Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Dance of the Dead (2008)

If I had missed the opening credits of this movie and you told me that this was a movie adaptation of Steven Franks' "Zombies vs Cheerleaders" comics, I would have believed you. Rather, I would have believe you if there had been more scantily-clad buxom cheerleaders running around screaming.

Dance of the Dead is not a serious movie. Campy horror comedy is an accurate phrase to describe this movie. There are some compelling characters, scary events, a fair share of shocks, and even a zombie frog. All of these are good reasons to check this film out if you don't have anything else to do for 90 minutes. If you aren't a die-hard fan of zombies, then you're better off skipping this flick.

Dance of the Dead (2008)

Star Trek: The Original Series - Season Two

The first episode, Amok Time, started off strong. There's a lot of back story on Spock and building up the relationship between Kirk>>Spock>>McCoy. However, the glaringly obviously trait of Season Two is William Shatner's ego.

I suppose it could be argued that the fairly new Captain of the Enterprise has grown into his role with greater confidence and drive than previously. However, and unfortunately, I believe that we're simply seeing the unbridled ego of William Shatner as he is constantly driving to steal the scene, over-act, and take off his shirt. Pretty much everything in Galaxy Quest is coming true before my very eyes! Suddenly I'm reminded why I didn't watch the show so much when I was younger - Kirk's a jackass.

In one episode, Kirk, Chekov, and Uhura are being held captive. Uhura is in danger of being raped by one of their captives and all Kirk can think about doing is getting into the tinfoil pants of one of the fairer alien gladiators. Jack-ass.

Don't get me wrong - I'm still enjoying these episodes regardless of the degree to which Shatner is a ham. There are plenty of gems along the way and once you learn to quit worrying and enjoy the ride, it goes just fine.

Just a note, it was rather surprising to me to see that the season finale was actually a back-door pilot for Assignment Earth. Which, unfortunately, did not get picked up. It strikes me as essentially a 1960's Warehouse 13. That's a different blog entry though.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

I recently saw Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon for the first time. It's been out for a couple of years, but somehow I overlooked it until now. Fortunately, Tim Seeley corrected this oversight, by suggesting it to me when I got a chance to meet him at last weekend's Wizard World Chicago

The movie follows a film crew making a documentary about a would-be slasher named Leslie Vernon. The world of this movie is littered with the cases of slashers - Jason, Freddie, Michael have all run amok. Leslie idolizes them, wanting to duplicate and expand upon their successes. The film crew is led through his preparations, explaining along the way the various aspects of a successful slasher.

Clearly, the people behind this movie love slashers and slasher movies as much as I do. The ultimate outcome of the movie may be predictable in some ways, but as with many things it's the ride that's more important than the destination.

The acting is surprisingly good which along with a high production value make this movie well worth the time, effort and price of admission.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon