious and cunning, and then coming full circle back to the caring and sensitive guy he started out to be.

I've been thinking about doing a little thing on Unsung Heroines of Horror and if I did, Selena from 28 Days Later would most definitely be on the list. When Jim first meets her, she is very cold and unfeeling, constantly reminding Jim that she will let him and anybody else die if she has to, and only concentrating on surviving day to day. It's almost kind of annoying to me how rude and inhuman she is. When Frank and Hannah come into the mix, they truly affect her and her soft side comes out here and there. She's a badass when she needs to be - the best example is when she dispatches of her companion Mark with no hesitation after he's been infected.

One thing that is constantly brought up when talking about 28 Days Later is the debate over whether the film is a "zombie" film or an "infection" film. People seem to be pretty adamant one way or the other, but even after watching the film again, I can't make the call. It's obviously not a zombie film because the baddies are not zombies. There are no reanimated corpses or people rising out of graves. Though it is unclear how they kill, there is at least no talk of the eating of human flesh or brains. The people that call it a zombie film, though, still have the right to say so because the scenario is pretty well identical to a zombie apocalypse story. The baddies themselves might as well be zombies based on the way they act and the way the infection is spread. So I'm staying on the fence in this debate - whether you say "zombie film" or "infection film," I'd say you're essentially both right.

Possibly my favorite part of 28 Days Later is Frank's infection. It is the one part of the film that I have always remembered over the years simply because of how random, unlucky, and genius it was. A single drop of blood from a dead infected body falls into his eye - no attack, nothing violent, just really shitty luck. The infection's quick turnaround time hardly gives the audience time to mourn the loss of Frank, who is just one of those really good guys with a big heart. Frank's demise represents what I've always thought was the real bitch of zombie stories - you can fight hard and survive a long time, until a single bite, one wrong move, can suddenly be the end of it and there is no way to change it.

28 Days Later is not a personal favorite, but I can feel where the love is coming from. There is real talent behind the story, filmmaking, and acting - all three important components of a film coming together to create something that is a welcome addition to the horror and zombie (or infection) genre. Focusing more on morality and emotion than pure violence, 28 Days Later is definitely one that will be remembered for a long time.

Movie Review: Doghouse (2009)

Okay, somehow my review of Doghouse got "reverted to draft" so I have to publish it again... Scroll down for the movie review I meant to post this morning - V/H/S 2!

Hmm, what to think of Doghouse? Some of me likes the movie for what it does right, but the rest of me is still having a problem with the things it gets wrong. Feminists and others of similar beliefs will probably have a problem with the movie, too, because the overall theme of the movie is kind of anti-woman, mostly in regards to how they treat men in relationships. For the most part, though, Doghouse is still a pretty good, gory flick that is worth at least one viewing. I guess you just shouldn't take it so seriously.

Trying to help a buddy through a painful divorce, six friends travel to the tiny, isolated town of Moodley, where the women outnumber the men. As soon as they arrive, however, they find out that their plan of drinking heavily and chasing tail is not going to happen because the women of Moodley are sick with a dangerous virus that makes them very violent and hungry for the flesh of the men.

One thing that the movie really gets right is the blood and guts. Gorehounds sniffing for something good will probably like what they see in Doghouse. There are tons of gags involving axes, SuperSoakers, radio controlled cars, swords, and golf clubs. The effects are practical, which is of course always welcome, and there are some really great looking shots of men who have been cut open and gutted. Very realistic. The look of the infected women is also fun, with their red eyes, sharp teeth and bumpy faces. Later on, they go through a second phase of the virus which makes them mutate a little more - long, nasty fingernails, for one - and also makes them stronger and more intelligent. All the actresses playing these chicks were truly fantastic, really going crazy in their roles and playing very effective zombie-like monsters. Miss Scissorhands (or "The Snipper" as she's actually credited) particularly stood out for me.

