28 Days Later

28 Weeks Later Blog Review- Directed by-Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Released on May 11, 2007

Blog Review: Brandon Ferder

The movie 28 Weeks Later directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was a sequel in some sense to the critically acclaimed, award winning zombie movie 28 Days Later. After watching this movie, I would have to give it a four out of five on the 'Five-Brain Scale.' I tend to not be disturbed easily, but portions of the movie really churned my stomach. The movie starts out in present day England, where a few small groups of people are stranded in a home hiding from the zombie outbreak. One event leads to the next, where zombies begin invading the home and the main character Don played by Robert Carlyle, chooses to leave his living wife behind and sprint to safety selfishly. The movie then cuts to a quarantined section of London where the United States Military has set up and safe zone for residences of England to start inhabiting the country again. Don meets up with his son and daughter who are coming back from a trip out of country, and finally get urinated. As time pushes on, the virus happens to re-enter the city, spreading extremely quickly, to the point where everyone is a target, and the full city needs to be extinguished. The story revolves are Don becoming infected by his half-dead zombie wife, and his children who are immune to the virus that are trying to escape the virus infected city. 

Throughout the film, I found myself eerily attached to how the plot moved so naturally. The dialogue was heartfelt, and the script and directing was much more on point that the prequel 28 Days Later. I felt as if the music played into the intensity of the plot much better, keeping myself engaged in what was going on, versus laughing/ questioning the fact that the music doesn’t fit the mood of the situation. The acting was on point, throughout the movie, each actor was challenged with different emotions, I felt that every emotion that was shown was extremely convincing, which in turn made the movie that much better. The make up, as well as special effects were fabulous. Usually i do not cringed, or have my stomach churn, but, with the amount of bodily fluids, gun shots, and blood pouring out of zombies as well as non infected humans could really cause anyone to get a bit queasy. All in all, the effects were great. The movie overall was extremely vivid and capturing.

As I watched the film, I did see some comparisons between Herbert West–Reanimator,  the assigned reading really showed many similar aspects as to how the characters acted throughout the stories. When it came to both doctors in both stories, , they both seemed extremely fascinated in the Zombie, and completely disregarded the fact that they are dangerous. They all proceed to examine and study the zombies, experimenting, and in 28 Days later learned the hard way that keeping the infected zombie in their laboratories eventually led to their ultimate despise. Another connection would ultimately be to the movie 28 Days Later. I feel that both films are similar in comparison as they both revolve around led by rage. Both films take place in England, and involve the country to be under quarantine. I feel that 28 Weeks Later, is the better of the two movies, as its graphics, as well as production value was much greater than that of 28 Days Later. This films contribution to the zombie canon is tremendous. The zombies portrayed are gruesome and bloody, they scream, and eat anything in their way, just the way a zombie should be. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie, and would highly recommend it to the zombie lover.

Below are a few links to find where you can find out more about the film, as well as where you can find the movie:

IMDb:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463854/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt

Amazon Movies: https://www.amazon.com/Weeks-Later-Widescreen-Jeremy-Renner/dp/B000TJBN80

War of the Dead

Ratings:

• Plot: 2 of 5 brains
• Gore: 3 of 5 brains
• Cinematography: 3 of 5 brains
• Virus description: 1 of 5 brains
• Zombies: 2.5 of 5 brains
• Kill methods: 1.5 of 5 brains
• Action scenes: 3 of 5 brains
• Dramatic scenes: 3 of 5 brains
• Special effects: 2 of 5 brains
• Historical accuracy: 2.5 of 5 brains
• Cheese level: 3 of 5 brains
• Personal rating: 2.5 of 5 brains
• Average: 2.4 of 5 brains

Introduction:
War of the Dead was written and directed by by Finnish director Marko Mäkilaakso.  It was made in 2011 and opened in the US in 2013.  The opening scene features the lines "In 1939, along the Russian border with Finland, Nazi Germany begins secret underground "Anti-Death" experiments on captured Russian soldiers.  Two years later they abandoned the experiments.  All records are destroyed overnight by direct order of Adolf Hitler. The test subjects are piled into mass graves, and buried.  Finland, 1941: A small, elite unit of American soldiers is dispatched to assist a Finnish task force in their fight against the Russians.  Their mission: to destroy the Russian bunker.  This much is true."

