Cinema Alliance Movie Reviews

I like to watch and review obscure movies now and then for this blog. The reasons I like to do that are because I get to help other independent filmmakers get some additional exposure and turn people on to something that never made it mainstream. During this process I have the potential to discover a secret gem that noone knows about, a film that could possibly redefine the filmmaking artform and unleash some new talent on the world.

Unfortunately Gangs of the Dead falls nowhere near the secret gem description I just listed above. In fact, it falls more into my “how the hell did this get funding?” file…

I caught this on Showtime and have to question why Showtime would show this, are they really that hard-up for programming? I think more Dexter re-runs would be a better choice over showing this. Ok, ok, here’s why I’m being so harsh:

The script – yes, it’s a zombie film, but even the way the zombies emerge is stupid. Case in point – a meteor falls on a bunch of homeless people and instead of decimating them from the awesome impact of the meteor, they not only survive the crazy explosion but miracuously become flesh eating zombies! Convenient, eh? They then run around eating people; those not devoured completely are left with the same fate, to seek flesh. Once the zombies are in motion,  they find their way to a warehouse where there are 2 gangs going through a drug deal (natch) and a group of police that are there to bust the drug deal wide open, hence the gang reference in the title. There are clashes between the gang members, the cops and of course the newly hatched zombies. So there’s our outrageously unoriginal plot…

The action in here is terrible, so is the acting. I won’t name the name of anyone involved in this one as I don’t like to bash people if I can help it and I also don’t want to give them additional exposure either. Suffice it to say that the director needs to find another line of work and the actors should get some acting lessons. Oh, and to the producer – hire a fight coordinator next time, the fight scenes just looked clumsy and awkward.

There is some gore here and there which can be fun or shocking depending on what angle a film is approaching things from, whether it’s supposed to be campy or scary. This is neither and the gore is more like a mild novelty that distracts you temporarily from the other bad parts of this film.

At this point, it’s time for me to stop wasting effort typing any further, so I’ll wrap it up…

This is really not worth your time and I actually regret wasting time watching it, but that’s why I’m here, to take the bullet for YOU! Do something else – play with your kids, spend some time volunteering at a nursing home, play some World of Warcraft, just do something (anything) to avoid seeing this one.

reviewed by Sean McKnight

Halloween

I decided to review the Rob Zombie version since the original by John Carpenter has been talked about quite a bit as one of the measuring sticks of what makes a good (and now classic) horror movie. So by now, everyone and their brother knows the first one. Suffice it to say that if you’ve never seen the original and are a fan of horror, just see it.

As for the Rob Zombie remake, well, let’s first start with the word remake, that doesn’t quite fit here, it’s more of a re-imagining of the original film through Rob Zombie’s eyes. The story revolves around the origin of Michael Myers, starting from the stage of childhood, which by the way contains some of the most disturbing scenes in the film. The evolution of a psychopath is something that is hard to look away from while simultaneously is also hard to look AT. Zombie’s visual style is brutal, he doesn’t hold back with the violence and plays with the color of the film in a way that makes it feel stripped down, gritty, and cold which heightens the tension.

The story is interesting as well albeit a bit predictable given Michael’s homelife with his uber-dysfunctional family (complete with stripper mother, missing father and mom’s abusive boyfriend). Still, it’s not like you don’t know where this is all going. It’s formulaic but compelling. Given Michael’s past and the human aspect of who he was when he was younger, you actually feel sorry for the guy and realize he’s just doing what he’s wired to do, it’s not really his fault.

Malcolm McDowell does a good job playing Dr. Samuel Loomis who tries to help Michael in his formative years as well as his adult life.Tyler Mane (Sabretooth in the first X-Men film) plays Michael, while Sherry Moon Zombie (Rob’s wife) convincingly plays Michael’s mother. Good performances all around.

I’m pretty desensitized when it comes to horror movies, but I have to admit, this film had me wincing at times and jumping at others. If you’re a horror fan, I would definitely recommend checking this out.

reviewed by Sean McKnight