Greetings, Fraggles!

This week has been a hectic one.  But, so as not to deny you another installment of Hallowe’en-themed goodness, I present to you another of my world-famous two-fer reviews.  This week’s goodies fit in perfectly with the monthly festivities – Zombieland and Trick ‘r Treat, brought to you with limited commercial interruption…

Zombieland

It was just over twenty years ago when we last saw the popularity of watching the living dead shamble across our movie screens start to wane.  Then, right at the beginning of this “new millennium” I keep hearing about, the spark got relit, and suddenly re-animated corpses have become all the rage again.  Unfortunately, we are currently in a situation where it seems like everyone in Hollywood wants to make a zombie film (when they aren’t cranking out remakes ad nauseum).  This strategery has made it so that moviegoers have become oversaturated by the very thing they’ve been crying “brains” over.  The other side effect?  With so much crap out there, it makes it harder and harder to find the occasional gem, or to even care if one is found.

Luckily, there are still occasions where a zed-word flick is done correctly, and it is practically handed to fans on a silver platter.  The last truly great one was Shaun of the Dead in 2004.  This year, we got Zombieland.

The odd thing about Zombieland from the beginning is that it isn’t really a zombie film.  I mean, it is… but instead of the zombies being the focal point of the film, they are merely  the back drop.  I read a review a few weeks ago that summed it up best – it is a dark comedy, road trip film with a zombie apocalypse as the setting.

And I think that this is where the genius of the film comes in, as not only does this make the movie a character-driven flick, it also makes this film a character-driven flick.  We given a brief set-up (in slo-mo- contradictory!) during the opening credits establishing the current world our characters live in.  Then, we are immediately released into this world to get to know our protagonists.  Sure, they do have to fight zombies throughout the flick, but in the end this movie is all about how each of the main characters handles their situation.  Not just the living dead, but isolation, betrayal, loss, love, and lack of Twinkies.  And all of this is played with a fair amount of dark comedy, as well as a clever use of “wordplay”.  I’ll let you go see it to find out what I mean.

With all of these ingredients put together, Zombieland is almost a perfect little film.  My only problem?  At just under 90 minutes, it feels to short.  This is definitely a world I would have liked to have spent time in a little while longer.  As it is, Zombieland is good enough that I want to go back and see it in theaters again.

Trick ‘r Treat

The movie Warner Brothers sat on for two frikkin’ years because they “didn’t know how to market it”, according to some sources.  Others hinted that it may have been shelved because it was produced by Bryan Singer and that WB was still sore over the lackluster performance of Superman Returns.

Whatever the reason, its heart or its shoes, the Warner Brothers (and the Warner sister!) finally decided to release this finely-crafted film on the Blu a couple of weeks ago.  And after two years of hearing all the positive buzz on this film and not being able to see it for myself, I finally snagged me a copy and gave it a look-see this past weekend.

I was not disappointed.

This is a well-crafted film.  Following in the footsteps of previous anthology horror staples like Creepshow, this movie follows four different, intersecting storylines that are told in a Tarantino-style chronology.

I’m going to be blunt – this movie is an instant Hallowe’en classic.  It’s also an instant film classic.  The stories are interwoven so beautifully that you have to watch this a few times just to catch how certain items, moments, or even people are connected to the different segments.  The actors are given plenty to work with, allowing each of them to build and perform as well-rounded, three-dimensional characters.

And the most important part – Trick ‘r Treat will get you into the Hallowe’en spirit immediately.  The tone of the film is dead on.  I found myself grinning from ear to ear the whole time, completely transfixed to what was being presented on the screen.  By the time I was done, I realized my only error was that I watched it while it was still daylight, instead of at night with the lights off.

If you are a big fan of All Hallow’s Eve (and who isn’t?), it’s practically guaranteed that this film will become an integral part of your October viewing, right next to the original classic that shares this holiday’s name.  I’ve already planned on watching it a couple more times myself before the month is over.

That wraps up this installment of tricks and treats.  Only one more week remains between now and the day of The Great Pumpkin.  So, what are you still doing here reading this drivel?  Go check out those movies already!  I didn’t give my seal of approval on these movies for my health, you know…

The Don forgot to check his candy.  Now he’s got candy corns…

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 10:42 am and is filed under Donnie Sturges, Fandom, Holidays, WTF?, movies. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.