John of the Dead(1978)'s Horror Flick Reviews

Director – Victor Cook, Tad Stones

Cast – Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt, Doug Jones, Peri Gilpin, Jim Cummings, J. Grant Albrecht, James Arnold Taylor

Release Year – 2007

Reviewed by John of the Dead

The animated Hellboy series continues after Sword of Storms with Blood and Iron, an equally enjoyable piece that once again gives us Hellboy & co. kicking supernatural ass in animated fashion.

We follow the crew as they investigate a large mansion purchased by a friend of the senator who funds the paranormal ass-kicking force. The mansion holds much significance to Professor Broom, who in 1939 defeated the powerful female vampire Erzsebet Ondrushko at that very mansion, and he joins the crew to ensure the the mansion is still safe. When it becomes apparent that someone is trying to bring Erzsebet back from the dead, Hellboy & co. aid the professor in finishing unsettled business after over half a century of waiting.

I really enjoyed this storyline, adapted by Kevin Hopps from Mike Mignola and Tad Stones’ story, thanks to it involving Professor Broom to a much higher level than usual. Told in the past and present time we follow Broom as he fought to vanquish a woman who believed that bathing in the blood of young beautiful women would keep her young. Of course, this dilemma was ultimately left unsettled and Broom saw the need to investigate the mansion before the senator’s friend turned it into a ghost-themed hotel. I loved watching the storyline develop with constant flashbacks to the events that Dr. Broom saw occur at the mansion, events that are now occurring all over again. Each of our characters was used positively, especially our main characters in Hellboy, Professor Broom, Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien, and newcomer Oliver Trombolt. There is plenty of action written into this piece, which I assumed would be so, and it was great in giving us numerous antagonistic character for Hellboy and his troops to destroy, including: ghosts, wolves, witches, harpies, a giant werewolf, and Erzsebet herself in several different forms. In addition to this Kevin Hopps defied cliches often associated with animated films and gave us fantastic dialogue that aiding in presenting and developing the characters so positively.

Directors Victor Cook and Tad Stones did a great job with this one, giving us awesome visuals, great sets, and the usual enjoyable elements associated with these Hellboy films. The vocal acting performances are great, and much like Sword of Storms Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Prof. Broom are voiced by the same actors who portrayed them in the Hellboy live-action flicks, making this piece all the more enjoyable for that reason. And the action? The action was fantastic and consisted of awesome looking antagonists and plenty of brutal confrontation in this epic battle between good and evil.

Overall, Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron is an awesome animated flick sure to please fans of the Hellboy series thanks to it giving us all of the same sweet elements found in the live-action films.

Rating: 8/10

Director – Dennis Gansel

Cast – Karoline Herfurth, Nina Hoss, Jennifer Ulrich, Anna Fischer, Max Riemelt, Arved Birnbaum, Steffi Kühnert

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I heard many good things about We Are The Night after it’s debut in mid-2011, but vampire films have never really interested me much so I took my time getting to this one. While not as good as I expected it to be I did find We Are The Night to be a pseudo fresh breath for the vampire sub-genre, at least for this day and crappy Twatlight age. Well-shot and with positive acting performances this effort provides enough engaging elements to warrant a borderline-positive review despite its storyline holding it back from being a great film.

After barely escaping arrest for theft, petty thief Lena continues down the downward spiral she calls “life” and attends a secretive rave party run by Louise, a centuries old vampire who believes Lena is the women she has been waiting for all these years. After “turning” the naïve Lena the new vampire is made the newest member of Louise’s group, a group whose constant feeding and disregard for human life leaves Lena at odds over who she is and wants to be.

Sounds a lot like The Lost Boys right? This story borrows from the Joel Schumacher classic so much that this is pretty much a ripoff of The Lost Boys except with an all-female vampire cast. Lena is the usual protagonist in these types of films – a loner with no direction in life who suddenly finds herself with the ability to live forever, so long as she is willing to accept being a vampire and all of the tidbits (drinking blood, killing) that come with it. This new life does provide her with something she has never had before…a life. Along with the eccentric Louise the group includes Charlotte, a silent film star from the 1920s, and Nora, a spastic loud-mouth sure to annoy the film’s viewers, all of whom provide for a crazy lifestyle Lena has never been a part of. Constant partying, killing, and stealing high class vehicles are what these vampires do on a near-daily basis, and despite Lena’s background as a thief she finds herself way over her head, especially the killing of human beings. The killings put Lena at odds with her new group, and along with her liking of a local police officer, Tom, she is forced to choose between the life she wants to live and the life she seemingly has to live. The conflict was well-written despite its unoriginality, but I did like that each of the vampires came from a different background and added some spice to the lineup. I did find many faults in this story from Jan Berger and Dennis Gansel, and they mostly consisted of poor storytelling that hinted at some great elements but never delivered. It does not take long before Lena is “turned”, and after the initial conflict of her transformation we are given many bland sequences that did not interest me very much. This came also due to the unenjoyable characters we are given, both the vampires and Tom, and despite this being a ripoff of The Lost Boys we were never given the sense of adventure it provided despite this film having our vampires on the run when the police close in on their killing spree. I blame the writing for this, and while the writers managed to give us a vampire film coming off as an original effort for this current day they also held the film back on multiple levels.

