Shipping up to Boston
Hello faithful readers, I'm sorry that things just, well, stopped there at the end of October. It was expected if you read my first post but I really tried there and I will get around to watching the final six movies and posting a review for each one.
As a punishment I'm considering making the last six films a special "Ziggy's nightmare punishment" and be open to all request. That's ALL request which means you don't even have to request something within the horror genre. Want to make me watch Dumb & Dumberer? How about White Chicks? I will embarrassingly decline any terrible movies that I've already watched (like Anger Management). If I get more than six requests we'll put it up for a vote. All of the reviews will be completed by the end of this year.
In the next few weeks look for my review of the Megabus as I'm going to be taking one to and from Boston this weekend. Also there will be some comic book reviews and a review of the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game, which I just completed.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
The third in the series of Underworld movies, this is a prequel that follows the storyline of Lucian. For those of you not familiar with Underworld, it’s basically Vampires versus Werewolves (aka Lycans). Lucian, as it turns out, is the first of the hybrid human-wolves and when he was born Viktor the king of the vampires kept him and enslaved him. The lycans were used to guard the vampires during daylight hours and also as slave labor in the silver mines. Everything seems to be going great for the vampires until Lucian goes all Charlton Heston on them.
I really enjoyed this movie, to me the Underworld universe is much more interesting than Star Wars or Lord of the Rings and I could watch vampires fighting werewolves all day, every day. It’s been six years since the first Underworld movie came out but if you’ve watched it recently or have a good memory you know how this one ends so there’s nothing that comes as a shock to you. Major characters that seem to be in danger are clearly not because you’ve watched the first two movies, but that’s not a flaw of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, it’s a flaw with prequels in general. Did we really think Obi-Wan was going to lose the fight to Darth Maul?
While I don’t think that this is the best in the series, I would recommend you watch it if you are a fan of Underworld.
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
An alien race, having failed to take over the earth with their first eight plans, put into action plan nine which involves bringing people back from the dead. Then the aliens will take this army of the dead and march on the world capitals. This is all to stop the humans from creating a solar powered bomb.
Yes, this movie has been named the worst movie ever made so you know it’s going to be bad from the get-go. There are parts where the background suddenly jumps from day to night and back. The fact that Bela Lugosi had died before the movie was finished so there was a stand in that just walked around with his cape in front of his face, and in many moments it seems like the movie was filmed and the script was written before they had any idea of what the special effects were going to look like. A great example of that would have to be the line “I’ll never forget the cigar shaped flying objects” and then they pan to the round, almost hubcap looking UFOs.
That all being said you’ve got to give the man some credit. Especially with the scenes of Bela considering that he had died and director Ed Wood Jr used some old stock footage he shot of Bela and wrote this script around it. As far as bad horror movies go, this one isn’t the worst I’ve watched by a long shot. I’d recommend you check out this movie because it’s risen to legendary status amongst horror movie fans and it’s pretty entertaining, even if it does have a whole lot of errors.
Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie (2008)
Wayne and Dallas are two men stuck in a town where the jobs are drying out and there are many hardships. Dallas and Wayne happen to have a unique hobby, spotting and taking pictures of Bigfoot, the North American monster. We follow them as they try to get better and better pictures, proof to show the world that Bigfoot does exist.
I was skeptical about this movie from the beginning. Unfortunately for me, my selection of Netflix streaming movies are going from many cheesy and good horror movies, to just many cheesy and I still need to wait a couple days for the new DVDs to be mailed to me.
A horror movie this isn't. It really isn't even about the monster as much as it's about the friendship between the two men, Dallas and Wayne. The two men are now retired and still trying to find a way to make a mark in the history books any way they can.
I would not recommend you watch this movie if you are looking for something good and scary, as it's more of a loving tribute to these two old friends than anything else. If you're in the mood for a heart-warming documentary, then go for it.
Scream (1996)
There's a killer on the loose that likes to call high school girls when they're home alone and torment them. Two have already been killed and on the eve of Sidney Prescott's mothers rape and murder the killer is now after her.
I really enjoyed this movie. From the very beginning it sets a very tense mood and keeps it up through to the end. Even though I had already through popular culture known the ending, I enjoyed all the little clues that helped make you suspicious of every character.
In addition, the movie had a great soundtrack. From the ominous music to the rock songs like “Don't Fear the Reaper” and “Red Right Hand”. The movie also was a celebration of the horror genre. The kids are quoting movies, giving lists on how to survive in a horror movie and even the killer plays a bit of horror movie trivia. By the way, if you haven't watched the original Friday the 13th, make sure you do before you watch Scream.
Some of my favorite nods to previous horror movies is that Sydney's boyfriend is named Billy Loomis, a nod to Sam Loomis, the main characters boyfriend in Psycho and also the name of the psychologist in Halloween. Another throw-away reference that I really liked was that the high school janitor's name was Fred and he was wearing the famous outfit of Freddie Kruger while mopping the floor.
I highly recommend you watch this movie if you haven't already. Even if you think that the movie could be spoiled for you because you know the ending, it's still has a lot of fun and tense moments in it to make it well worth your time. Just remember to watch Friday the 13th first, cause there's a spoiler about that movie in the first sequence!