the jaded viewer

Good ole America. We're back to take what's rightfully ours. I guy from Pittsburgh created the zombie film so it's fitting we take back the zombie comedy. Hey, Shaun of the Dead, you had your time at the top, but Zombieland shotgunned you out of the way and blew a hole right in your face.

Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland, written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have created the new standard in zombie comedy. You get the feel they took all the zombie culture references (Max Brook's The Zombie Survival Guide being most evident and every other zombie comedy and blended it into a cohesive, yummy tasting awesome comedy.

Woody H., Jesse E, Emma S and Abigail B are all working a nice solid with their performances. Just dead on with Woody as the redneck papa, Jesse playing his Adventureland role in a post apocalyptic way and Emma being the hottie with the scams and Abigail taking her tween acting into overdrive.

OK, enough of the gushing and spewing of love by me. It's just going to get messy. On to the WTF list. SPOILERS OHOY!

1.) The opening slo mo sequence is credit breaking-tastic
2.) Cardio
3.) Double Tap
4.) 406 may be the hottest zombie to appear ever
5.) Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock (now thats what I call memorable movie character names)
6.) Enjoy the Little Things
7.) The ring con
8.) Twinkies have a half life...I'm sure of it.
9.) Fast moving zombies are only awesome when there in slo mo
10.) The logical conclusion of fat zombies
11.) "You gotta love rednecks!"
12.) Who you gonna call?
13.) I did not know B.M. was in this. So when Zombie Bill showed up I almost laughed out loud my vocal cords
14.) "We're gonna build a fort" (I just liked that line)
15.) Tallahassee goes John Wayne on the amusement park zombies
16.) No more Facebooking status updates ever in Zombieland
17.) Columbus's Diablo Cody self aware dialogue
18.) Bill and Columbus reenact a scene from Ghostbusters with Wichita doing to Janine voice
19.) The end credits have one final scene with Bill and Woody
20.) Bill's demise and Garfield reference

21.) Zombie Kill of the Week!

Here are some of the 47 rules to survive Zombieland

1.) Cardio
2.) Beware of Bathrooms
3.) Seatbelts
4.) Double Tap
5.) Travel Light
6.) Cast Iron Skillet
12.) Bounty Paper Towels
15.) Bowling Ball
17.) Don't be a hero
29.) The Buddy System
31.) Check the backseat
32.) Enjoy the little things
33.) Swiss Army Knife

All the videos to the rules can be found here.

Megagasmic awesome flick thru and thru. The fact they didn't let up with the gore and splatter is a testament to the fact that they know Wiki about zombie movies. It hit on all the right notes, was self aware of what it was parodying but then made it its own.

Zombieland is probably going to be my #1 comedy (not just zombie comedy) of 2009. With this rush of vampire flicks infiltrating TV and movies, the zombie horror comedy movie may be on the decline. But Tallahassee isn't hearing that shit.

Go see Zombieland.

Labels: emma stone, horror comedy, jesse eisenberg, shawn of the dead, woody harrelson, zombie comedy, zombieland, zombies

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Well I may not be the biggest proponent of the horror comedy big budget productions coming from Hollywood, but I'll admit Zombieland looks damn funny. It may be the USA's answer to Shawn of the Dead.

Starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg and a list of up and coming Hollywood hotties (Emma Stone and Amber Heard) and directed by Ruben Fleischer, it seems zombies aren't deader as dead yet after the vampire boom.

Here be the plot. (from the IMDB plot database)

In the horror comedy Zombieland focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Columbus is a big wuss -- but when you're afraid of being eaten by zombies, fear can keep you alive. Tallahassee is an AK-toting, zombie-slaying' bad ass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. As they join forces with Wichita and Little Rock, who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem, they will have to determine which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombies.

Here be the trailer.





UGO.com has posted exclusive clips of some new videos starring Woody and Jesse answering viewer mail and discussing "rules" of what you need to survive a zombie onslaught. These include different weapons you may need (skillet, swiss army knife, bowling balls, etc.) And what do paper towels and the buddy system have to do with anything?!?

Find out by checking out all the viral vids. Check out all the exclusive Zombieland videos by going here.

Zombieland will be released on October 9, 2009.

Labels: amber heard, american zombie, emma stone, horror comedy, jesse eisenberg, shawn of the dead, woody harrelson, zombie comedy, zombieland, zombies

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The Landlord

The Landlord (2009)

Directed by Emil Hyde

A few months I posted up a trailer for a little indie horror-comedy flick called the Landlord. I recently got a screener of the flick and after my hectic schedule I got around to watching it.

