Bobbie's, "Movies to Look For"-- Rockabilly Zombie Weekend (2013)

Rockabilly Zombie Weekend

Reviewed by:  Bobbie

Becky (Christina Bach) and Grant (Daniel Baldock), two young rockabilly lovers, want to get hitched at an outdoor venue.  Unbeknownst to them, earlier that same day, two ‘Men in Black’ types from the Government ordered a local crop duster to hose down the surrounding areas with an experimental mosquito spray to stop the spread of West Nile Virus.  Little did anyone know that those two MIB types were unleashing something far more deadly that the Virus!

Despite Becky’s mother, a waitress who gives hand-jobs for extra cash behind the diner, and Grant’s mother, a rich-bitch type who tells Grant he’s too good for the likes of that trashy Becky, these two love-birds decide to go forward with the nuptials.  Surrounded by their best buds, beer and swarms of blood-sucking mosquitoes, they pledge their trough.  Well, almost.  As they get to the “I do” part, a zombie attack is suddenly upon the gathered group!  Will Becky and Grant escape the ghastly, flesh-chomping hoards!?!  And what about their friends!?!  Their families!?!  Will they survive the … Rockabilly Zombie Weekend?!

Sound exciting?  Wellll ... it’s not as grim as I assumed it would be from the title.  Andy S. Montejo, who did the cinematography, certainly knows his way around a camera and camera angles!  And the acting, other than the two MIB types, was certainly semi-professional.  The script, however, was shop-worn and included many stereotypical plot points.  Zombies invading a hospital?  Check!  Grizzled old man showing the fleeing lovers who has the most guns?  Check!  Loved one being torn apart and consumed?  Check!  Military intervention?  Check!

However, the music by Killer Moonshine was toe-tapping fun!  And the special effects, although heavily dependent on computer effects, was stomach churning.  Jaime Velez Soto directs from a screenplay penned by Tammy Bennett.  The aforementioned Christina Bach (Cassadaga), along with J. LaRose (Insidious), Michelle Elise (Vaudeville Comedy, Then and Now), Randy Molnar (The Tenant) and Daniel Baldock (Bigfoot and Other Adventures) star.

Rockabilly Zombie Weekend opened in Orlando Florida at the Plaza Cinema on Sunday, February 17, 2013.  According to movie blog Sonic Electric “Originally slated for 2 theaters, demand was so great, a total of five theaters were needed to debut the film.  Actors in costume (military uniform), escorted (evacuated), ticket-holders to their respective theaters.”  Rockabilly Zombie Weekend has been making its way around the country, playing at midnight theater showings and, I imagine, a few remaining drive-in theaters.  It has been released on DVD and can be purchased at the official web-site [http://www.rockabillyzombieweekend.com/].  If you like classic cars, beehive hair-dos, hooker shoes, rockabilly music, zombies and knocking back a few brews, then this just might the movie for you!

Bobbie

Bobbie's Movies to Look For-- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes begins where Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes ends. Only it's been ten years since Caesar and his band of escaping simian brethren escaped across the Golden Gate Bridge into the relative safety of Muir Woods. During that decade, the ape group has grown exponentially and formed a community of families and homes and a form of government lead by Caesar and his friends, Koba and Maurice. One day, while out on a hunting trip, Caesar, Caesar's son and Koba encounter a group of human Simian Flu survivors, lead by Malcolm (Jason Clarke). Caesar, pulling himself to full stature, bellows "GOOOOO!!!!!!!" at the humans and the humans quickly flee in terror.

Returning to San Francisco, Malcolm tells human leader Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) about the encounter and the fact that apes can talk. Dreyfus wants to kill the apes but Malcolm convinces Dreyfus to allow him to return to talk to Caesar about the human's need to restart a nearby Dam to provide power to the City. Malcolm, with wife and former CDC doctor Ellie (Keri Russell), returns to discuss this matter with Caesar. Ellie cures Caesar's wife of a deadly infection and thus begins an uneasy truce between apes and humans. However, not all apes are comfortable with this idea including Koba, who hates all humans for the torture he underwent as a lab animal, and former SF water worker Carver (Kirk Acevedo) who thinks the only good ape is a dead ape. How long before they all learn that in every ape is something human and in every man, something animal lurks? Who will emerge as Earth's dominant species.

