The Sky Has Fallen (2009)

The-Sky-Has-Fallen-Still-Closeup-Doug-Roos

For a movie about the end of the world through an Ebola-like virus that infects people and turns them in to demonic killing monsters that feast on the living, while shadowy specters wait in the darkness carrying off the innocent and the dead, I was surprised at how utterly bored I was through most of this movie. In fact “The Sky Has Fallen” literally had me watching the clock and completely apathetic to its entire premise. As someone who adores almost any movie about the end of the world, director Doug Roos really doesn’t put an argument as to why his movie stands out among a slew of better indie films about the apocalypse and the undead.

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My Name is Felix and I'm a Kinemortophobe

Acrophobia, Nictophobia, Mysophobia, and Kinemortophobia. These are my primary phobias that plague me day in and day out. But… mainly that last one has been a nagging more insane but very troublesome phobia that has grabbed on to me since I was old enough to walk and hasn’t let go. Kinemortophobia (or Ambulothanatophobia) can be described as fear of the undead, or more importantly fear of the walking dead. Sure to some of you, it may sound idiotic and something to laugh at, but when you’re a little kid trying to sleep unable to go five minutes without looking behind you or sleeping near the edge of your bed, it’s not funny. And it’s quite traumatic. No, this is not meant to be a satirical article, this is quite real to me. I simply can not explain it. I’ve tried to figure out why since I was a child, but I simply can not explain it. I have a fear of zombies. Not vampires, or mummies, or anything else undead, but specifically zombies. The walking dead, the brain munching, gut gnawing, glazed over, staggering, shambling, moaning, groaning, mobile, green skinned, mouths agape, oozing, bleeding, rotting monsters that have become so absolutely prevalent in modern death obsessed pop culture.

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Circle (2010)

circleI held out almost little hope for Michael W. Watkins crime thriller slasher film about a Greek mythology obsessed serial killer who has a penchant for gathering and murdering his victims on the basis of fulfilling some need within him to manifest some Greek legend, but “Circle” gradually proved me wrong as it progressed. While it’s not a masterpiece by any definition, it definitely is a solid horror film with some roots in the formula cop sub-genre in which we’re following two mismatched hard boiled cops on the track of the vicious Bennett, a mastermind and genius psychopath who manages to break free from his asylum after ritualistically killing off a group therapy session he was engaging in.

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Woman's Intuition (2006)

wiI continue to be a big fan of Patrick Rea’s for the simple fact that he’s a director that loves to screw with his audience. And when he usually does it it’s not to insult or annoy his audience, it’s to keep us coming back for more. He’s a storyteller with a slew of short films very much in the vein of “Twilight Zone,” and his early short entitled “Woman’s Intuition” is a very good example of Rea screwing with his audience with an ending that’s surprising and clever.

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Mike Schneider Gets "ReAnimated" with "Night of the Living Dead"

NotLDThe latest iteration of “Night of the Living Dead” is not a remake, but a re-visioning, the same classic zombie film from George A. Romero except seen through the eyes of dozens of graphic artists, animators, and the like, all of whom have come together to form a moving painting and ode to George A. Romero and his lasting legacy of a zombie epic involving a group of mismatched survivors in a farmhouse one fateful night trapped wall to wall with the walking dead anxious to feast on their flesh and guts. Combing the talents of many people, Mike Schneider is an artist and curator who speaks about this latest project that brings a new dimension to Romero’s film.

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Night of the Living Dead: ReAnimated (1968) (DVD)

Since George A. Romero’s seminal 1968 independent horror film was released without a copyright, the horror classic we know as “Night of the Living Dead” has been in the public domain for literal decades. Since then it’s been remade, re-released, re-dubbed, re-edited, restored, colored, chopped, extended, spoofed, satirized, animated, prequelized, sequelized, novelized, sampled, and so on ad nauseum. Much to Romero’s chagrin, “Night of the Living Dead” has been the Mr. Potato Head of the horror world upon which independent film directors can switch and mix without worry of a lawsuit.

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30 Days of Night: Dark Days (2010)

yY6E5ONWhile I did really enjoy the original vampire film from David Slade based on the award winning graphic novel from Steve Niles, it wasn’t a masterpiece. Though everything about it was very tight and sharp, the film just didn’t end up being the groundbreaking game changer it promised. Not surprising, it spawned an inevitable sequel and thanks to the uselessness of vampires who are menacing monsters (Thank you Stephanie Meyer), this sequel entitled “Dark Days” is Direct to DVD fodder that is about as routine as you’d expect for a sequel to a major horror film that came and went before anyone knew who Steve Niles was.

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