The thing about the horror comedies is that if you attempt to do one, you have to be ready to be compared to the ultimate horror comedy and that of course is Sam Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy. Especially the first one which broke all the rules for low budget but low budget done sooo ultimate freakin well.

I've seen my share of low budget black horror-omedies done extremely well (see Thicker than Water) and I've seen my share of "it's so bad it's MST3k worthy".

The Landlord to me just wasn't funny for what it was trying to do. I recognized the jokes, the strategically placed gags and all, but I had hoped to see a bunch of talking monsters in the vein of an episode of Buffy or Angel. You know acting natural about the supernatural. Vampires, demons, etc just being wickedly funny about being wicked. Sure there were attempts, but the attempts just missed.

What the Landlord felt like was watching those low budget flicks of the 80s (Troma-ish) in a way with rubber bloody leg gags and cheesy special effects. The 100 minutes is filled with many many attempts to be funny about a world full of demons and monsters...but I just couldn't get the joke.

Boring Plot-O-Matic

The Landlord is the story of Tyler, the unfortunate young owner of a demon-haunted apartment building. Finding tenants has never been a problem for Tyler, though he does have trouble keeping them alive to pay rent. No matter how nicely Tyler asks the demons not to eat the renters (or to at least wait a month or two), they never listen. And why should they? As far as the demons are concerned, humans are merely dumb, tasty animals - kinda like chickens - and Tyler is their pet monkey.

But all that might change when Tyler takes a liking to the newest tenant, a desperate young woman running from demons of her own…

Awesome Review-O-Matic

Tyler is the landlord in The Landlord. He's like an Apatow clone, chubby but lovable. He has been feeding two demons (one that looks like Lorne from Angel) and another woman demon with a face of a dog?!?

Tenants who rent the apartment and are quickly eaten by the 2 resident demons. Besides these demons, we meet Tyler's sister Amy, who is a cop...a crooked cop who with her brother has made a deal with the demons. Tyler and Amy feed em and they clean up the mess. In return, well you'll see why they do what they do at thee end. Amy and her cop partner also have a deal with the underground vampirey demons. They get to eat the wasteoids and degenerates and they turn a blind eye and score some loot.

As much as we accompany Tyler on his little journey, I'd have rather just watched his sister be the star of the movie. She is a cheating whore who steals, kills and get this....is a loving mom. Wow, what a character. In no way is Amy anybody you would remotely want to root for, which is why you'd want to see what she would do next.

Instead we follow Tyler who then rents the apt to Donna, a southern belle whose on the run. They share a few karoake laughs and soon she discovers the real "tenants" of the building. But the humans in this film are instilled to be the "straight guy". It's the monsters who should be carrying the laughs. And unfortunately they come across as retarded.

The Lorne looking monster is goofy and does a majority of the kills. A yuppie couple, a couple of annoying cops and a jealous boyfriend. Their ultimate demises is summed up in Halloween body part gags.

There a few gags that gag away. An infomercial was quite cute as is a few throwaway one liners.

I could see what Hyde was attempting to do in so far as making the laughs Munsters like and giving you a few ha ha's of Satanic rituals gone awry. The movie is definitely low budget, but shot in nice HD. The special effects have that LSD effect to em and indeed a drinking game was invented for the flick to capitalize on monster teeth and gratuitous demon vanishes.

I think my biggest gripe was that I just didn't care for Tyler, the lovable lump who has the unfortunate job of being the monster janitor rather than the landlord.

As I said before, I'd have rather have seen the sister being evil (and by the end seems more than likely) and how she juggled being a corrupt cop, a cheating MILF, a mommy and her dealings with the monster underground.

But then if that was the movie....it wouldn't be called the Landlord.


Gore-ipedia

Bat splurge
Neck trauma
Intenstine surgery

Nude-ipedia

Zippo

WTF moment

The sister going nuts

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

I think the Landlord would have worked better as a sketch comedy rather than a feature. It's has all the elements of something to see on stage than in a movie theatre. I applaud Hyde's efforts to go full force on a undertaking of making a horror comedy. It's not easy. Some would say they'd go to hell than attempt it. Kudos to Hyde to avoiding hell and making the attempt.

Thanks to Mr. Hyde on sending me a screener of the movie.

For more information, check out the official site.

Rating:

1/2

The Trailer

Labels: horror comedy, indepentent horror, indie horror, the landlord, the landlord review, the landlord trailer

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Indie horror is alive and kickin. And straight from the jaded viewer mailbox comes this little doozy of a horror comedy, The Landlord.

