Zombieland: Double Tap

Director - Ruben Fleischer (Venom, Zombieland)
Starring - Woody Harrelson (Kingpin, Natural Born Killers), Jesse Eisenberg (Batman V. Superman, Justice League), and Emma Stone (Maniac, Superbad)
Release Date - 2019
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Format - 4K Ultra HD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     My college years were some of the best years of my life.  I partied, learned so many things, met some cool people, and found so many movies that stuck with me almost 10 years later.  During this time I became obsessed with O' Brother Where Art Thou?, Necroville, Black Dynamite, and Zombieland.  These were my go to movies when I wanted to drink, study, clean my dorm, and so on.  I had a lot of fun with those movies on and they still trigger great memories when I think about them.  Sadly, it's been sometime since I last watched any of them but I do randomly think about these movies.  Back in October Zombieland received a sequel with Zombieland: Double Tap.  I tried on several occasions to check it out but something always came up preventing me.  I had to wait until a physical release was out in order to check it out.  I was lucky enough to receive a review copy an a promo candle that smelled like Twinkies.

      The film picks up a decade after the first film.  Tallahassee, Columbus,  Witchita, and Little Rock as they continue life in the zombie apocalypse.  They continue their lives with Tallahassee taking over as a father figure for Little Rock while Columbus and Wichita continue their relationship.  Things work the way they are until Little Rock starts to long for someone her age and Columbus proposes to Wichita.  The two sister leave while the other two struggle to pick up the pieces.  A month goes by and Columbus still misses Wichita but runs into the dumb blonde stereotype Madison.  The two hook up and soon Columbus regrets it when Wichita returns after losing Little Rock to a hippie drifter making their way to a safe haven known as Babylon.  The four then set out to go find her while surviving a horde of ever evolving zombies.
     I can't find the words to explain how excited I was for this film.  I've watched the first one no less than 100 times in 10 years and I couldn't wait to finally check this one out.  Now that I have I can't help and feel like this one was not on the same level as the first film.  I'm not saying it's a bad movie but it just doesn't entertain like the first film did.  The acting in this one is great.  Harrelson carries the film much like the first film.  Eisenberg is the comedic relief of the film and serves well as the sidekick while Emma Stone delivers a rather underwhelming performance.  I'm a huge Superbad fan so I always expect an amazing performance from her but I just wasn't feeling it in this film.  However, Abigail Breslin delivers a superior performance when compared to the first film.  I did not care for her character in the first film but this time around she has way more personality and is more fun to watch on screen.  The story for this one just feels a little all over the place.  We get the same characters we love but then we get duplicates tossed in that is funny at first but the joke does run thin.  Along with that we get the separation of the characters that feels like two possible stories were written and then combined to make a more action packed film that just doesn't flow very well.  I didn't hate the story but it would have been a lot more fun if it was a little more linear.  My biggest complaint is that this zombie comedy puts the zombies I the back seat.  The story does center around them but they are mostly in mention and not really seen until the last 20 minutes or so.  Finally, this one gives the viewer some blood but if you are looking for gore then you will be a little disappointed.  When the undead is destroyed we get more visual effects than practical effects and the gore seems to be missing.  The deaths are quick, sometimes off camera, and very underwhelming.  Overall, Zombieland: Double Tap is a fun popcorn horror flick but is nowhere near the same quality as the first film.  I can't call it a quick cash grab but it is lacking.  It's fun for a double feature with the first or a one time watch but I highly doubt I will be revisiting this one.  

Zombie Croc (2015)

Zombie Croc (2015)

directed by:  Robert Elkins

starring:  Robert Elkins, Brittney Scalf, Apryl Crowell, Crystal Howell, Tony Jones

format:  Amazon Prime

tagline:  Evil Has Been Summoned

     I am a giant fan of these cheap ass giant monster animal movies.  Are they all "so bad it's good"?  Hell no, Shark Exorcist was absolutely painful to watch.  I have seen some people compare this movie with that one and I have no clue what they saw when they watched Shark Exorcist.  Number one, Crystal Howell was amazing.  Best actor in the film by far and none of the actors were terrible, some not so great but definitely not terrible.  The drunk Sheriff did a pretty decent job as well but really for me the shining star was Howell.  Going to look for more of her in the future. 

