31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Survival of the Dead

Survival of the Dead (2009)

Directed by George Romero

Starring Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe, Devon Bostick, Richard Fitzpatrick

A group of AWOL National Guardsmen are surviving in the post zombie apocalypse world when they come across a local named Patrick O’Flynn. He’s from Plum Island off the coast of Delaware. O’Flynn was recently forced off the island by his longtime rival, Seamus Muldoon. The O’Flynn’s have been killing the undead, while the Muldoon’s have kept them chained up waiting for a cure. The squad, led by the tough Sgt. Crockett, agrees that the island sounds like a great place to start over. The group sets sail for Plum Island, unaware of the horrors that await them.

I love Romero’s films, especially his zombie movies. Even when he re-launched the Night of the Living Dead concept with Diary of the Dead, I enjoyed Romero trying new things and trying to keep zombie movies fresh. So when I started Survival of the Dead, I was expecting high concepts and deep themes Romero loves to infuse into his ghoul stories. I was hoping that the declining quality of his recent work would be carried by a smart movie that’s well executed. I was so very mistaken.

Survival of the Dead is poorly directed, shoddily written, and all around stupid. The grand theme of this Romero zombie movie is the pointlessness of long standing feuds. Perhaps not as fertile ground as consumerism or the abuse of one generation by another, but it could still make for an interesting setup.

In a move that’s purely Carpenter, Romero used a zombie movie to make what’s essentially a western. Romero uses the idea to make a Looney Tunes-esque action romp with little going on otherwise. There are big explosions, bad CGI, and lots of shooting. All of it feels thrown together, the action lacks any real impact, and the computer effects are so prevalent. They’re aggressively bad and omnipresent. There’s also overly dramatic, almost campy dialogue. The characters are caricatures, and you end up not caring about any of them. Suddenly, you also stop caring about the movie altogether.

The cast more or less stumbles through the clunky script. Alan Van Sprang plays Sgt. Crockett like a cartoon version of Clint Eastwood: all grumbles and empty grit. Kenneth Welsh and Richard Fitzpatrick play the fighting heads of their respective families with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The two play way over the top and inexplicably sport full Irish accents, comically out of place for two Delaware residents whose families were there long before the apocalypse.

I don’t even know how this all went so wrong. This is the first Romero zombie film that feels lazy and offensively simple. Maybe he is slipping in his old age, or maybe he’s just out of good zombie ideas. Any way you look at it, Survival of the Dead is dead on arrival.

4 out of 10

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Re-Animator

Re-Animator (1985)

Directed by Stuart Gordon

Starring Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale

Miskatonic University Med student Dan Cain finds a roommate to help with the rent, but he’s a little eccentric. The new roommate is a transfer from the Zurich University Institute of Medicine, Herbert West. The new guy immediately ruffles the feathers of Dr. Hill, whom West accuses of stealing a theory of his now dead mentor. West also recruits Dan to help him in his life’s work: finding a cure for death. They work on a reagent West developed and test it on many cadavers only to find the side effects are quite alarming. The formula or the dosage never seem to be correct, for each re-animation comes back more violent and mindlessly homicidal. Once Dr. Hill discovers their work, West makes a decision that changes their entire experiment for the disastrous.

Any self-respecting horror fan knows Re-Animator and its reputation. Director Stuart Gordon and Jeffery Combs make a great pair in bring H.P. Lovecraft’s story to life. The movie has its fair share of scares and gore, but there’s also some pitch black humor running through out. Combs plays Herbert West with a sense of grandiose intelligence and abysmal social skills. The performance makes so many situations that could become trite into works of comic oddball brilliance. His delivery alone when talking to Dan about his cat’s death and subsequent re-animation is gut bustingly funny.

Oddly enough, that exchange and the fight scene with the undead cat are probably the tamest things you’ll see in Re-Animator. The film makes a concerted effort to top your expectations and then set them on fire. I can’t think of another movie that shows a zombified head performing oral sex. It’s not the main draw of Re-Animator, but it’s definitely a good example of the film’s combination of gross out terror and absurd humor.

The special effects are disturbingly great. The various states of death, decay, and re-animation look so very lifelike while being used in the most absurd ways. The real accomplishment is Dr. Hill’s severed head that just keeps living. The makeup is excellent and combined with some clever angles it looks pretty convincing even when he’s giving the big villain monologue.

The cast is filled with great performers. Jeffrey Combs is the star in every sense; this movie wouldn’t be quite the same without him. His Herbert West has a fragile ego and is mostly crazy, becoming the source of most of the film’s laughs. He is intense and unhinged but his performance never goes into parody or camp. David Gale portrays Dr. Hill with an oily nuance. The doctor is mostly professional and polite with streaks of a dark side. However, once he’s a decapitated zombie Gale lets his freak flag fly. Re-animated Dr. Hill has all the characteristics hinted at while he was alive and amplified, making him the perviest intellectual predator around.

The traditional leads in the film are ably played by two good actors. Barbra Crampton and Bruce Abbott turn in fine performances, but Crampton really has more to deal with in the movie. Abbott is the grounded, audience entrance character and Crampton is the long suffering girlfriend who has to fend off the sexual advances of a zombie. One of those roles isn’t as simple as the other.

Re-Animator has a special place in horror cinema for being astonishingly disgusting and uproariously dark. It’s got a star making performance by Jeffrey Combs and shows that Stuart Gordon is seriously talented. No doubt about it, Re-Animator is a classic.

