This blog covers Movies, TV, and other Geeky things...... Movie Reviews (over 3,400 movies rated so far) Countdowns of my top movies by year.... and much more.
The Sharknado franchise came to a wacky and strange time
travel conclusion last year. Ian Ziering not
wanting to fade from the public eye decided to move on to the zombie/natural disaster genre. Instead of just battling zombies
---why not spice it up a little with a Tidal Wave.Zombie Tidal Wave is a decent campy low budget
zombie flick.The problem with modern day Zombie films is
that post The Walking Dead –viewers are never going to connect with and care
about the characters in a zombie film as much as they did for that TV show. Basically,
with that series Zombies have already been done just about as good as possible.All these low budget zombie flicks are generally
not as good as the best episodes of the TV series - that being said they can still be a fun distraction if your expectations are not too high.
So, what is the point of watching Zombie Tidal Wave? Ian
Ziering has in my mind become the new king of cheesy and campy low budget fun.It is fun watching him with a Taser/Machete
electrocuting zombies that look like they have been dipped in Windex to save
money on zombie makeup. It was pure campy goodness.He has one
great fight with a Zombie that seems to know so wrestling moves near the end
that was enjoyable.
The movie itself was actually pretty good. I really don't know why Brad Pitt has never become a major action star. Other than Mr. and Mrs. Smith he really has stayed out of the action movie genre and it is a shame because Tom Cruise wouldn't hold a candle to him if he had his own Mission Impossible type franchise. Instead he spends too much of his time making movie like Benjamin Buttons (to each his own). Brad Pitt is what makes this movie work. I remember Hollywood was extremely nervous when this movie came out thinking it was going to be a giant bomb --due to rewrites and reshoots it was thought that it might bomb. Instead it turned into Brad Pitt's biggest box office hit so far.
The Plot
The plot was decent for a Zombie movie. The concept of the people turning immediately into zombies within 11 seconds lead to the insanely quick spread of the apocalypse and pacing and urgency of the movie itself. The movie was able to show how quickly society could fall apart in such a situation (which seems even more relevant while watching similar types of behavior happening in the streets of American over grand jury ruling). If people can so quickly become enraged over a trial regardless of the evidence to where they start recklessly burning their own town down---then a zombie outbreak would most definitely cause even worse behavior. The best scene to illustrate this was the grocery store scene with people just grabbing what they want in totally chaos. Brad Pitt kills a man to protect his family and a cop just runs past him loading up his own basket full of supplies. The end of the movie was a little weak with the discovery Brad Pitt makes to fight against the Zombies (which I will let those you haven't seen it discover for themselves).
The Action
Probably one of the best scenes in the movie was the opening car scene with Brad Pitt and his family in the middle of the city when the outbreak first kicks into gear. That sequence reminded me of a really cool scene from one of the Harrison Ford Jack Ryan movies where his car was trapped on a street between drug lords. The action of this scene was a great way to kick off the movie
The Effects
The Effects were still a weak spot in the movie for me. I know what they were going for --but the Zombies as CGI ants climbing the wall was a little too much. They were also scenes were the Zombies looked like a flood a salmon going up stream.
All in all it was a lot better than I original expected ---but still even with a huge budget and Brad Pitt --it wasn't as good as The Walking Dead. I truly believe no single Zombie movie will ever again have the impact of this amazing TV show that I once called the Slow and Plodding dead after just 5 episodes. I'll discuss the first half of the current season of the Walking Dead later this week.
Another low budget Zombie movie that lands with a big thud. This is about as a zombie movie can be.
It was really sad -because the movie started out with a little bit of potential as a group of friends are having a party and all of a sudden there is an announcement that a strange meteor shower is occurring in the skies. It was obviously going for a Cloverfield feel at the beginning . The main character wakes up after a night of partying to a city that has been bombarded by this strange meteors. The group of friends gather together and then another warning happens that the dust from the meteors is making people sick....and by sick we mean turning them into zombies. The movie that started with the possibility of being interesting --just gets worse and worse as it goes along. In a similar fashion as the movie "The Happening" which got worse every minute. This movie was just dull. I didn't care about any of the characters including the John Stamos wannabe lead.
