Yes a new feature for me when I have the time, I will be reviewing films old and new and any films you would like me to review just let me know through email on triond and I will get hold of them. This week’s film is Day of the Dead; do not get it confused with a George A Romero remake as it has been remade by a totally different director. George A Romero did make this film originally and it was the third in the Dead series, the director is a man called Steve Miner who directed Friday the 13th part 2 and 3 and Halloween H20. This was a straight to DVD or video release and was not put on the cinema as most zombie films aren’t lately, so you would expect a straight to DVD release to be basically crap….well that isn’t entirely true. Let me give you a run down of the plot first basically the residents of a small Colorado town are becoming infected with an illness that makes the infected have nausea, cold sweats, feel lethargic and discolouration to their complexion. After a while the virus kicks in and the infected get this sudden urge to rip you limb from limb and eat your flesh, basically the same plot as a usual zombie film as well as the resident army recruits; which are made up of Mena Suvari who most will remember her as the young girl covered in red rose petals in American Beauty. Ving Rhymes from Dawn of the Dead and Con Air and Nick Cannon who was Jax in Mortal Kombat Annihilation, so the resident army troops begin to investigate what’s going on with all the infected people in this town when they are caught up in the middle of it all when the infected begin to bite back.
It is the usual story of army recruits vs. residents of town vs. zombies vs. everything else; in the middle of all this we have Mena’s characters relationship with her brother to watch through as they argue where ever possible. I found myself getting a bit tired of hearing them go at it all the time, you would think in a life or death situation you would forget your sibling rivalry and just get on with surviving. We have the stereo typical black man who hates everyone especially white folk being in charge and ordering him about, the love sick teenagers romping at the beginning which everyone knows in horror films if you have sex you die I will type out these rules after this review. It seems like I’m going to be slating the film but it wasn’t all bad it was a good film for just being released on DVD but there are a few pointers which got on my tit ends, for one everyone including the surviving citizens seemed to be able to wield a gun with ease and be able to do head shots with every gun. Sorry but if someone gave me a gun for the first time I highly doubt I could fire off a head shot first go or manage to stake a zombie in the head with a makeshift scythe the first time. That is a flaw most films seem to have that all of the protagonists’ can easily use any weapon that is placed in their hands, the jump factor is there if you aren’t used to this type of film but from me who I consider a movie veteran I’ve seen it all before. For example Mena and the army recruit who has a major hard on for her are in a room where there is blood all up the walls and bed, at the side of the bed Mena sees the bed sheets on the floor crumpled up like someone is underneath them while hard on boy is backing away towards some curtains hanging up near the bed. Mena kicks the sheets away to reveal nothing and now we have the jump factor, two mutilated bodies fall from behind the curtains on top of our heroine’s lusty partner.
The zombies in this film also seem to have super everything, super speed, strength you name it they got it. That was a tad unrealistic for my liking…then again zombies coming back to life is unrealistic in any language, but still I would suspect that a zombie would be slower and more….well retarded like Romero’s original zombies and not these cheap remakes. Saying that the gore factor is surprisingly high but it is an eighteen film so they can go nuts with that all they want, it does deserve an eighteen certificate but only for the gore. The dialogue between the characters was humorous at best there was nothing to keep me highly interested, it was mostly we have to go here but oh no a zombie bang bang then lets argue some more while more zombies get even closer. It was a mediocre film at best but still worth watching if there is nothing else to
Plot 3/5
Rules of Survival in Horror Film
1. Never have sex – You have your innocence taken away and that’s it instant death for you.
2. Never say I will be right back – Don’t say that because you won’t be back, more than likely five minutes a later a knife will be sticking out of your back.
3. No drinking or drugs – Same as having sex you’re lowering your inhibitions and perspective on everything around you. You are an easy sitting target for a killer.
4. Never go anywhere alone – Need I say more.
5. If you have just killed something horrifying don’t check to see if it’s dead – More than likely it will be but if it’s not it will just be waiting for you to get closer and BAM!
6. Never let hitch hikers in your car – Come on you’re letting a stranger in an enclosed space, if this hitch hiker isn’t randy they will be psychopathic.
There are many more and I will list more of them the next time I do a horror film review.