As far as story goes a voodoo sort of medicine man comes out of the swamps upset with the locals about something that happened to his ancestors in the past.  So of course he summons up a zombie crocodile and sends it and a legion of zombies out after the townsfolk.  They kept it pretty simple and I thoroughly enjoyed it the whole way through.  Even pausing the film which in the case of a silly movie like this I almost never do because I usually don't want or need to see every moment and nor do I care.  This one however I found enjoyable enough script wise to have the need to see all it had to offer. 

Yes this movie is cheesy and silly.  But the fx and the actors at least for me made it.  Most of these style of productions the fx are just so bad, most especially the cgi that it ruins the movie for me.  I love good cheap fx but it's a very subjective fine line.  This was not the case for me.  The gore and blood was thrown around a lot and most of it not cgi.  A clown's head was thrown up in one key scene that definitely had me giggling and then the scene with a victim walking through the swamp missing half an arm.  That effect was the best in the movie and damn good, a lot better than movies with 10 times it's budget.  The croc was pretty cheap looking overall but it was far better than some cgi croc that looked like it came from a video game.  In short I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys cheeseball movies like Sharknado.  I definitely liked this one and am planning on purchasing it.  Last but not least some of the scenes had some gritty old projector fx added to make the movie look more authentic and for me this worked.  Anything creative like that for me is a plus. 

4 MILFS Vs. Zombies

http://mvdshop.com/products/4-milfs-vs-zombies-dvd

A group of moms enjoying a ladies' night out are forced to fight for their lives when their quiet town is overrun by a ravenous horde of flesh eating corpses. Will they be able to meet up with their husbands, save their children (who are away at summer camp) and make it home in time for dinner' Watch MILFs vs. Zombies and find out!

Morituris: Legions of the Dead (2011)

 (out of 5)

Morituris:  Legions of the Dead (2011)
d:  Raffaelle Picchio
s:  Valentina D'Andrea, Andrea DeBruyn, Desiree Giogetti, Francesco Malcolm, Giuseppe Nitti, Simone Ripanti
format:  NTSC Region 1 - personal collection

     Sometimes you watch a movie just totally in awe.  This was one of those films for me.  Throwback style of the old Italian exploitation films.  Dark and gritty with no obvious cgi, always a plus.  Gory and nasty to the hilt with fx worthy of the name Sergio Stivaletti one of my all time favorite fx artists.  Now this movie has a lot of rape in it.  I described it to a friend as a, "sort of Blind Dead Rape Revenge."  This seems to set people off on misogynist tangents but ultimately the fact is the act is horrific and hence is a part of exploitation and horror films.  This in no way means the filmmaker gets off on portraying rape in his film.  I have seen the original I Spit On Your Grave get called out for this same thing and Meir Zarchi was attacked for it.  However like Meir Zarchi Raffaelle Picchio is not anti-woman, and not pro-rape.  In fact like Meir the events in the film are reflective of the society we live in and showing full scenes of rape pushes the issue right in your face where it should be.  Morituris is about three young men who essentially bring two young women out into the woods to rape and torture them.  This whole set up was taken from the real life Circeo Massacre which happened in 1975 in Rome, Italy.  It was the director's intent to bring attention to such heinous crimes not prophet from them.  A certain "disgusting" horror web site even went as far as to actually say, "fuck off" to the director in his review.  Which to me sums up the ability this reviewer has to educate himself on a movie and the director before making assumptions. 
     Back to the movie itself.  Not a lot of movies hit the old school 70's and 80's cord with me but this was definitely one of them.  The shots were amazingly well done.  Just enough light for the viewer to see what the hell is going on.  Great angles too I really enjoyed the cinematography very much.  The acting was not poor or over the top in any way.  Right on point as far as I'm concerned.  The ladies certainly conveyed the terror and revolt of what they were going through.  So many movies just flub the whole pain and suffering thing.  Not this one. 
     The story goes from the nasty acts of gang rape to a full fledged horror film when the group stumbles into an old graveyard.  The old graveyard is home to legion of undead warriors with various weapons including a war hammer.  These creatures care not for whom they kill and soon both victims and their attackers are lambs for the slaughter.  The script and dialogue were perfect.  At first the girls are expecting a rave in the middle of the woods but soon they discover unfortunately for them, there is no rave.  Then not only are they running from the rapists but also the zombie warriors. 

