Nothing brand new this time around. We’ll watch a couple from last year, “I Don’t Understand You” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (2024). We’ll go way back for a thoughtful man-monster in “The Colossus of New York” (1958) and then do a serial killer film with “Found” (2012). Finally, we’ll wrap-up the original zombie trilogy with “Day of the Dead” (1985), which for some reason, we haven’t done before.
And, as always, we’ll have five short films.
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Mainstream Films:
2024 I Don’t Understand You
Directed by: David Joseph Craig, Brian Crano
Written by: David Joseph Craig, Brian Crano
Stars: Nick Kroll, Andrew Rannells, Amanda Seyfried
Run Time: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is heavy on the comedy and light on the horror elements, with language barriers and misunderstandings leading to unfortunate outcomes. It’s not very scary, but it’s a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it.
Spoilery Synopsis
Dom and Cole are a gay couple recording a video about adoption. It’s essentially a video application for the mother to choose them. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. After, they pack up and go on a vacation to Rome as credits roll.
In Rome, the two go sightseeing. Dom is clearly obsessive, and Cole is well aware of it. They stop in to visit one of Dom’s father’s friends. They are given engraved knives as gifts - Cole’s is misspelled “Cool.” Cole doesn’t eat meat, which is weird in Rome. They talk about being scammed at one adoption attempt. The family friend, Daniele, has arranged a special dinner for them tomorrow night– and tells them to “Be careful.”
The two arrive at their hotel in the country. The man at the hotel gets flustered when two men come in together and spreads their beds apart not realizing they are a couple. He soon realizes the error of his ways. Candace, the potential baby-donor, calls them on Facetime. She likes their video and has chosen them to be the fathers of her child. They’re overjoyed.
They go to a farmhouse out in the countryside, an exclusive restaurant, where an old woman has promised to make them a special dinner. When the car gets stuck, it’s clear that this isn’t where they’re supposed to be. The truck who stops to help is the owner of the property, and he’s not happy. They ride along with the man, who stops to shoot a deer. He drops them off at… a place.
They knock on the door, and a strange old woman answers. She invites them in. Turns out, this is where they were supposed to go in the first place. They have pizza and wine. When they kiss, she throws a fit about the wine being bad, and they misunderstand why she’s angry because she only speaks Italian. Cole’s a vegetarian, but it’s only polite that he try the horsemeat sausage pizza.
The old woman goes into a long story about her son dying and her closing her restaurant. It’s been wonderful cooking for these two men, and she appreciates it. It’s all very nice, but they don’t have a clue what she’s saying. Dom reminds her of the dead son. Cole gets ill and has to puke, leaving Dom alone with the creepy woman. She offers him a clean, dry shirt.
Cole finds an old man in an iron lung machine and gets freaked out. Suddenly, the lights go out, and the old woman runs to the breathing machine. In the dark, Cole accidentally pushes the old woman down the stairs, killing her. Dom tries CPR and hears bones snap.
Someone drives up in a car. The man comes in and wants Dom’s car keys. He might be trying to tow the car. The power comes back on; should they call for help? The man comes back; he’s Massimo, and he’s rescued their car. He’s the old woman’s son, and he wonders where his mama is. He thanks them for cheering up his mother, who has been very depressed.
They boys run outside to the car and run into Francesca. They have to go back inside, and Massimo wonders why Dom is wearing his dead brother’s shirt and he insists they stay for a drink. Massimo sees messages from Candace on Dom’s phone and smiles “You’re going to be dead!” although he’s just mispronouncing “Dad.” Cole runs inside and stabs Massimo in the neck, thinking it’s self defense. As he falls to the floor, he sees his dead mother under the table.
Dom’s phone rings. It’s Candace, but they’re both covered in blood. They clean up fast. She’s going into labor, right now. Francesca stumbles in and sees Cole holding a knife over Massimo. She runs outside, and he chases her. Dom gets in the car and accidentally runs her over. “This has to be the last one,” Cole points out. At some point, Cole drops his bloody “Cool” engraved knife outside.
