Coming soon : “Lucio Fulci Special”

Including these gore classics:

House by the Cemetery                                                                                                                               City of the Living Dead                                                     

“Oh Dear Georgie!!” – Survival of the Dead Review

Deep down some part of me thinks that no matter how hard George Romero tries at his undying “Dead” films they will never eclipse the brilliant grand guignol of 1985’s “Day of the Dead”. But for better or worse Romero has released his new DTV zombie outing and quite frankly I am on the fence for this one, particularly as the film progresses there is the overwhelming feeling that something is distinctly lacking from Romero’s new entry.

Acting as a semi sequel to 2007’s “Diary of the Dead” it follows a group of  rogue soldiers head towards a supposedly safe haven located on a small Delaware island, where two warring families dispute what should happen to the living dead of their loved ones. The soldiers (lead by Alan Van Sprang’s recurring character from “Diary”-Crockett) get caught in the middle the family’s dispute while also trying to fend off packs of the living dead.

What makes this entry stand out from the previous films (“Diary” went for the cinema veritie approach a la REC) this carries a distinct western flavour, but at a mere 85mins this is little time to develop such an interesting take on the zombie genre. What could have been sprawling and epic, comes off as a missed opportunity and only goes to show the limitations of the budget. Which brings me to Romero’s back catalogue or rather zombie-logue of the previous films; “Night” had a sense of claustrophobia which gripped onto the viewer with bloodied decomposing hands. It utilised its limited budget to maximum effect the black and white look made the audience dread the darkness, while the camera was used to create tension and foreboding with wide low angles and close ups. “Dawn” pushed the zombie envelope by making the setting more epic and larger in scale (along with the mammoth directors cut running time) it felt like a natural progression as we followed the characters over several months in relatively human isolation. While with “Day” (still one of the best zombie films to grace my beady little eyes) took what worked in both the previous instalments (the cabin fever effect, larger scale) and again was a natural progression of what would naturally happen (subterranean living , experimenting with the dead) as well as having a sympathetic zombie character in the form of “Bud”. It also contains some of the best dialogue Romero has ever written, Captain Rhodes in particular is overly theatrical but not to the point of camp. You genuinely fear this man who has been driven crazy by losing the only thing that means something to him (his troops and army credentials). Which in a round about way brings me to “Survival” none of the characters are really any good, you don’t route for anyone to survive and barring Crockett’s character who has a bit of badassery about him there just is not anything redeeming about them.

But what “Survival” fails on mostly for me is the over reliance on CGI to provide the gore-filled moments, this is so far from what I would expect Romero. It had me pining for the wet and messy gore effects of Nicotero and Savini from “Day”, none of the gore had any gravitas when it was shown and felt all a bit mediocre. One sequence which produced a nervous laugh while watching concerned a zombie and a fire extinguisher (which brought back memories of a Frank Henenlotter-esque feel) which felt incredibly out of place, but suffice to say the CGI eyeballs shooting out had my jaw drop at its un-Romero feel. Along with an up close CGI exploding head which had me laughing for all of the wrong reasons, just continued to make it feel more out of place. On the plus side the CGI is used for one good sequence involving Crockett and a zombie head on fire which had me grinning for all of the right reasons.

And since I am on plus points one sequence which stood out for me and creeped me out in a way that only Romero could do (and to an extent felt like the opening sequence in “Day” with all of the zombie arms) as Cisco swims for a boat, zombies at the bottom of the river have their arms shoot up. It is decidedly creepy and is probably the only iconic image I could visualise after the film had run its course.

So what could have been a great or at least more enjoyable Romero return to form after the mediocre “Diary” (sorry but I do enjoy “Land”) turns out to be a rather damp squid. But as I have said before deep, deep down my horror senses tingle because I know (like all good horror fans and fanatics) no Romero zombie film will ever overshadow “Day”. Because that was Georges; 5^th symphony and once that happens it is hard to better it, in the case of “Survival of the Dead” it unfortunately does not even come close to “Day”. You are left to wonder aimlessly stunned that the zombie master has lost a bit of his knack and it is hard to see where he could go after this.

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever…..”God Damnit…someone has pissed in the punch!!!”

Spring Fever is here!!

