THE DEAD
Written and Directed by: The Ford Brothers
(
Howard J. Ford,
Jonathan Ford)
I recently had the privilege of watching the film,
THE DEAD. I could easily make this my shortest review ever. I could just make this a 4 word review and be done. It would look like this:
THE PERFECT ZOMBIE FILM
There, that's it. That is all that needs to be said. But, the film deserves a little more "air time" than that, so I will go into a little more detail, although I dont' really think it is needed. THE DEAD is a UK production shot primarily in Africa and features some of the greatest looking zombies I have ever seen. Howard and Jonathan Ford have matched their zombie skills with those of Romero and Fulci, and they might have even surpassed them. I know that is a bold statement, but I don't need to defend it. The film will do that for me. Before I go any further, there is the basic plot of THE DEAD from the film's official website:
An American mercenary, the sole survivor of a plane crash, has to run the gauntlet across Africa, battling with the living dead. Joining forces with a local military man, desperately searching for his son amongst the chaos, they fight together to survive, in the first Zombie Road-Movie set against the stunning backdrop of Africa.
This is a beautiful film in many ways. The music is superb and the cinematography is outstanding. The acting is excellent as well and the story is simple and super easy to follow. I love the fact that we mainly just have 2 main characters throughout the film. The rest are the undead. Some zombie films get to involved with a deep plot and multiple characters and sometimes the zombies become a backdrop for the more human drama element that is on the surface. Not this film. This film is about the zombies. Now, don't get me wrong, there is some human drama in the film (including a tear jerking scene with a newly bit mother giving up her baby as more zombies are approaching) but the majority of the film is comprised of our two main survivors traveling across the country fighting off zombies. This leads to some of the greatest zombie kills I have seen on film in a long time.
As I stated before, the zombies in this film look amazing. The zombie plague has happened quite quickly so these are all mostly newly turned zombies, none of the up from the grave half rotted types from some zombie films. In fact, these zombies reminded me more of the voodoo zombies from early films like WHITE ZOMBIE and others from that decade. There are some zombies with missing limbs and such, and I guarantee they used actual African citizens that were missing limbs....although, with as good as some of the other make up and effects were in this film, who knows!
I really don't remember the last time I enjoyed watching a zombie flick this much. I have watched all of the last few Romero "of the dead" films, and even he can't match now what he did back in the 60's, 70's, and 80's with his classic zombie films like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAY and DAWN OF THE DEAD. The Ford Brothers have easily matched, if not surpassed these great films with their film simply titled, THE DEAD.
THE DEAD is in a limited theatrical release now, but keep your eye out for this film when it lands on DVD soon.....this is a must have, must see, for any fan of horror, and if you are a zombie fan in particular, get ready to be blown away. I just can't say enough good things about this film. This is now one of my new favorite zombie films of all time. Check it out for sure!
CLICK HERE to visit the film's official website
CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
Until then..I want to share with you a pic of my friend Caleb who went as Beetlejuice this Halloween!! Caleb always has the best costumes and this year was no different! His attention to detail is ridiculous! That is real moss on his face and clothes! Nice work Caleb!
I gotta make this post quick....AMERICAN HORROR STORY starts in about 20 minutes!! If you are not watching this TV show, you are really missing out. The show is about a family of three that move into a house that has a very storied past. Basically the house is haunted and the family is finding this out first hand. 
I got a chance to check out THE THING prequel the other night, and I am so glad that I did. You all need to check this one out asap, especially if you are a fan of John Carpenter's 1982 film. 
I recently had the chance to check out a great set of documentaries from Lorber Films. This was a 2 disc set consisting of the films AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE and NIGHTMARES IN RED, WHITE, AND BLUE. Here are they synopsis' for each film from imdb.com:
That's right! It's time for another DVD giveaway from the 4H blog!! Up for grabs this time is a copy of SCARLET FRY'S JUNKFOOD HORRORFEST!! Actually, we have 2 copies up for grabs! We are going to give one to a guy and one to a girl, just for fun! Not only will 2 readers of my blog get a free DVD, the DVD will be autographed by non other than horror host Scarlet Fry himself!
John Wayne Gacy was arrested in 1978, but now more than 30 years later, investigators are doing some new research on the case. 33 bodies were taken from Gacy's Chicago home...8 of which were never identified. Now investigators have dug up the remains of those 8 bodies and have sent them to a lab for DNA tests, in hopes of identifying all 8 bodies. 
Another thing they are looking into is the possibility that Gacy killed many more men that no one knew about. While looking through old evidence, investigators found plane tickets to 10 different states during the time he was murdering young men in Chicago. So now, they are wondering if he was killing people on the road, just like he was at his home on Chicago. For this reason, he is now linked to 27 missing person cases from all over the country. What we thought about John Wayne Gacy could have just been a fragment of what that man actually did. This is a very interesting story...click below to watch the short video about it. 
VAMPYRNOMICON
A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE
It looks like our 'ol pal the Cap'n has gotten in the Halloween spirit with his Halloween Crunch, which features orange ghosts that magically turn your milk green! Gross!
Author Andrew Van Wey contacted me recently about his new eBook, FORSAKEN. If you are a fan of horror fiction, I suggest you check this one out for sure. Check out this synopsis for the book from the book's official website:
Today's spotlight is on horror comic artist/illustrator, Anthony Ruggiero. 
Congratulations to Lissa Lycan and Mister Bones! They are the winners of our latest 4H DVD Giveaway!! Lissa and Mister Bones have each one a copy of the great film SHELLTER on DVD!!
I have been ill the last few days. I had decided I either had a sinus infection or I had contracted the zombie virus...but I am feeling better and have had no cravings for human brains, so I am going with the sinus infection. Anyway, I am much better now and will resume posting later tonight. 
A few weeks ago I posted some info and a short clip from a new movie coming out called, EVIDENCE (see original post HERE). Well, writer Ryan McCoy recently let me know that a new clip from the film has been posted online, and man is it a good one! This is a very short clip, but shows you the intensity that this film should bring. 
If you haven't checked out the trailer for the new film, THE THING, you really should. This film serves as prelude to the 1982 John Carpenter film of the same name. I loved John Carpenter's film and I am hoping this one can match the intensity and horror of his 1982 classic. Here is the basic plot of THE THING prequel from imdb.com: