As the zombie movie has had a resurgence in the last decade, "zombie fever" is still going strong! And with the success of cable TV shows like AMC's The Walking Dead, based on Robert Kirkman's acclaimed graphic novel series; the dead are still "walking tall"! The latest foray into the zombie craze actually comes from one of the forerunners of the genre, author Max Brooks (son of comedy legend Mel Brooks). Having first delved into the popular subject with his 2003 book The Zombie Survival Guide, at first, a seemingly humorous novelty guidebook, it sparked a new interest in zombies and apocalypse survivalists. With the immense success of the Survival Guide, (which even spawned a card game and a graphic novel The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks), Brooks soon followed it up with the now immensely popular novel: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War in 2006. Being an intense, sprawling narrative combining fictional interviews and vignettes from supposed survivors from all over the world, World War Z was a huge hit for zombie fans and brought new literary acclaim for the genre as well.
Few even considered that this epic tale would eventually be turned into a major motion picture. Many fans were skeptical when it was finally announced in 2008. What was leaked on the Internet was the original script by J. Michael Straczynski, which was then rewritten by Matthew Michael Carnahan. This created controversy with many fans. Now that the movie has been released, the frequent rewrites have proven successful. World War Z is directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace (2008)) and stars Brad Pitt. The film focuses on the story of Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), a former UN investigator living in Philadelphia. He is forced into facing the zombie apocalypse head-on while trying to save his wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and his two daughters. Reluctant to resume his former life, he must travel the globe to search for the cause of the zombie virus and hopefully find a cure. Beginning in South Korea, the violent pandemic spreads quickly all over the world and leads Gerry to various locations such as Jerusalem and the W.H.O. headquarters. A seemingly average person, Gerry soon presents himself as an exceptionally skillful (and incredibly lucky!) individual as he is thrust into even more dangerous locations and situations as the "zombie" plague spreads. Gerry is mostly alone in his search, he is occasionally accompanied by members of the scientific community (including one ill-fated virologist) and the military. He ends up with Segan (Daniella Kertesz), a young female Israeli soldier, as an unlikely sidekick who tags along with him. She soon proves herself to be a strong and helpful companion.
The movie is a fast-paced and action-packed story with exciting and exotic locales on a global scale. It is not necessarily a true "zombie" movie in the tradition of Dawn of the Dead (1978) or even 28 Days Later (2002). It is more like viral outbreak movies such as The Andromeda Strain (1971) or Outbreak (1995). The movie deviates far from the usual blood-and-gore type of zombie movie, to the point of being an almost entirely bloodless film. This doesn't detract from the action or its exciting subject matter. When it comes to zombie movies (and fans), there always seems to be a strong division between those that favor the slow-moving, traditional Night of the Living Dead (1968) type zombie or the faster, ravenous Dawn of the Dead (2004 remake) kind. This movie actually features both but more often the latter; especially when the zombies pile on top of each other and swarm over everything like ants. Later, when docile, the zombies are significantly slower (until stimulated) and can even appear less threatening and almost laughable (cue Dawn of the Dead mall music!). Although the movie doesn't have the same scope and originality of the novel, it does present an impressive and intriguing story set on a worldwide stage. Rumors of the original script presented a film that would have followed the book more closely, keeping the story centered on one main-character creates a more widely-accepted scenario.
World War Z (both book and movie) came at just the right time as the world is still reeling from the 2012 phenomenon hoax. The number of survivalist groups and our fascination and obsession of zombies continues to grow. Recently, the CDC even published an article on their website encouraging "Zombie Preparedness"!
As a fan of the book, naturally there was some disappointment the movie did not follow the book exactly but despite my reservations I was thoroughly impressed and I feel it is a worthy adaptation of the book. With box office totals already over $66 million, Paramount Pictures is supposedly in talks to develop a sequel that may focus on other stories from the novel.
Ever since the 2002 release of the first Resident Evil movie, Director/Writer/Producer Paul W.S. Anderson has consistently given us the most extreme and totally over-the-top action/horror movie experiences in the last decade. The Resident Evil movie franchise (based on the highly popular Capcom video games) has continued to deliver a steady dose of blood, guts and mayhem courtesy of flesh-eating zombies and a scantily-clad heroine named Alice (Milla Jovovich)! Now ten years later, Alice returns to take on the undead and the powerful Umbrella Corporation...but it definitely won't be the last! Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth installment in the Resident Evil movie franchise, starts right where the last movie (Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) left off. Alice is on board the Arcadia where Umbrella stored it's human guinea pigs. After defeating Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) and rescuing 'K-Mart', (Spencer Locke) (and yes, that's her name); Umbrella shows up with an army led by the now enslaved and brainwashed (also blond?) Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), who completely blows the place to smithereens!