The comedy element is really where the film falters a bit. There are a couple of lines and situations that were funny and got a chuckle out of me, but mostly I was listening to the dialogue and thinking that I knew that they were trying to be funny and it just wasn't working on me for some reason. The problem was with the actors' execution and line delivery which was sometimes deadpan and lacked any physicality. Of course it's funny when three of the guys dress up in ladies' clothes to try to sneak their way through the horde, and actually pretty much the whole movie is absurd enough to be laughable, but the comedy still could have used some tweaking. Other than that, I enjoyed the actors in their roles and despite all of them having something annoying about their personalities, they make themselves be likable by being very cute and charming. There are also some moments where their brotherhood and love for each other shows, and that was cute.

Okay, the woman thing. Thinking about it a little bit more, I can see both sides of what they were doing here. At the beginning of the film, the audience is given a little introduction for each of our six guys specifically related to their problems with the women in their lives (they're all in the "doghouse" I guess). Their women are bitches who yell and throw things at them, so it's no wonder why they would want some guy time. The virus in Moodley only affects the women and the only people they want to kill are the men. The infected women are not even wearing normal clothes, but rather more like costumes of different stereotypical women - there's a bride, a dominatrix with big tits and a bigger sword, a schoolgirl in pigtails, a fat housewife, etc. There's even a point in the movie, when the men have some downtime from their fight to get out of Moodley, where they actually talk about how hot some of the infected women are! Oh, boys, you're unbelievable.

On the other hand, though, there are tons of movies about men doing wrong to women and about how evil and violent men can be towards women. Why not a movie about nice guys getting shit on by women? It happens, and these guys chose to deal with it and finally bring that male aggression to the surface. And really, it's easy not to take the misogyny seriously when you look at just how they chose to deal with it - flesh-eating crazies that are barely still human. It's a ridiculous extreme that's not even a very good metaphor for the types of women that these guys have to deal with in their real lives.

So I guess I'm giving Doghouse a half thumbs-up. It mostly gets the job done of being an enjoyable horror comedy, despite it not really being all that funny to me. The movie is just crazy and gory enough to be enjoyable for a lot of horror fans. Men, if you've had a bad breakup or something recently, I say give Doghouse a watch for a feel good time. Your women probably won't feel the same way, though.

Movie Review: The Bay (2012)

With my Sons of Anarchy obsession temporarily satiated, I guess it's time for me to get back to my real job here. I have a backlog of watched movies that need reviews, a host of books that need to be read and reviewed, and of course the ever-growing Netflix queue that needs to be worked through. Good thing I've got vacation time coming up. I also had an almost-catastrophe with my computer a couple of days ago, but everything seems to be fine now. So let's get this shit going!

First up in my series of possibly shorter-than-usual reviews is the 2012 found footage movie The Bay. Ah yes, more found footage. I should maybe be sick of this little subgenre by now, but... nope! Still love it. And The Bay is happily a nice addition to all the other awesome movies like it.

A news reporter who was present at an ecological disaster outbreak in Claridge, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay narrates the chaos as it unfolded on that fateful day, using all the professional and personal video footage that was confiscated by the government to cover up what happened.

The Bay offers horror fans a few welcome differences from what we are used to seeing in FF movies. The reporter, Donna Thompson, is Skyping with someone who is interviewing her about the 4th of July from hell in Chesapeake Bay for a documentary about the truth of the events. Donna is sort of the main character, but her narration also shows us the experiences of several other residents. It's nice to have more than one or two of the same cameramen to follow through the whole movie, as The Bay includes security footage, video phone footage, personal camcorders, police dashcam footage, and Skype conversations.

All these new shifts in point of view keep the story interesting and engaging, and the suspense heightened. The way they are all cut together lets the audience slowly get the truth, as everybody involved seems to have a little piece of the puzzle as to what is going on. The two scientists that are doing research on the water and the fish a few weeks before the 4th and the doctor at the local hospital talking to the CDC having probably the most interesting stories. The stuff with the police was a little random and not really related to the main story, though. And I really liked the choice of casting for all involved. Kristin Connolly was the only recognizable face to me (The Cabin in the Woods, FTW) but everybody looked just like they were supposed to - normal people in this quaint little seaside town. I love it when movies are cast like that.