Cole notices the big pizza oven in the kitchen. Could they use that to dispose of the bodies? Suddenly, the old woman sits up and Cole kills her again. They burn the bodies and clean up the blood. They get into their car and drive away. As they argue about seat belts, they run over the angry neighbor from earlier.
In the morning, the police arrive at the house. The detectives got a call from the neighbor’s wife. They find the bones in the oven. The old man in the iron lung dies before telling them anything useful. They find a knife with the word “Cool” on it and proclaim they can trace that.
Dom and Cole get to the airport and rush through the process as the police close in behind them. They get stopped by the police; but it’s only because Cole left his passport behind.
Back in Pittsburgh, the guys stop at the hospital and visit Candace and the baby. They decide to name the baby Giovanni after the one character in Rome they didn’t kill.
Later, Dom and Cole record another video, trying to get another child. The application asks about how it went when they picked up their first child. Happy ending!
The police arrest Daniele for murdering the old woman and her whole family.
Brian’s Commentary
Gay tourists who don’t speak the local language. What could go wrong? Worst anniversary ever! It’s all a comedy of errors and miscommunications– a very bloody one. It’s no “Tucker and Dale Versus Evil” (2010), but it’s done along the same lines.
It’s pretty mild as far as the horror elements go, it’s much more of a comedy. It’s good though, and it all makes sense. I liked it!
Kevin’s Commentary
It was a good comedy, very well done, with just a little horror around the edges. Watching things go more and more off the rails, and how they do their damage control, was a lot of fun. I’d highly recommend this one
2024 Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Directed by: Wes Bell
Written by: Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Stars: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand
Run Time: 2 Hours, 25 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Hundreds of years have passed since the last movie, and the apes can talk pretty well as well as sign. It has a little bit of a slow start spending time getting to know what the world is like now. Then things pick up for one ape in particular where it’s one thing after the other. This movie continues the story nicely, with effects on par with the previous movies. We both thought it was quite a good sequel.
Spoilery Synopsis
We get an on-screen text snippet that rehashes the first three films. Humans have lost their intellect and the ability to speak, and apes now rule the Earth. We open on Caesar’s funeral, just after the end of the previous film. Credits roll.
Many generations later… The world has gotten very green and all natural now. We watch a trio of apes stalking an eagle’s nest. Soona picks one of the eggs and Anaya takes the other. Noa goes without this time– but he finds another nest. That goes badly when the eagle returns. They intend to raise the birds.
When the trio get back to their horses, they notice a blanket is missing. It’s not an ape, and this scares them. They ride back to Ape Town and the children all want to see the eggs. Noa’s father, Koro, is the Master of Birds. Noa tells him and the elders about the “Echos” that may have come into the valley. They send Oda, a really big ape, to scare them away.
That night, Noa sees a human in the smokehouse, and his egg gets smashed. That’s really bad for the bonding ceremony tomorrow. He goes off in search of another egg. He finds Oda, who dies almost immediately; there are enemies coming. Sylva and Lightning, two apes from another clan, along with their masked army, ride toward Noa’s village. By the time Noa makes it home, his whole village is in flames.
Noa helps his father release all the birds before Sylva comes in. Sylva attacks both of them together, and Koro soon dies. Sylva yells, “For Caesar!”
By morning, there’s not much left of the burned village. Noa vows to save his captured people from Caesar. He rides his horse through the tunnel, into the “Forbidden” territory, which turns out to be an old, overgrown human city. The enemy apes definitely rode this way. Noa’s father’s big eagle, Sun, follows him.
He runs into an orangutan, Raka, who hates the apes in the masks, who killed his friend. Raka has books, an ancient way to store ideas, and he’s been working to understand. Raka explains who Caesar was, and the new ape who calls himself that. He talks about a time when apes and humans lived side by side, but not anymore. The original Caesar is sort of a legendary figure in Raka’s views.