In the aftermath of the battle on the Arcadia, Alice finds herself a captive of Umbrella in a high-tech, underwater, research facility, complete with huge replicas of major city centers as well as a re-creation of a seemingly-happy, normal suburban area. Now Alice must fight her way to freedom alongside a group of resistance fighters which include some familiar faces: Luther West (Boris Kodjoe) and a few new allies: Barry Burton (Kevin Durand) Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb) and Ada Wong (Bingbing Li). The problem is that Umbrella has also brought back some old friends and turned them against Alice including: Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez), and James 'One' Shade (Colin Salmon, from the first movie!). Together, Alice and the team fight off the hordes of the Las Plagas/T-virus infected/undead and a few other surprises like giant Lickers, Russian Ganados and huge sledgehammer-wielding Executioners!
Bingbing Li as Ada Wong
It can be said that the plot of the Resident Evil movies has gotten increasingly convoulted ever since the end of the second movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004). Much like the games, the movie franchise is full of colorful, stock characters, both major and expendable. While in the first movie, both Alice and all of the human characters were created solely for the movie, it wasn't long before video game characters entered into the movies as with the sequel which included Jill Valentine ((Sienna Guillory), Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) and Nemesis (Matthew G. Taylor). Later, in Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), we we're introduced to Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) and Albert Wesker (originally Jason O'Mara). Then in Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) we were got to meet Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller), Claire's long-lost brother. Now with Resident Evil: Retribution, they have added even more characters with fan-favorites: Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb) and Ada Wong (Bingbing Li), along with Barry Burton (Kevin Durand), whose character appeared in the first Resident Evil (1996) game along with Chris, Jill and Wesker. With so many characters and plot points, it seems as though the franchise is trying too hard to please the Resident Evil fans, as well as keep the movie cast fresh with new faces. But when is too many, too much? The Resident Evil movies are notorious for forgetting about characters from previous movies. If they haven't already killed them off, which even if they did, they'd just bring them back! And lest we forget about the characters that Alice has tried to save over the years such as Angella Ashford (Sophie Vavasseur) in Apocalypse and 'K-Mart' (Spencer Locke) in Afterlife. Not to mention Claire and Chris Redfield, who aren't even mentioned in the new movie! Whatever happened to them? Who knows? Who cares? Apparently director Paul W.S. Anderson doesn't!
Johann Urb as Leon Kennedy
While RE: Retribution revisits many of the same locations and/or scenes from Afterlife, like the Arcadia in a bizarre rewind sequence and even the rainy streets of Tokyo that we saw in the title sequence of Afterlife, it's a wonder why they are two separate movies! The director could have easily combined the two, so instead of two short 90-minute movies, it could have been an impressive two and a half hour spectacular! Milla Jovovich has continued to play the super-powered heroine Alice from the beginning and it seems rather convenient that she married director Paul W.S. Anderson in 2009 after having a daughter, Ever, in 2007. Although it is interesting to note that she was previously married to Luc Besson, (French director of The Fifth Element (1997) where Milla got her big break.) from 1997 to 1999. After having a kid, it's noticeable how Milla has somewhat lost her unusually slender-form. Yet she can still manage fit into a tight, black-leather outfit, which also looks suspiciously a lot like Kate Beckinsale's costume in the Underworld movies (another action/horror movie franchise past it's prime). In regards to the 3D aspect of the movie, (which was also featured in the last movie) it provides an extra, albeit unnecessary, element of over-heightened action with various things flying at the audience (i.e. bullets, knives, blood and gore, etc).
Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine
While the 3D craze shows no signs of slowing down, it is becoming an overused element in many recent action, Sci-Fi and horror movies. While Resident Evil: Retribution does have some exciting entertainment value as well as adequate fan-service to those devoted fans like me who have been playing the games from the beginning. The fifth installment to this franchise definitely shows signs of wearing down, although the ending (which I will not spoil) does leave it open for a sixth and hopefully final movie. But like the ravenous zombies that populate the Resident Evil multi-verse, this franchise keeps coming back from the dead for more flesh (and more money!) and will NEVER die until the movie-going masses put the proverbial bullet-in-the-head to Paul W.S. Anderson's undead opus. I for one, will be reluctant to sit through another Resident Evil movie unless some real changes are made (and/or if they include Jack Krauser or Sheva Alomar in the next one!). As I am writing this Resident Evil: Retribution is currently #1 in the box office earning over $20 Million!
