Alien Versus Predator Requiem

First let me start by saying that I prefer the Predator franchise. There is just something about a shaman-like cosmic being that has all kinds of fancy gadgets that is appealing to me.

Second, let me say that I am not a huge fan of the Alien franchise. Perhaps it is because the sci-fi genre in general doesn't appeal to me that much, but I would say it stems more from that fact that I hate cockroaches with a vengeance. To be honest, isn't the Alien pretty much just a big slimy interplanetary roach? I mean they are super hard to kill, like damp dark places, and multiply too fast for a guy to keep up.

That being said, since the days that the original comics came out I've always been cheering for the Predator.

Now on to the movie. I can remember when the first came out that there was quite a lot of hype for it. However when this one came out did it even show in the theater? If it did, I must have been sick that day because I missed it.

The opening scene in "AVPR" pretty much gives the viewer a glimpse into what they will be in for throughout the rest of the film. Aliens popping out of chests and Predators trying to shoot them. You might think that this is an over-simplified analysis of the movie, but unfortunately it is not.


For me, you could substitute the Aliens or the Predator with any other randomly created monsters (i.e. a sinister midgets, swamp monsters, killer dolls) without there being any significant need to change any of the plot. At least the first film tried to play some with the idea of an ancient burial ground and aliens/predators being on earth before.


The ending of this film is just as mediocre as the beginning and middle parts. I watched this film yesterday, and to be honest I already can't remember what happened. I'm pretty sure it involved aliens coming out of chests and predators killing them though.








Horror revoir'

Night of the Living Dead - 1990

Really? Really, Adam? This is going to be your first movie review? Well, yes. Mainly because it is more fun to review a movie that I have never seen before (right after watching it, of course), and while I have seen both other vesions of NOLD, I never got around to this iteration.

What can you add to the 1968 Night of the Living Dead that isn't already there? Number 1: Gore. Number 2: Color. Number 3:???? I don't know. That's probably about it. Maybe you really shouldn't add anything.

The original didn't have to be in black and white, but I'm sure the gore would have looked much more fake if it had been in color. Also, it just wouldn't have had that classic feel. I wonder if I would even be writing any of this if the original been made in color.

Since the 1990 version happens to have been made in color, it had the opportunity for some realistic gore, and Savini delivered. Right from the beginning, we can see living corpses dripping bodily fluids. The shot of a severed arm falling from a balcony looked better than any POV shot I ever saw in Night of the Living Dead 3D. (I will begrudgingly touch on that film soon).

I really liked the fat farmer zombie in the overalls. He reminded me of one of the zombies in Doom 3. I wonder if the Doom character was inspired from this zombie. It's too late for me to google for that...I'd probably get off track and not finish this article.

Oh, the hammering scene? Too. Damn. Long. I've seen episodes of This Old House that had less hammering. Seriously.

Key Quote: "Let's try and work together and get some of this damn shit done". I guess the main character, Ben, is allowed to be dramatic and use the F-bomb; but the redneck kid, Tom, gets lines like "damn shit". That's some Damn Shit.

Barbara is a totally different character in this version. She's pretty much a badass instead of the typical 60's female role. I really liked the fact that she had almost no lines for the first half of the movie before she started kicking ass. I have always believed that some of the best movie characters only speak when they have to.

The music in this movie seriously sucked. I watched the movie on Comcast's On-Demand and it only had 2-channel stereo. I don't expect a movie this old to have digital surround, but if the music hadn't been so crappy, I might have been tempted to try some sort of simulated surround sound. I have an old Casio keyboard somewhere around the house that could have probably provided the soundtrack for the entire movie.

A quick IMDB Search shows that this is the only theatrical release that Savini has directed. I find that pretty damn amazing. I have seen quite a few horror movies that had worse direction than this. Savini is a huge name in horror...yeah, that goes without saying, I mean, he's been on the Simpsons. Anyone who is that connected in Hollywood could direct a whole mess of films. I'm sure that before I die, even Paris Hilton will have directed a movie. I wonder why Savini hasn't directed any more than this one. I would be up for watching his stuff.

Oh, I guess I did say that I would mention NOTL 3D before I finished. Sid Haig is in it. That's about the only good thing I can say. It's no "Captain Spaulding" performance, but he's not bad. Some of the DVD cases are funny because they read "Night of the Living Dead 3D" "2D Edition". Also, on the DVD extras there's an audience that interviews Haig. One member of the audience asks Haig a specific question about the zombies. His answer is something like: "you've got to remember...these things aren't real."

The ending? Not quite as meaningful as the original. It is somewhat shocking like the original, and it also has a message. However, this time the message is "Don't be a dick." It didn't have any of the racial undertones or anything like that to go along with it, but it was still kinda cool.

So my final verdict is- see this one if you don't have to pay for it. I would definately recommend any of Romero's sequels before this one. I would also probably recommend most of the "Return of the Living Dead" series as well. I haven't made it through all of those yet, but if you don't mind a little humor with your horror, those are pretty good.

On Demand...I Demand Horror!

I've eaten dinner and taken the dog for a walk. Being it is still roughly 8 o'clock that gives this eight to five working guy a good four hours of movie watching time. As I open my Netflix envelopes to see which new horror films I'm going to get to watch I discover that not only are the films that I hold in my hands not of said genre, but even worse they are ones that my wife has picked out! What sort of evil programmer monster works at Netflix that would put a button in the options that allows someone to supersede my cafeful placement of "Night of the Creeps" the 80's zombie/alien classic at the top of my queue with "The Nanny Season 1 disc 2"? Oh the pain.

After a few moments of deciding how to carefully and more kindly word a statement to my wife that would resemble my thought of "don't change the damn queue, you!" I decide the best thing I can do is give up on that idea and retreat to the living room.

The next decision to make is do I watch the cooking network and fall asleep before nine pm listening to the sweet sound of Rachel Ray making her 30 minute meals or try and find some tv movie that can appease my appetite for horror? Then, as if the idea were sent down by the angels I remember that I have on Demand with my cable. I've browsed the categories a few times, but to be honest I usually have plenty of movies lined up to keep me busy on my dvd spindle waiting to be watched.

As I open of the "Free Movies" and then "Horror" genre, I can't believe my eyes. There on the list of movies is "Night of the Creeps"!!

To make a long story short, my night ended not only with being able to watch the movie that I had originally intended to view, but also with a great idea for some blogging.

In the weeks to come, I'll be reviewing all of the greatly under appreciated/watched classics that Comcast was able to buy for pocket change and offer to me for my viewing pleasures. There are some real winnners, losers & even quite a few films that I've never heard of before on the list.

I hope you're all as excited as I am.

Horror revoir

In the Beginning, There Was Horror

This a jumpstart. It's not going to be pretty, and by no means is this meant to be even close to an example of what horrorguys.com will be. You can't start writing without a blank page, and for too long Noah and I have not even had that page to write on. Expect more, expect better, and expect horror!