As the two apes ride on, they notice a human is following them. Raka’s all about the humans, but Noa thinks they’re just scavengers. They feed the human and give it a blanket. Raka names her Nova. “We name them all Nova. I don’t know why. It’s from Caesar’s time. Caesar legend important.”
The two, now with Nova, eventually come upon a herd of primitive humans. Raka decides to stay with them and teach. As Noa rides off, he hears a horn blowing. Sylva and his goons attack the humans with nets, much as in the first film. They especially want Nova, and Noa rescues her. Even Raka gets in on the fighting. Sylva is not pleased.
In the fight, Nova calls out with Noa’s name, and it turns out she can talk and still has her full intelligence. She comes from an encampment of humans like her. Also, she says her name is Mae.
The bad apes attack the trio on a bridge, and Raka gets swept away in the river. Noa and Mae are captured and taken to a huge, rusty tanker ship that’s the main base for the bad apes. Noa reunites with Soona and his mother in the prison, and Mae is taken to an old human man, Trevaythan, who also can talk. He’s been helping the apes with technology.
Caesar, the new one anyway, comes out, wearing his crown, and he makes a big entrance. Proximus Caesar knows some of the old Caesar’s words, “Apes together strong.” He’s got all his people working on opening a huge sealed vault in the side of the mountain. Mae knows that this is the bunker where the human leaders went when the world fell apart; it’s full of old weapons and technology. Trevathan knows this, and he says it’s too late for humanity, so he helps the apes.
Noa is taken to Proximus, who’s having dinner with Mae and Trevathan. Proximus thinks the things in the vault will give him “instant evolution.” He has big plans for his kingdom, including wiping out the remaining humans.
Noa confronts Mae about why she’s really there. Mae wants a special book out of that vault; it might restore the humans’ ability to speak. He introduces her to Soona. Anaya comes along as well. Trevathan catches them mining the seawall and tells them that Proximus will just rebuild it. This results in her killing him.
Mae knows a way into the vault, a forgotten air vent. They four go in. She soon turns on the generator and powers the place up. They walk through a bunker full of tanks and weapons and then open the big doors to the outside, where Sylva, Lightning, and Proximus have Noa’s mother as hostage. Mae shoots Lightning, which impresses everyone; they don’t have guns.
Mae runs outside and blows up the seawall, flooding the beach, the apes, and the vault. The good apes all run and climb as high as they can within the silo. Sylva shows up and chases Noa all over the place. Noa tricks Sylva into a tight spot and drowns the big gorilla. Eventually, all the good apes climb up to the ventilation shaft we saw earlier.
This is where Proximus grabs Noa and throws him all over. The many other apes don’t get involved, but then Noa starts singing the song of the eagles, and the rest of the clan joins in. The big eagles swoop down and attack Proximus, who goes over the side of the cliff.
Noa and the Eagle Clan return to their land and rebuild their village. Mae stops by to talk to Noa about Raka and Caesar. He gives her Raka’s necklace, “Important.” She leaves and rides home to her people with the satellite code key thing she took from the bunker. They use it to reactivate a whole array of giant satellite dishes and call for help. They contact Fort Wayne.
Noa and Soona ride off as well, following her. They go to the observatory to look through the telescopes.
Brian’s Commentary
In the previous trilogy, Caesar did most of the talking, in this one, they all do it, and it’s a little weird. It takes place roughly 300 years after the previous film. As before, there are numerous callbacks to previous films, mostly the original.
It doesn’t have any of the characters from the previous film, as it’s intended as a new trilogy. Overall, it’s an interesting expansion on what came before, and I’m interested in seeing more.