Writer Dennis Gansel(The Wave) also serves as the film’s director, and for the most part he got things right. His cinematography is great, providing beautiful visuals and great sets that bring forth the dark gothic feel that Germany provides during its night hours. We get pretty good performances from our lead actors, including Anna Fischer as the annoying Nora who I feel was written to be as annoying as she was. Karoline Herfurth was the most enjoyable as Lena, which came naturally given she had to play different personalities as her character evolved from loner loser to confident vampire. The horror was mediocre at best, giving us a few fair kill sequences but ultimately nothing was worthwhile, making this more of a drama following Lena than a horror film, and even then it was not a great drama.

Overall, We Are the Night is a film I expected better from but sadly fell short due to poor storytelling. The direction is good and there is a decent level of “fun” in the film, but ultimately this is just a decent watch that did not live up to the hype.

Rating: 6/10

Director – Michael Fischa, Jeff Monahan, Matt Walsh

Cast – Amy Lynn Best, Sam Redford, Barret Hackney, Patrick Jordan, Ian Harding, Larry John Meyers, Liz DuChez, John Romualdi, Amanda Frost, Adrienne Wehr

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Famed horror/zombie maestro George Romero is a name often associated with horror anthologies due to him giving us one of the greatest of all time in his 1982 classic, Creepshow. When word hit that he was “presenting” this anthology, conveniently borrowing the name of a 1986 film that was in fact a ripoff of his very own Creepshow, I figured this would be an enjoyable experience given Romero’s knowledge of the anthology sub-genre and the assurance that he wouldn’t associate his name with total crap, right? Well, now that I’m done laughing let me tell you about just how bad this George Romero “presented” piece is.

This letdown starts off with “Valley of the Shadow”, which follows Angela as she embarks on an expedition funded by a wealthy investor in hopes of finding her husband who disappeared in a secluded jungle three years prior and instead finds something that puts her and her crew in gruesome danger. Next up is “Wet”, which follows a man who comes across an old box containing the remnants of a mermaid, and in failing to heed the warnings of an antique dealer he soon finds that some treasures are better left buried in the sand. The final entry is “Housecall”, centering on Dr. Marsten who late one night receives a phone call from a woman worried about her son’s “condition”, a condition ending with gory results.

Writer Jeff Monahan, a former narcotics officer (interesting…), played a large part in the failure of this piece, starting things off with the pathetic “Valley of the Shadow” – an entry consisting of stupid unlikeable characters, stupid dialogue, and an overall pathetic plot that tried to be serious, tried to be funny, yet failed at both. He fared better with “Wet”, whose mermaid storyline had me engaged given we rarely see horror films involving mermaids, and thankfully enough he played a bit into the lore of mermaids as well. The story was very slow-paced but managed to keep things interesting throughout, but overall this was far from a positive entry in the end due to a strong collapse at the end. “Housecall” was definitely my favorite entry and by far the only one really worth watching. I loved the idea of Dr. Marsten taking a call in the middle of the night and finding a sight he never expected to come across, a child with symptoms indicating vampirism, which was very well-written by Monahan and including a twist ending that I never saw coming and also came as a real shock as well. Had all of the stories been like this one this would have been the film I had hoped for.

Three different directors contributed to this sloppy effort, and much like the stories each one managed to do better and better as the film went on. Michael Fischa was atrocious in his execution of “Valley of the Shadow”, getting piss-poor performances from everyone involved and giving us atrocious direction of the horror involved. This may have been the goriest effort of the film, but that was nowhere near enough to make Fischa worth talking about anymore. Writer Jeff Monahan served as director for “Wet”, and he managed to make things a bit more interesting and threw in good atmosphere and musical score, he ultimately failed to deliver anything worthwhile. Matt Walsh really nailed “Housecall”, giving us a truly creepy effort thanks to awesome atmosphere and superb execution of the horror. This slow-grind developed into a very enjoyable experience whose good execution lead to a shocking twist that I found very much enjoyable, and I applaud Walsh for closing out this film on a positive note despite this flick faring far from a positive rating.