The other difference with The Bay is that it is an infection story. It's not an infection that leads to zombiism, either, it's a true infection by a mutated parasite caused by all the (literal) shit that's been building up in the bay. The terror and fear from an outbreak like this is just as real for both the characters and the audience as it would be for zombies or a masked killer. This kind of story also gets us into the realm of body horror, which personally freaks me and grosses me out. There's plenty of nasty stuff for all to enjoy like bodies covered in disgusting boils, and those gross little bug-parasite things coming out of people's necks. I love it and I hate it at the same time.

My only real complaint is that the makeup on the people who had the nasty boils did not look all that realistic to me. They were too obviously makeup and looked kind of dried out to me when I thought boils and blisters were more... I don't know, liquidy.

Do I care about the film's not-so-subliminal message about humans fucking up the environment and stuff? Not really, but it's definitely there. The whole disaster is caused by a chicken farm dumping chicken poop into the water, the local officials covering up/ignoring early warning signs of impending doom, and bad water tests at a desalination plant. Poop and toxicity apparently make these little parasites, or isopods, grow rapidly inside the body and then they just eat their way out. I guess it's a good way to send the message about how it might be a bad idea to drink water that people dumped chicken poop into.

The Bay gets a solid thumbs up from this found footage lover. It's an interesting turn for director Barry Levinson, and gives me another reason to really fear nature. As if I needed that.

Movie Review: [REC] 3: Genesis (2012)

The poster of the chick with the chainsaw is awesome, but I could not resist this one. Way more awesome.

Anyway. I learned two things from watching [REC] 3: Genesis. One - it is not really a [REC] movie. Two - I don't care because I love zombies. I'll explain what I mean later but for now I'll just say that Genesis was one kick ass zombie-infection film that I couldn't help but love - even if it's not really a [REC] movie. Genesis made me happy in the way that pretty much all zombie movies make me happy.

Clara and Koldo are celebrating the happiest day of their lives, surrounded by friends and family - and a few video cameras. Their day of bliss suddenly turns into a nightmare when their guests become infected with a strange illness [read: demonic possession that presents itself exactly like zombisim] that makes them rip each other apart. The couple becomes separated in the chaos and do whatever they can to survive and see their beloved again.

Now what I said before about this not really being a [REC] movie is totally true. Sure, they do a bit of the found footage stuff in the beginning and then little bits of it throughout the movie. And the infection that sweeps Clara and Koldo's wedding is the same infection from the other two [REC] movies. However, Genesis does nothing to further explain the storyline or explain the infection's true origin (as the title "Genesis" might imply). I guess we'll just have to go with what [REC] 2 told us. Oh wait, I lied. The only thing that Genesis adds is that reading scripture out loud makes the stop in their tracks. That's not really much of anything is it? The movie is really just about these two people... and how love really gets in the way during a zombie outbreak. 

Strangely, I found myself not minding at all that Genesis was just one of those sequels that only took the idea from previous films and was really not related at all. It was too awesome for me. Genesis actually adds something that 1 or 2 didn't have - comedy. At first I was all annoyed that they might b turning one of the best horror films of the past decade into a meaningless zom-com. But again, I suddenly found myself not caring. The comedy starts in the beginning, actually, before the title card. In the opening sequences before the wedding, during the wedding, and at the reception, the audience is seeing the story play out like the other [REC] movies - through the viewfinder of a video camera. But when the shit starts and Koldo asks the dude why he is filming stuff, the dude uses a line similar to the first [REC] - "We have to film everything!" Koldo then walks up to the camera and breaks it, and the movie goes into regular movie-mode from (mostly) then on out. It's like they were saying "Ha! You thought we'd just do the same old shit again... but we're not!" I liked that, and I respected it. 

Though the comedy element is not that blatant or obvious, it's there, but not too much to be annoying or take away from the horror element. Genesis is much bloodier than the previous films and I, for one, was freaking stoked about that. It was about time this series amped it up a bit. My favorite kill was when Koldo uses one of those electric cocktail mixer thingies and shoves it into a zombie's mouth. Clara gets the best zombie kills in the whole thing when she wields the chainsaw in the underground tunnels. Then we get some awesome shit. Chainsaw decapitation, chainsaw to the head (and getting stuck in the head), and chainsaw through the chest, then up through the body, splitting the head in half. Niiiice. With all of the non-gory horror I've been watching lately, I really needed that. Thank you, Genesis, for bathing me in your bloody gory. And that ending? Bloody gorgeous, as well. 