Here be the plot:

The Landlord is the story of Tyler, the unfortunate young owner of a demon-haunted apartment building. Finding tenants has never been a problem for Tyler, though he does have trouble keeping them alive to pay rent. No matter how nicely Tyler asks the demons not to eat the renters (or to at least wait a month or two), they never listen. And why should they? As far as the demons are concerned, humans are merely dumb, tasty animals - kinda like chickens - and Tyler is their pet monkey.

But all that might change when Tyler takes a liking to the newest tenant, a desperate young woman running from demons of her own…

Looks alot like the TV series Angel with the monster makeup palooza and Shaun of the Dead.

Check out the trailer below.

Labels: horror comedy, indepentent horror, indie horror, the landlord, the landlord trailer

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Dance of the Dead

Dance of the Dead (2008)

Directed by Gregg Bishop

You know what we Americans do best? Make a frakin kick ass zombie film.

Score another one for the US of A. USA! USA!

Gregg Bishop's uber indie Dance of Dead rivals Shaun of the Dead's silliness, blends in some 80s Return of the Dead for the millienial age and clicks in some Buffy-logue to boot. It's amazing nobody ever thought to make Buffy but with zombies.

It's a blender of geekiness heroes without the superpowers and makes the sci fi club cool.

And so Dance of the Dead entertainment value has inappropriate language, gore and scenes of violence. Huuuuaaaaaaaa!

Boring Plot-O-Matic

A high school prom is unexpectedly interrupted when a graveyard, next to a nuclear power plant, becomes the sudden source of resuscitated cadavers. As zombies march on the high school, a motley group of dateless teenage outcasts take on the zombies and save the day.

Awesome Review-O-Matic

Geeks are 8.7 on the coolness meter. Maybe you didn't get the memo. So our rag tag group of misfits all have that Buffy-ish character mish mash to them. Jimmy our detention anarchist (ala Buffy) and his girl sqeuaky clean Lindsey (Angel?) are joined by Gwen (our Cordelia like cheerleader) and Steven the Xander in love with her.

We got some Willows as well in the form of our Sci Fi club (Jules, George and Rod) and a Giles in the embodiment of a redneck coach. A pseudo Blink 182 band (Dingoes ate my Baby anyone?) complete our contingent. All seem in their dance-verse element, meshing in with their own uniqueness, which I have to say would have been trouble if we the audience didn't like our heroes and heroines.

This is definitely millenial zombie movie for the Generation Y universe. And its damn good. The quips, dialogue and converfunnies are all relatively timed perfect. Massive zombie horde about to attack? Lets jam out and have a prom dance to remember.

The "gear up" weapons montage echoes Raimi and Romero like homages stay true to the maestro.

It's funny and its proud to be it.

As for the zombies, we've got fast movers, slow movers. Take your pick. They all end up gunshot, bashed in and pummeled into slosh. The gore and splatter are in epic form. If CGI was done, it was not noticeable. Bishop and his crew did their zombie homework.

Like a BTVS episode, its tick tocking and it works well. Dance of the Dead is a tour de force of a zombie comedy done uber cool, and LOLing at all the right moments.

Even George could use some pointers from this flick.

Gore-ipedia (if you want to be shocked don't read)

Zombie bashing in all forms (gunshots, decaps, arm and leg rips, etc.)
Ax slicing
Spine ripping
Gunshot head shots
Lots of offsceen crange hijinks

Nude-ipedia (because you like boobies)

Some cheerleader cheering (but full frontal boobies, err nada)

WTF moment

A zombie makeout session. That's a first!

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

For all the shitty POV zombie flicks and other zombie reimaginings, a Dance of the Dead comes along and blows you away.

It's a horror comedy that establishes a zombie-verse, makes sure we're entertained by our main characters and unleashes slayerville on the undead.

The ending hints on a possible sequel, and Dance will probably spawn mucho zombie-omedies that will not be as clever.

So if your looking for a decent BTVS fix, put down the season 8 comic and watch Dance of the Dead. And you'll see the sci fi club and anarchist cliques in a whole new light.

Rating:

The Trailer





Tags:
dance of the dead, dance of the dead review , dance of the dead trailer , 80s horror, zombie films, horror comedy, zombies, gratuitous nudity, top 10 horror movies 2008, gore, teen horror, geeks

Labels: dance of the dead, dance of the dead review, fast moving zombies, horror comedy

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post