Land of the Dead (2005)

NIGHT 28

     "In a world where the dead are returning to life, the word 'trouble' loses much of its meaning."

Land of the Dead (2005) is George A. Romero's sequel to the Dead trilogy, made 20 years after the last of those films.

Land of the Dead is unique because it was one of the first film to start years after a zombie outbreak. There's a lot going on in this film but our main hero is on a mission to return an expensive zombie combat vehicle that was stolen from a fat cat living on top of a "zombie proof" society.

This film features smart zombies that are some of the protagonists in this film which is not only an interesting and unique idea, it seems like the natural next step after Day of the Dead (1985). Unfortunately this doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you haven't seen the rest of his films.

Like the rest of Romero's Dead films this one has lots of really good and unique characters. Unfortunately for this film the dialogue and uninteresting story really doesn't help these characters shine for all they're worth.

This film has plenty of unique and interesting things to bring to the world of zombie movies. This was the first one to take place really far (years) after the initial zombie outbreak and introduces new things to his Dead films too, like the discovery that zombies are fascinated with fireworks. This is a really great idea, but unfortunately the film sets this up and then when it comes up in the final act the zombies just decide to ignore it for no reason at all. Way to follow your own rules, movie. And I got to say this is the first of Romero's Dead films to feature CG and I love how minimally and reserved he is about using it. This film feels a lot bigger than a 15 million dollar film.

And this film is arguably the first of Romero's Dead films to really incorporate a whole lot of humor in it. I'm pretty hit or miss on the actual humor here but at least it shows Romero doesn't take this film as seriously as you might expect.

This film is riddled with bad exposition speeches. There was plenty of exposition in the other films but this film is the worst at incorporating it and making it feel natural by far. Overall I'd actually have to say that the entire dialogue is definitely the worst of all the Dead films so far, it's all pretty much laughably bad and unfortunately it's unintentional too.

The worst thing about this film is the story just isn't that interesting. There's about three different narratives we're following and all of them are pretty predictable and uninteresting.

The thing this film does well is its commentary on society and class and how even after something like a zombie apocalype we'd still find ourselves under the power and control of someone who knew how to take advantage of the system. Supossebly this film is George A. Romero's commentary on the George W. Bush administration but luckily for him it's actually pretty vague and not so on the nose like that. I say this is lucky because if our main antagonist here was just a walking Bush cartoon I feel like that would have dated the film incredibly.

Land of the Dead (2005) is a decent addition to the Dead films, not as good as the others but it still has plenty of interesting and unique things to add.

3.5/5 Stars.

Happy watching!




Tomorrow on the 31 Nights of Macabre Movies I'm going to review Zack Snyder's directorial debut, Dawn of the Dead (2004), the remake.

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Day of the Dead (1985)

NIGHT 27

     "They are us."

Day of the Dead (1985) is the second sequel to Night of the Living Dead (1968), following Dawn of the Dead (1978) it was the final film in the "Dead trilogy", until Land of the Dead (2005) was made years later. Like those films this one is also written and directed by George A. Romero.

Day of the Dead starts months after the zombie outbreak. The story follows a group of survivors who are having trouble living with each other inside an underground military-medical compound that is otherwise pretty safe.

I like the soundtrack in this one, it's a bit too repetitive for my tastes personally, but it still probably has the best soundtrack of any of Romero's Dead films.

Like the previous films in Romero's Dead trilogy, this film offers up a theory to why all of this has happened to them. Unfortunately it's very similar in this film to Dawn of the Dead's theory, but they do take it a little bit further and say that it's possible God was getting angry with us because we're getting too close to him. Which is actually quite fitting for the scientific nature of this film.

[Spoilers!] I like how even though this ending is essentially the same as Dawn of the Dead (our characters escaping at the end of the film via helicopter), Romero finds a more interesting and unique way to do it with the jump to them in their paradise. It's a cool way to do it, and doesn't feel repetitive even though it's really the same ending as before.

[Spoilers!] I don't love the final act of this film where everything kind of devolves and falls apart. It is fitting for the story they set up and the theme of the film though, and even though it kind of just becomes a senseless bloody gore-fest even I must admit it is quite satisfying to see Captain Rhodes and his troops get what has been coming to them the entire film. I also never really felt like the tension was high enough for the main characters as they're escaping in the madness. At no point to I feel like they're ever not going to make it out.