Sure this blockbuster is not without it's faults, including such groan-inducing gaffs such as a hydroelectric Dam that, having sat vacant for over a decade, springs back to life with only some minor tinkering. Video cameras that still function after having been untouched in years. Laptops that power up instantly. Guns and rifles, unused for years, that still fire without blowing up in your face. However, what this movie will be remembered for is the amazing CGI! Especially the amazing stop-motion performance of Andy Serkis as Caesar. Within minutes of the movie, I totally forgot that what I was watching on the screen was special effects thanks, in large part, to Serkis' astounding acting. The apes are among the more intellectually complex characters you're likely to spend time with this summer. The gritty and realistic portrayal of a slowly escalating conflict between apes and humans until the final battle was spectacular, mesmerizing and ultimately  heart-breaking. This movie will make any average viewer forget the improbability of talking apes battling mankind for domination. Andy Serkis should get an Oscar nod for is work in this movie!

One more minor thing I would mention. I first saw Dawn in 3D, and then saw it again in 2D three days later. And in my opinion, 2D is by far the better. I found, especially during the final battle, that the 3D annoyed me. The many and varied items being thrown at the screen made it difficult to figure out who was coming out a victor of that battle. And be sure to sit through the closing credits for a audio hint of what's to come in the sequel!

Bobbie's Movies to Look For: HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN

Title:  HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN

Year of Release—Film:  2011

An aging, scruffy and anonymous hobo (Rutger Hauer) climbs down from a freight train at the out-skirts of Hope City (renamed Scum City by its residents) looking for a fresh start in a new town.  What he finds instead is a terrified town helplessly trapped in the grips of a psychopath named The Drake (Brian Downey) and his two equally evil and sadistic sons Ivan and Slick (Nick Bateman and Gregory Smith).  With sickened eyes, the hobo stands helplessly by as The Drake has his own brother beheaded with barbed wire in front of the terrified citizens.  Prostitution, vice and drugs are rampant, person-on-person violence is an everyday occurrence and the streets of this mean town, including its police department, clearly are in the iron fist of The Drake and his two obnoxious sons!  Still, the hobo holds on to his dream of one day owning a lawnmower and opening a lawn care service.

He saves a golden-hearted hooker Abby (Molly Dunsworth) from Slick who has rape and murder on his mind and is carved up for his troubles.  Grateful Abby allows the hobo to spend the night at her apartment and in the morning finds him gone.  The hobo earns his lawnmower money by eating glass while being filmed by a deranged filmmaker but as he enters the pawnshop to buy his dream, he’s confronted by a hold-up in progress.  The ski-masked robbers threaten to kill a baby if the terrified storeowner doesn’t give them more cash.  Grabbing a shotgun from a display, the hobo blasts the bad guys and become a HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN!  Delivering justice one shell at a time!

Outraged that this down-on-his-luck drifter is cramping his style and threatening his authority, Drake sends his two sons out to burn up a busload of children.  When the local TV news begins its report on the tragedy, Slick and Ivan break in and, killing the TV reporter, tell their stunned audience that if the townsfolk don’t want their children killed in a similar way, they need to kill all the homeless people!  Mass carnage ensues as the homeless are burned, shot and smashed flat with backhoes!  The hobo is now the hunted as he tries to clean up a town that wants him dead!

