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Dawn of the Dead (1978)
The dead are beginning to win the war!
It's the end of the world. The dead are coming back to life, attacking and devouring the living. And even if you manage to escape with just a bite, you're still dead because what's causing the dead to return as zombies is a highly contagious virus. Get bit, die, return as a zombie
those are the rules. And since man can't seem to live peacefully among themselves, throw flesh eating zombies into the mix and it's getting close to the end of the world. Now meet Fran, Steven, Peter and Roger. Four people looking to get away from it all by stealing a helicopter (Steven is conveniently a pilot) and taking to the skies. The problems start when the realize they don't have much of a plan at all and they are running out of fuel, food, water, and Steven is starting to fall asleep at the controls. Eventually they find a closed mega mall to hold up at to catch their collective breathes. But after they catch up on some news and realize there is really nowhere to run, they decide to stay at the mall which is stocked with guns, food, and everything they would need to be safe and sound for along time. Only problem is there is a few hundred zombies, evil roving biker gangs, and the very human problems that isolation brings.
Dawn of the Dead was Geore A. Romero's sequel to his 1960's classic Night of the Living Dead. It's the natural progression of the zombie plague going from the beginnings in the countryside to a worldwide epidemic. Simply put, it's an awesome movie! While some of the special effects are badly out dated, (schlocky blue zombies)but all the fun, wit, epic story, acting and the overall film are definitely not. A MUST SEE!!!
Devil's Grove (2008)
A very nasty little film!!!
I really liked this little movie and lot, yet it's so low budget it's hard not to rip into it a bit. Let's start with the good points: It's bloody! If you like movies like Hostel, Wrong Turn, etc. Devil's Grove is going to be right up your alley. At its core, it's is a low budget version of those kinds of films. But the filmmakers go so far over the top with the torture and murder, it makes you shake your head and laugh. The more you watch, the more the painful deaths just keep on coming. Plot: A psycho redneck named Jimmy works and lives at an amusement park. He's also diddling the 16 year old daughter of the amusement park's owner. When dad catches them in the act, he freaks out, punches Jimmy in the face and fires him on the spot. The next day Jimmy is caught back on the property, but he doesn't seem to remember anything about the girl or know why his boss is physically throwing him off the property. In fact, today Jimmy seems dim witted and confused about everything and is caught scratching the eyeballs out of the models in old porn mags. Also, the entire time the boss is throwing Jimmy off the property his incredibly foxy daughter is begging the father to leave him alone and how the guy never touched her. Confusing? Doesn't really matter, cuz on the third day, when the owner arrives to open the park, he finds every member of his family run business slaughtered!! And I mean, drugged, tortured, gutted, murdered, and then placed in poses on the rides all over the park. It's one of the coolest sequences in the film. They show each murder; some in flashback and some in real time, but it's a five to six minute montage of enough carnage to fill an entire Fulci film. A television reporter tells us that "Jimmy" was arrested and convicted of the crimes, but sentenced to a mental facility.... And all that is just the opening 10 mins of the film.
Now flash forward ten years and a bunch of pin headed high school seniors are all about to fall short of graduating and are all given a second chance by passing a group communications project. Hottie Carrisa (Susie Silva) is given the job of deciding what that project will be. She decides on a short student documentary about the murders at the local Denville Grove Amusement Park from ten years earlier. A very bad move, because as soon as the group shows up at the now defunct and abandon amusement park...the murders start back up! So now, one by one, we get to see all the cookie cutter teens (The Nerd, the jock, the slut, cheerleader, etc.) get beaten, tortured, gutted, chopped up, etc, etc, etc. There's a few twists in the plot, some cool, (one really caught me by surprise) some confusing, some dumb as hell, but in the end I had a great time with Devil's Grove.
Maniac (1980)
One of the modern horror greats!
Maniac is, hands down, one of the greatest horror films of the 20th Century. Scary, brutal, realistic, and although Written and Starring the late-great character actor Joe Spinell (Rocky / The Godfather 2) who puts in a genuine frighteningly realistic performance in the title role. Very loosely, but based on the real-life Son of Sam murders. Directed by William Lustig, who took the source material and created a slasher film that really has come to define that sub-genre. Lastly; Hat's off to 70's and 80's special effects guru Tom Savini who accomplished two of his greats gore gags in this one. This is one film that should be in your top 20 horror films to see before you die list.