Archive for May, 2011
Well, we took an unexpected week off due to technical issues, but we are back…..from the grave….with another zombie movie for you to sink your teeth into.
This flick, directed by Bob Clark (Black Christmas, Porky’s, A Christmas Story) obviously came out after Romero’s Night of the living dead, but several years before Dawn. This would mike CSPWTD the first color zombie movie that features undead zombies as we know them today.
The plot is pretty simple. A jerk-ass actor takes his theater troop to a spooky, fog shrouded island in the middle of the night to mess with them and dabble in black magic, and possibly worse. He is always treating them like crap, but has the power to expel them from the group, so he is able to force them into doing things they don’t really feel like doing, like robbing a grave and taking its moldering contents home for a little party. Unfortunately for Allen and his friends, but fortunately for us, his ritual to raise the dead eventually works and the group is beset by a horde of flesh hungry corpses.
The move has a great final reel, but a word of warning for any impatient patrons out there, not a lot happens for a good chunk of the movie. The zombies don’t show up until the last 30 minutes or so. Still, the whole movie is full of decent mood and lots and lots of groovy 70s fashions. Allan is a pain in ass and a pain to watch, but he is supposed to be and his fate is all the more satisfying because of it.
So, sit back, settle in and stick it out. The last part of the movie is worth the wait. The zombies are actually better looking than those in Dawn.
WATCH IT NOW
WATCH IT LATER
Right click HERE and select SAVE AS to download the MP4
The guys and gal over at Deadpit have just started their annual month-long celebration of all things zombie with their “May of the Dead” broadcasts. They always have great interviews and the show never fails to get me into a zombie watching mood. So, I decided that I was going to put up a month of walking corpse movies for everyone to rip into here at DMD. Deadpit and I completely separate sites and are not in any way working together, I have just been a fan of theirs for years. I would say that any fan of horror that isn’t aware of them should go check them out right away. Their show is completely free, but they do sell fan commentaries for less than $3.00 each and on their latest show they were talking about putting up one for this movie. I haven’t heard this, but I can only imagine The Creepy Kentuckian and Uncle Bill tearing into this one has got to be comedy gold. Now….on with the show.
I give you this week a movie that is considered, by more than a few, to be terrible. However, I can honestly say that is probably my favorite zombie movie…..EVER!. i know that there are several movies that are far better written, better acted, with better effects and better plot. Even in the somewhat low-rent ghetto of the Italian zombie movie, this one is considered to be sub par. Still, it never fails to entertain me.
While Fulci’s Zombie is a better Italian zombie movie in almost every way, it is a little slow at times. Burial Ground, however, has a pre-credits zombie attack and then the actual zombie action gets going about 10 or 12 minutes in and doesn’t stop until the end title card (with a Hilarius misspelling) ends the movie.
The plot is that an eccentric researcher believes he has discovered the secret of raising the dead. He goes into an ancient Etruscan tomb near his property and inadvertently releases its shambling, rotting, maggot-covered occupants into the countryside.
The next day a group of bohemian jet-setters who have been invited to his house for reasons that are never explained, arrive to the estate only to be beset by hordes of flesh hungry corpses.
The zombies are the rotted, maggot-covered style of Fulci’s Zombie, but they are not done quite as well. Still, there are some scenes, especially those at night, that are effective and a little creepy. This is a movie, though, that I think benefited from a bad VHS transfer. When I saw this one on DVD for the first time I noticed that some of the makeup flaws, like noses covered with black paint to simulate empty cavities, showed up a lot more on the better format.
Still, if you want gore, sleaze, midgets, incest, bad dubbing and non-stop zombie action, this is the movie for you. I have been a fan of it for years and I hope that you will enjoy it as well.
Oh, those of you who have seen this one will probably notice that I didn’t mention creepy little Michael, the 10 year old, played by middle-aged litter person Peter Bark, who has the hots for his mother. Well, you can read about that in every review of this movie that you will find online. If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing this skin-crawling performance, you are in for a treat.
WATCH IT NOW:
WATCH IT LATER
Right click HERE and select “save as” to download the MP4