Overall, Deadtime Stories Vol.1 is a huge letdown that falls into the category of waste-of-my-time horror anthologies but sadly comes with George A. Romero’s name attached to it. We do get some reconcilliation in the awesome closing segment “Housecall”, but while this entry stood out from the rest it ultimately was futile in getting this film out of “don’t watch this” status. Not recommended.

Rating: 4/10

Director – Edward Douglas

Cast – Andrew Divoff, Jason Carter, Tom Savini, Sean Serino, Tom Nagel, C.B. Spencer, Christopher Robichaud, Brian Van Camp, Donna Williams

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I was very excited to get my hands on The Dead Matter after reading on the film for the last year or so, which played heavily into my strong disappointment of this piece. The storyline is relative to the vampire-esque storylines we were given decades ago, as with Subspecies, and while the storyline was unique for this day and age both the writing and direction were poor and resulted in a very mediocre film at best.

The Dead Matter tells the tale of an old vampire relic with occult powers that falls into the hands of Gretchen, a young woman still grieving over the death of her brother, who will do anything in her newly acquired power to bring him back from the dead.

From the get-go I was digging The Dead Matter due to its pseudo-fantasy element, which also reminded me a lot of Subspecies, and a storyline that I was anticipating to be a great one dealing with the power of grief. INSTEAD, what I got was a storyline that after the first act felt bland and never really gave me anything interesting to see. There were a few developments thrown in here and there, and we get some cool genre shout-outs involving zombies and fun usage of horror gore maestro Tom Savini, but in the end there was nowhere near enough engaging material to keep me enthused in what was going on. The story is more than what the plot summary entails as there is also a vehement vampire on a deadly search for the very relic that Gretchen has in her possession, and while he delivered some pretty sweet kills I did not find him all that enjoyable.

Director Edward Douglas did what he could with the low $2,000,000 budget he had to work with, and it shows at times. He managed to bring forth colorful sets and fairly good atmosphere, which along with some cool live-action gore scenes made up for the lack of potential the story failed to produce, but end the end Douglas’ directing execution also suffered. I expected some decent cheese going into this, but the level of cheese was a bit too high for my liking, and no not that good 70s/80s cheese, but straight-up DTV quality cheese that should have be worthy of the buzz the film has attained.

Overall, The Dead Matter is a flick that I really wanted to like but sadly came off as just another mediocre horror film not living up to the buzz or it’s potential. We get a unique storyline seldom used in our modern time, but sadly Douglas’ writing and direction kept it from delivering anything special, with just mediocrity in the end.

Rating: 5/10

Director – Guillermo del Toro

Cast – Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela, Norman Reedus, Thomas Kretschmann, Luke Goss, Matt Schulze, Danny John-Jules, Donnie Yen, Karel Roden, Marit Velle Kile, Tony Curran, Daz Crawford, Santiago Segura

Release Year – 2002

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Blade is one trilogy that I have always been really screwed up with. For starters, I began with trilogy with Blade: Trinity, then Blade, and now finally I have competed this saga with Blade II – definitely the best in the series. Given to us by horror maestro Guillermo del Toro, Blade II continue the gory vampire slaying antics of the first film, but this time giving us more carnage, a unique storyline, and an overall fun and enjoyable experience for fans of the genre.

Two years have passed since the events of the first film, and now Blade faces possibly the most bizarre opportunity of his vampire slaying days – join forces with those he has spent the last 20 years killing. A new breed of vampires, deemed Reapers, are on the loose, hunting down and killing/converting every vampire they can in an attempt to eradicate the vampire race. It is now up to Blade and a team of highly trained vampires to kill the Reapers before they do away with the vampire race, and subsequently…the human race as well.

I am quite ashamed that it took me so long to get to this flick, especially because of how darn much I enjoyed it. I am not a fan of vampires but I found much joy in watching them being killed off in awesome fashion by a skilled and incorruptible warrior, and leave it to Guillermo del Toro to give me such awesomeness.