First-time filmmaker Jason Eisener has clearly studied exploitation films and with HOBO breathes new life into a genre that has grown moribund.  In 2007, Eisener entered and won an internet contest to create a fake trailer similar to the ones found on Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse double-feature.  The HOBO trailer went viral and put Eisener on the fast -track to turning his $120 trailer into a feature-length feature.  But, for some reason, would-be investors didn’t think cinematic viewers would go for the scene with the bus-load of burning children so it took much haggling and two long years for Eisener to come up with the capital.  HOBO splashed it’s blood-soaked way across limited screens giving the audience everything from a pedophile Santa Clause to some unexplained tentacled creatures who seemed to have wandered in from another movie.  Did I say blood-soaked?  This movie is awash in blood, guts and gore!  Definitely not for the squeamish!

Rutger Hauer plays the title role with a road-weariness that makes a believable and even likeable anti-hero.  He appears and acts exactly like a rum-soaked, down-on-his-heels drifter.  Brian Downey as the Drake put on his shtick like some deranged game-show host, playing to his captive audience while killing it’s members.  Gregory Smith plays Slick like a demented Tom Cruise in 1983’s RISKY BUSINESS.  And it was pleasant to see Robb “Ricky” Wells from Trailer Park Boys again, even in the cameo role of the Uncle who is beheaded in the opening scene.  But, it’s Molly Dunsworth as the hooker with the heart of gold that really stands out in this!  Producers should take note of her convincing acting job as Abby and get her agent on the phone before it’s too late!  I sincerely hope that this is only the beginning for Jason Eisener and we gore-hounds can look forward to many more!

Enjoy!

Senior Correspondent Bobbie

And Now, A Special Short Review from Senior Correspondent Bobbie!

THE HUMAN BEE-ING (2002)

It will bleed you white with stark, naked terror!

A brilliant film titled THE HUMAN BEE-ING just crossed the Video Vault's threshold and this short film deserves a short introduction and a big pat on the back!  An homage to 1950's big-bug movies, from it's William Castle-like opening speech which warns that anyone in the audience with heart problems, is over the age of 50 or under the age of 25 or suffers from palsy should not watch this film to its clever and comedic ending, it's 45 minutes you're not likely to forget!

Funded by Allen Danasco (Eric Hoffman), who owns a typing firm, mad scientist Dr. Charles Metzenbeamer (Jim Coughlin) has almost perfected a worker bee-human by combining human DNA with worker bee DNA to come up with a tireless typist bee.  No one seems to notice this human bee's rather large head because Dr. Metzenbeamer has cleverly dressed it in a suit, a toupee, slapped a phony mustache on it, and chained it to its desk where it tirelessly and efficiently types all day and all night.  No one that is except co-typist Stacey (Ronit Feinglass Plank) who finds herself strangely drawn to this new Mr. Hives.  Her boyfriend, Joe De Compana (John Varga) hardly noticed his girlfriend's strange obsession even after being warned by Stacey's best friend, Diane (Meredith Weiner).  As Allen Danasco demands more human-bee workers, the human office staff mysteriously begins to disappear!

Extremely smart with quick, dry humor, The Human BEEing is wonderfully acted and brilliantly directed by Tony Shea and co-written by actor Jim Coughlin.  It never spoofs 1950's B-movies but lovingly embraces the genre.  The Human BEEing is one of the best short films I've seen and I truly hope this won't be the last I see of Tony Shea and company!  Kudos!

Senior Correspondent Bobbie

Bobbie's Movies to Look For: ATTACK THE BLOCK

Title:  ATTACK THE BLOCK

 

Year of Release—Film:  2011

A small group of London thugs is interrupted in the process of mugging Sam, a nurse new to their council-flat block (British for public housing) by an explosion, followed by something crashing through a near-by car.  Sam beats a hasty retreat while the gang checks out the wreck and discovers something alive and unpleasant in it.  That something claws gang leader Moses’ face, scarring him, and escapes.  These wanna-be gangstas, angry at the interruption and Moses’ injury, track it down and kill it.  Then, they parade their find through the darkened streets like some kind of smelly trophy.  And for some reason they don’t figure out until late in the film, a second wave of alien monsters—described vaguely as “gorilla-wolf-looking” creature—is out to get them!  Quite by accident, they wind up in Sam’s apartment where they find themselves uneasy allies with their previous victim against these unknown, blacker-than-black beasts with glowing fangs.