The problem with such low budget movies like this is how implausible they are (and I'm not talking about the meteors turning people into zombies). The title I saw this movie on the Syfy channel under was Apocalypse LA and to call this an Apocalypse is a slap in the face to the word. If this event just happened there would be a lot more people running around in the streets trying to escape, but because of the films pitiful budget this isn't possible. Instead we get a movie with about 6 characters in Los Angeles being chased by no more than 2-3 zombies at a time. Most of the movie takes place in what looks like abandoned parking garage --and empty alleyways. Characters stupidly one after another end up sacrificing themselves to lack luster zombies. The lack on people in Los Angeles during on End of the World type event was just laughable and annoying. Watching the 2 characters that make it to end of this pointless zombie movie running down the middle of an empty street --being chased by a couple of zombies is just an insult to zombie movies. And they make it to the beach at the end??? Is the beach supposedly safe??? If I had seen this before we had recorded our recent Zombie movie podcast---it may have made my worst Zombie movie ever list.
Skip this one The movie was made worse by the fact that I watched an episode of The Walking Dead immediately afterwards --which blew it away.
Up next I'll be watching World War Z (which I had skipped because of the over the top CGI in the trailers---but now want to check out after Andy and Russell's comments on the film in the podcast.
The movie is about a group of forensic students that are taking a field test with their teacher (Played by Michael Shanks --of Stargate SG1 fame). This field test takes place on a remote island where apparently some illegal biological testing took place on some dangerous criminals. I recorded this film on the DVR off of Chiller TV ---(the TV channel for low budget horror movies that back in the day we would find at local Music Plus VHS rental store). It was described as a bunch of students that come across mutant creatures. The movie was a mixed bag of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. The Bad 1. The movie got off to a slow start establishing the forensic students taking their tests on corpses at this remote location. The movie took its time setting up the story.
2. The movies description wasn't very accurate as its budget didn't really allow for an island full of mutant creatures. I was expecting actual creatures.....not just a couple of prison inmates in what looked like muscle bound Toxic Avenger makeup. I was really hoping to see a bunch of weird creatures. 3. It was the typical: It isn't a zombie movie----but it is really a zombie movie plot. Just because you call something a mutant creature, doesn't mean that it isn't just a zombie. I mean they are undead (zombie)---if they bite you ...you turn into one of them (Zombie) they crave human flesh (zombie). If you are going to make a Zombie movie ----just call it a Zombie movie. Of course a lot of low budget Zombie movies like this that can't afford a bunch of extras --call themselves non-zombie movies so that the people that can watch quality Zombie action every week on Walking Dead---don't actually expect a ton of zombies stalking the victims in the movie. 4. The ending was very abrupt and Michael Shanks ---the one actor I actually know disappears from the story for a good 20 minutes near the end. The Good 1. If you like gore the movie once it got going actually delivers with numerous gory death scenes. It did a good job of providing some nasty visual footage and some interesting death scenes. At this point I feel like I have seen everything that could be seen in a horror movie, so if a film can deliver something disturbing that you haven't seen or show something you have seen already in an interesting way that is good. The Ugly These Toxic Avenger flesh eating mutants sure were ugly. Here is the trailer
George Romero's return to the genre is a mixed bag. On the heels of the excellent Hollywood remake of his Dawn of the Dead, George comes at this zombie movie with something a little different. I guess it basically follows the next logical step from Bub the zombie in Day of the Dead. The movie should have been called Zombie Messiah, since a gas attendant zombie appears to be the leader in the next step of the zombie evolution as he starts relearning how to use tools and weapons and gets a horde of zombies to follow him in an attack on the city. This zombie movie takes place when the zombies have pretty much taken over the world and the rich lead by Dennis Hopper are living the fine life in a fancy walled in city while lower class citizens go out into the world of zombies to bring back stuff for the rich. So I guess you could say that it has references to the lower classes rising up against the upper class in the form of Zombies basically starting a revolution. Simon Baker stars as one of these warriors that drives around in a armoured bus taking out zombies on supply missions. The movie is a mixed bag because it fails in bringing the fear that most zombie movies create. The film chooses to focus on a side story involving the main character going out to stop one of his former partners from blowing up the city. The characters are too well armed and the city too protected for most of the film so you don't get the sense of peril that you should out of a zombie movie. The movie picks up a little towards the end when the zombies led by their Messiah (thought he was actually going to walk on water at one point) leads them across the water to assault the city . These scenes were interesting, but were pretty much too little to late to make this a great movie. An interesting concept that just didn't really work effectively despite having a few cool scenes here and there.