David S. Goyer(Blade, Dark City, Demonic Toys) returns to pen this adaptation of Mary Wolfman and Gene Colan’s character, and he does so with great results. I loved this storyline as it provided a unique sense of conflict for Blade, who must now team with those he despises if he wishes to save mankind from an eventual eradication from an all-powerful enemy. Blade is of course very cautions of his alliance with the vampires, and eventually it leads to some great twists and turns that made this unique tale all the more enjoyable. We get Blade and Whistler doing their thing again, and Goyer throws in many other unique characters that I found to be beneficial to the story regardless of how small or large their roles were. Each provided their own worth to the story, and they also made for great pacing as well in their fight and kill sequences, which came in multitudes due to the high number of characters we are given. The action is solid and it reigns supreme throughout the entire film, which also aided in the pacing as did the enjoyable kills that Blade never fails to deliver. For a film coming in at just under two hours in length I never once found myself bored or uninterested in what was going on, a sign of great writing and superb direction.

Speaking of direction, Guillermo del Toro was fantastic in his directorial duties, giving us engaging visuals, superb camerawork, and intense execution of the numerous action and gore sequences erupting throughout this experience. He sure has a knack for giving us sweet “super hero” flicks with a strong horror influence, and it is obvious that he respects the original material they are based on as he seems to do everything in his power to give the fans what they want to see. While not really a scary film, we get some great horror in the form of the reapers who are downright creepy and superbly designed, which I found unsurprising given del Toro’s ability to draw truly heinous creatures. We get great performances from all involved, however our big three – Wesley Snipes as Blade, Kris Kristofferson as Whistler, and del Toro-favorite Ron Perlman as Reinhardt were easily the most enjoyable to watch, and rightfully so given how much ass they kicked. Still early in his career with only Cronos, Mimic, and The Devil’s Backbone under his belt, del Toro shows his directing prominence in this piece, and since Blade II he has done nothing but better himself as one of the genre (and the industry overall’s) best directors.

Overall, Blade II is an improvement over the positive original and also makes for the best entry in the series. The storyline is great and well-written by Goyer as he never leaves us hanging or un-entertained throughout its near two-hour runtime, and del Toro’s direction sells the storyline to full potential by giving us incredible action, great camerawork, and awesome performances from everyone involved.

Rating: 8/10

Director – Craig Gillespie

Cast – Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Dave Franco, Reid Ewing, Will Denton, Sandra Vergara, Sandra Vergara, Emily Montague, Chris Sarandon

Release year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I admit that I was not very stoked when I first heard word of a Fright Night remake, mostly because I saw it as another needless remake of a horror classic and Hollywood has been butchering vampire films in recent years. When I heard that Colin Farrell was going to portray Charlie Brewster’s vampire neighbor my interest was peaked, and I figured “what the hell?” and decided to pay the substantial 3-D price for this ticket in hopes of seeing something worthwhile, and for the most part it was. I will say this now though, this Fright Night remake is a fairly good film on its own and gives us a fun experience, but fans of the original will have a hard time liking this if you compare the two.

Adam Yelchin stars as Charlie Brewster, a former dweeb geek who has acquired an insanely hot girlfriend and is having the time of his life while running away from his dorky past. When Jerry(Colin Farrell) moves in next door to Charlie he fails to listen to the warnings from his former best friend “Evil” Ed Lee(Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and soon learns that his neighbor is a vehement vampire picking off the townsfolk every night, forcing him to reach out to famed vampire-killer and TV personality Peter Vincent(David Tennant) to rid their desert town of this seductive and blood-thirsty beast.

For starters, let me say that there will be several spoilers mentioned in this review, which should come as no shock to those who have seen the original. And to those of you who haven’t, watch it first.

The overall storyline follows the original for the most part, but does stray at times and makes this a film of its own and not a direct copy like some other remakes we have been given over the last few years. Writer Marti Noxon(I Am Number Four)’s screenplay came with mostly-positive usage of the characters involved, but I did find fault with one of the most important characters in the film, “Evil” Ed Lee. He played a very prominent role in the original film, and to include him in this film would require an equally important role right? Well Noxon completely screwed that up by having him “turned” very early into the film, and leaving him out completely until the third act. To waste his character so soon was a terrible move by Noxon and was sadly not the only bad move made regarding characters. The usage of Peter Vincent could have been better, especially regarding the stupid idea to delve into his past and the reasoning for his hatred of vampires, but Noxon at least made him quite funny and that helped relieve my distaste. As far as the other main characters, Charlie, Jerry the vampire, Charlie’s mom Jane, and his girlfriend Amy were all used very well and provided much to the film, and in some ways provided more than the characters in the original did, which was the case with Jane and Amy. Now, despite the sometimes poor usage of characters Noxon did manage to keep me fully engaged in the story throughout its 106 minute runtime, and that came as a result of her keeping things interesting and throwing in some high-intensity scenes that came in a drawn out fashion that resulted in good tension. I admit that at times I felt like the film was much longer than it really was, but that does not necessarily mean that the film dragged, just that there was a lot going on in this piece for its runtime. The story takes us to numerous locations and gives us plenty of action scenes involving Jerry’s brutalization of the townsfolk and our protagonists fighting back against him, keeping the fun elements constantly developing and making for the most of my enjoyment of this story.