Fans of science fiction know that the bad guys always get killed by the invaders from Space.  This is where ATTACK THE BLOCK differs when we, the audience, realize that the baddies are here to stay.  Understandably hesitant to get the authorities involved, these street-smart, profanity-slinging little criminals are ready to do what they have always done—defend their turf!  Even if that turf in the gritty, grimy high-rise flats they inhabit and the littered and graffitied streets that they nightly prowl.  Armed with everything from baseball bats to Super-Soakers to swords, they face down dozens of monsters that, for some unknown reason, want them dead!

Writer and director Joe Cornish is too savvy to excuse the teen’s violent behavior or suggest we shouldn’t condemn them.  Instead, he uses them as narrative objects and allows the audience to root for their survival.  However, instead of coming off as preachy or socioeconomic savvy, ATTACK THE BLOCK is a pulse-raising thrill-ride whose near perfect construction belies its director’s first-time status.  All but one of the gang’s actors are first-timers, a couple of whom—John Boyega as Moses and Alex Esmail as Pest—shine even in the presence of the more experienced actors.  SHAUN OF THE DEAD’s Nick Frost has a secondary role as the pot dealer and adds some much-needed stoner-humor.  The sets have the claustrophobic feel of small, tight spaces and darkened hallways.  The cast is kept to a minimum giving one the feeling that these young men are all alone in their fight against this extraterrestrial menace.  The payoff is the alien monsters that are crafted in an ingenious, scary and memorable way, easily the Best Movie Monster of 2011.

This is the movie indie moviegoers have been waiting for and it deserves all the praise it’s been getting.  It’s not your typical Hollywood remake filled with all the familiar Hollywood faces.  Sure, it’s formulaic but it does the formula right.  Hopefully, viewers will get a sequel that will not be spoiled by padding or CGI-heavy monsters.  And hopefully, the remake will star John Boyega, whom, I believe, has a great future in indie film.  See ATTACK THE BLOCK.  You’ll thank me.  Four stars.

MSTJunkie

Bobbie's Movies to Look For: PAUL

Title:  PAUL

Year of Release—Film:  2011

Two British fanboys (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) travel to the San Diego Comic-Con.  There they meet like-minded geeks, Star Wars freaks, a sexually active Wookie, sci-fi author and personal idol Adam Shadowchild ... and one small, wise-cracking alien named Paul.

Graham (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are traveling buddies out to visit the most famous UFO sighting hot-spots, including Roswell Area 51 where, in 1947, an alien UFO crashed and was confiscated and it’s discovery covered up by the Government.  After visiting the near-by Little A’Le’Inn restaurant where they have an unpleasant encounter with two red-necks, the two leave to visit Area 51 when suddenly a speeding car comes screaming by and crashes.  Graham and Clive stop to offer help and meet Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen), a alien who has successfully escaped the Area 51 encampment and needs a ride to the place where his fellow aliens have promised to pick him up for a return to his home planet.  UFO sites forgotten in the excitement of meeting an actual alien, the duo agrees to the new destination and off they go!

Along the way, they meet an eye-patch wearing ultra-religious young woman named Ruth (Kristen Wiig) and her controlling father Moses Buggs (John Carroll Lynch).  While spending the night at the Buggs RV camp sight, Ruth catches sight of Paul and faints.  When she wakes and she begins to spout religious dogma, Paul, quickly tires of it and transfers his vast knowledge of evolution to her mind and Ruth, finely freed of her father's twisted Biblical history, begins swearing ... like a little child whose just learning swear words!  And Paul, seeing her blind eye, heals her with a gentle touch.  Now on the lam from men in black who take orders from a steely-voiced but as yet unseen woman and from Ruth’s gun-toting zealot father, they race against time to reunite Paul with the mothership!