I love the premise and the core roots of this film. When you boil it down, this is a story about struggle, and how peoples lack of communication and inability to overcome each others differences leads to destroy a good thing they had going. Romeo once again uses the zombie fiction as a way to hold up a magnifying glass to the human race" Saying even if we were all safe together somewhere we would be the reason for our own demise. And I love how none of the characters are actually incorrect, they just are all so stuck in their ways that they can't listen to the other people at all and realize if they worked together they could be doing a lot better. "That's the trouble with the world, Sarah darlin'. People got different ideas concernin' what they want out of life."

I really love how this film starts. A novice director would never start a film dropping you in the middle of the story like this, but it works so well! The film starts with the tail-end of a failed helicopter mission, only to find the previous commander has died, and the new guy is kind of a dick. Having the characters learning to deal with the way things are going to be now is a great way to introduce the audience to the world, characters and story.

This film has great acting all around, possibly only trumped by the great characters that this film has. I love how Romero basically makes up for his failure in the previous films at writing a female character by making our central lead her one of the strongest and most badass female characters in film history. She can literally hold her own against a whole crew of asshole military guys, and yet she's not one dimensional at all either. There's plenty of times in this movie that we see how dealing with these people and living like this takes a toll on her.

Day of the Dead also does a really great thing by advancing the zombie findings and lore in a way that makes perfect sense for the way they've acted in the previous movies. I think this was completely necessary for this film series and brings so much more to rewatches of the older films too! And despite there being a bit of a jump in the advancement of what the zombies can do, nothing seems out of place here thanks to the really solid story. And one of my favorite things is the theory of amputation after a zombie bite working if it's quick enough, it's such a bittersweet thing how we never actually get to see if it actually works or not!

And lastly the zombie makeup and special effects is leaps and bounds better here than it was in the previous films. It looks really spectacular. Also the way it works out, the makeup actually seems like they've been decaying over time thanks to the way the makeup technology is advancing and the story keeps taking place further and further away from the original disaster in each film.

Day of the Dead (1985) is my favorite of Romero's Dead films, there's so much accomplished in this small little film and gives you so much to chew (mentally) that I don't think there's been a zombie film as smart as this one since its release.

5/5 Stars.

 Happy watching!




Come back tomorrow as we're going to jump a couple decades, to this film's sequel Land of the Dead (2005) on the 31 Nights of Macabre Movies.

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In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

NIGHT 10

     "Do you read Sutter Cane?"

In the Mouth of Madness (1994) is a Lovecraftian horror film directed by John Carpenter. Unlike the previous Lovecraft films I've reviewed so far, In the Mouth of Madness is not based on any one H.P. Lovecraft tale but contains countless references to much of Lovecraft's entire body of work and has an original story, told in a very Lovecraftian style.

John Trent is an Insurance Investigator, simply put he excels in exposing fraud. But when a series of weird real-life incidents start happening around a popular horror writer's work (and hitting a little too close to Trent's personal life) he embarks on a mission to try and find the missing writer and see if he can expose what's really happening with these weird events. Is it all coincidence, or just a big PR campaign... or could it be something bigger?

Most of the effects in this film still hold up really well! This is obviously due to John Carpenter being a master at what he does and loves practical effects. I think the only effect that doesn't really hold up as well is the model for Mrs. Pickman. Which is surprising because it's a pretty memorable part.

Once the film sets out all the pieces it then spirals into madness very quickly. Maybe this was the film's intent but I would have preferred there to be some more time before John Trent starts going crazy, some more vague area like well the entire film of American Psycho (2000) would have people going back over and over and debating about what is real and what's not and at what point everything goes to hell for our protagonist.

I also didn't like the end. It's a little too on the nose for me. I liked all the comments leading up into the end about how there's going to be a movie but to have the protagonist sitting down and watching events from the movie we just watched, that's a bit too meta for my taste. Granted, I can't think of a better way to end it personally, I just know I didn't love that one.

In the Mouth of Madness combines so many different Lovecraftian tropes together in one story that it really shouldn't work as well as it does. However under the veil of our protagonist losing his mind they all work super well together. The film starts in a madhouse and works backwards which is a very Lovecraftian thing to do, and there's tons of specific references to characters and creatures from lots of different Lovecraft stories. It really is the perfect love letter to H.P. Lovecraft.