Kevin’s Commentary
This almost felt like what could be the start of a new trilogy. The story was quite good with lots of action. The effects continue to be impressive. Being hundreds of years in the future, none of the characters from the previous movies are still around, but we get to know the new bunch easily enough. They really built those electric systems and lights in that bunker to last after sitting there idle for that long and easily coming on with the throwing of a switch - it’s best not to think about the technology aspect and pick on that, it gets worse the more you think about it. That aside, I’d give it a thumbs up.
1958 The Colossus of New York
Directed by: Eugene Lourie
Written by: Thelma Schnee, Willis Goldbeck
Stars: John Baragrey, Mala Powers, Otto Kruger
Run Time: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was short and moved well through the story. It’s decently made all around, a fine example of 1950s technology gone amok, mad science, and a creature threatening the city - perhaps the whole world. It’s a fun watch.
Spoilery Synopsis
Two men watch a film about industrial machinery and equipment. The film talks about Dr. Spensser’s amazing innovations. The heat sensor was Jerry’s idea, and it’s the key to the whole thing. Jerry is set to win the International Peace Prize for his work. Jerry Spensser is some kind of supergenius who’s saving the world with food technology. He hopes that war might become obsolete. They all go to Stockholm to get the prize.
On the family’s return, everyone talks about Jerry’s brilliance. His father, William, is a brain surgeon, and his brother, Henry, is an electronic and mechanical genius as well. The plane lands, and the whole family is there to greet Jerry. Billy’s toy plane blows into the street, and when Jerry runs after it, he’s run over by a truck. Jerry is killed on the spot.
The ambulance takes the body to William’s lab instead of the morgue. William operates immediately, but Dr. John says Jerry was dead already, so why the operation? He comes out later and says he did all he could.
There’s a funeral, and William storms out in the middle of it. He swears that Jerry’s brain was exceptional, a rare genius, but John talks about God’s greater purpose; this enrages the old man. They talk about brains; John believes that without a body, any brain, even a genius, would become monstrous.
Henry, Jerry’s brother, likes Jerry’s widow and son. He and Anne talk about how weird William has been since the funeral. William calls Henry downstairs, as he’s got something to show him. It’s Jeremy’s brain in a jar! He’s got an electroencephalograph, and it shows that the brain is alive and sleeping. He asks it a question, and the brain wakes up and responds on an electronic typewriter.
Yes, it’s Jeremy’s brain. William wants Henry to build a body for Jerry using his knowledge of automation. Very quickly, he assembles a huge robot body for the brain. They throw the switch, and Jeremy wakes up. When he sees himself in the mirror, he screams and passes out.
Upstairs, Anne hears the scream and rushes in to see what’s up. Henry says the scream was William, who lost his temper over a failed experiment.
Henry and William debate whether Jerry can ever be happy in that body, away from his wife and son. Henry thinks Jeremy will live in perpetual torment. William thinks he’ll be fine.
The first thing Jeremy asks is for them to destroy him. He is convinced to stay alive and keep working on the condition that no one else is ever allowed to see him.
Jeremy has a vision about a ship, The Viking, which crashes into another ship. His head starts sparking and shorting out, so William shuts him down for a rest. A bit later, they watch a news report about the ship crash, which actually happened. Somehow, Jerry now has ESP.
Henry starts to pick on the machine man, who points out how strong he is. It’s the first anniversary of Jeremy’s death, and he’s gotten very snarky and sarcastic. Jeremy now has hypnotic eyes, and he uses them on William as he leaves the lab to visit his own grave.
At the cemetery, Jeremy watches as Anne and Billy visit his grave. He ends up talking to his son, who doesn’t recognize him. Billy thinks the big robot is a giant. William had told Jeremy that his family was dead.
Later, Jeremy spies on Anne and Henry, who asks her to fly away to Hawaii with him. Anne faints when she sees Jeremy, and Jeremy scoops her up after Henry runs away.