Summary:
The film opens with scenes of a Russian soldier being tortured by a group of Nazi scientists.  It can be implied that he is zombified after his torture session.  We then cut to an American battalion that joins forces with a group of Finnish soldiers in order to locate and destroy a hidden bunker where it was rumored a group of German soldiers have been hiding out.  After coming under attack by German soldiers, the platoon must fight for their lives, loosing over half of their men in the initial firefight.  When it seems like everything has calmed down, the soldiers once again come under attack, but this time, it's the undead, as the enemies that they just fought rise again for another round. The zombies come raining down upon them from the trees, which was interesting, as I have no idea how they got up there in the first place.  The last few remaining soldiers, Captain Niemi, Commander Stone, Lieutenant Laakso, and a reporter who doesn't last long enough for his name to be important, run amok and blow things up for a little while, until they come across a young Russian soldier, Kolya, who informs them that he knows a safe place for them to hide.  The Finnish commander, Captain Niemi, doesn't really trust him, but he gets bitten, so we don't have to deal with him much longer.  He comes back as a zombie, of course, and proceeds to be the most difficult zombie to kill.  He gets shot several times, hit by a car, and is shown to have the strength to punch holes in cement walls.  Naturally, Commander Stone, the impromptu leader who takes over in Niemi's place, thinks he'll be able to get rid of the guy with a good, solid hay maker to the jay.  Spoiler: it didn't work.  The majority of the film consists mostly of Kolya going, "Oh, yeah guys! I know where there's a car," or "oh yeah, there's a radio you can use, but it's in this creepy old bunker they used to torture people in!" He's almost a living deus ex machina, as he has a habit of producing what the survivors need (or don't) at just the right moment, including his girlfriend Dasha, who was hiding in a closet.  His timing is ridiculously spot on.  Everybody else mostly follows him around and tries not to die.  They largely fail on that second part.  Once they make it to the bunker, they discover the secret goo that made the zombies, and then they almost die a lot.  Then, they have to find a way to eradicate the zombie problem, which they do by calling in for an air raid. Stone and Laasko wind up as the only survivors, but they end the film walking head long into a line of Russian soldiers, unarmed and exhausted, fates uncertain. 

Analysis
Plot: So. Many. Plot. Holes.  So many.  They set up this really interesting idea of these weird keys that opened up the secret part of the bunker, and I think that they tried to tie some of the people from the village, including Dasha, into the conspiracy of the secret Anti-Death experiments, but it wasn't well explained.  There was also this disparity between dramatic, emotional moments and action-thriller moments.  It was almost as if there were two different group that worked on the film and they forgot to communicate the direction they were taking the plot.  There were scenes with large swells of dramatic music and intense camera angles, all of which would have been very emotional had we the chance to become attached to these characters.  There were also scenes that were just flaming Nazi zombies running around trying to bite people, which really ruined the emotional drama.

Cinematography: As stated, there were some great scenes with amazing shots and fantastic lighting.  And then there were scenes where the camera would spin, careening everything into a nearly sideways perspective, which did little more than give me vertigo.  There was also quite a few really close up shots of faces, and I mean REALLY close up, like just focusing on a character's mouth, or a part of their nose.  And someone really needed to be told that fire isn't acceptable mood lighting.

Zombies and virus description: The origin of the zombies and the spread of the virus was never explained.  The only background we get is that Nazi scientists were performing anti-death experiments, and that there's some goo that turned the dead into zombies.  The initial outbreak for the characters comes when a dog eats the hand of a disposed corpse, then bites a Finnish soldier.  The zombies themselves are fast and clever, dropping down out of trees and crashing through windows.  They aren't particularly strong, but they aren't of the one-hit-one-kill variety, either.  Anyone who was bit took quite a while to turn.  Niemi took maybe twenty minutes to turn, while Dasha took a few hours to turn.  It took a few shots to destroy them, all except Niemi, who was never fully destroyed, at least until the air raid.  The kill methods consist mostly of shooting them, blowing them up, or in Kolya's case, beating them with a shovel.  The zombie's mix of fast, weak, slow to turn, and hard to kill was something I have not seen in other zombie flicks. 