Director Craig Gillespie(Lars and the Real Girl) did a fairly good job executing this piece, giving us good tension on the scenes that called for it and delivering some fun horror as well. His tone is definitely one that was much more serious than the cheesy tone we got in the original Fright Night, which I did not prefer but also did not mind because it allowed this remake to be a film of its own in a sense. His camerawork was great and he used it to full potential during the film’s numerous action and suspense sequences, which never resulted in any real “scares” but did bring the tension to high levels that I enjoyed. Despite the great execution of the most important elements, the suspense and the horror, Gillespie got fantastic performances from all of our lead actors, which was another high selling point that helped this film achieve its positive rating. Colin Ferrel was great as Jerry and managed to provide his own seductive mannerisms that were different from what Chris Sarandon provided in the original in that Ferrel was a much more manly and blue collar type, and he also made for a good vampire as well during his kill sequences. Anton Yelchin was also great as Charley Brewster, and it was cool to see Christopher Mintz-Plasse portray a mostly-serious character, although he still came off as Fogel from Superbad, just a pissed off Fogel this time. I have heard many remarks about this film being less comical and gorier than the original, and while I agree with it being less comical there really was not THAT much gore in this piece. The gore that we do get was CGI due to this being filmed in 3D format, and I must say that despite my overall dislike for 3D the vampire deaths scenes were very awesome and made full use of the 3D capability – potential reached.

Overall, this Fright Night remake is a fairly good film on its own that feels like it lacks heart at times, but gives us good suspense, great performances, and positive usage of the 3D technology used. When compared to the first there are many obvious differences in the look and feel, and while this film stands on its own as a positive experience I have a good feeling that fans of the original will not enjoy this very much, at least if they cannot help but compare the two.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Kevin Munroe

Cast – Brandon Routh, Sam Huntington, Peter Stormare, Anita Briem, Taye Diggs, Kurt Angle, Andrew Sensenig, James Hébert, Kent Jude Bernard

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

When word hit that there would be a live-action adaptation of the Dylan Dog story, a popular Italian comic series from the mid-1980s (which Cemetery Man is a spinoff of), I thought to myself, “Great, another iconic horror story ruined by Hollywood”. The film suffered a limited release that did nothing to aid its poor critical reviews, but I still went into this piece hoping to enjoy it and that is exactly what happened. Yes, that is right, I enjoyed this one. Sure it ventures from the original storyline and does not give us anything we haven’t seen, but Dylan Dog: Dead of Night was a fun and well-crafted effort that gave me pleasing results despite what the “critics” say.

Brandon Routh(Superman Returns) stars as Dylan Dog, a supernatural private eye who has since left his supernatural doings and now focuses on private investigation. When he receives a call from a woman whose father was brutally murdered by a werewolf, Dylan sees the need to go back to his old ways and save the city of New Orleans from a war between warring monsters who have grown tired of hiding in the dark.

I will admit now that I am not overly familiar with the entire Dylan Dog series, as I have not read every issue or any of the “specials” and am mostly reviewing this piece as a film of its own, not an adaptation of previous work. From the other reviews I have read it seems the film is constantly lambasted by the writers comparison of the film to the original work, and while I may touch base on that slightly and tell you the differences I noticed, this review is not a compare and contrast, but a simple review of this horror film.

For starters, I love the Dylan Dog storyline of a paranormal investigator taking on the monsters that hide within his city, New Orleans (London in the comic series). While cliché and overused in the superhero sub-genre, Dylan Dog left his work as a paranormal investigator for a reason, but as usual the work of a hero catches up to you and he is forced to once again take on the monsters that blend in with mankind so easily, but this time the stakes are higher. There is a war brewing between werewolves and vampires, and Dylan Dog’s journey to keep the warring parties at bay takes us for a joyride through many different elements of horror, such as zombies and the lore behind werewolves and vampires, all with favorable results and that Dylan Dog “wit” that fans love. Numerous action scenes adorn this piece, giving us plenty of monster ass-kicking and the kicking of monster ass via a crafty arsenal at Dylan’s disposal, namely a sweet revolver often loaded with bullets designed to take down certain types of monsters. His sidekick, Marcus(Sam Huntington; Superman Returns), provides most of the comic relief for this film, giving us non-stop dimwitted actions that eventually result in him becoming part of the undead, which only furthers the comic relief he provides. Some may balk at the usage of Marcus instead of Dylan Dog’s comic book sidekick, Groucho Marx, but the studios simply could not acquire the rights to the character, so there you go. We get many worthwhile characters used in this piece, some creatures and some human, and they all provide positively to the film and its pacing, leaving me to marvel that Sahara and A Sound of Thunder writers Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer could deliver a solid 107 minute watch that never left me bored or un-entertained, although the film did lost a bit of spice during the final sequence, but not enough to deter a solid positive rating.

