DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)

Dawn of the Dead represents a huge step forward in filming technology and budget for director George A Romero. I have to admit that revisiting "Night of the Living Dead" as an adult gore-fiend left me a little underwhelmed, I do love the movie and I know it was a groundbreaking film for its time but really its hard going from the visually spectacular horror films we have today back to the rudimentary execution of NOTLD.

Mr Romero's second venture into the world of the undead, this one from 1978 still holds up remarkably well against the zombie flicks of today. despite being over 2 hours long this one holds the viewers interest, of course being shot in colour played no small part in this.  The film allowed Romero to go a little wild on the gore, rendering it one of the more graphic american films to have been released at the time. The VHS copy I have shows it to have an "R" rating (restricted to adults) but by todays standards it would most likely have earned the 15 year old rating which to me makes it good wholesome family fun that you can let your older kids watch without the exploitational nudity and sex that other european films being released at the same time were saturated in.

Plot wise it doesn't have anything really to do with "Night of the Living Dead" save the fact that zombies have risen from the dead and are devouring anything and everything in their path. This time round much of country seems to have been overrun with the reanimated corpses. The story itself revolves around a small group of survivors who have taken refuge in a shopping mall and attempt to survive off the supplies within the mall for months while civilization around them (presumably) collapses and the undead around the mall attempt to break in and consume them. There is some cool interpersonal play within the characters and its a film that keeps the viewers interest the whole way through, and the gore effects would have been second to none at the time, and still hold up reasonably well today I have to say!

Also be sure to check out our reviews on Night of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead

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HOUSE (1986)

One of the cooler things about writing this blog is that I get to revisit movies that I saw in my adolescence and view them again them as a fully grown adult heading straight into middle age. Again this is one of those movies that I had seen but could barely remember, so it was great to refresh the old grey matter and give it another go.

It follows the story of a writer, Cobb (suffering writers block) that moves into his Aunty's house after she is found hanging in the attic. Mr. Cobb has a special attachment to the house having grown up there after the death of his mother he was raised in the house by said Aunty. It was also the scene of the dissappearance of his child and resulting breakdown in marriage. His Aunty always maintained the house was haunted, but was of course written off as a demented old bat. Of course bit by bit Cobb realizes that the old lady might have been right.

Over all a great film, well executed and the acting is great. It maintains the viewers interest from start to finish, no major plot holes either. There is some level of gore in the film but it is far from over the top meaning again it is probably cool to watch with children (say 12 yrs and up) depending on how easily scared they are. The horror effects still hold up reasonably well in my opinion but are never over the top or cheesy. The same cannot be said for the gloriously 80's fashion sense on display :) Overall a pretty cool film and defs worth a watch!

For your viewing pleasure:

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WHITE ZOMBIE

One from the golden age of horror... This film holds up remarkably well even now, an immensely watchable film that has earned its place in cult movie history. Shot in black and white and dating back to the 1930's this is probably the earliest of the zombie flicks I have seen.  No gore or special effects to speak of in this film, it has to rely soley on plot, dramatisation, musical score and acting and it comes across as a very solid film even from the point of view of a modern (well 80's horror fan) movie fan.

The plot follows a young man Neil who is moving up in the world and his soon to be wife Madeline on the island of Haiti, where upon arrival they are greeted by stories of the undead roaming the island at night and working in the sugar mills (Good to see someone smart enough to put those zombies to work... think of all that free labour going to waste in modern zombie films) ... What I like about the story line in this film is that it sits closer to the historical origin of zombies than the "Night of the living dead" style zombies which is a pleasant change. Madeline has also unfortunately attracted the attention of Charles a wealthy businessman from the island who decides that since he can't have her he will turn her into a zombie.

Some kind soul has been kind enough to upload a remastered version of this classic! check it out below!

History has not been kind to this film as it has gone widely unnoticed, in fact it is  but more widely known for being the inspiration behind the name of Rob Zombies first band "White Zombie" than it is for being an actual film... but do yourself a favour and check it out :)

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