In the morning after she wakes up in her bed, Anne tells John what she saw, but he doesn’t really believe her. Henry makes a run for it, but calls William for money; Jeremy knows exactly where Henry is thanks to his ESP abilities. He has William tell Henry where to be at a set time to receive his money.
Henry parks near the East River to wait for a messenger with his money. Jeremy, who is waterproof, walks under the water and comes up behind Henry to kill him with a death ray from his eyes that we haven’t seen before.
Jeremy no longer wants to keep the poor and weak alive; he wants to kill the people he sees as “inferior.” Feeding the masses isn’t the solution, getting rid of the masses is. When the police come to tell the family about Henry, Anne knows it was the same monster she saw.
Jeremy meets Billy again at the cemetery. He gives the boy a toy airplane like the one he died trying to retrieve. Billy later tells mom that the mysterious giant wants him to call him “Daddy.” Meanwhile, Jeremy hypnotizes William to go to the United Nations tomorrow night and to take Billy and Anne.
At the appointed time, Jeremy breaks into the United Nations and starts shooting people with his eyes. Jeremy tells Billy that he can’t control himself, and he shows Billy how to throw his permanent “off” switch. William tells John that he was right, a brain without a real body is just a monster.
Jeremy lays on the floor and dies.
Brian’s Commentary
It’s short and moves very quickly, without any filler. The creepy piano soundtrack really adds to the mood. The creature is both impressive and a little ridiculous, but it works well for this story. Most of Jeremy’s madness seems to come from sensory deprivation, a thing that was only beginning to be studied at this point in time.
Kevin’s Commentary
I was expecting this to be campier than it was. It’s actually pretty grim and serious. I appreciated that it was short and gets right to things, moving briskly to the end. It’s actually pretty tame, but there is a substantial body count of sanitary bloodless deaths. The peak of 1950s technology was cool, pushed into science fiction, doing things they still can’t do today. This was my first time seeing it, and I had a good time.
2012 Found
Directed by: Scott Schirmer
Written by: Todd Rigney, Scott Schirmer
Stars: Gavin Brown, Ethan Philbeck, Phyllis Munro
Run Time: 1 Hour, 43 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a strange coming of age story. We find right off the bat that little Marty’s big brother is a serial killer. And the rest of the movie is watching things get worse. It’s very realistic, the effects are good, the cast all does a nice job. It’s very good.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open with Marty telling us “My brother keeps a human head in his closet. Every few days, it’s a new head.” He opens up his brother’s bowling ball bag, and we see what he means. Marty’s twelve, and big into horror movies and drawing comics. Steve, the older brother, comes home, and he’s quiet and sullen. Very graphic animated credits roll.
Mom says she has to work overtime, leaving the boys alone home with Dad. Dad and Steve clearly don’t get along, but Marty seems to do fine with the parents. At school, Marty gets bullied by Marcus. The teacher is especially mean and isn’t much help. After school, Marty runs home to snoop in his mother’s old love letters and Dad’s porn magazines before checking his brother’s bowling bag. The bag is empty today, so he tries on his brother’s gas mask.
Steve comes in, catches Marty, and yells at him. They talk about Marcus and the bullying problem. Steve says Marty needs to retaliate against the bullies but then asks who the bully is.
Later, Marty goes to a funhouse and museum to meet his friend David. They talk about the graphic novel they’re writing, and also about what happened at school that day. At home, Dad’s not happy to hear about the situation either. Marty goes to the video store and picks up a movie called “Headless,” but there’s no tape inside.
That night, the power goes out in a storm, and Marty goes into Steve’s room for a flashlight. Steve comes in, and Marty hides under the bed. Steve grabs a shovel from the closet and goes out again.
In the morning, Steve tells Marty not to worry about Marcus anymore. Marty stays home from school. David comes over and mentions that Marcus wasn’t at school today, then they watch Steve’s VHS movies, including “Headless.” It’s a little more graphic than Marty likes, since this one is unrated. It’s about a guy who puts heads in bowling bags; Marty imagines that it’s Steve in the movie.