So it finally arrives in good ol’blightly the long gestating sequel to Eli Roth’s 2003 entry. Before I get into the real meat and bones of this DTV sequel let there first be a quick history film lesson. Back in 2007 Ti West (the sequels director) finished filming Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, since that point it was shelved by company Lionsgate and subsequently had extensive reshoots and re-editing. West has since disowned the finished product and feels it belongs to the producers more then his original vision; this story has since been circulating all the major horror film websites and forums. It is a shame when you consider what the original look of the film might have been like, what the viewer instead gets is the odd spark of brilliance here and there. But I am getting a little ahead of myself, this is far from the train wreak that many imagined (including myself) but it is still not as good as it should have been.

The first Cabin Fever I can genuinely remember being excited to see as 2003 seemed to be the resurgence of the horror film, and while it was not a classic (seeming more of a homage to 80’s filmmaking, The Evil Dead comes to mind a lot) it contained some interesting elements with the flesh eating virus, truly skin crawling terror. It felt quirky and off beat while managing to provoke several reactions out of me all at once (Dennis the karate kicking hillbilly kid manages to make me laugh out loud while at the same time live me utterly baffled and mystified to its sudden randomness), yet it felt interesting to watch and through its faults was a thoroughly fun time.

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever takes off almost immediately after the previous entry; Paul has infected the town water supply and is a dripping gooey mess. What follows is quite literally the best “exploding mutated human vs. vehicle” since Robocop, leading to the return of Officer Winston (the scene stealing and creepily funny Giuseppe Andrews) to reassure the bus driver that it was just a deer. This in turn leads to an old school (grindhouse style grain effect applied) animated sequence explaining how the water has been brought to the school. Certainly a different use of exposition particularly within a horror film, it also seems to highlight a campier and ultimately tongue in cheek tone. Unfortunately this only half the case as the film seems unable (and this is where the reshoots could have changed it) to decide what it wants to be, either a camp horror throw back to 80s splatter filled shockers or a more serious homage with elements dark humour (much like its predecessor). Either way the result is uneven at the best of times, which in turn leads to a sense of missed chances for a film which could have been utterly enjoyable instead of 30+ minutes of pseudo John Hughes teen dialogue. Characterisation is not the films strong point, but hey it is a horror film, and you only really need to have a gory good time with a cheap horror flick.

So the film does have its merits and when they come they are applied to the proceedings liberally and with extra lashings. What this film does well is hark back to the gory glory 80s heydays (from which I am a big fan) nearly every bodily fluid you could think of is spilled/vomited/explodes/ discharges and erupts from the hapless teens. This film goes out of its way to offend even the most hardened gore fan, I myself found parts where I thought “good god no way”, it really is sickening in places and it works all the more better because of that.

Some of the highlights to this gorefest include: Mass blood vomiting on the prom dance floor, spitting out spunk, an infected school janitor pissing blood into the prom punchbowl , the bloody consequences of sex in a swimming pool and a wince inducing scene of a bloodied puss spewing penis (in close-up). I can honestly say that this was one of the sickest body horrors seen for quite sometime on top of which it contains another reference to The Evil Dead films, with the amputation of the hero’s infected hand. Along with an almost shot for shot sequence which details the look and makeshift patch up of the missing limb, taken from Evil Dead 2.

There is also a welcome cameo from independent actor and director Mark Borchardt (he of American Movie fame) as Deputy Winston’s cousin, certainly adds to the overall camp horror appeal. Also to my knowledge there is little to no use of CGI within the film, so it proudly wears its 80s gore aesthetic on its sleeve.

The ending is a slight issue as well, as it feels as though this was tacked on last minute for a possible sequel set up (could also be the re-edited and newly shot footage) as it feels out of place within the context of the film, but it does contain a vomiting stripper (the blowjob giving student from earlier in the film). The film also moves a brisk pace after the 20min mark when the gory consequences duly unfold.

So it is not a total disaster but it certainly is not as good as it could have been, without the overly gross and gore filled moments this would have been shockingly bad. If you enjoy old school 80’s filmmaking such as Prom Night (for which the soundtrack is used at the school disco) or the Sleepaway Camp series you will find a lot to enjoy. For me I will have to give it another couple of goes, because I get the feeling this is a cult film grower, ignore the cheap and crappy acting along with the atrocious dialogue (which consists mainly of “Fuck man!”) and marvel in the wet and messy gore brilliance.

Just stay away from the punch!

Say Hello To My Little Friend!!

Well what do we have here, turns out that I have decided to add a sister blog to my current blog. But instead of rants and general musings which I provide on the first blog, this will focus mainly on film reviews for the films which many would never have seen or heard of. So welcome to the new blog and keep an eye out for new reviews when and where I can provide them as I vomit out nuggets of cult film trash , Enjoy!

OB.

Providing all of the gory details on Cult and Mondo films