Special effects: Everything is literally on fire.  That house?  On fire.  That car?  On fire, the graveyard too, and that completely non-flammable metal scaffolding.  All on fire.  The rest of the special effects weren't too bad, until the very end, where there are more than a few very poorly rendered CGI explosions.  Given that it's a zombie film, there was a surprising lack of gore.  There was some flying blood, but no gushing wounds, guts, or other viscera. 

Other thoughts:
This was an interesting one, that's for sure.  Quite a few tropes were including the damsel in distress, the underdog subordinate versus the abusive commander, the watch out for the little guys, and the Russians and their vodka.  It was funny, there was some pretty bad stereotypical Russian accents that came from actors that I'm pretty sure are actually Russian.  Notably, the only woman in the film, Dasha, has probably one line, then she dies.  I think they tried to include some sort of social commentary, but it becomes lost in the meandering plot and random fires.  If you don't take it too seriously and go in with low expectations, it's not that bad.  Keep in mind that the plot and the characters are all fairly flat, so when I say low expectations, I mean really, really low.  It's fun to laugh at how bad certain parts are, and how the film has literally no continuity.

I watched the movie on Amazon, but I think it may be on YouTube as well. IMDb

Dead Snow

Brain Rating by Category:

Gore: 5 brain

Acting: 3 brain

Cheese level: 3 brain

Weapons choice: 5 brain

Virus description: 1 brain

Kill methods: 5 brain

Action Scenes: 3.5 brain (A few cheesy automobile action scenes before the zombies were introduced)

Netflix rating: 1 brain

Personal rating: 5 brain.

Summary: A group of friends meet up at a ski cabin for the holidays in the dead of winter. One of their friends decided to ski to to the cabin. That night a creepy man shows up at the cabin and tells them the story of the Nazis and their colonel who tormented a town. The town rose up and stole the gold from the Nazis and chased them into the woods where the Nazis supposedly froze to death. But legend has it, the Zombies come back to get revenge on anyone who tries to take the gold. The friends find a box of gold in the cabin and take from it, waking the Nazi Zombies. Suddenly the friends find themselves surrounded by a Nazi Zombie army. They must fight their way out of the mountains.

The origin of the zombies is not mentioned at all which is unlike what we’ve learned about. The Nazis are just said to have frozen in the mountains and then awoken for their revenge. Another interesting element was that a bite did not turn one into a zombie and in fact I think it was impossible for the zombies to infect anyone. The types of zombies are similar to the ones in the later movies we watched such as 28 Days Later. More like Romero films however, the zombies are able to use tools and comprehend their environment. They can use weapons and communicate with each other. With those similarities aside, this is unlike any Zombie movie I’ve ever seen.

Characters:

Vegard: Vegard is Sara’s boyfriend and is skilled with the snowmobile, so skilled in fact that he mounts a machine gun to it, and runs multiple zombies over with it. Vegard goes into rage mode but tragically dies by multiple stab wounds and the his body is split in half.

Sara: Sara is Vegard’s girlfriend and is the friend that is skiing to the lab. We never meet her, for she is killed by zombies before she reaches the cabin and Vegard finds her head in the lair.

Hannah: Hannah is Martin’s girlfriend and is the strongest of the three girls. As the zombies first start attacking them, she is always chopping off hands and making plans. She makes it very far but while Martin is in rage mode, he accidentally kills Hannah with an ax to the neck.

Martin: Martin is Hannah’s boyfriend and pretty good in the zombie attacks. He has generally good ideas but also has a few mental breaks. He gets bitten and thinks he’ll turn so he chainsaws his arm off and then cauterizes the wound, and then a zombie pops out of the snow and bites his dick. Even with one arm though, Martin survives to the end, but he must live with the fact that he killed his girlfriend.

Roy: Roy is the cocky guy who doesn’t believe in the old man’s story and he is also a bit of a wuss in the beginning. Byt the end of the movie he is chill with going into rage mode and killing a bunch of zombies. Unfortunately the Colonel sledges him with a hammer and his intestines get caught on a tree somehow and pulled out of him.

Erlend: Erlend is the weakest of the four men. He doesn’t make it after the first attack and is very scared during the attack. He is pulled through the window and gets his head torn in half.

Liv: Liv is a classic damsel. She is semi capable but way to afraid which gets her killed in the end. She is running in the woods when a zombie knocks her out. She wakes up to the zombies eating her intestines and she reaches for a bomb the zombies have and blows it up to end the pain.