This whole film was just a giant breath of fresh air.  Highly recommended for anyone in the mood for old style exploitation scares.  I for one will be rewatching around Halloween time.  I should add that this film is in Italian with English subtitles so all the "I can't read subtitles and pay attention to what's going on" people won't enjoy it and will miss yet another great film because of a silly typical American bias. 

Zombie Holocaust / Doctor Butcher M.D. Blu-Ray Severin

Like most good cannibal affairs, “Zombie Holocaust” starts off in the big city but soon enough moves to a more suitable gut munching zone… the jungle. The plot moves along quickly; we are introduced to our characters and a catalyst in the disguise of flesh eating foreigners.  A team is assembled to figure out why these foreigners are practicing cannibalism and why they all appear to have come from the same geographical location. Our leads are soon on their way. Included are a few notables; video nasty favorite, Ian McCulloch (Zombie), Alexandra Delli Colli, and Sherry Buchanan. Our adventurers are aligned with a local Doctor (Donald O’Brien) who shares his hospitality and workers to help them with their mission. They soon realize they are in grave danger as they are eaten off one by one. Zombie Holocaust’s onslaught of insanity continues as the Doctor who was once thought there to help them turns out to be responsible for the carnage. He has been practicing grotesque experiments that have resulted in the natives going awry and spawned a batch of murdering zombies.  

A plot like this has enough substance and cheese to make three Italian gore fests, but here we are treated to just one bizarrely beautiful disaster.  “Zombie Holocaust” sports a truly amazing score which seems so much more poignant and heartfelt than the film, itself.  A major highlight are the top notch Italian splatter effects we have all grown to love; the slit throats are some of the best to grace dingy theaters anywhere. The clay molded zombies are cheap but effective and with the amount of innards spilled, it would be enough to feed a small horde of zombies. The dialogue is unintentionally hilarious and the sound effects match it.   “Zombie Holocaust” has no shame in what it is; a cash in on successful films of the genre that have come before like “Emmanuelle and the Last Cannibals” and “Zombie” using Donald O’Brien from the former and Dakar, Ian McCulloch, and the locations from the later. “Zombie Holocaust” flows by at a fairly brisk pace giving us splatter or nudity when it can, never slowing down to realize how ridiculous the whole ordeal is. Directed by the father of Enzo G. Castellari, a very prominent director, Marino Girolami (with over 70 credits to his name) turns in a surprising horror exploitation number in a very capable way.  “Zombie Holocaust” is a must for fans of Italian Cannibal and Zombie flicks. On this rare occasion, they are both in one film fighting for screen time. Another rarity this film can brag about is that we are spared the awful animal cruelty usually associated with the cannibal films from this time.

Severin’s release of “Zombie Holocaust” isn’t the first Blu-Ray release of the film, but I can assure you it has got to be the best.  Included are two prints of the film, each on their own disc. One print included is the one that caused an uproar on 42nd Street in New York, “Doctor Butcher M.D.”. “Doctor Butcher M.D.” has got to have one of the most outstanding taglines of all time: “He's a depraved, homicidal killer...and he makes house calls!”. Just as outstanding is how the tagline came to be, created by the Aquarius Releasing to put asses in seats in the theater; this information is relayed by the owner of the company in a wonderful interview included on the disc.  This cut of the film is trimmed for pacing and includes an alternate opening directed by Roy Frumkes (Street Trash). This opening was used to avoid paying extra for the title “Zombie Holocaust”. The scene is shoe horned in and forcefully made to look as if it is part of the affair; we are also given the scene separately on the disc to see as much as we can of the unfinished film. Both prints look great for these types of films and offer a grainy yet nice looking picture quality.  A slew of extras and interviews round out the rest of the discs, including interviews with Sherry Buchanan, Ian McCulloch, Rick Sullivan (Gore Gazette),  Jim Markovic, Rosario Prestopino (FX), Maurizio Trani (FX) , and Terry Levine.  Other extras include locations now and then, trailers, a walk around with Roy Frumkes and Chris Poggiali, Enzo Castellari remembering his father, and more. The “Doctor Butcher” disc seems to focus on the theater experience, while the interviews with cast and crew from the film appear on the “Zombie Holocaust” disc. This edition even comes with a barf bag so you don’t make a mess from all the excitement.  

