An American Werewolf in London - Lisa's Review

I think I should say right from the off, this is probably going to be a very biased review as 'An American Werewolf in London' is right up there amongst my favourite movies.  It's easily the best werewolf movie ever made.  The effects, so groundbreaking in 1981 are still just as jaw dropping today, which is something given the lack of CGI effects then which are common place today.

The movie follows best buddies David and Jack as they leave their native America for the Yorkshire Moors in a backpacking trip.  Sadly, although they are supposedly in the moors, filming was carried out in Wales and Surrey.  Having lived in Yorkshire for quite a few years, I see no reason why they couldn't film there, but hey ho!  Anyways, whilst hiking, they decide to go into a local pub (The Slaughtered Lamb) as it's getting a bit dark.  If you're paying attention you'll see no other than Rik Mayall in there as one of the yokels.   It's one of those bars where you walk in and a 'stranger' spotlight must appear above your head as the entire bar stops to stare.  I still think of this scene when I enter a bar where I wish I'd never set foot.  So, upon asking about a Pentagram sign on the wall of the pub, the locals aka yokels, make it clear American tourists, David and Jack are not welcome.  A concerned barmaid is concerned that they are going out into the moors in the dark, but they are sent on their way and told to keep to the path.  Unfortunately when they leave they are so busy talking about where to go and what to do, they veer from the path and onto the moors.

Re-Animator - Lisa's Review

I approached this weeks movie with a little trepidation as I was aware it had a mix of the two things known to not especially appeal to me - comedy & horror.  It's one of those 80's movies that seem to have slipped under the radar for me.  I grew up on crappy 80's horror (mostly Stephen King) due to having a dad who was horror obsessed.  So, I have to honestly say when I watched this one I was pleasantly surprised.  It can be added to the massive list of 2 movies where I felt comedy and horror meshed well (Shaun of the dead & Evil Dead - Army of Darkness).

So, yup I actually liked this one.  I felt the comedy was genuinely funny and the gory bits where genuinely full of that ick factor it should be.  I felt a very similar feel when watching this movie as I did when watching Shaun of the Dead.  Although it is funny, the horror was no less horrific than in a straight horror movie.

So, in the unlikely event that any reader has not actually watched this movie, a bit of a premise?   Medical student Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) has invented an illuminous green reagent which he claims brings the dead back to life.  After a bit of a major boo boo while studying at the University of Zurich, he injects too much reagent when attempting to bring his professor back to life and there are horrific side effects.

Herbert moves to New England in America to continue his studies and of course his experiment with his reagent.  He lodges with a fellow student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) and is soon experimenting on Dans dead cat, discovered by Dans fiancee Megan.  Megan just so happens to be the daughter of the university Dean Dr Halsey.  Dr Halsey has been turned against Herbert by a professor at the university Dr Hill for reasons which you can pick up if you watch the movie.

As the movie progresses we have more attempted reanimations by Herbert and his unwitting assistant Dan.  I won't go into detail about who and why, but it's excellent!  We have decapitations, zombies aplenty, talking severed heads and flying severed arms.  The effects are fantastic for the time and even are impressive by todays standards.  The comedy used amidst all the horror is genuinely funny (and that's saying something coming from me as I'm notoriously difficult to make laugh when it comes to staged laughs).

I would say that there was one negative to the film for me.  Just one scene which I thought wasn't required and was a bit inappropriate as far as I was concerned.  It made me cringe more than I was comfortable with.  I won't go into detail about what it was, but Will should know instantly.  I will advise it was a scene with Megan, her father Dr Halsey and Dr Hill.

The good far outweighed the bad though as it was only 1 scene I was uncomfortable with.  The same may not be the case for others watching  the movie, I can just write about how I felt.  This is the first movie in a long time I feel I can recommend.  At last, there it is!! Recommended!!

Braindead - Will's review.

I. Love. This. Movie.

Love it!

I love almost everything about it.



