Food 4 Dead
I wonder if our fascination with Zombies has anything to do with a buried instinct to get back into the food chain. It’s been awhile since we’ve been the prey and we probably aren’t even true predators anymore.
Food for thought?
Watched Zombieland last night, plus thrilled that Valve has added another campaign (Crash Course) to Left 4 Dead.
Hitman 2, a film sequel for the fans?
It looks like there will be a sequel to the Hitman movie, which might surprise the many who panned the first flick, but the way I see it they made a movie for fans of the games. I enjoyed Hitman, mostly because Timothy Olyphant played Agent 47 bang-on. It’s great to see a character come to life like that. It’s also nice to see a storyline that’s a bit of an escape beyond the usual Hollywood fare.
Despite the critics, the first one was profitable. As long as they stick to extending the stories from the games, I’ll probably be pleased with the sequel. I hope Olyphant returns.
B-film straight-to-video era
I caught this Re-Penetrator link (NSFW) (thanks Donna) and encountered several kinds of awesome. The trailer is a hoot. Not only does it have one of those cheesy trying-too-hard-to-be-clever porn titles, but they actually did a porn flick based on Re-Animator? Damn, I thought that was at least one B-movie people had forgotten.
I miss the days when a lot of B-movies went straight to video, yet still trying to have some semblance of quality (if that’s what you’d call it), with many of them still filming on film. I know it makes me sound old to say they don’t make ‘em like they used to, but this is one area where it’s oddly true. CGI was rare and expensive, so special effects on the horror / sci-fi staples were of the fun gooey splatter variety, mockup models, blue screen crops or in-camera effects.
Here’s a taste of cheese with the Shrunken Heads trailer:
I especially loved the flicks from Full Moon productions, complete with the VideoZone interviews and trailers to tease you for the next one (and they sure churned out a lot). Most anything Charles Band touched was golden, or maybe B-golden. Oh sure, some of them were just plain bad, I still have a LaserDisc copy of Demonic Toys that I thought would be cooler, but B-films were also my introduction to cherished actors like Jeffrey Combs, Lance Henriksen, Bruce Campbell, Sherilyn Fenn, Helen Hunt, Meg Foster (those eyes mesmerized me!) and Seth Green.
There were some gems like the aforementioned Re-Animator. I’d love to re-watch Subspecies, Puppet Master, Meridian, Trancers, Oblivion (with George Takei!) and that Full Moon rendition of The Pit and the Pendulum.
