And almost breaks them as they clatter to the floor under the rushing water? And then almost trips?
This kind, people. THIS KIND.
Tag Archives: Eric Robert Nolan
A quick review of “Re-Kill” (2015)
I want to give “Re-Kill” (2015) more than a 5 out of 10 rating. I do. It’s an ambitious post-apocalyptic independent zombie film that earnestly and unpretentiously tries to give fans of the subgenre everything they’re asking for: great action, decent makeup effects, gore, good scares and lots of creative world-building, all culminating in a nifty little sci-fi subplot that isn’t stupid and isn’t too forced.
There’s a wealth of fun ideas here — the original story was obviously developed by people with a love for zombie tales. We follow a “COPS”-style reality-TV program documenting a”Re-Kill” unit, a squad of specially trained commandos who repel brushfire outbreaks during a global, stalemated war between the living and the dead. They “rekill” the “re-ans,” this universe’s slang for re-animated dead.
We see the entire program, complete with commercials from this fictional world: PSA’s to encourage people to have sex (in order to repopulate the world), and drug companies opportunistically pushing drugs for PTSD and depression. My favorite was an ad for a Desert Eagle sidearm marketed to protective mothers, “for the children.” We get wicked-cool peeks into a fairly detailed fictional world, including the activities of the police, the military, the media and civilians.
This would have made a fine book series, in the manner of Max Brooks’ “World War Z.” Or it would make a terrific TV series … like a far faster paced and more expansive equivalent of “The Walking Dead.”
Tragically, though, this movie’s execution is too often lacking. The acting is sometimes poor (but not from the always awesome Roger Cross, who you and I know as Curtis Manning from “24.”) The script has problems. And worst of all is the absolutely unnecessary shaky-cam directing. This movie could have been a fantastic action-horror flick … if only we were able to see the action a little better. The style of shooting here was a disastrous creative decision.
Oh, well. It’s still a fun watch for hardcore zombie fans.
You people always said I had no class …
Publication Notice: Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine to feature two of my poems in its Christmas issue.
I am quite happy today to discover from Poetry Editor Samantha Rose that my poetry will be featured again in Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine. Two of my pieces will appear in the upcoming Christmas issue (Issue 9): “Amanda” and “Amanda II, A Haiku.” (The former was originally featured by both Dagda Publishing and Dead Snakes in 2014.)
I really am honored to look forward to seeing my work published alongside that of so many talented writers who contribute to Peeking Cat. I’ll share a link upon publication of Issue 9, which will be for sale both in hard copy and pdf. format.
Photo credit: “Young kitten” by That Guy, From That Show! – Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Vote Nolan in 2016. I’ll deploy jungle cats to fight the alligators.
“Jurassic World” is real. And it’s goddam terrifying. The following two videos illustrate both the Green Menace and the need for jaguars to protect us.
I’ll recruit the cats, I’ll build a wall around Southern Coastal states, I’ll start a database of alligators and conduct surveillance of local ponds. It will be GREAT. Really, really great.
A quick review of “The Godsend” (1980)
A picnicking English family encounters a mysterious, pregnant young woman in a meadow. Her behavior is strange, and the little she says is puzzling. They take her home, and are then surprised when she suddenly gives birth to an infant girl there. Then she inexplicably vanishes.
The couple, who already have five children, adopt the baby as their sixth. But their unusually large family begins to be depleted, after their biological children die, one by one, under mysterious circumstances.
That’s the premise of “The Godsend” (1980). You’ve got to admit, that is chilling, and it held my attention throughout the length of this passably entertaining movie. It has an interesting story setup, and there is at least one truly frightening sequence at the story’s end. In addition, the spooky young mother is effectively played, however briefly, by Angela Pleasence, daughter of Donald Pleasence.
But I doubt this will wind up on many top ten lists. It’s thinly scripted, slowly paced, and features two parents who seem minimally affected by the deaths of their children. It’s also too derivative of its obvious inspiration, “The Omen” (1976).
I’d give it a 6 out of 10.
Bangksgiving!
I enjoyed some delicious turkey with all the trimmings tonight, thanks to some wonderful hosts here in the Commonwealth.
One of the things I love about Virginia is that fireworks are usually employed to celebrate just about ANY holiday — this is a patriotic state. Tonight was no exception, when some neighbors treated us all to an impromptu display.
I snapped about 20 pictures. And, when I say “I snapped about 20 pictures,” of course I mean that I snapped one picture and then accidentally hit the “menu” button on my camera 19 times.
Enjoy the pics! (Pic.)
“I am grateful for what I have. My Thanksgiving is perpetual.”
— Henry David Thoreau
Happy Thanksgiving to all who are reading this, both near and far!
Photo credit: “Men, women and children eating lunch at harvest time, Little Smoky, Alberta,” by Provincial Archives of Alberta – Men, women and children eating lunch at harvest time, Little Smoky, Alberta. Licensed under No restrictions via Wikimedia Commons.
My review of “Blood Glacier” (2013), with general spoilers
[The following review contains general spoilers.]
I want to love “Blutgletscher” (“Blood Glacier”), an earnestly made independent German science fiction-horror film from 2013. I just can’t ignore its flaws, however, and I’ve got to settle on a giving it a 6 out of 10.
It has so much going for it. There’s a freezing, arctic-like location. (This time out, we’re in the mountains of Austria.) There’s a nifty, nasty sci-fi plot device. There’s a variety of gooey monsters. It’s creepy and atmospheric — a group of protagonists huddle in an isolated location while the wind howls outside on a cold night. There’s a cunning everyman antihero. All of these are rendered by a reasonably intelligent script that lets “Blood Glacier” rise above the level of a horror-comedy.
But its flaws make me hesitate to recommend it. It’s poorly paced, for example, and it’s sometimes confusingly plotted. One person assailed by the creepy-crawlies emerges as kind of villain, but the character’s motivations are never clear. Also, why is another character consistently a idiot? Is he just a really dumb scientist? And the ending shows otherwise intelligent people doing something incredibly ill advised.
And I was puzzled by the special effects. At times, they were actually damn good! But at many points in the movie (as so many other reviews will point out) they were downright poor. I kept thinking that they looked like papier mache props in a high school play.
Additionally, (and this can’t be the fault of the filmmakers) the version of “Blood Glacier” that I watched had incredibly poor English-language dubbing. The actors on screen (especially Gerhard Liebmann and Briggite Kren) did a fine job, but their corresponding voice actors had … no talent or enthusiasm at all.
Look, I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler if I tell you that this movie strongly parallels John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (1982). Any horror fan worth his or her salt should suspect as much if they read the preceding paragraphs. Our MacReady-like antihero drinks heavily and … he even looks like MacReady! And a dog and a helicopter are actually minor plot devices.
But I liked this movie’s thoughtful story device too much to call this film “a rip-off;” I rather think of it as a fairly skilled homage.
Honestly? If you’re fan of “The Thing,” you might enjoy this as an interesting companion film. As another online reviewer bluntly forgave it, “It isn’t TOTAL crap.”
If you hunt it down, its alternate title is “The Station.”
“Fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph.”
“Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent, industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph.”
— from George Orwell’s “1984”
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 