Genesis has some pretty good characters in it, too, and some pretty good actors to play them. Clara and Koldo are the main people, obviously, but as they try to escape the zombies, they keep meeting up with people - and then those people get killed. That was the only thing I wasn't too keen on about the movie was that we're introduced to so many minor characters and none of them, except the priest, play out to anything. Atun, the wedding videographer, should've made it further, I think. No reason to give the guy such a limited role just 'cause he's fat, seriously. Find another way to escape than through the tiny ventilation shaft so the awesome guy can get through, too. Anyway, I loved the actress playing Clara - Leticia Dolera - mostly because her look was so awesome for this movie. With her pale skin, black hair, and eyes running with black mascara she looked beautiful and even more so when she gets covered in blood. Diego Martin as Koldo is also a hunk, and I liked him in the movie because he's just your typical nice, normal guy and you really can't help but like him and root for him.

So again, I want to thank [REC] 3: Genesis for bringing some much-needed blood back into my movies and for just sticking to what works best and being a good, fun zombie film. You're not really a [REC] movie and I don't care. Your cinematography and coloring is beautiful; you've got some nice kills; and you're a wee bit funny, too. I'm calling it a win. 

Movie Review: Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011)

The stellar 2007 infection film [REC] spawned a Hollywood remake, Quarantine, that was damn near the same film. Both films now also have sequels but the Quarantine sequel took the story in a much different direction than [REC] 2, which is a good thing in this case. And while Quarantine 2: Terminal is not nearly as good as either of the original films, it's not exactly a complete failure either.

On the same night as the quarantine in the apartment building from the first film, passengers and crew on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles are forced to land prematurely when one man shows symptoms of the same deadly virus. They think they are safe when they make it to the airport terminal, until the government quarantines them inside as well. As the infection spreads, the survivors try to find a way to escape the terminal.

So for this sequel, the filmmakers have completely done away with the found footage style, which was a welcome relief. It would not have made any sense for this situation and would have made the movie seem too gimmicky. Instead, they go their own way with the story while still answering the main question from the first movie which is what is this virus and where did it come from? The reasoning they came up with was not exactly what I expected nor does it make all that much logical sense but who would watch this movie for the amazing writing anyway? We want to see infected dudes and dudettes eating other people.

The first third of the movie is on the airplane and centers around a young flight attendant named Jenny, who later becomes the reluctant leader of the survivors. When a fat guy gets sick and pukes all over her, that's when the fun starts. And this wasn't in a 747, either. The situation is made more claustrophobic by the setting on this tiny plane with only one aisle and few passengers. The audience is glad to finally see them land and give the characters more room to move around - and therefore make it easier for them to fight off the crazies and escape being infected.

Sadly, most of the gore work is simply okay. There's lots of blood and neck ripping and biting, and even a part where an infected kitty cat bites an older woman, but there's nothing really new or exciting. Actually the freakiest part of the whole movie has nothing to do with the infected. It's when the bad guy, Henry, first puts some drops into his eye to numb it (you even see him pat his open eyeball with his finger - without blinking!) and then sticks a needle into his bottom eyelid. Yeesh. For those of you who don't like eye trauma, this might be a good scene for you to close yours!

The part I liked the most is the end when Jenny and young George are crawling through that tunnel, with George using the thermal vision goggles to see where they're going. It's quite suspenseful, especially when George looks back one time and sees the bite mark on Jenny's side. This is really the only suspenseful part of the movie as the rest is your standard fare of people running and fighting and getting bitten and infected. The survivors get into a lot of unnecessary fights and their characters are severely underdeveloped. You only really get to know Jenny and George, but only in the most basic way.

I can't completely recommend Quarantine 2: Terminal because really, if you don't see it, you're not missing a whole lot. But you won't be totally disappointed if you do see it either. It's better than I expected for a straight to DVD sequel even though I'd much rather watch the original, and even more than that, I'd rather just watch [REC].