I love that it was made by Peter "Lord of The Rings" Jackson, but is so different to anything he would make once he moved to Hollywood.

I love that it starts on Skull Island (technically setting it part of Jacksons King Kong universe).

I love the design and animation of the Rat Monkey that bets brought back from said island, and I love that (despite being such a rare beast) it ends up in a public zoo.

I love that (after his mum gets bitten by said monkey) our hero Lionel, gradually, and accidentally, builds a collection of zombies - first because he promised to take care of his mum, and later because he has to keep covering up her victims, and her victims victims.

I Love that a fight gets narrated by an episode of  "The Arches" that happens to be on the radio at the time.

I love that one of those flying ducks that old ladies (supposedly) have on their walls in threes gets used as a throwing star!

I love the fight between the Vicar and the Zombie punks (well, Greasers really), I love the line "I kick arse for The Lord".

I love the the way the damage taken by each zombie stays with it, and they get more and more messed-up as the film progresses.

I Love the zombie sex scene, and the resulting baby.

I Love that a petrol mower gets used as a weapon, and I love that the zombies literally never die (Liquidising them seems to be the only way to stop their dismembered parts coming after you).

I love that this is the bloodiest movie you will ever see, and is chock full of zombies, but still can't really be called "Horror" - Its far too OTT to ever scare anyone, and is very firmly a splat-stick comedy.

The only things I don't love about it, to be honest, are the mcguffin wherein some type of poison is also somehow a stimulant when taken by animals, and the unexplained way that one of the zombies grows to giant size.

but overall its safe to say; I love this movie!

Braindead - Lisa's Review

Hmmmm a difficult one for me to review this week.  Why you may ask?  Well, I know this movie is a favourite amongst many horror fans, proper horror fans.   By proper horror fans, I mean those fans who know their movies, the history, those who have watched more than the series of 'Scream', 'I know what you did last summer' and 'Final Destination'.

I hadn't seen the movie until tonight.  Again, why you may ask?  Well, oddly I didn't like the cover (much the same reason as to why I have yet to view Bad Taste), ridiculous, you may say.  Fair enough, that's just one of my little wierdisms.  More acceptable possibly - I generally don't enjoy comedy horrors.  I make an exception for 'Shaun of the Dead',  but other than that, not for me.

So back to the matter in hand... Braindead.  Firstly what an odd film for Peter Jackson to be responsible for! You would never imagine it.    

To try to keep the premise as simple as possible.  A Sumatran Rat Monkey is captured on an expedition and ends up in a zoo.  It seems that everyone who gets bitten by this beast and everyone in turn bitten by anyone who has been bitten, turn into wierd, fucked up zombies.  Zombies who seem impossible to kill and walk about with various injuries and traumas. To say the alternative title for this movie is Dead Alive, should give you an idea of what we're talking about here.

So, did I like it?  In a word, No.  I can hear the shouting from here.  "She didn't get it", "How could she not like Braindead?, Its awesome!"... Sorry, it's just not my thing at all.  I did titter a couple of times, but mostly sat with my mouth agog at the ridiculousness of it all.  It is very, very gorey (apparently the bloodiest horror ever made), but not in any kind of realistic way.  I have to give kudos to the various gross deaths and injuries doled out and yea, ok, it was kind of funny.  That seems to be the problem though.  I like my horror to be horrific, realistic.  I like to be repulsed, horrified, frightened, creeped out at least impressed, but this movie didn't fulfill any of these requirements for me.

I can appreciate a lot of people will like this movie and I appreciate my viewpoints are most probably because I just tend to dislike this style of movie.  To me, it looks like something a couple of teenage boys (think Beavis and Butthead) would dream up and want to film, only to be laughed out of every studio they approached.   

So there you have it.  I finally watched Braindead and I didn't like it, much like I thought would be the case.  I won't stick an avoid on it as I know my opinions are purely down to personal taste and a lot of people will enjoy this movie, but sadly, I wasn't one of them.