DAY OF THE DEAD
Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven
On DVD and from SHOUT! Factory along with the master of the macabre George A. Romero comes one from the vault kids with DAY OF THE DEAD.
This film tells the story of the world after a zombie apocalypse. Left behind are scientists Sarah (Lori Cardille), Fisher (John Amplas) and Dr. ‘Frankenstein’ Logan (Richard Liberty) who are looking for a cure.
Find out what's happening in Imperial Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Hindering them is a rag tag band of soldiers led by Captain Rhodes (Joseph Pilato) who clearly sees the scientists as a waste and shooting zombies as an answer to everything. It helps with his men McDermott (Jarlath Conroy), Miguel (Athony Dileo, Jr.), Steel (Gary Klar), Rickles (Ralph Marrero) and others stand up for their captain!
But what is going on in the lab with Dr. Logan is not what everyone had hoped.
Find out what's happening in Imperial Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
FINAL WORD: Cardille as Sarah is the front runner (no pun intended) to handle this bunch. The fact that she’s a woman just means she will make sure it gets done right! Armed with smarts, a will to find answers and a little bit of emotion is very cool.
Pilato as Captain Rhodes needed to be sedated! I kind of yelled that when Sarah was sedating someone else in the group. Rhodes is a gun-ho, take no zombie prisoners, I-am-in-control-but-out-of-my-mind-type of guy and Pilato pulls it off beautifully. There are moments where his wide-eyed stares of insanity were creepy and added just the right amount of it to feed into his little military group!
Liberty as Logan or Dr. Frankenstein is not only seriously disturbed but also equally seriously hilarious! Saying that I am also inclined to think that one must look past the crazy to see the genius. Bub is an amazing character and I can’t help believe that actor Sherman Howard didn’t have a blast doing it.
SHOUT! Factory has done it again with the release of DAY OF THE DEAD along with PRINCE OF DARKNESS. They are an amazing company that offers up feature films, classic and contemporary television, animation and film favorites to those who have a library that is constantly growing. See what they have to offer at www.shoutfactory.com.
Other cast include: Phillip Kellams as Miller, Taso Stavrakis as Torrez, with Don Brockett and William Cameron as zombies!
TUBS OF POPCORN: I give DAY OF THE DEAD four tubs of popcorn out of five. Why? Because it’s zombies! How many times do I have to say this – I am a zombie person. One of the first horror movies I ever saw was about zombies and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) drew me in and that’s where I’ve been ever since.
George A. Romero is the genius of zombies as far as I’m concerned. This 1985 zombie classic is just one of several films he made in this genre. With regard to his creations he says, “At first I didn’t think of them as zombies. I thought of them as flesh-eaters or ghouls and never called them zombies in the first film. Then people started to write about them, calling them zombies and all of a sudden that’s what they were – the new zombies!
What Romero also did was reinvent the idea of zombies and what they were and could do. “I guess I invented a few rules, like dill the brain and you kill the ghoul and eventually I surrendered to the idea and called them zombies myself in DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978). It never was important to me what they were called, just that they existed!”
And exist they do thankfully as fans – thanks to THE WALKING DEAD and Greg Nicotero who has a role in DAY OF THE DEAD – bring us back to what we love the most. Crazy creatures that bring out the best and worst of what it means to be human or undead!
In the end – the darkest day of horror the world has ever known.
ALSO COMING TO DVD Blu-Ray!
PRINCE OF DARKNESS
Coming to DVD from SHOUT! Factory and director John Carpenter comes the 1987 classic PRINCE OF DARKNESS.
This film tells the story of a priest who passes away leaving behind a secret. The clue to it comes to the Priest (Donald Pleasence) who discovers deep within a church a cylinder that seems to be alive. He seeks help from Prof. Howard Birack, a scientist who may know the history of the writings.
Brining along graduate students including Brian March (Jameson Parker), Lisa Blout (Catherine Danforth), and Susan Cabot (Anne Marie Howard) along with other techs, they set up to research the object.
But the object has plans of its own as transients outside surround the church in a state of possession. Inside the cylinder releases its power into a state none of them could have imagined as Satan himself attempts to come back to rule.
Now they must fight an evil over seven million years old to save the world!
FINAL WORD: Pleasence as the Priest is awesome. There is something amazing about this actor when it came to 80’s horror. As the Priest he is obviously scared and at odds with how to deal with Evil vs. Good when it’s swirling around a cylinder right in front of you. Yes, his face will seem very familiar as Dr. Sam Loomis in the HALLOWEEN film in 1978 and its continuing storyline up until the final HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS in 1995.
Victor Wong as Prof. Birack is actually quite prophetic in the scene where he talks to his students about time, faith and how we see ourselves. I thought it was actually pretty cool. Never once in the film did he back down without a fight and I like that! Wong is such a versatile actor as the horror genre is a fraction of what he’s done in his career.
Parker as Brian Marsh is a love struck student stammering around making goo-goo eyes as Lisa. Once he gets past that and his head in the game of evil trying to take over does he catch on that Satan doesn’t really care about his love life!
Danforth as Lisa puts forth a smart performance surrounded by 80’s poofy hair and baggie pleated pants. Did we really wear those (smacking myself on the head)? She is smart, knows her stuff and sacrifices it all – she’s an 80’s heroine!!
The DVD includes the special features with audio commentary with John Carpenter, a new interview with Carpenter and Alice Cooper along with the original theatrical trailer and “This is Not a Dream…”.
Other cast include: Dennis Dun as Walter, Susan Blanchard as Kelly, Ann Yen as Lisa, Ken Wright as Lomax, Dirk Blocker as Mullins, Jessie Ferguson as Calder, Peter Jason as Dr. Paul Leahy and Mr. Alice Cooper as the Street Schizo.
TUBS OF POPCORN: I give PRINCE OF DARKNESS three and a half tubs of popcorn out of five. Are you kidding me? This is the best of the 80’s with everything most adults came to love about the horror film genre. First of all, the master of 80’s horror, John Carpenter, knows how to take a story and work it!
This is the type of film that forces you to yell at the screen such classic film-goers lines as “get out of there!”, “whoa, watch out!”, “oh my gawd did you see that?” and “that is so freaky!” just to name a few. Having Mr. Alice Cooper, and I use the word Mr. because it’s deserved, as the street schizoid was rockin!
Is this the perfect film? Nope, there are flaws a plenty and I have to say who cares! This is a creepy story with some of the best creepy story actors and very few special effects and presto a DVD all 80’s and classic horror fans need in their library.
In the end – it’s evil, it’s real and it’s awakening!