Chris: Chris dies right away as well, she is the first to go in the first attack. She is in the outhouse when she is attacked, and then when Hannah is looking outside, a zombie holds Chris’s severed head up to the window.

This plot was pretty decent for a film trying to have Nazi Zombies, it has a straightforward reasoning for the Zombie’s revenge, and that the Zombies will not stop killing until they have all the gold back.The plot had a couple of classic zombie film tropes and flaws. First, the old man who tells the friends the story immediately dies in his tent. One would think that the wise old man who tells the kids to take his story seriously would live to the end, but he is the first to go. Some tropes involved the cocky male role, the women in distress, and the men who rescue them. One positive was that the women were still strong in the film, they could take care of themselves for the most part. There was plenty of unneeded gore and death through the fil. A common gore scene through the movie was that the intestines of a zombie or a person would be caught and then pulled out of them like a piece of rope. In one scene, Vegard was about to fall off a cliff when he caught some zombie intestines and was able to hang over the cliff with them. The main fight scene is awesome. There are gory kills, combo kills, and multiple creative snowmobile kills. The music that overlays the battle is an upbeat almost carnival theme that makes the battle hysterical and more about the kills. A lot of the events in the movie are ridiculous which makes the film laughable, but all in good fun.

When you go into a movie like Dead Snow, you go in with very low expectations, which is exactly what I did. This way the movie can only get better and it definitely did. Overall the writing was actually pretty decent, and I was laughing for most of the movie, with a few serious moments. The fight scenes were very enjoyable, the humor was pretty much on point. If I were to compare the style to another movie, I’d probably pick Krampus, another bizarre but enjoyable film. There was some cool cinematography as well which made the movie interesting to watch. I’ll end with this, I found out there was a second Dead Snow and watched it immediately after. It was ten times better in every aspect. If you have the time for it, watch both 1 and 2 for an experience.


IMBD: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278340/

Movie is available on Netfliz

I Am Legend (2007)

Ratings:

*Acting: 4 out of 5 brains

*Writing/Dialogue: 5 out of 5 brains

*Make-up/Gore: 4 out of 5 brains

*Special Effects: 3.5 out of 5 brains

*Set Designs: 5 out of 5 brains

*Overall Rating: 4.25 out of 5 brains

*Average Rating: 4.3 out of 5 brains

Introduction:

I Am Legend is a post-apocalyptic film that was directed by Francis Lawrence and released in 2007. I Am Legend is not your typical zombie movie; some may argue that is not a zombie movie at all! There are no zombies searching to eat your brains out and scaring the rest of the city. Instead, just like we have seen in 28 Days Later, an epidemic occurs. In I Am Legend, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville, lives isolated in New York City. All of the citizens of the city had left or died and he remained searching for a cure to the virus that infected the whole city. This relates to what we watched in 28 Days Later, when Jim woke up alone in the hospital to find all of London isolated and dead. You decide: Do you think I Am Legend should be called a zombie film?

Plot Synopsis:

 I Am Legend, begins by showing Robert driving around desolate NYC with his companion (dog), Sam. Robert is searching NYC for signs of life and to observe how the virus has affected the hosts and the city. The film continues on, showing Robert’s daily life and routine scouring the whole city for answers. There are also flashbacks included that show the chaos that occurred when everyone was evacuating the city. We are also able to see Robert’s wife and daughter and how they were able to evacuate. As his wife and daughter were evacuating, their helicopter ended up crashing and they were killed. These memories continued to haunt Robert throughout the film. This event fueled his fire for his research on finding a cure for the virus. Eventually, Robert finds what is known as a “hive,” where the infected hosts reside. He used this location to his advantage to set up a trap to capture a female host. Once she is captured, a male host known as the “Alpha Male,” emerged from the building to see Robert with the female host. The next day, Robert sees one of the mannequins from the video store in front of Grand Central Station. As he comes closer to it, he is ensnared in a trap. Being ensnared in a trap showed Robert that the infected hosts are intelligent. During his escape from the trap, Sam, was bitten by an infected creature. Robert knew Sam would later become infected with the virus, so he is forced to strangle her to death. As the film continues on, a woman and young boy (Anna and Ethan), find Robert. Robert shares with Anna his idea for a cure and she wants to help. Robert then discovers his last attempt at a treatment, worked. He found the cure! Unfortunately, a group of the infected followed Anna and Ethan to Robert’s house and attack. Robert is able to shut Anna and Ethan in a coal chute and then takes a grenade on the infected people and kills himself in the process. The movie concludes with Anna and Ethan making it to a refugee camp greeting the military officers with the cure.