Marty reacts badly to the movie, and then David mocks him. Marty shows him something really scary– the bag. Inside, they find Marcus’s head. David pukes and goes home. Steve comes home before Marty can put the head away. Now Steve knows that Marty knows his secret. He also knows that David knows.
Tormented, Marty goes off and burns all the comic pages he drew with David. Steve catches up with Marty, and they talk. Steve explains himself; that it’s mostly a racial thing– he only kills black people by choice. Marty thanks him for killing Marcus and they make their peace.
Mom takes Marty to a church thing, and the preacher is black. Marty wanders off in the middle, and another kid, Trevor, follows him to taunt Marty some more. Marty’s not gonna take it anymore and beats the crap out of Trevor, who totally had it coming. Marty knows he’s going to get into trouble, but he doesn’t care anymore.
Marty’s mom is not supportive, and his dad is even worse. Steve stands up for Marty, and that goes badly. They throw Steve out.
Steve comes back in the middle of the night, and he’s got his shovel with him. He tells Marty to stay in his room tonight. “I don’t want to hurt you.” As Marty tries to talk Steve out of hurting the parents, Dad catches them outside and starts yelling, and he meets Steve’s shovel. Marty gets knocked out in the scuffle
Marty wakes up tied and gagged in Steve’s room as Steve clearly is having his way with the parents, we can hear but not see the struggle. He listens as his parents scream and die. Steve comes back in, covered in blood, and promises that Marty will understand in the morning and thank him for it later.
Marty won’t stop crying, which infuriates Steve.
In the morning, Steve goes outside, naked and covered in blood, and walks down the street. We cut to Marty, still tied up in bed, book-ended by what’s left of his parents.
Brian’s Commentary
The severed heads in this are all really well done.
I love how the parents are attentive and trying to be good parents, yet they’re still completely clueless. As the movie progresses, they don’t seem like such good people anymore. The bullying situation, including multiple tattletales, also feels very real.
It’s a very slow buildup, but it never gets boring. It’s very intense, helped a lot by the moody, foreboding soundtrack.
This was really good!
Kevin’s Commentary
This was disturbingly realistic and thoroughly entertaining. It’s unique and well put together. There’s still an indie vibe here and there, but I didn’t mind it a bit. It builds nicely to a truly horrifying finish.
1985 Day of the Dead
Directed by: George A. Romero
Written by: George A. Romero
Stars: Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato
Run Time: 1 Hour, 41 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The adventure continues years after the previous movie. The survivors are few, going crazy, and doing the best they can to get by. The practical effects are excellent, the setting is cool, and the cast does a good job. This was still very entertaining 40 years after being made.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on Dr. Sarah Bowman, who stares at the calendar. She’s not happy, but she likes the picture of the pumpkin field. Suddenly, arms reach out of the walls to grab her– no, just a nightmare. She’s actually in a helicopter flying over a dead city; there’s no sign of life down there, and there is no answer on the radio. John, the pilot, doesn’t want to land, but they need to check it out in person. Credits roll.
On the ground, Sarah and Miguel yell for attention, but no one hears them. No one alive anyway. They soon wake up a whole town full of zombies. They leave and fly back to their base, a military bunker with a chain-link fence holding back huge numbers of the dead. There are only twelve living people left in the base. John suggests taking the helicopter and finding a nice tropical island to settle on, but that would be wrong, Sarah argues. We see that it’s not really a military base, it’s a huge decommissioned mine with underground storage for vehicles, RVs and all sorts of things.
Steel and Rickles grab Sarah and Miguel to go and bring in a couple of zombies. They have a whole chamber full of the dead, so finding them isn’t an issue. They’ve got a whole corral thing set up to isolate individual zombies as needed. Miguel has PTSD, and Sarah tries to cover for him, even when he nearly gets them all killed.