With the resurgence of stop-motion animation we are seeing a new age of family entertainment where both stop-motion and computer generated animation merge into a new wonderful film experience! In the tradition of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Focus Features and Laika Studios present us with ParaNorman, a hysterically chilling story about how being different and special may not always be an easy thing to live with.
Take Norman Babcck (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a seemingly normal middle-school student who is obsessed with horror/zombie movies. Aside from being socially awkward and a misunderstood misfit, Norman has the ability to speak to ghosts, and of course...nobody believes him. Norman lives in Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts, a small town very similar to Salem, Massachusetts. And like Salem, Blithe Hollow also has a colorful, yet cursed history.
300 years ago, Agatha Pendergast (Jodelle Ferland) was accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death by seven of her fellow villagers including Judge Hopkins (Bernard Hill). Still today, the whole town is witch crazy with witch themed tourist attractions and a solid-bronze statue of a caricature of the Blithe Hollow Witch herself! Even Norman's school, Blithe Hollow Middle School is putting on a play called "The Witch's Curse" to mark the anniversary of the witch's death. While Norman tries to lead a normal life despite constant tormenting by a bully named Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), he has only one friend, the peculiar and chubby Neil Down (Tucker Albrizzi).
While Norman's family life is no different: his father Perry Babcock (Jeff Garlin) doesn't understand him, his mother Sandra Babcock (Leslie Mann) tries to ignore his eccentricities, and as for his older sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick), who thinks he's a freak! The only relatives who really understand him are his grandmother (Elaine Stritch) who is of course dead and an estranged and "crazy" uncle, Mr. Pendergast (John Goodman). On his way home from school, he encounters his supposedly crazy uncle who tells him that he also sees the dead and tells Norman he must perform a ritual with a special book at the witch's grave by sundown or the dead will rise from the grave. Although Norman is sceptical at first, he finds the book and the graves of the witch's seven accusers, but something goes wrong and they rise from their graves as zombies. As the witch's curse is about to come true Norman, along with a group of unlikely allies including Courtney, Alvin, Neil, and his muscular brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) must find away to end the curse and send the zombies back to the grave! ParaNorman comes from the same animation studio who brought us the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline (2009), directed by Henry Selick. With highly detailed stop-motion animation combined with computer animation, ParaNorman, like Coraline is both visually stunning and has an entertaining story with an element of horror. Although highly original, ParaNorman can be compared to The Sixth Sense (1999) meets The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). The character of Norman especially, reminds me of Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, although less tragic as Norman has come to terms with his "gift" as he often makes frequent pleasant conversations with the multitude of apparitions who inhabit his town, including his grandmother who sits on the couch and knits as if she were still alive.
Directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell have a great deal of experience in both stop-motion and computer animation as writer/director Chris Butler worked on Coraline and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) as Sam Fell was the director of Flushed Away (2006) and The Tale of Despereaux (2008). I found ParaNorman to be delightfully entertaining and "relateable", particularly with the themes of being different and bullying which resonate heavily with the increasing problem in our schools today. As a fan of zombie movies I was surprised to see zombies along with references to death, ghosts, the occult and witchcraft/black magic included heavily in a PG rated family movie, as zombies have become more accepted in mainstream entertainment with AMC's The Walking Dead. Also there is quite a lot of adult-related humor in the movie which separates it from the typical animated "family movie" which is a refreshing change. While I feel that this may not do as well as I hoped in the theaters, this would have probably done better if it was released closer to Halloween like the new Tim Burton's Frankenweenie (2012).
The most fascinating aspect to this movie is the setting of Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts, as I said before, being so similar to Salem, Massachusetts in many ways. For anyone who has ever been to Salem as I have, you will understand the similarities in how Salem is so mired in the tragic events that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, (which happens to be of personal interest to me) in which twenty people were accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death. The whole city is literally obsessed with witches as it has become a haven for the Wiccan population and is always a popular location during Halloween. The city was even dubbed "Witch City" and proudly displays the witch logo on everything from local shops and even on their police cars, they even have life-size bronze statue of Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) from the 1960s TV show "Bewitched"! (If you ever visit Salem, be sure to check out the Salem Witch Museum for a truly enlightening experience on the whole history of the event.) Like Salem, Blithe Hollow is also "witch crazy" and the population is perfectly content in continuing to perpetrate the lies and misinformation of myth and legend in order to cater to the tourist trade. ParaNorman is a highly entertaining and visually stunning animated film, with an impressive and socially relevant subtext. If you enjoyed The Nightmare Before Christmas or Coraline, then you are in for a frighteningly fun experience! See it now before it returns to the grave!