Overall Thoughts and Ratings:

Overall, I think the film was really good. I really enjoyed how the movie played out and how the script was written. It was easy to connect to Robert and how he was able to bounce back from all of the chaos and despair that occurred in his life, to be able to be so determined to find a cure. The make-up that the infected hosts had was done very well and made them different from the typical rotting zombie. They do not look like they are rotting; they look like translucent humans ready to feast on the next human that they meet. I really enjoyed the set designs throughout the film and how the director was able to create a post-apocalyptic NYC. Showing how desolate and run down the cars and buildings looked really helped the viewer believe just how the apocalypse can affect a city.

Concluding Thoughts and Ideas:

I Am Legend was very different compared to the films that we have watched in class. It really embodied the idea of the isolation that comes with the apocalypse. In the film, we are able to see Robert develop his new norm of life in isolation. In previous films that we have watched in class: Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later; we see how the characters adapt to this new isolation that they find in the cities that they live in. Within each of these three movies, characters band together as the apocalypse takes over and they have to make their way through the movie adapting to this new way of life which resembled what Robert accomplished in I Am Legend. I believe that I Am Legend closely resembles 28 Days Later, because both movies do not include the stereotypical zombies. They include a different breed of zombie that occurred from the viruses that affected the cities in the films. In my opinion, I think this movie does embody a certain type of zombie canon. One may disagree with me since the zombies in the film were not searching for brains and that they were also intelligent. I think that this film embodies a new type of zombie since the infected hosts were dead and were searching to kill humans. They embody the generalization of zombies just not the stereotypes.

Movie Information:

I watched the film through Amazon Prime, so unfortunately I paid $3.99 for it; but, it was worth it!

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtKMEAXyPkg

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2016. Directed by Burr Steers. 

• Acting: 4 out of 5 brains
• Writing/Dialogue: 5 out of 5 brains
• Make-up/Gore: 4 out of 5 brains
• Fighting/Special Effects: 5 out of 5 brains
• Costumes: 4.5 out of 5 brains
• Relevance to Original Pride and Prejudice: 5 out of 5 brains
• Personal Rating: 4.5 out of 5 brains
• Average of Ratings: 4.6 out of 5 brains

Okay this was a pretty darn good movie. It featured in 2016 so the effects are believable and the gore isn't too much but not too little. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is actually entertaining and not at all painful to watch. The only reason I didn't give the movie 5 out of 5 brains is because I didn't really like their actor selection of Sam Riley as Darcy. Overall, it was fairly close to the original Pride and Prejudice plot line and characterization. Of course, they had to leave out and change a few minor details or characters for the sake of movie production. If you were unaware, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was originally a novel, but I haven't read it so I am unaware how well the movie portrays the book. 

But basically what happens is that there was a zombie outbreak in the U.K., forcing what was left of the population to the safety of London, where walls were built to protect the city. People have to go on with life obviously, and to do so some choose to train to fight zombies. The Bennett's are one of many families that take pride in their zombie killing training, and they have some serious skill.  Our protagonist, Elizabeth Bennett, is an outspoken, intelligent, and deadly young woman. At a party she meets a man named Mr. Darcy, whom upon talking to, immediately dislikes due to his arrogance. But at the same party, Jane, Elizabeth's sister and Mr. Darcy's best friend, Mr. Bingley, start to fall in love. Before Mr. Bingley has time to propose to Jane, Mr. Darcy convinces him to leave, causing all sorts of drama. All the while this happens, the zombie sightings are increasing, and to suppress the zombies, a man named Mr. Wickham has an idea of how to domesticate the zombies. 

I won't say any more because I don't want to give any spoilers and I want everyone to watch the movie! If you want to see an official summary and a short trailer, you can find the IMDb page here. Some may think that since it's supposed to be romantic they won't like it, but there isn't many romantic moments. And when things do get romantic, they get violent too. Like slashing necks and shooting heads off violent. 

