Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 19 August 2013

DVDs/Films page update




I haven't managed anything much of anything in the last week or so, so I've decided to update my DVD/Film section. I've added the following films in a more concise form on that page but here are some more detailed reviews than I'd normally give.

Zombie King aka Zombie Beach Party - (2003) An “Outlandish gore-filled zombie smackdown! ” was the accompanying narrative for this, unfortunately it was none of those. The story-line being vague at best but it was basically  a tale of Mexican masked wrestlers with some zombie moments thrown in. Score: 1/5 

Zombie Diaries - (2006). “In the early part of the 21st Century, an unknown virus began spreading among the populace. Within weeks it had engulfed the entire planet...”, so read the pre-amble. The story follow a camera crew’s attempt to document the outbreak, which could have been an interesting variation on the zombie theme but unfortunately turned out as a stale and boring trek through many clichéd scenes. A poor British effort overall even though it did have its moments (few and far between. Score: 2/5


Zombie Diaries 2 - (2011) aka "World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries". This film follows on from Zombie Diaries but is set three months later after the events of the first film. It still has the feel of a pseudo-documentary from the various characters POVs and is a far better effort than the first in this respect. This time though action centres around a squad of soldiers who meet with some of the survivors from the first film. All told it’s a much better film than the first, but not one I’ll be rushing to view again. Score: 3/5

Autumn - (2009) A film with David Carradine in can’t be that bad - right ? Wrong! This is truly a dreadful film even by poor zombie film standards. There is little if anything to recommend it. I was very disappointed with this film as the book has a lot to recommend it even though not amongst the better zombie novels out there. Score: 1/5


Eaters - (2011) An Italian film with subtitles, but none the worse for that.Whilst it won’t win any prizes it is nevertheless a fairly enjoyable romp (but possibly for all the wrong reasons). It is difficult to know whether its self-contained story is meant to be tongue in cheek or not. The two main characters are believable enough whilst the rest are great stereotypes. The story is easily followable, but I got the feeling that the apocalypse took place in a very small area of Ital, rather than being a pandemic Score: 3/5  

Remains - (2011) The premise for this film is the usual “WTF everyone has turned into zombies !”, except of course the gallant band of survivors (who are holed up in a casino in Reno). The earlier portions of the film are much better than the latter parts where the storyline is stretched and the cast is thinned out or replaced. It had all the makings of a really good zombie film but that tailed off disappointingly quickly. Some good effects and some quite amusing bits though and whilst not on must see list, it is a cut of the rest of the “B” zombie films. Score: 4/5 for the first half and 3/5 for the second !


Zombie Flesh Eaters - (1979) The film started well enough, in New York harbour with a police launch investigating a drifting abandoned yacht. My alarm bells started ringing when I realised the cops were sporting an Italian flag from the launch. It also took a while before I realised that the film was dubbed. After the initial signs that this could go either way, it went the way most zombie films went – downhill fast. The mix of zombies (infected and long dead corpses rising from their graves) . Unfortunately I found that there was little if anything to recommend it. Score: 1/5

I've also managed a backlog of 4 films to add to my "On the Shelf" list, namely: "Undead or Alive" (2007); "Dance of the Dead" (2008); "Kill Zombie" (2012) and "Carriers" (2009), though the last is not a zombie film it does look the best of the bunch.
On a personal note, my after eye-op problems are slowly clearing (insert you own joke here about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel) which has unfortunately restricted me mainly to computer based activities and left me unable to visit Bryan/Vampifan these last two weeks, which I'm hoping to remedy soon (there is a recent update on his blog from his brother though.) I have still managed to make some progress on my construction site, little though it is. The photo shows the initial stages of a hut/site office that will appear on the model and some half-finished I-beam girders. The hut is obviously made from card, matchsticks and bits of coffee stirrer (of course), whilst the girders are plastic.

That's it for this week it just remains for me to welcome my two latest followers "Warlord Paul" and "Sean" - "Welcome Guys".
I should also mention that a lot of my followers have their own blogs which are well worth a look, that can be found on their profiles as well as on my own list of blogs that I follow. I also keep finding blogs that I thought I was already a follower of, but have realised that I probably linked to them from Bryan/Vampifan's Blog ! - No wonder I thought they hadn't updated in a while. My own favourite links is well out of date too with blogs that have come and gone, just another task to do.

As always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

17 comments:

  1. Nice selection of movies, I have to agree about the zombie diaries not bad not brilliant either. Autumn I haven't seen the only read one or two of the books so far and it was ok if a little different. Not sure If I can be bother with the film.

    Have you seen Juan of the Dead I found it highly amusing as well as some quite funny 'ZKWs'

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  2. Thanks Brummie; haven't seen Juan of the Dead, it would have to a cut above the other zombie "comedies" for my tastes.

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    1. Its an interesting story and funny at the same time. Worth a watch certainly

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    2. Thanks for that Brummie, I'll certainly look out for it.

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  3. Love the additions to the page; always a problematic genre that can often leaving you thinking, 'why did I bother?' These recommendations should see me safely avoid one or two potential turkeys though.

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    1. You're absolutely right, I should have gone Bryan's way and used the extra pages for referring to my main blog pages

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  4. Can't comment on the movies, but I am interested in the construction site.
    Glad the op went well and eyes are getting better slowly :)

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    1. Thanks Mathyoo, another month or so and I should have glasses !

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  5. Wow, what a load of turkeys! I'm pleased that you've reviewed these films, if only so that I can avoid most of them :-) .

    Glad to hear that the eye is getting better; it's not really a joking matter!

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    1. Yep, they mostly are, as with most zombie films.

      As for the eyes, I'll wait and see...

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  6. Not sure I've seen any of the Z films?? By some of your scores, that may be a good thing??

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    1. You're right Ray, most zombie films are low budget B movies, as the yanks would say. I'm now waiting to see the big-budget World War Z.

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  7. Don't mention construction sites to me today. The builders at work have blocked and flooded a loo yesterday and they have left the place un-secure overnight. Rant over (for now).

    Good news about your eyes I hope they continue to improve.

    As for the films, I have not as yet seen World War Z I am apprehensive to say the least. Zombie films are usually pretty bad, coupled with the fact that Hollywood usually mucks up any decent book it comes near! Still I can hope, even though I know that Mr Pitt will have to save the world.

    That's my slightly jaundiced view of the world this morning.

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    1. Sorry, if I inadvertently hit a nerve ! I feel like I live next to a construction site too, but it's only my neighbour.

      World War Z will probably be enjoyed more by those that aren't familiar with the book, I'm actually looking forward to it.

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    2. No nerves hit..... just work at the moment is not good. But everything else is fine, so overall I'm happy.

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  8. Thanks for the heads up on these movies I fancy the 'Zombie Diary' ones. I've seen a couple of zed flixs on youtube. If you haven't done so it may be worth your while taking a scan. I've seen a couple of decent ones as 'B' Movies go. PS I take your point on the FFO rules we must talk again about them.

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    1. If I had the techy skill to get you-tube on my Tv I'd certainly be looking at the cast fare on offer, but I dislike watching films on my monitor.

      As for ATZ/FFO, I've got to the stage where I'm more or less happy with the multitude of tweaks I've done (probably 20+ pages). I've still a bit of editing to do on them to get the content consistent as I've been doing them over a long time in stages and my ideas have changed.
      Should you wish to "talk" about them, my original thoughts are on the BOTLL boards and my email can be found in my profile here.

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