10 out of 10

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Cemetery Man

Cemetery Man (1994)

Directed by Michele Soavi

Starring Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi

Every night in the small Italian town of Buffalora, Francesco Dellamorte kills the recently deceased. The cemetery watchman is duty bound to kill the living dead when they rise from their graves after seven days in the ground. The local government has no problem believing Francesco battles zombies all night, the mayor is even quite grateful. But he won’t assign anyone to help or relieve Francesco of his obligations. With only his mentally handicapped assistant for company, Francesco is stuck in an endless cycle of killing the dead. But he meets a woman who changes everything and they fall in love, only for her to die. And then die again at his hands. But then Francesco sees her alive again, except it’s a different woman. And he meets another woman that looks just like his lost love. Francesco doesn’t know what to make of this, but it’s all part of his journey through love and death.

There’s no description of Cemetery Man that will really do it justice. The script is based on a novel by the creator of Italian comic book hit Dylan Dog, Tiziano Sclavi. Is it a reflection on life, love, and death? Is it a slapstick/existential horror comedy about a man in Sisyphean cycle? Is it an art house zombie film? It’s all of those things and more. To me, Cemetery Man is a stylish meditation on the mundanities of life and the inevitability of death. But I’m not even sure that’s right. The movie allows for multiple interpretations.

Director Michele Soavi isn’t all that interested in providing answers. He lays on the symbolism thick and loves mixing it up with a great deal of physical comedy. The whole movie is very dreamlike. The seemingly inescapable nature of Francesco’s life, the hazy focus of every daylight shot, and the Three Stooges inspired shticks all make for an unreal narrative. Instead of feeling unfocused, Cemetery Man earns a unique style that’s both entertaining and contemplative. It’s like the screenplay for Evil Dead 2 got mixed with a philosophy thesis paper and an Italian culture midterm.

The makeup and practical effects are fantastic. The zombies look so wonderfully wretched, finding an odd beauty in decay. They have a dirtier look because of their recent exit from the grave. Some even have bits of shrubbery and plant roots in them. Francesco also sees the Grim Reaper, who appears in full daylight to speak with him. The Reaper looks absolutely ethereal through costume, makeup and a little puppetry. Cemetery Man is all around an awesome show of practical effects craftsmanship.

Rupert Everett does well as Francesco, ably conveying the numbness of his existence while also pulling off the longing and frustration. François Hadji-Lazaro is hilarious as Gnaghi, Francesco’s mentally handicapped assistant who only says “Gna”. The slapstick and physical comedy is relegated to Hadji-Lazaro’s part and he pulls it off splendidly. Anna Falchi doesn’t really have the material the other characters get, so her acting leaves a little to be desired. However, she does manage to play three different parts in addition to appearing full zombie and fully naked. So, she definitely has the guts to tackle a lot in one movie.

Cemetery Man is so beautiful, imaginative, and fun. If you don’t mind a lack of answers and a lot of eroticism (from both Everett and Falchi), this movie is a real gem.

9 out of 10

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Pontypool

Pontypool (2009)

Directed by Bruce McDonald

Starring Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly, Hrant Alianak

Shock jock Grant Mazzy is at a pretty low point in his career. The disc jockey took a job hosting the morning drive time show of a small town radio station in Pontypool, Canada. What looks to be just another dark, snowy morning progresses into something far more sinister when Mazzy, producer Sydney, and board operator Laurel-Ann start getting reports of a strange affliction. People are babbling, repeating random phrases with no discernible pattern, and then chewing through the mouths of anyone close by. The crew gets more and more frightened as the reports and come in with an alarming frequency. There’s something happening out in Pontypool all around them and these people have to keep broadcasting, even when the infected finally find them.

Pontypool is a zombie movie of the most interesting variety. It’s more akin to a plague movie like 28 Days Later or The Crazies than a traditional zombie movie. What’s really unique is that the movie deals with a disease of language. The infection spreads through terms of endearment, slowly turning people into babbling maniacs that chew off the mouths of strangers. Essentially, these characters are in a business that relies on the massively broadcasted spoken word and they have to report on an epidemic that spreads the same way.

The setting also helps give the movie its own identity. This is a zombie outbreak as seen by the people who have to report the news. It’s a bottle episode, a siege movie, and a zombie drama all in one. They only know what the AP feed, police scanner, and call in listeners tell them. So, Pontypool ultimately becomes a movie that tells more than it shows. Usually that’s a difficult way to make a compelling narrative, but director Bruce McDonald and his cast ably execute the concept.

There really aren’t many special effects, but the blood effects that are used look good. Pontypool is more about using mood and mounting tension to scare you senseless. While you only see the verbally infected occasionally, it’s not seeing them that is far more terrifying. The audience only knows what the people in the station know; what little info that comes in from newswires and callers. The movie becomes a reverse Orson Wells War of the Worlds; you see how an unprecedented catastrophe is perceived from within a radio station.

The cast is small but fiercely talented. Stephen McHattie gives a genuine show stopping performance as Grant Mazzy; the surly and reluctant voice of reason. Pontypool is really centered on the character and there isn’t a moment McHattie doesn’t keep you enthralled. He’s cranky and cynical, but also playful and caring. Lisa Houle gives a strong performance as Sydney Briar, the morning show’s producer. She gets the chance to play off McHattie a lot and they have great chemistry together (the two actors are married). All the supporting actors also do quite well.

Pontypool is smart, compelling, and god damn terrifying. It defies the convention by telling all and rarely showing. The leading man is on fire and makes you believe every minute of a word-zombie apocalypse. Find this movie now, you won’t be disappointed.

By the way, make sure to stick around after the credits. There’s a stylish little epilogue waiting for you.

9 out of 10