While watching Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I was reminded of Day of the Dead (1985) for two reasons. One, both movies have a strong female lead. Not only are Elizabeth and Sarah the protagonists, they both fight the zombies physically. It goes without saying that female protagonists are more common today in 2016 than they were in 1985, but it is still refreshing to see women fighting evil with their fists (or guns). Two, in both movies there was an attempt to domesticate the zombies. In Day of the Dead, they domesticated Bub through positive reinforcement. And in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, zombies were "automatically" domesticated if they had never eaten human flesh and consistently calmed their hunger with pig brains. In both films the characters wanted to use the domesticated zombies as a weapon against the flesh-feeding zombies.

In terms of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as a movie in the zombie canon, I don't think this movie was highly influential or at least from what I can see. Especially since it is based off of a book, which was also based off of a book. The movie may not be very influential but I do think it is fairly well known. Maybe it isn't the first zombie movie that pops into your head, and maybe only a small percentage of people have watched it, but still, you've probably at least heard the title before. And that's something :)

I watched the movie on the youtube on fire website, but who knows what that site does to your computer. Either way, WATCH THE MOVIE. Computer virus or not, it's worth it :) Trust me.

Zombie Sharks (2015)

Initial Thoughts:
This was unlike any movie we’ve studied so far in class. It is unlike any movie I’ve ever seen. As a cheesy shark movie enthusiast, it follows the shark theme pretty well. I think that combining the shark and zombie genres was too much for this 94 minute movie. The human zombie aspect was incredibly weak.

Brain Rating by Category:
Gore: 2 brain
Acting: 2 brain
Human zombies: 1 brain
Shark zombies: 2 brain
Cheese level: 4 brain
Weapons choice: 2 brain
Virus description: 2 brain (1 brain for effort and pseudoscience) = 3 brain
Kill methods: 2 brain
Action/audience approval: 3.5 brain
CGI: 3 brain

Average out of 10 categories: 2.45 brain
Personal rating: 8/10 brain

General Plot Synopsis:
Four friends take a vacation to a remote island. The near-by government facility was rumored to shut down after military weapons testing but there is a dark secret loose in the water that only one Dr. can really explain. Now the four friends must fight science gone wrong in order to save themselves and escape the island, and perhaps even save the world.

A More in-depth Analysis:
Some key things to point out. There was very little sexism (a common trope in most zombie movies). In the beginning bar scene, there was sexism, and at first when the parents call Jenner, you expect him to play the strong male lead, this however is repeatedly turned on it’s head as the two sisters are the main and powerful characters. The developments between characters was rushed most of the time, and despite the cookie cutter standard dump of background information, one didn’t really feel as if the character really had depth. However, it is the sister bond that is still the most notable, and although cheesy, stereotype breaker. Jenner is quickly killed off leaving the three bartenders the focus. While Brigid is the common hot girl bitch stereotype, she of course finds redemption in saving the news reporter before she dies. While Cage plays an important role as the movies “needed” strong male character, he admits that Sophie is a badass, and still does take more of a passive role.


Character Analysis:
Amber Steele: The ‘bad child’ trope. She’s the older (and rebellious) sister. Her backstory is that she got pregnant when she was 15 and that was her parents ‘last straw’. She gave the girl up for adoption and now the girl is 10. She is the badass. She is hella overprotective. She must protect her little sister and is more than a little jealous of how much more her parents love Sophie. In the end she is one of three survivors which proves her badass-ery. At first you think her boyfriend Jenner is going to have to protect her throughout the whole movie, but he is quickly killed off and Amber is more than willing to pick up a gun (to save the tubers) and try to fight back.

Sophie Steele: The ‘perfect child’ trope. She is the younger sister who thinks she is all grown up and doesn’t need anyone’s help. This can lead her to make some rash decisions and rush into danger, but overall she is still able to handle herself well. She is not the stereotypical useless younger sister who NEEDS the older to protect her as she rebels against Amber’s over protective nature, but she is not over rebellious. While she has some angry, unwarranted outbursts, she is not stupid nor ‘too much’ of anything. She dies in the end, but she is good as she saves the antidote in the end.
Bridgette: She is the bitchy stereotype. She is characterized as ‘the token bitch’ and lives up to it. She’s ‘hot’ and she knows it, openly flaunting it when she goes out to tan on the beach (teasing Lester and being conceited assuming the guys were leering at her). She takes photos of the dead shark (pretty white girl if you ask me). She is more interested in saving herself than helping others and has many other petty/shallow moments. However, she does have the stereotypical ‘change of heart’ in the end where she dies saving the lady reporter.