It starts out promising with some over the top bas Asylum special effects that include a car tumbling out of control down Lombard street in San Francisco and then a small zombie uprising on Alcatraz. Here is a rundown of what is good and bad about this zombie film.
List of what I liked in the movie:
1. The Best thing in the movie was Danny Trejo who has carved out a niche for himself ever since he started showing up in Robert Rodriquez movies. He would of probably ended up a forgotten supporting actor and now stars in C movies as well as the occasional theatrical release. Watching him kick zombie ass is entertaining.
2. Some of the cheesy, over the top bad Asylum special effects can be entertaining. The car crashing in Frisco and the later Red Car Trolley crash were funny for their cheesiness.
3. The movie attempted to bring in some known actors to the cast Mariel Hemmingway, Danny Trejo, French Stewart, Ethan Suplee and LeVar Burton--which added a little bit to the movie.
Things I didn't like:
1. The pacing at the start of the movie was decent and I had hopes it might actually be fairly entertaining , but then it got worse and the story began to drag once they left the prison. All Zombie movies will now suffer in comparison to the Walking Dead. The first 2 episodes of this years The Walking Dead blow away anything in this zombie movie. It is hard to walk badly choreographed fight scenes in a movie while we get kick ass scenes like Zombies falling through the ceiling on a TV show.
2. The Zombie makeup felt like it was almost an after thought. You feel like you are at a local zombie walk instead of watching a zombie movie.
3. If you are going to do a zombie apocalypse movie where supposedly the streets are empty---don't use helicopter shots of the city that clearly show cars driving around like it is a normal Sunday afternoon. There were several flaws like this that were noticeable.
4. Despite the list of known actors they really added nothing to the film, since the rest of the acting and dialogue were so poor. I really didn't need to see Levar Burton trying to get all serious in this low budget Zombie movie. It isn't Roots Levar....embrace the cheese.
All in all it I give it about a 4 out of 10 for being just an average nothing special zombie movie. At least it wasn't as bad as Day of the Dead 2.
I recently posted a question on facebook asking how people would rank the top 5 Zombie movies of all-time. Well let's just say that Day of the Dead 2:Contagium will not make the list. This was by far one of the least entertaining, dull, silly and boring zombie movies I've ever seen. I won't attempt to tell you what was good about the film, because I wouldn't be able to find anything redeeming about this flick. It focuses on a mental institution that in the 1968 had a zombie outbreak as a result of an experiment into a chemical weapons. The 1968 outbreak was contained, but the incompetent government apparently could not find the one missing vial, even though one of the modern day mental patients is able to find it many years later in broad daylight in a metal flask. That is how this bad zombie movie starts. They open it of course and start turning into weird hive mind like talking zombies with peeling skin. One of them bites an evil hospital worker which begins the spread of the virus that turns everyone else in the hospital into typical zombies. The plot was lame the acting was bad and silly and the zombies looked horrible (and not in a good way). I don't know how or why this was able to use the title Day of the Dead 2 since it is not an official sequel to the original. This movie is definitely at the bottom of any zombie movie list. It was just a lazy and unispired effort.
I saw that Day of the Dead was showing on Chiller the other day and it has been at least 20 plus years since I had seen this zombie movie. Of the three movies in George Romero's zombie series that started with the Classic Night of the Living Dead 1968 (a movie that created the modern zombie genre) Day of the Dead was my least favorite. Re-watching it all these years later, I actually appreciated it more than the first time around. The movie takes place sometime after the events of Dawn of the Dead in focuses on a military base in which the some scientists are trying to learn more about the Zombies and what makes them tick, while some scraggly looking military guys are trying to protect them. Here is the rundown of the good and bad about Day of the Dead.
List of what I liked in the movie:
1. The zombie effects and blood and gore of the film was excellent including scenes with a guy getting his head slowly ripped off his body.