Director Kevin Munroe did a swell job executing this piece, giving us great atmosphere and consistently awesome sets that made for the fun visual experienced that I hoped this film would deliver. I was iffy on whether or not he would succeed given his only feature film prior to this was TMNT, an animated piece, but he proved that he has the talent required to give us a good horror experience, and a fun one at that. The fight scenes were great and we were not given any more CGI than what was needed, and each of the actors involved, Brandon Routh, Sam Huntington, Taye Diggs, Peter Stormare, Anita Briem, and Kurt Angle provided good performances that fit their roles very well and aided to my enjoyment of this piece that I strongly feel has suffered unjust criticism.

Overall, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night is an enjoyable adaptation of the famed comic series that despite pissing off numerous fanboys by not following the storyline to the “T” still provides a great horror experience for those who can watch this with an open mind. The story is cool, fun, witty, and contains numerous elements of horror and horror lore, and Munroe’s direction solidly delivers each element in enjoyable fashion, making for one of the most fun horror films of recent time.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Jim Mickle

Cast – Connor Paolo, Nick Damici, Danielle Harris, Kelly McGillis, Michael Cerveris, Sean Nelson, Bonnie Dennison

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

While I thought writer/director Jim Mickle’s debut film Mulberry Street was a borderline-positive watch that could have given us much better results, it was very obvious that he had some great directing talent and the ability to deliver some unique writing ideas. Because of that, I went into Stake Land, his sophomore effort, with expectations of enjoying the piece, but I had no idea that I would enjoy this unique vampire tale as much as I did. Giving us a great modern day take on the vampire sub-genre that bleeds artistic beauty and great horror, Stake Land is a breath of fresh air for the horror genre that delivers a great experience – once again proving that Hollywood really needs to give these undeveloped directors a shot.

When a vampire epidemic spreads across the land and turns America into a wasteland, Martin(Connor Paolo; World Trade Center) and “Mister”(Nick Damici; “Law and Order”, Mulberry Street), who Martin owes his life to, travel across the wasteland in hopes of reaching what was formerly Canada, now deemed “New Eden”. This wishful thinking will not come easy for the two, as the epidemic is far from over – however they have more to worry about than just vampires as mankind often latches on to drastic decisions when faced with economic and political turmoil.

If you know me then you should know that I am not the biggest fan of the vampire sub-genre. In all honesty, my reason for my disinterest in the sub-genre is that they simply do not scare me, at least the traditional vampires we get in horror films. Stake Land changed my perception of the vampire sub-genre, at least regarding modern day vampires, and that lies much in the fact that this film delivers great horror and played off much like the films we receive in possibly my favorite horror sub-genre…zombies.

The storyline takes off quick, immediately throwing us into the horror resulting from the vampire onslaught, and the film’s heavy drama element also kicks in early as well. The young Martin is forced to grow and toughen up quick if he wishes to survive the ordeal, forced to abandon his dying parents and allow himself under the wing of a master vampire killer, “Mister”. I loved that the overall storyline was simple, simply focusing on our characters as they try and make their way towards a safe haven that they believe still exists despite reports from others they have come across, but this film offers much more than just a simple journey. They come across numerous obstacles along their trek, most of which are vampires although we do get non-vampires that are still just as dangerous, namely religious fanatics who feel the vampires are sent from God to cleanse the earth and cannibals who take the easy way out in searching for food. Each of the numerous encounters Martin and Mister come across inflicts them emotionally as they are forced to kill in vicious stake-to-the-heart fashion, save someone, or find someone who provides them comfort in this dark day and age. This storyline played off like most great zombie films, focusing mostly on the survivors and how they react socially to the epidemic and then focusing on the horror at hand, while still delivering good horror of course. I really enjoyed the heavy drama element mostly because of how well executed it was, but also because it did not detract from the horror like the drama we get in other horror/drama films. The take on the vampires was great as they were not the typical vampires we see but savage beasts that resembled the “infected” seen in 28 Days Later, except they can only be killed via a stake to the heart, which just ups the tension and the ante given the kill sequences must occur up close and personal. At 98 minutes this screenplay was well-crafted and superbly executed to give us awesome pacing and just the right amount of horror and drama at just the right times, and I applaud writers Nick Damici(who also portrays “Mister”) and Jim Mickle for this great story.