These tropes combined with great directing equal legitimate horror, and a whole range of it too. From well earned jump scares to really creepy moods and moments. You want good horror, look no further.

I also feel like a lot of this film working has to do with how great Sam Neill is as our protagonist, John Trent. This was literally his next big movie after Jurassic Park (1993) and he's just as good in this as he was in that. He makes for a really interesting and compelling character that I think would've been a whole lot less interesting with a different actor in the lead, and this makes me want to see more of his films!

And lastly, the film only touches on it for an instant but I loved the point that Sutter Cane brings up about an author being closer to a God than religion will ever know. This is some really deep stuff, and even though it only gets swept in for a second if you want to ponder on it, there's enough there to warrant a re-watch. Awesome stuff.

In the Mouth of Madness (1994) is a great horror film by a real master director. There's so much of this film that shoudn't work as well as it does and I think this is all due to John Carpenter's skill. One of the best films about madness ever created.

4/5 Stars.

Happy watching!

Tomorrow we continue the Lovecraft-Stuart Gordon streak with the direct to video, Castle Freak (1995) on the 31 Nights of Macabre Movies.

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Oblivion (2013)

"Are you an effective team?"

Oblivion (2013) is the sophomore outing of director Joseph Kosinski following 2010's Tron: Legacy. Oblivion is a post-apocalyptic, conspiracy science fiction film about a man named Jack Harper, who believes along with his assigned partner Vic they are the only two humans left on earth after it was viciously attacked by Scavs and most of mankind was able to escape offworld to Saturn's largest moon Titan, the film starts with only two weeks left in Jack's stay on Earth before joining the rest of mankind on Titan. Jack however is starting to have second thoughts.

Let me start off by saying this is a hard film to talk about without tripping over any spoilers, so I'll do my best to dance around them and in my usual way merely vaguely mention and imply things but if you want the complete spoiler-free experience while watching Oblivion you'd better stop here, and for that matter don't watch the trailer either!

First things first, the music. I'd be lying if knowing the fact that M83 did the score for this film wasn't about 50% the reason I wanted to see it in theaters. (In that one respect, maybe my hopes for this movie were a bit too high!) Thus far I gotta say I really applaud Joseph Kosinski for his music choices of his filmography. The decision to have Daft Punk score Tron: Legacy was like the shot heard around the world, and for the most part Daft Punk delivered. The score for that film was amazing, however nothing like anything anyone really expected. Here again Kosinski picks an electronic band that's never done any kind of film scoring before, but has a rather cinematic quality to their music (much more than Daft Punk even!) Much like Tron: Legacy, Oblivion's score is not what I was expecting.

M83's score is somewhat lost between being too subtle most of the time and what sounds like trying too hard to be Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy score. Now both being helmed by the same director it's possible to assume that Kosinski gave the same direction for both soundtracks or that he is perpetually set on using the same type of soundtrack in his films (god I hope not!) But more than likely I feel like M83 listened to Daft Punk's score a bit too much before taking on this gig, and as a result I have to say, I'm kind of disappointed. Oblivion's score isn't bad even by a long shot and it definitely has its moments, but knowing M83's music... hell go online right now and listen to any tracks (at random!) from their most recent album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (2011) and I have to say I think no matter what tracks you picked it would have worked better over this film than most of this score.

I can't think of a better word to describe the acting in this film over all than "good." I think my favorite actor in the whole movie is Andrea Riseborough, playing Vic Jack's partner who doesn't want to mess anything up by breaking procedure this close to being done with the mission, even though she's such a tiny part of the whole film. Oh and Melissa Leo as Sally is pretty unmistakably amazing for her small role as Sally, Jack and Vic's only contact to the rest of humankind at the beginning of the film. Tom Cruise kind of seems out of place at the beginning of the film but as the plot unravels and you see the whole picture he works for the role pretty well. But even though Tom is good for this role and really works, it's nothing we haven't seen Tom Cruise do a million times before. Oh and Morgan Freeman is completely wasted in this role. All in all he was fine, I can't help but feel they just needed another big name to put on the posters and sell the movie around the world. Frankly this kind of role is kind of bellow him.