Severin seems to have outdone themselves with the amount of care and hard work put forth on this release.  It’s refreshing for Severin to have taken an exploitation film and given it the utmost respect and treatment that most wouldn’t. The best compliment you can give to a niche label is that they have given a film a treatment that it seemingly doesn’t deserve. Severin has given the vastly entertaining yet undeniably stupid film “Zombie Holocaust” just that.

Film 4/5: Let’s face it “Zombie Holocaust” isn’t winning any academy awards, but for what it is. It doesn’t get much better.

Release 5/5: Has more features than I could imagine on the disc. It looks good, sounds good, and has both cuts of the film, even a deleted scene that’s absent in most prints.

http://www.cavd.com/product.php?productid=2684

https://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Butcher-Zombie-Holocaust-Blu-rays/dp/B01GGPI1R6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468724812&sr=8-1&keywords=doctor+butcher

DISC 1 DOCTOR BUTCHER MD - Featurette: Butchery & Ballyhoo: Interview with Aquarius Releasing's Terry Levine - Featurette: Down On The Deuce: Nostalgic Tour Of 42nd Street With Temple Of Shock's Chris Poggiali and Filmmaker Roy Frumkes - Roy Frumkes' Segment Of Unfinished Anthology Film 'Tales That Will Tear Your Heart Out' - Featurette: The Butcher Mobile: Interview with Gore Gazette Editor & Butcher Mobile Barker Rick Sullivan - Featurette: Cutting Doctor Butcher: Interview with Editor Jim Markovic - Illustrated Essay: Experiments With A Male Caucasian Brain (...and other memories of 42nd Street) by Gary Hertz - Theatrical Trailer - Video Release Trailer 1 - Video Release Trailer 2 DISC 2 ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST - Featurette: Voodoo Man: Interview With Star Ian McCulloch - Featurette: Blood Of The Zombies: Interview With FX Master Rosario Prestopino - Featurette: Filmmaker Enzo Castellari Remembers His Father Director Marino Girolami - Featurette: Sherry Holocaust: Interview With Actress Sherryl Buchanan - Featurette: Neurosurgery Italian Style -Interview With FX Artist Maurizio Trani - Featurette: New York Filming Locations Then Vs. Now. A look at the Big Apple locales as they are today - Audio Bonus: Ian McCulloch Sings Down By The River - International Trailer - German Trailer

Bride of Re-Animator (Arrow Blu-Ray)

http://www.amazon.com/Re-Animator-Director-Approved-Limited-Blu-ray/dp/B01AGOTP6E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461021931&sr=8-1&keywords=bride+of+re-animator

http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/bride-of-re-animator-dual-format-blu-ray-dvd-limited-edition/

Bigfoot Vs. The Zombies (2016)

Bigfoot Vs the Zombies (2016)
directed by:  Mark Polonia
starring:  James Carolus, Todd Carpenter, Bob Dennis                 
format:  Amazon Prime

The Movie:  Not gonna waste a lot of time here.  I've been told to do more reviews of movies I don't love so here we go.  The poster caught my eye and won my money...case in point why a good poster is necessary for indie movies especially, your film title and a few cut out pics of your film or floating heads of actors don't always have that creative eye catcher.  Plus I love a good cheap bigfoot movie.  Maybe I've been spoiled by Exists and Bigfoot The Movie and really, really wanted something maybe a third as good as those.  Nope.

The Acting:  Absolutely atrocious.  Not even funny overacting. 

The Gore/Fx:  Straight rubber masks and some Halloween make-up don't cut it.

The Shots:  LOL

The Score/Music:  Was there any?

The Script:  Well it certainly is an excellent idea and if there is ever a remake with a lot more money or more innovative ways to spend the said money, and they use completely different actors I'm all in. 
Does need a rewrite on the dialogue, could have been the acting.  Some actors can deliver cheesy dialogue well.

The Rating:  0 out 5 or DUD as I call them.  I was angry 10 minutes in for wasting my time.  I love backyard indies so don't confusion my review with your typical amazon/imdb review from the perspective of a person who watches nothing but Hollywood films and then expects a backyard indie to live up to all of those economic and talent expectations but come on.