Jim Mickle’s direction is fantastic, expertly selling this film to us via great atmosphere in beautifully shot fashion. I first noticed his amazing cinematography in Mulberry Street, and he continues this artistic approach with this piece, giving us constant gloomy settings very reminiscent of the subject matter the story delivers and an amazing score whose music really aids the atmosphere. The horror is great due to this fancy camerawork, which gives us a full-frontal approach to the vampire kills and vampire killing provided by our two protagonists (among others), and Mickle does not shy away from the live-action gore or creature FX, leaving me already wishing he’d come out with another horror film and continue the progress he has shown. The usage of the vampires was great, and I had no problem with them running around at full speed and acting like maniacal maniacs. Their look was great and gritty, and most of them did not possess the super powers (although they were impervious to gunfire) that most vampires possess, which made for another unique take on this vampire sub-genre that I heavily enjoyed. I was very elated to see such great action scenes thrown into this piece, and although most of them consisted of Nick Damici kicking the ass we did get a fair amount of badassery from the young Connor Paolo as well. Horror fans should marvel at the inclusion of female horror icon Danielle Harris(Halloween 4: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and many others) in this film, who plays a fairly prominent role that aided in the drama element, as well as producer Larry Fessenden (and his forehead) in his cameo appearance as a bartender. The performances from everyone involved were awesome, which was another reason the film’s heavy drama element was so darn enjoyable, and it rounded off this superbly executed effort from one of horror’s hopefully formerly under-appreciated directors.

Overall, Stake Land is a great addition to the vampire sub-genre that not only gives us something unique but a damn good horror effort from a strong up-and-coming filmmaker, Jim Mickle. Perfectly blending horror and drama, Stake Land is sure to please those who want a serious effort that delivers the goods in awesome and high intensity fashion, making for one of the best horror films of the decade and one of the most enjoyable vampire films I have seen in a long while.

8/10

Director – Stephen Norrington

Cast – Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Dorff, N’Bushe Wright, Donal Logue, Udo Kier, Arly Jover, Traci Lords, Kevin Patrick Walls

Release Year – 1998

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I was first introduced to the Blade series when I randomly watched Blade: Trinity when it debuted in theaters.  It was date night and the only flick we cared to see at the time, and while I remembered it being a decent watch I have had a craving to watch the series from its inception, and now I have.  Based on the popular Marvel comic series, Blade gives us an awesome vampire tale filled with every known element used in action-packed ass-kicking films, and with its heavy horrific vampire element it proves to be one of the sweetest and goriest comic book adaptations to date.

Wesley Snipes stars as Blade, a half-mortal half-vampire who has taken on the duty of ridding the world of the secret sect of vampires who walk the streets and feed on the human race. Accompanied by Abraham Whistler(Kris Kristofferson) and rescued doctor Karen(N’Bushe Wright), they try desperately to stop a the renegade vampire Deacon Frost(Stephen Dorff; Botched, Alone in the Dark, FeardotCom) from enacting a vampire uprising that would annihilate the human race.

As you should know by now if you have been a follower of my reviews, I am not a huge fan of the vampire sub-genre. It is not because I find them stupid, I have just never been interested in something that harbors great strength and a thirst for blood but can’t survive something as simple as UV radiation. However, when you get creative and begin to mix in half-breeds and lots of guns and gore, you have my devout attention regardless of what is going on, and Blade did that for me.

The storyline is an awesome one, and while we have been given numerous vampire films involving eradicating the human race this is the first one that I am aware of to employ the story, and it gets much respect from me. I loved the origin of Blade himself, and how he was drawn to fight the very kind that made him the way he is, a way of life that he has accepted but would love to do away with if he could. We get mostly positive characters thrown into the mix, starting with Blade who was used in the cheeziest of ways but still provided respectable cheeze that had me gushing with joy.  While Abraham Whistler and Karen added positively on the side of the protagonists, Deacon Frost provided a good antagonist in his brash and calculating ways of dealing with the human race, and his never-ending quest to use Blade to conjure up a demon that would spell immediate trouble for all mortals.  Writer David S. Goyer(The Uninvited) did a good job piecing the story together(despite numerous re-writes and re-shoots), and for a two hour film he threw in enough action and developments to keep me engaged throughout.