We cut to Captain Rhodes arguing with Dr. Fisher about their experiments. Rhodes has just become the leader of the military group, and he’s not a big supporter of the scientists. They, along with Steel and Rickles, point out that Sarah’s the last woman on Earth. And there are only eleven guys.
The zombies they’ve brought are for “Dr. Frankenstein,” or Dr. Logan, as he prefers, who’s been experimenting on the zombies. He’s dissected many of them, but he’s got a special zombie, Bub, who he’s been “training.” Sarah doesn’t approve of Logan, who isn’t really working to solve their problems. He’s a bit of a lunatic, but he is learning things that might be useful.
They all get together for a meeting, where Bill tells them that the radio’s not able to contact anyone. Rhodes wants to know what the scientists are doing to help the situation– he might be a little power mad. Dr. Logan shows up with a lot of statistics, but Rhodes isn’t impressed.
Sarah and Miguel have a fight, and she throws him out. She goes home with Bill, the radio and electronics guy, who’s living with John in a mobile home way in the back of the underground compound. Sarah points out that neither John nor Bill do much of anything beyond their basic jobs. John explains his point of view; humanity’s over, so why not enjoy the time they have?
Dr. Logan relays the nature of zombies to Ted and Sarah. He wants to reward the zombies for good behavior, Pavlovian-style. He shows the two scientists how Bub the zombie remembers elements from his previous life. Sarah’s more impressed that Bub doesn’t see live people as dinner anymore. Rhodes comes in, and he’s less impressed. Bub salutes Rhodes, which offends Rhodes.
There’s an accident in the corral; several people die, and Miguel gets bit. He runs away, but Sarah gets John to help cut Miguel’s arm off to save him. This causes a whole confrontation with the military guys, and Rhodes says he’s going to kill all the captured zombies in the morning.
Sarah and Bill go to the lab for morphine for Miguel, and they see more of Dr. Logan’s experiments. They come to the conclusion it’s time to take the helicopter and get away while they can. Rhodes comes in and catches Logan feeding Bub pieces of the dead soldiers as a reward for good behavior. Rhodes fills Dr. Logan with holes.
There’s a stand-off at John’s trailer as the army guys want their guns. Rhodes executes Ted to prove a point and then shoves Sarah and Bill into the zombie corral.
As Bill and Sarah run through the tunnels, Steel beats up John. Suddenly, the alarm goes off; the elevator to the outside has gone active. Turns out, Miguel has decided to go outside.
John gets the drop on Rhodes, but he refuses to kill him. Rickles and Steel go to the elevator, but Miguel has destroyed the interior controls. Miguel, meanwhile, has lost his mind and opened the chain-link fence, letting all the zombies inside. He then hops on the elevator and lures them in, pushing the down button as he is swarmed.
Soon, the big elevator comes down, allowing a bunch of the zombies inside. From the opposite direction, the corral zombies have gotten through, leaving Rhodes in the middle with Bub. Bub sees that his friend, Dr. Logan, has been killed, and he’s not happy about it.
Rhodes and Bub have a duel, and that goes badly for Rhodes. Turns out, Bub’s not bad with a pistol. The zombies eat well.
Sarah, John, and Bill run and climb for another way out. They run to the helicopter, start it up, and take off before the monsters get them. Next thing we see, they’re all on a deserted tropical island, as planned.
Brian’s Commentary
This takes place several years after “Dawn of the Dead” (1978), and there aren’t many people left. Most of the film is people yelling at each other, and Steel and Rickles laughing like hyenas gets annoying really fast. Dr. Logan is funny, but also obviously a loon, but he’s interesting. The creature effects are much improved here, although the scale of the whole story is pretty small overall.
Kevin’s Commentary
This one had a heavier focus on the survivors and how they were dealing with their situation - not very well in fact, with stress, ptsd, despair, and fear constantly looming. Plus plenty of zombie action of course. The effects were excellent, stunts were very well done. We just see part of Florida, so we don’t know how the rest of the world is doing. I thought it held up nicely for its age, and I was very entertained.