Sunday nights have been the best nights of the week on TV as two of my favorite shows aired back-to-back on AMC, The Walking Dead (also Talking Dead) and Comic Book Men! Last week, we finally got to see the long awaited finale to The Walking Dead Season 2 on AMC! This season has been amazing; full of intense moments, confrontations, a drastic loss of cast members and truths revealed! After the group escaped the city and the CDC destruction (end of season one), they make it to the country and are stranded along a deserted highway full of abandoned cars. As they encountered a literal herd of "walkers", little Sophia became separated from the group and was lost in the woods. Suddenly Carl, Rick's son, is shot by a hunter (Otis) who takes them to a farm owned by Herschel and his family. Fortunately Herschel is a doctor (veterinarian?) and is able to save his life with the help of Shane and Otis getting supplies from a nearby infested hospital. However Shane, shoots Otis in the leg and leaves him for dead. While the group desperately searches for Sophia they take refuge on his land, although Herschel is somewhat reluctant to let them stay. Meanwhile, Tensions between Rick and Shane increase and Daryl searches tirelessly for Sophia. After searching for her long and hard for days (and at least 4 episodes!), the group discovers that Herschel has been hiding walkers (including some of his ex-family members) in his barn and the group proceeds to exterminate them ultimately revealing to their surprise that Sophia is one of them! (SPOILERS!)
Later Rick, Ben and Herschel encounter a group of hostile survivors and as they escape, they stop to rescue one of the would-be attackers, a young man named Randall. Herschel takes pity on him and takes him back to the farm to heal his wounded leg. While Shane and Rick debate Randall's threat to the group they plan to either set him free or execute him. Shane soon takes matters into his own hands, kills Randall and then plans to betray Rick but he then kills Shane, who then turns into a walker, Carl shoots Shane just as a hoard of zombies begin to overtake the farm. As the group fight for their life, they realize the farm is lost and most of them escape as the farm burns. Andrea is separated from the group and encounters a mysterious, sword-wielding stranger as Rick and the rest of the group are about to discover a prison where they can take refuge!
This season has been accompanied by a live talk show, Talking Dead, hosted by Chris Hardwick a great show with the cast and crew of The Walking Dead along with special guests such as Scott Ian, Dave Navarro and Kevin Smith! If you haven't been keeping up with the comic books too, then you are missing out on the whole Walking Dead experience! While the show does not follow the comic exactly, many of the characters and plot situations are similar. Although season two has just ended I can't wait for Season 3, we get to see Michonne, the prison, and The Governor! This Fall!
Today, in honor of the release of The Walking Dead: Season One on BluRay and DVD, CHERNOBOG'S BLOG presents the TOP 10: ZOMBIE MOVIES!
#10 The Return of the Living Dead (1985) This very punky, '80's, parody of the zombie genre actually brought some fun and originality to the genre which coined the term: "Brains!" and featuring such memorable scenes as the Tarman and of course...a nude Linnea Quigley, wow!
#9 Fido (2006) A classic tale about a boy and his zombie! The pseudo-1950's, post-zombie outbreak is hilarious and surprisingly original.
#8 28 Days Later (2002) Danny Boyle's British masterpiece, the rage virus creates blood-spewing zombie-like infected which run amok in London. I love the music!
#7 Zombieland (2009) Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) stars with Woody Harrelson in this hilarious and action-packed zombie shootout. "Time to nut up or shut up!" The opening credit sequence does it for me every time featuring Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls"!
#6 Zombie (1979) Italian director Lucio Fulci's incredibly gory masterpiece! A zombie fighting a shark underwater, what more could you ask?!
#5 Dawn of the Dead (2004) Zack Snyder's (Watchmen, 300) first film and an impressive remake of George Romero's classic! It also featured faster zombies!?
#4 Resident Evil (2002) Based on the incredibly popular Capcom vidseo game Paul W. S. Anderson's started a new zombie franchise that has so far released 3 sequels including last years Resident Evil: Afterlife.
