The Crazies (2010) – movie review

The Crazies (2010)

directed by Breck Eisner

Starring
Timothy Olyphant
Radha Mitchell
Joe Anderson
Danielle Panabaker

The Crazies poses the question, what is scarier, the crazy people in your home town or the government’s clean up protocol after a viral outbreak? Infected by the ’Trixie’ virus, the citizens of a small mid western town become violent and aggressive, acting on the fearful instinct of the inner reptilian brain. Sometimes I feel like all of the US has drank the Kool Aid and is now infected. We follow sheriff, David Dutton, as he attempts to; first discover what has gone wrong in his hometown, then to get his wife and himself out of harms way of the crazies and the military’s crack down on them. I had instant and deep empathy for the sheriff and cheered for his survival and plight. The film had the perfect ratio of emotional weight and violent action with a remarkable ending that makes the journey worth taking. It is a remake of the 1973 George Romero film and one of those rare remakes that is better than the original.

A high action and horrifying journey as we watch a small town fall into the pits of hell.
I give it 3.9 crazed killer corpses on the venomous viral outbreak scale.

Suspended in Dusk – book review

Suspended in Dusk
Edited by Simon Dewar
Anthology – various authors

Suspended in Dusk adheres to a general theme. Dusk can be foreboding, the onset of night. It can mean the end of an era or a life. As expressed in the introduction by Jack Ketchum, it can also be a time of transition. Here we find a collection of high quality horror tales to thrill and chill the discerning horror reader. In Shadows of the Lonely Dead by Alan Baxter we find a benefit for an old age home nurse who has witnessed too much death. Next is the small town horror that emerges from the forest, looking for human sacrifices in, At Dusk They Come by Armand Rosamillia.

A Woman of Disrepute by Icy Sedgwick is written in old style gothic, which is a style I enjoy reading. The Ministry of Outrage is an intelligent socio-political commentary that oozes unfathomable truths about the human race and our penchant for violence. Extra kudos to Chris Limb for this offering.

Reasons to Kill by J. C. Michael is one of my fave stories in the book. It pulls you in and keeps twisting, wringing the tension tighter and tighter. It is a fantastic story of zombie infection and vampire lore that feels organically original. Ramsey Campbell contributes to the anthology with a frightening variation on a buried alive story called, Digging Deep. Reading it imparts the feeling of claustrophobia and the desperation in the man’s pleas for help are unnerving.

There are many other great stories to read here, each with their own unique style and tone. Hats off to editor, Simon Dewar, for choosing tales that are top notch horror entertainment and delivering one of the best horror fiction anthologies I’ve read in some time.

Check it out on Amazon: Suspended in Dusk

Ash vs Evil Dead – a quick overview

Ash vs Evil Dead

So on Halloween night we watched the premiere episode of the new Starz channel series, Ash vs Evil Dead.

Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are up to their old tricks. And all I have say is:

Ash vs Evil Dead = AWESOME

The bizarre camera movements, old style make-up effects, plenty of gory deaths (decapitations, exploding heads, etc.), all the campy comical aspects and Ash’ s snarky one-liners – everything a fan of the original films would want was evident in this first episode. Look forward to an exciting season!

Trailer has some spoilers:

Theme song:

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