Jenner Branton: Amber’s boyfriend. He arranges the trip to Red Plum Island, so this movie and all the other death’s are essentially his fault. He walks into the bar with swagger at first, and is clearly ‘the dude’ but surprisingly, he is killed very early on in the morning. The trip he books is meant to be a bit of romance for him and Amber, however he also says he did it to help mend the bond between the sisters (which is not the normal reason) and he also has the group trip so they HAVE to invite Bridgette (also unusual).

Dr. Palmer: First challenge: the doctor is not a man. Dr. Palmer does however fit the stereotype of ‘the doctor whose experiment was meant for good but goes terribly wrong in the end and I regret that’. Her husband died from a treatable wound because there wasn’t good medical care on hand.

Maxwell Cage: The muscle. Hired for personal security of the government facility, he was employed by Dr. Palmer. Standard super tough military guy. He was against the typical and actually allowed Amber to be pretty self sufficient. There were some very deus ex machina moments, but for the most part, he was a very useful character.

Lester: The token black guy. He is the comic relief of the movie and most of his actions are ridiculous. Cheesy terrible punch lines that were as bad as the budget. He also does have an atypical side. He ends up not only surviving, but also  rallying the troops and leading an assault against the sharks.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnC8pIBiVd4

Complete Movie Play-by-Play (SPOILERS):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13KCZUSnus-jPBx-m7bc_tnNO6Q2ylNr2dgfbf2lfGGE/edit?usp=sharing

Zombeavers

Zombeavers is an action packed horror/comedy low budget film released March 20, 2015. With it being such a new movie, it was nice to see it stray away from the over used and terrible CGI that plagues other B movies and instead used classic makeup and puppeteering. While laughable at best, the props and acting actually still fit the movie perfectly due to its self- spoofing nature and cheesy yet iconic moments throughout the film. Obviously anyone who is looking for a high quality and serious film would be sorely disappointed but lets be honest here, its about zombie beavers so what did you expect it to be? With that being said, for such a low budget movie it had a surprisingly smooth plot, however ridiculous it was. It was also a very polished movie and you could definitely tell that care and time was put into each and every one of the scenes. If the viewer watches the film keeping in mind these things then it leads to a very hilarious and surprisingly pleasant viewing. 

The movie begins with two truckers exchanging some very interesting dialogue while hauling some toxic waste in the bed of their truck. The pair of them go on for sometime talking about some random past experiences and then promptly hit a deer. This causes the toxic waste to fall into the nearby river and thus, the zombeaver was born. Step forward a few days into the future, a group of college girls makes their way up to a secluded cabin in the woods where they would spend a girls weekend getaway. Later to their dismay, they are interrupted by their annoying and extremely childish boyfriends who tagged along without them knowing. After a night filled with drama, sex and more drama, the next day they all decide to go out to the lake for a little swim. That's when all hell breaks loose and the real fun in the movie begins. Not going into any more detail in case of spoilers ( for anyone who chooses to grace their eyes with this movie), but essentially what happens is the story of how they try and survive the night from the marauding bands of zombeavers. Riddled with bad and funny dialogue, action packed high speed beaver chases, and freakishly fake looking beavers, Zombeavers is definitely an experience for the viewer. AND, if you can make it through the entire movie, the credits, and the after scene credits, then you will be rewarded with a zombeaver filmed Frank Sinatra styled song. If so desired you can view the song along with clips from the movie that summarize the entire movie here. 