Short Films:
2024 Short Film Inked
Directed by: Kelsey Bollig
Written by: Kelsey Bollig
Stars: Chris Cortez, Kaikane, Joshua Mabie
Run Time: 14 Minutes
Watch it:
What Happens
A young woman gets a tattoo to honor her father, who has recently died in prison. She has the tattoo artist include some of his ashes in the ink for the tattoo. They watch news reports of a vicious serial killer who was recently executed, but there was no connection to her father… was there?
Commentary
This one is exceptional. It takes enough time to get to know the characters, and there’s some real drama there. When the horror elements start up, they’re well executed, look good, and have great effect. In the end, the whole thing makes sense, and I liked this one a lot.
2017 Short Film Airdrop
Directed by: Jack Gravina
Written by: Jack Gravina
Stars: Diliana Deltcheva, Elizabeth Elam, Rodrigo Trabbold
Run Time: 5:04
Watch it:
What Happens
Two girls have been out on the town partying. One asks the other to Airdrop her the photos, which goes as planned. The two split up for the night, and as one girl goes home, the Airdrop messages just keep coming through, but they aren’t her photos…
Commentary
This one is really short and the story is very simple. We’ve seen others with basically the same plot, but this one executes it well and never slows down enough to get boring. Technology horror is always fun, since we all deal with it on a daily basis, and face it: who hasn’t had an Airdrop go badly?
2025 Short Film The Diner
Directed by: David Shih
Written by: David Shih
Stars: James Gioia, Lauren Norch, Samuel J Gleason
Run Time: 7:38
Watch it:
What Happens
A waiter working late in the diner turns off the sign and locks the door. He’s finally done for the night. Out of nowhere, a young woman bangs on the door needing help; she’s totally lost in the wrong part of town. He reluctantly lets her in, and his life will never be the same…
Commentary
I was totally expecting her to be a vampire, but that’s not the way it turned out. YouTube suggested it as a horror film, but the horror elements, if there are any, are really minimal. Still, it’s very well acted and I enjoyed it.
2024 Short Film Rejected
Directed by: Rene Rivas
Written by: Rene Rivas
Stars: Bryn Booth, Austin Buchanan, Alex Demeroutis
Run Time: 15 Minutes
Watch it:
What Happens
This is an old videotape of one of those old “clip shows” that used to be popular in the 80s. In this one, the homely hosts introduce three commercials for the Sonu disc-camera that was all the rage at the time. Except these commercials were all rejected for one horrible reason after another…
Commentary
The three segments are all very good. The one with Bigfoot was especially hilarious, but the first segment was probably the best of the bunch. The hosts doing the introductions were a little over-the-top; I think the film might have been better if they’d played that part straight. Still, this one is a lot of fun.
2017 Short Film Lunch Ladies
Directed by: J.M. Logan
Written by: Clarissa Jacobson
Stars: Donna Pieroni, Mary Manofsky, Daisy Kershaw
Run Time: 19 Minutes
Watch it:
What Happens
Two lunch ladies work in the worst school that ever was. Still, there’s one bright spot: They both love Johnny Depp, and they’ve won a chance to cook for him. The problem is they aren’t very good cooks, and they’re both on the verge of being fired. This doesn’t escape the school’s students, especially one especially nasty influencer/cheerleader.
WWJD? What would Johnny Do? If you know, you know.
Commentary
This one is truly outstanding. The production values are some of the best I’ve seen in a short, the comedic acting is perfect, and the timing of everything is just the way it needs to be. The Johnny Depp stuff is funny, the students, both before and after their special lunch, are outrageous, and even the sets, with their Soviet-Era motivational posters, are just awesome. A lot of thought went into this one, and it shows.
I’d totally watch a two-hour version of this.
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