Penned by SHAUN OF THE DEAD’s Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, PAUL is a sci-fi geek’s wet-dream, chock-full of references to other classic science fiction films.  Paul, rather than being kept hostage by the Government agency, was given free run on the facility and was an incalculable aid to Steven Spielberg via phone conversations while ET: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL was in the planning stages.  And in the honky-tonk scene, the band is playing the “Cantina Band” tune from STAR WARS.  And how can one possibly dislike a movie in which Pegg and Frost reenact Captain Kirk’s epic fight with the Gorn from the Star Trek episode “Arena”!?!  In an effort to avoid being called a MAC AND ME rip-off (noted by Clive/ Nick Frost when he says “I have dreamt of meeting you ever since I saw Mac and Me,”) the team did their best to make their alien different.  And they succeeded!  Paul is a profanity-spewing little wise-cracker who smokes dope and talks about the size of his sexual equipment.  In a June 12, 2011 interview with Den of Geek blog Simon Pegg is quoted as saying:

“We could have toned down the language a little bit, and maybe we should have done.  We could have got a bigger box office take if we’d made it a PG.  But we didn’t want it to look like a children’s film.  We wanted people from the off to know that it wasn’t a kids’ film.  And so, we stuck to our guns, as ... we wanted an R.  And we got it.”

Still, cigarette-smoking, occasionally invisible Paul isn’t all bad.  He has highly sensitive empathic powers healing powers as seen in the eye healing scene with Ruth.  And he did bring a dead bird back to life (even if he did eat it immediately afterwards!).  And even in his rush to find his mothership, Paul takes the time to settle an old score with Tara Walton (Blythe Danner) who has been thought crazy by the townsfolk for the past 60 years for claiming a spaceship killed her dog.

The cast in PAUL showed they were clearly up to the task and their performances were all above par.  Kristie Wiig was both believable and unbelievably funny as the reformed girl Ruth.  Her swearing need some work though!  Jason Bateman as the secret agent tough-guy Zoil and Sigourney Weaver in a stellar cameo were a great bonus!  Pegg and Frost play their bro-mance a tad too realistically (IMO) but still come off as a natural pairing with enthusiasm and wild humor.  But, the star of this movie is Paul!  Profane and all-around crass, Paul has a sensitive side, too and is an agreeably laid-back kind of fellow.  Seth Rogen does a good job voicing Paul and the CGI is above average.

Is it a perfect buddy-flick?  No.  PAUL will delight sci-fi movie fanboys (and fangirls!) with it's inside jokes and will probably leave those not familiar with those movies feeling they are missing something.  But, the humor is top-notch, the pacing fast and the acting great!  A word of caution, though—should you rent or buy PAUL, watch the unrated version as the theatrical version cuts short some of the jokes.

Enjoy!  And I know you will!

MSTJunkie

Bobbie's Movies to Look For: TUCKER & DALE vs. EVIL

Title:  TUCKER & DALE vs. EVIL

Year of Release—Film:  2010

Two hillbilly rednecks, best friends Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) finally realize their life-long dream of owning a summer cabin up in the woods where they can drink beer and fish to their heart's content.  Stopping at a local gas station/general store, Tucker buys hardware and tools (ax, nail gun and nails, a scythe, hammers, chainsaw etc) while Dale spots a lovely collage girl who, along with her uppity college friends, are planning a weekend get-away in the very same woods.  Terrified of girls but encouraged by Tucker, Dale makes the worst first impression ever, causing the spooked collage kids to flee.  Unperturbed, Tucker and Dale continue on to their cabin.  Declaring the decrepit fixer-upper shack to be "Perfect!  Just needs a little dusting,” Tucker and Dale decide to do some night fishing.  Meanwhile, the snooty college kids decide to go skinny-dipping.  As the lovely college girl, Allison (Katrina Bowden) strips, she sees Tucker and Dale who are spying on her and she falls into the water, knocking herself unconscious.  Dale jumps in after her and, as Tucker pulls them both back into the boat, he yells "We got your friend" to her startled friends, who skedaddle in terror.  Murderous hillbillies have our friend!  What should we do!?!  Obnoxious, preppy Chad (Jesse Moss), who wants the lovely but dismissive Allison all to himself, decides they must rescue her at all costs.  Sending one of them back to town to get the sheriff (Phillip Granger), Chad attempts to organize the rest in an onslaught to save Allison.