Veteran make-up/special FX guru Stephen Norrington did a fine job directing this piece, giving us stunning visuals and superb action that sold the film as it was mean to be…a solid non-stop action piece. Wesley Snipes was perfect for Blade, so much that I am fully convinced that he was conceived and brought into this world solely for the role of Blade. The action was incredible and consisting of much ass-kicking at the hands of both Blade and the vampires, and much like any sweet action hero he came toting homemade weapons that consisted of improvised handguns and shotguns, as well as the very weapon he is named after.  Kris Kristofferson was awesome as Abraham Whistler, and being a fan of his musical work I was even more pleased that he was cast in the film.  Some people seem to be love/hate with Stephen Dorff’s portrayal of Deacon Frost, and my take on him is that he was positive in the role and sold the cocky diabolical character to me.  This being a vampire film you should expect gore, but I was very pleased at the heavy amount of gore in this film. Some of the CGI effects were a bit cheezy and not very convincing, but aside from that we were given numerous scenes that were basically bloodbaths, and I love my bloodbaths.

Overall, Blade is an awesome and intense watch that delivers heavily on good vampire action, gore, and badassery from Wesley Snipes. The storyline is a cool one and the direction gets things done, making Blade one of the most enjoyable vampire films for me, and should be for you too.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Holly Dale

Cast – Gordon Currie, Louis Ferreira, Helene Clarkson, Fiona Reid, Frank Moore, Hadley Kay, David Cronenberg

Release Year – 1995

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I had never before heard of this film before coming across it today, and after reading the plot I decided to give this one a go, and was pleasantly surprised with the end result of this obviously little-known film.  While I am not the biggest fan of the vampire sub-genre, Blood & Donuts gave me a cool story that came with some fairly original vampire elements, and a few laughs as well.

After spending twenty-five years in a deep sleep, Boya is awakened when a golf ball strikes his grave in a basement.  After retrieving his long-buried belongings from a local cemetery, he finds a low-budget motel to reside in until he figures what he wants to do with his new life.  After frequenting a nearby donut shop he befriends Earl, an immigrant cab driver in trouble with some bad people, and quickly falls for Molly, the nice but tough-as-nails waitress at the donut shop.  When Boya defends Earl from a group of mob thugs he not only endangers his life but Earl and Molly’s as well, forcing Boya to do what he wishes to never do again…kill humans.

Given I had never once heard of this film prior to hitting the “Play” button, I did not know what to expect going into this watch, so I went in with as open of a mind as possible and it surely paid off.  From the get-go director Holly Dale’s execution lets you know that this will not be a film to take too seriously, especially when you consider that it is a golf ball hitting a basement that awakens our protagonist.

The storyline was a unique one in that it really focused on the internal conflict that vampires feel, and not the usual antics of biting peoples necks or being attacked with wooden stakes or other stupid devices.  Instead we follow Boya as he struggles to live the life of a human and experience human emotions.  He is adamant about not feasting on humans, and is therefore forced to feed on whatever he can find, mainly consisting of rats and pigeons.  His efforts to acquire friendship backfires when he defends Earl, as he not only makes a friend but in the process makes even more enemies.  This then brings us to Molly, the lovable waitress that seems to be the only person who truly tries to understand Boya, but things turn awry when Boya’s former love, also a vampire, learns that he has returned and is not happy that he is enjoying another woman’s presence.  Most of the story follows these general themes, resulting in a simple writing effort but one that gives us positive characters and an interesting take on the vampire sub-genre.

Direction-wise Dale did a fine job bringing the story to screen, with unique visuals, awesome atmosphere, and good performances from all involved.  Gordon Currie(The Dark Hours, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, No Woods) was fantastic as Boya, and the costume design for him was great as well.  I really enjoyed Louis Ferreira(Dawn of the Dead remake, Saw IV)’s performance as Earl, and he did great in providing positive comic relief that had me chuckling numerous times.  Speaking of actors, we get veteran horror director David Cronenberg(The Fly, Videodrome) in a supporting role as the mob boss who’s lackeys are assigned to harass and then kill Boya and Earl.  We do not get much in regards to gore and awesome kills, but in all honesty this is not the usual vampire film, but more a character study that gives us great usage of its characters.

Overall, Blood & Donuts is a fun vampire flick that gives us a unique take on the sub-genre by focusing more on its characters than anything.  Good laughs prevail and a fun yet dark atmosphere lingers throughout the film, making for a simple yet memorable watch.

Rating: 6/10