2. The soundtrack at times had a cool John Carpenter style vibe to it
3. The dialogue and acting were really cheesy, but that isn't always necessarily a bad thing. (also see this as something on the What I Didn't Like list)
4. Looking at this movie years later, I was able to reflect on its contributions to the genre. One of the focuses of the movie not seen in the previous films was the notation of trying to understand what makes the zombies the way they are and working towards either a cure or a way to control the zombies. As far a zombie films or shows like the Walking Dead..... you have to give props to the movies that set the foundation for the genre.
5. Bub the zombie that can learn and remember a part of his former life was an obvious inspiration for the storyline in The Walking Dead in Woodbury where the scientist was trying to figure out if any of the former person was still in the undead creatures. Bub is a classic big screen zombie
Here is Bub trying to make a phone call
.
Things I didn't like:
1. The pacing of the movie was way too slow and you really don't get much good zombie action until the third act of the film. The movie is more about the people which works great in a TV show like the Walking Dead where we have the time in each episode to explore the characters and their relationships and motivations. In a stand alone movie this drags the story down and was clearly the reason I didn't like this movie many years ago. Coming on the heels of Return of the Living Dead....which spun the Zombie genre off into a whole new direction and was relentless and entertaining throughout, the slow pace of Day of the Dead was a disappointment
2. The acting and the dialogue could have been straight out of the Toxic Avenger.
Of course this may be a reason to put it on the like list.
3. Despite the great and gory special effects the sense of peril wasn't at a level that it should be. I mean the zombies are slow and plodding and just don't strike the terror that the Zombies of The Walking Dead do. Maybe part of that is not having a connection with the lackluster characters in the movie, but again I feel it struggles in comparison to Return of the Living Dead or its own predecessor Dawn of the Dead, which had one of the setting ever for a Zombie movie.
All in all it I give it about a 6 out of 10 which is a better rating than the first time
around mainly because of its contributions to the genre.
It is not a great Zombie Flick by any means....but as far as films by the production company The Asylum it was a really good effort. The story was well paced as a group of survivors during the Zombie Apocalypse make their way towards the west coast where they believe salvation is waiting on a ferry to Catalina Island of the coast of Long Beach. After just recently watching all of Season 1 of The Walking Dead and several other Zombie movies I really wasn't expecting much from this film the second I saw The Asylum logo at the beginning yet this movie was actually pretty decent. It delivered what I want in a Zombie movie which is a series of close calls and Zombie escapes. There were a few good Zombie attacks with some cheesy but effective cheap CGI blood splatter. The movie kept moving forward with a defined end goal in mind.....and then (SPOILER ALERT) There was a random surprise Zombie Tiger attack at the very end.....Weird twist but fun....These are the people known for giant bad CGI animals after all....Anyway...if you want a fun cheesy Zombie film that moves along a good pace with Ving Rhames as the lead....then check this out.
Where is Samuel L Jackson when you need him. "I'm sick and tired of all these motherf---ing Zombies on my motherf---ing plane".
There have been snaked on a plane --why not Zombies. The Zombies are attacking the passengers and all the stewardess and pilot are concerned about is getting everyone to remain seated. But not to worry Tiger Woods has his golden putter. This movie is cheesy fun. The Nun is praying while zombies are crawling out of the whole in the floor. A hole which is used about 8 different times...(There is a not a lot of room on a plane for different sets you know. "Return to your seats". One old Asian Zombie listened as he is still strapped in. Apparently the plane itself is indestructible....I mean it withstands gunfire and homemade bombs and opened doors. "Please Remain seated" There is no fighting on a plane and no throwing around a football and definitely firing guns at zombies. The banter between the criminal and the cop that was handcuffed to him was actually fairly decent.
The movie has some delightfully awful dialogue like.
"Two in the chest, one in the balls. That's what I say."
and
Frank: [after saving Megan] You alright? no bites? Megan: But we thought... we thought... Frank: What? That it was me gnawing on the passengers? Nah, I'm a vegetarian.
" Please remain seated" A major plot flaw was at the end (Spoiler Alert) After the plane crashes on its flight from LA to Paris --the few survivors walk through the desert toward Las Vegas......huh?