 

By now, all of you hillbilly horror fans are thinking "Yeah, nothing we haven't seen before" and rolling your eyes.  Murderous hillbillies have been standard horror fare since the last dying banjo notes of DELIVERANCE (1972).  Mutant hillbillies in THE HILLS HAVE EYES.  Inbred hillbillies who live off the forest and the occasional and unlucky traveler in WRONG TURN.  The tribe of wild men living in the woods who take exception to intruders by slaughtering them in RITUALS.  But, with TUCKER AND DALE vs. EVIL, you'd be wrong.  Dead wrong.  Allow me to continue!

Bandaged Allison wakes up the next morning to see an ugly dog staring up at her and yawning.  Suddenly, the bedroom door opens and in walks Dale, carrying a breakfast tray.  Allison begins screaming, startling Dale who says "It's the pancakes!  She doesn't like pancakes!" and he leaves, slamming the door behind him.  A few minutes later, he returns with bacon and eggs.  Allison asks why she's here and Dale explains and they make each other acquaintance while playing a game of Trivial Pursuit, during which Dale shows surprising intellect and knowledge.  Meanwhile, outside the cabin, Tucker goes about his clean up by chainsawing into some fallen logs, one of which contains a beehive.  Unknown to Tucker, one of the college boys trying to rescue Allison is sneaking up behind him.  Badly bee-stung, Tucker, chainsaw still in hand, begins yelling and running.  The boy likewise begins yelling and running, thinking Tucker is out to do a Leatherface number on him.  He's wrong.  Dead wrong.

And so the deadly dance begins.  The college kids have the preconceived notion that all hillbillies must be ignorant, deadly backwoods killers bent on protecting their land from intruders.  And while Tucker and Dale aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, they come to the realization that the college kids have joined a suicide pact and that this must be the reason that they are killing themselves all over their new summer vacation home property!  The most hilarious part is there is no "bad thing" here.  The kids all off themselves through either their own stupidity or miscommunication.  All the gore that follows during that one bloody night is brought on by the notion that they must rescue Allison from the "bad guys.”  When in fact, Tucker and Dale are pleasant and polite, if not very smart, men who just want to go fishing and drink PBR.  But, frat-brat Chad is determined rescue Allie even if he has to kill her doing it.

Director Eli Craig, whose only claim to fame up to this point is being the youngest son of actress Sally Field, get his directorial debut with this highly entertaining hillbilly movie that knocks the Hick genre film a full 180 degrees.  He, along with co-writer Morgan Jurgenson, employ many horror and thriller film references (FRIDAY THE 13^th, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, FARGO) in this inventive script.  Labine and Tudyk are uproarishly hilarious as the bumbling country bumpkins.  Katrina Bowden as the lovely Allie, upon whom Dale has a serious crush, is compelling in her role as the sweet but at-first confused damsel in distress.  But it's not her distress but that of the preppy-turned-Rambo Chad that drives the bloody gore.  The rest of the cast were more or less disposable characters, as well they should be.  After all, aren't all college kids, bimbos and minorities disposable in the horror-gore genre?  Cinematographer David Geddes handles the tight interiors spaces of the shanty and the college kids van with inventive style and the exterior shots, supposedly set in West Virginia's Appalachians but actually filmed in Alberta, Canada, are skillfully done.

 

Set to be shown in limited theatrical locations beginning Sept 30 and currently available on Video on Demand, this comedy-horror film deserves an official DVD release.  And although I am including a youtube link to the official Redband trailer, I caution those who are planning on seeing TUCKER AND DALE vs. EVIL to refrain from clicking on it because the trailer shows most of the sight gags that make it work so well.  TUCKER AND DALE vs. EVIL will kill 'em with comedy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFFh25DmPNU

Enjoy!

MSTjunkie