This zombie film was so unlike every other zombie film out there that it is hard to make too many comparisons. For example, in the 1932 release of White Zombie, the main antagonist was a white male who through his voodoo, created an army of zombies to do his bidding. The main protagonist must swoop in and save the damsel in distress who has been captured and is being held in the castle on the rocky bluff. This is completely different than Zombeavers because the roles are flipped. It's the guys in the movie who act all tough but are really just big babies who need to be saved. Also, the movie was very unclear about the toxic waste which created the zombie beavers, but also when they bite a human, they too turn into a zombie beaver humanoid. This brings up the question, did the waste just mutate the beavers or did it also give them some kind of virus? How else would they be able to transform humans into those freaky looking beaver monsters. If this is the case then the movie is running along more with the modern view of zombies where they are infected via a virus of some sort. As for zombie movie cliches, the movies has them, but not as many as one would expect from a B zombie movie. The survivors board up a house in hopes protection such as in pretty much every zombie survival movie ever, but unfortunately for them they are up against beavers who tend to chew through wood for a living so that plan doesn't last very long. Unlike a lot of other zombie movies and readings such as Night of the Living Dead by Romero, the females in this movie aren't contemporary Barbaras. On the contrary the women in Zombeavers are actually really bad ass and *SPOILER ALERT* pick up all of the guys slack and are in fact the last to survive in the group. This includes them chopping up beavers, chopping up their zombie beaverified friends, driving over said zombie friends and jumping out of a window.

 All in all, I think this movie is an excellent addition to the zombie canon because it shows the untold story of the zombie beaver and how underrated this stuff is. While it is an awful movie in pretty much all aspects, it is so bad that it turns into a train wreck that you must finish. It embraces the fact that it is not a serious movie and pokes fun at other B zombie movies which just adds to its majesty. If I sound biased, its because I am and I loved this movie.

Based off of my personal taste and love for crappy horror/comedy movies I give it a solid 4 out of 5 brains as a much watch for people who have nothing better to do with their time. 

As for an actual unbiased rating that just examines the movie aspects, I give it an amazing 1.5 brains out of 5 for just being bad in every way.

If you desire to watch this work of art, it can be found on DVD, Netflix and on Amazon so pick your poison. Also the official ratings and trailers of the movie can be found at IMDB Zombeavers.

Zoombies Review

Zoombies

Directed by Glenn Miller

Released in 2016

Eden Wildlife Zoo is preparing for their grand opening when a virus starts to spread through the animals in the zoo. The strange virus started with a group of three monkeys in the operating room of the veterinarian's office. The monkeys attacked the vets and then soon escaped the room and infected the rest of the zoo. This caused many animals and zoo workers to die. This movie was essentially Jurassic Park but a zoo instead of a dinosaur theme park. Zoombies was filled with subpar actors playing cliche characters, a simple script with no real plotline, and terrible special effects. I give Zoombies 3 brains out of 5, and I think that might be me being generous. The biggest problem I had with Zoombies was that in the ever present threat of zombie animals and the virus spreading until it couldn’t be contained, the zombie virus was never explained. It was a virus that could warp the animals brains, making them vicious and blood-thirsty beyond what the animals would normally be. I know that Eden Wildlife Zoo was under attack by the zombie animals, but if the surviving employees couldn’t figure it out, why not a few scenes during the credits with the CDC doing research on it?  There was enough animal blood for collecting samples and presumably the CDC eventually showed up. You would think that a zombie virus movie would have a stronger emphasis on the virus. Other things that were bothersome was that the special effects for the animal attacks were blurry and honestly just bad. Almost all of the interesting characters die in the first twenty minutes. Also there were completely unnecessary subplots throughout the movie. Granted, all this being said Zoombies was a fun movie. If you’re looking for a movie with quality and one that makes sense then steer clear of Zoombies. But if you want a cheesy horror movie that’ll just make you laugh then this one is for you.

Zoombies was a lot like the earlier works we watched like White Zombie and I Walked with a Zombie in terms of acting and plotline. I was personally very surprised to find out that the movie was released earlier this year. Due to the poor cinematography one would think that it was released 15 years ago. What related Zoombies to Day of the Dead was that both films had a virus that created zombies instead of zombies created through voodoo. In both films we start to see the progression of how zombies start to become more aggressive and more monsterlike, instead of just mindless creatures. In the short story “Little Violette” the characters had conflicted feelings about killing the zombie because they had personal connections to her. Zoombies was much like that since the director of the zoo didn’t want to kill the animals and was trying to save their collection of rare birds. Eventually, in both stories the main characters have to get over their restrain and kill the animals for the safety of others.

Below is the link to the film’s IMDB entry and the movie can be viewed on Netflix as well as Amazon Prime.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5340882/