Post by slayrrr666 on Oct 25, 2005 18:33:41 GMT -5
With my promise to give Review Hell a bunch of Sci-Fi Channel Creature Features, I begin with this decent zombie flick:
"All Souls Day" is one of the more original zombie films of recent memory.
**SPOILERS**
The small Mexican village of Santa Bonita is celebrating Dia de los Muertos, or All Souls Day when a man is forced to commit suicide for stealing from a sacred temple. Years later, a family stops by in the town on vacation, and zombies kill their eldest daughter. Even more years later, a young couple Joss (Travis Webster) and his girlfriend Alicia (Marisa Ramirez) come into town and accidentally run over a woman in a funeral procession. When the sheriff (David Keith) takes her away, he suggests they stay in a hotel across town. Marta, (Laura Harring) a member of the staff, welcomes them in with mysterious faces. When the events at the hotel become creepy, Alicia and Joss call their friends Tyler (Laz Alonzo) and Erica (Nicole Hiltz) to help them out. When Alicia is taken hostage by the Sheriff in a ritual to appease the Gods, Joss takes her back, setting off a chain of events that brings back the dead that attack the hotel where they are staying.
The Good News: This is exactly the kind of zombie movie that's needed right now. With a few good zombie films released over the course of the last several years, the horror community will embrace a good film like this with open arms. It's gory, it's original, and it's action-packed, and that equals non-stop entertainment. It was far gorier than I thought it would be. We see a body being ripped to pieces, with long pieces of skin stretched off. There are also a few very bloody bites on the skin, one of which causes a massive blood flow from the wound. That is the main gore effect in the movie, along with a lot of gunshot wounds on the zombies. The zombies do get a lot of violence inflicted upon them as well, as they get shot repeatedly, one gets run over by a car, and several are lit on fire. The first half of the film is a great little suspense piece, building up an aura of mystery surrounding this simple little hotel in this small town, with freaky incidents happening to all ho stay there. This gives the impression that the film isn't a zombie film at all, but instead a supernatural film based on this hotel, then it changes pace and becomes the zombie film. The main thing I like about this movie is the design of the zombies. Besides having the decayed and rotting ones, we also have several who have that Ancient Mayan mask-like look. I can't describe it without really giving away how creepy the design is, and seeing as how the look, with the angled face, changed teeth, and facial dimensions, is so different from the normal everyday faces we all encounter.
The Bad News: The film is pretty gory, but except for a few people, there is a pretty low body count. We have only seven people in the whole film, so that leaves very little bodies to be torn apart. Even though it rips off the ending of "Maniac" as the ending of this one, the body count is still very low. A large number of potential victims in this kind of film is needed to really get a great sense of the damage the zombies could do. With only a few people actually killed, this isn't a great way to generate a lot of suspense for the zombies. Another thing is the zombies themselves. They don't behave like traditional zombies. They can take a bullet, they aren't slow moving, and most importantly, they don't just converge all over the place. Here, they are concentrated on the hotel, with a few stragglers left behind. These zombies aren't typical zombies.
The Final Verdict: With a higher body count, this could a classic zombie film of today. It has a lot of potential to be great, and as it stands, it is a very entertaining and exciting film. This is a great zombie film, and is a must see for horror fans.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity, and a scene with a child's death
"All Souls Day" is one of the more original zombie films of recent memory.
**SPOILERS**
The small Mexican village of Santa Bonita is celebrating Dia de los Muertos, or All Souls Day when a man is forced to commit suicide for stealing from a sacred temple. Years later, a family stops by in the town on vacation, and zombies kill their eldest daughter. Even more years later, a young couple Joss (Travis Webster) and his girlfriend Alicia (Marisa Ramirez) come into town and accidentally run over a woman in a funeral procession. When the sheriff (David Keith) takes her away, he suggests they stay in a hotel across town. Marta, (Laura Harring) a member of the staff, welcomes them in with mysterious faces. When the events at the hotel become creepy, Alicia and Joss call their friends Tyler (Laz Alonzo) and Erica (Nicole Hiltz) to help them out. When Alicia is taken hostage by the Sheriff in a ritual to appease the Gods, Joss takes her back, setting off a chain of events that brings back the dead that attack the hotel where they are staying.
The Good News: This is exactly the kind of zombie movie that's needed right now. With a few good zombie films released over the course of the last several years, the horror community will embrace a good film like this with open arms. It's gory, it's original, and it's action-packed, and that equals non-stop entertainment. It was far gorier than I thought it would be. We see a body being ripped to pieces, with long pieces of skin stretched off. There are also a few very bloody bites on the skin, one of which causes a massive blood flow from the wound. That is the main gore effect in the movie, along with a lot of gunshot wounds on the zombies. The zombies do get a lot of violence inflicted upon them as well, as they get shot repeatedly, one gets run over by a car, and several are lit on fire. The first half of the film is a great little suspense piece, building up an aura of mystery surrounding this simple little hotel in this small town, with freaky incidents happening to all ho stay there. This gives the impression that the film isn't a zombie film at all, but instead a supernatural film based on this hotel, then it changes pace and becomes the zombie film. The main thing I like about this movie is the design of the zombies. Besides having the decayed and rotting ones, we also have several who have that Ancient Mayan mask-like look. I can't describe it without really giving away how creepy the design is, and seeing as how the look, with the angled face, changed teeth, and facial dimensions, is so different from the normal everyday faces we all encounter.
The Bad News: The film is pretty gory, but except for a few people, there is a pretty low body count. We have only seven people in the whole film, so that leaves very little bodies to be torn apart. Even though it rips off the ending of "Maniac" as the ending of this one, the body count is still very low. A large number of potential victims in this kind of film is needed to really get a great sense of the damage the zombies could do. With only a few people actually killed, this isn't a great way to generate a lot of suspense for the zombies. Another thing is the zombies themselves. They don't behave like traditional zombies. They can take a bullet, they aren't slow moving, and most importantly, they don't just converge all over the place. Here, they are concentrated on the hotel, with a few stragglers left behind. These zombies aren't typical zombies.
The Final Verdict: With a higher body count, this could a classic zombie film of today. It has a lot of potential to be great, and as it stands, it is a very entertaining and exciting film. This is a great zombie film, and is a must see for horror fans.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity, and a scene with a child's death