Also much like Tron: Legacy, Oblivion suffers from all sorts of holes, inconsistencies and gaps in logic ranging from small to HUGE. (Warning this is probably the most spoilerish I'm gonna get in this post.)

Let's go through a couple shall we? There's moments where Vic says "don't go there I don't have eyes on you!" and then the next shot is of her watching Jack on a her flat screen from the camera on the Bubble Plane? There's a point when Vic locks Jack outside and he's demanding for her to open the door, next thing you know we cut to him inside with no explination at all. What the heck? Major cut or jumps in continuity like that are completely inexcusable. There's a moment when Jack is looking for a single drone in the vast wasteland, and he even says "it's like looking for a needle in a haystack..." then he switches from flying a jet over to a tiny motorcycle? That makes NO sense even remotely, and just feels like an excuse to show off more technology, also inexcusable. For the first part of the film the "Scavs" wear this supposedly stealth armor technology for the first part of the film because it helps them hide from drone persecution "most of the time" up until they reveal what's actually going on... after that they never put on their helmets (even once!) for the remainder of the film, even when battling what? You guessed it drones! Jeez guys, don't you think those stealth suits would help with what they're made for!? And then there's the whole bit about the ending that pretty much undermines the awesome foe we've spent the whole film setting up. The enemy has pretty much no reason to let the heroes get as far as they do, especially when I'm pretty sure the enemy was just going to kill them anyway! Ugh I feel like I could go on all day with little things this film messes up on!

There's also some very predictable things that occur in this movie, especially if you're a fan of science fiction films. But I gotta say that for the most part I was impressed and when they went down a direction that seemed cliché or rehashed, I was usually pretty impressed that the film chose to turn and go a different way along the way making the story seem just original enough.

I figured going into this film that the visuals were going to be worthwhile. Joseph Kosinski comes from a background in industrial and architectural design, and in my opinion is far better at that than telling stories. I have to say though that I was very impressed with the way this film mixed real physical sets and scenery and CGI. Coming out of a world of Tron: Legacy which is understandably mostly shot against a blue screen I was rather impressed with how much of this movie is actually shot in and against the real world! Kosinki made the right choice in again working with the amazing designer Daniel Simon who was the lead designer on Tron: Legacy and designed this films Bubble ship, towers, weapons and general "sci-fi tech."

Another great choice was to continue working with cinematographer Claudio Miranda who's filmography pretty thus far pretty much only has hits, but also worked on last years Life of Pi (2012) and previously with Kosinski on Tron: Legacy. Miranda really knows how to place and move a camera. I found myself constantly in a state of awe with the simple but effective camera work in this film. Even during interior shots inside Jack and Vic's sky cabin where they live, Miranda always seems to find a new and interesting place to put the camera, which isn't easy if you watch most sci-fi films where the majority of the story takes place aboard futuristic ships.

For what it's worth I gotta say I really enjoyed the story of this film, especially the basic set up. Which is something I gotta say I never thought I'd say. I'm a big fan of Wall-E (2008) and the seemingly identical nature of the setup for this film was almost a huge turn off for me, but I'm glad to say that I think beyond the general similarities the film goes on to do it's own thing. Sure there's references and homages to a ton of other films in this movie but more often than not the film doesn't choose to go down those paths too far and kind of just hints at the homages rather than dwelling on them, which I appreciated.

I found the basic setup captivating and even though it's told in a voice over with lots of exposition, it really drew me into the world and didn't let go. I can't promise this experience for everyone but it really worked for me. And I'm glad the trailer didn't tell any more than it already did.

Lastly I got to say that for every stupid little thing this movie misses, there's just about as many cool little things it does too. For example, I love the way the film turns the initial exposition on its head with an unreliable narrator and by the end of the film what you realize something unexpected about the narrator from the beginning of the film. I like the way the drones are used throughout the film as something cool, and heroic and then gradually very terrifying. In the same way I also liked the way the film used the Sally character initially as this lovable voice of "home" and gradually transforms it into something else completely menacing and unexpectedly sinister.

Oblivion (2013) isn't the most original film ever, but for what it's worth it's a fun ride and a perfect rental or matinee. 4/5 Stars.


Happy watching!





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