#3 Shaun of the Dead (2003) Director Edgar Wright+Simon Pegg+Nick Forst=Perfect Combination! In this British homage to the genre brought Simon Pegg and Nick Frost success all over the world!
#2 Dawn of the Dead (1978) "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth." George Romero's long awaited sequel to his original Night of the Living Dead which brought all the glorious zombie gore in beautiful color!
#1 Night of the Living Dead (1968) THE original, the ONE and ONLY, George A. Romero classic!!! This is the one that started it all! "They're coming to get you Barbara..."
The long-awaited AMC zombie-TV series is finally here: THE WALKING DEAD! Based on the continuing comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and art by Charlie Adlard, The Walking Dead is a new original series from AMC. AMC has been known for their groundbreaking, award-winning Cable TV series like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, now they have produced a truly unique TV show under the creative direction of director, writer, executive producer and three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont with writer and creator Robert Kirkman.
Season One begins with six-episodes along with a 90-minute pilot: Episode 1, "Days Gone By". The Walking Dead stars Andrew Lincoln as Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes, who is wounded in the line of duty wakes up from a coma only to find the world has been taken over by ZOMBIES! As he sets off to find his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callis) and son Carl (Chandler Riggs) he is taken in by Morgan (Lennie James) and his son Duane who have taken shelter in a vacant house in Rick's hometown. After Rick recovers and finds plenty of weapons at his police station he travels to Atlanta to search for his wife and son, little does he know that the city is overrun with the walking dead!
The Walking Dead is a truly original TV series like nothing we've ever seen before. While other horror/supernatural TV series like Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Supernatural may have dealt very little with the undead, this is the first true zombie TV series. However, like the award-winning comic book, the focus of the show is not simply zombies, but more about the people in a survival situation. While the TV show is based on the comic, it is wholly apart from the comic as it has noticeable differences with characters and certain plot points, but the original premise is still the same. While long-time comic fans will no doubt love this show, it will most likely attract new fans of the show and new interest in the comic. I admit I had not followed the series from the beginning but read the few first trade paperback volumes a few years ago before I had even heard of the TV show. After seeing the show I am hooked and I hope to catch up to the comic (already up to issue #75/Vol. ) eventually. I'm looking forward to this first season and more to follow as we follow Officer Grimes desperate search for his family among THE WALKING DEAD!
As the zombie movie has had a resurgence in the last decade, "zombie fever" is still going strong! And with the success of cable TV shows like AMC's The Walking Dead, based on Robert Kirkman's acclaimed graphic novel series; the dead are still "walking tall"! The latest foray into the zombie craze actually comes from one of the forerunners of the genre, author Max Brooks (son of comedy legend Mel Brooks). Having first delved into the popular subject with his 2003 book The Zombie Survival Guide, at first, a seemingly humorous novelty guidebook, it sparked a new interest in zombies and apocalypse survivalists. With the immense success of the Survival Guide, (which even spawned a card game and a graphic novel The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks), Brooks soon followed it up with the now immensely popular novel: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War in 2006. Being an intense, sprawling narrative combining fictional interviews and vignettes from supposed survivors from all over the world, World War Z was a huge hit for zombie fans and brought new literary acclaim for the genre as well.
The movie is a fast-paced and action-packed story with exciting and exotic locales on a global scale. It is not necessarily a true "zombie" movie in the tradition of Dawn of the Dead (1978) or even 28 Days Later (2002). It is more like viral outbreak movies such as The Andromeda Strain (1971) or Outbreak (1995). The movie deviates far from the usual blood-and-gore type of zombie movie, to the point of being an almost entirely bloodless film. This doesn't detract from the action or its exciting subject matter. When it comes to zombie movies (and fans), there always seems to be a strong division between those that favor the slow-moving, traditional Night of the Living Dead (1968) type zombie or the faster, ravenous Dawn of the Dead (2004 remake) kind. This movie actually features both but more often the latter; especially when the zombies pile on top of each other and swarm over everything like ants. Later, when docile, the zombies are significantly slower (until stimulated) and can even appear less threatening and almost laughable (cue Dawn of the Dead mall music!). Although the movie doesn't have the same scope and originality of the novel, it does present an impressive and intriguing story set on a worldwide stage. Rumors of the original script presented a film that would have followed the book more closely, keeping the story centered on one main-character creates a more widely-accepted scenario.
