Exit Humanity: Surprises DO come in cheap packages

(note: Smart readers will notice this isn't a Tuesday. Sig-Other had to work late so I snuck in a little Affair time!)

Let me preface this review by stating that this movie was made with a budget of $300K Canadian. CANADIAN.

So although I was totally stoked about the combination of civil war era and Zombies (yes, please!),  knowing the budget meant that I was braced and ready for a let-down. So much so that I had an alternative movie lined up as a bail-out to watch, just in case I had to pull the rip-cord to eject at about 20-30 minutes in.

However, within the first 10 minutes I was completely hooked. Not only did director John Geddes find a way to make a good Zombie movie with his meager budget, he made a good movie. Period.

Good cinematography (which this has in spades with the western Canada backdrop filling in as the American west) tends to make up for a lot of shortcomings. But frankly the casting, acting, Zombie make-up, special effects, and story were all well done.

Speaking of Zombie make-up, the period-dress-correct Zombies were awesome!

Brian Cox's voice-over was a welcome addition, filling in some story gaps and making the occasional animated parts even better. Animation you say? Don't think "cartoon", but more like the moving illustrations that are popular in movies like the current Sherlock Holmes franchise. The style is very similar and almost could have been done by the same artist.

Okay, I'm sounding a bit like a fanboy. I better reel it in a bit.

It does get a little slow in a few parts. Truthfully the movie could have been a little shorter. With some concise editing it could easily been 90 minutes instead of 108 minutes and have better flow. There were also a few plot elements that were stolen from other iconic Zombie fair. Faithful "Walking Dead" viewers will take note of something very much like the "Sophia incident" from season two, and the military dictator-like character that pops up in several movies like "28 Days".

Understand that I am being really picky with what I stated above. I had to actually look for shortcomings to write about so this doesn't sound like a paid review!

My verdict? On a "Zombie Movie Scale of 1-10" I'd give this one an 8.

Yes, an 8.

The setting of the mid-1800's with its lack of tech and feel of isolation, combined with the high production value made me feel like THIS version of a Zombie apocalypse truly was the end of the world.

WATCH IT IF: you're looking for something different from the typical Zombie movie plot, like anything that has to do with the period around the American Civil War, or you just like beautiful scenery combined with dead folks stumbling about.

DON'T WATCH IT IF: you greatly dislike anything Canadian, like your Zombie-fighting heroes outfitted with super-high-tech weaponry accompanied by a hip-hop soundtrack, or you and your kin are still angry about that whole Civil War thing and are truly waiting for the South to rise again.

Exit Humanity is available right now on NetFlix and Amazon Prime.

More info can be found on IMDB here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1781812/.

BONUS: If you know me, you know that I'm a home-brewer and a general beer nut. I broke out the perfect beer to drink while viewing this movie: LA FIN DU MONDE ("The End of the World"). A fine triple made with spices in Quebec. It has a 9.5 ABV and goes great with bloodshed and despair. YUM!

Up next: A two-for-one review of "Brain Dead" and "Dead Snow".

Blood Creek: Not your average zombie flick

I'm going to be totally honest here; I had a lot of high expectations before watching this movie.

Joel Schumacher (Lost Boys, Flatliners, St. Elmo's Fire, A Time to Kill, and countless other movies) directing a movie about Nazi Zombies? I could barely wait for work to end to get home and dive in!

No spoiler alerts here, but I should set the record straight on what to expect if you want to watch this movie. First, IMHO it can only be loosely called a "Zombie movie" because really there aren't your typical Zombies in the plot. There are no lumbering undead zombies like in "Walking Dead", and no rage-infected fast-movers like "28 Days". They are basically re-animated corpses that do the bad guys bidding. Although I have to admit re-animated dobermans and horses are pretty damn scary! Also, if you are looking for a hoard of SS-uniformed Zombies (aka "Dead Snow") this is not your movie. There's one Nazi, he's not really a Zombie, but he is a bad-ass.

Michael Fassbender from "Inglorious Basterds" plays the villian brilliantly and shows that his genius in his Basterds role was not a fluke or one-hit-wonder. The rest of the acting is pretty good and is definitely a cut-above when compared to your average Zombie flick. Dominic Purcell and Henry Cavill are convincing as a pair of brothers who go on a mission to wreak revenge on a monster due to Purcell's capture years ago after coming back from the Iraq War, and Emma Booth perfectly cast as the young woman whose family ends up caught in the crossfire due to their own sins.

The ending was a little predictable and left things a little open for a sequal, although since this one went straight to DVD a sequal is somewhat doubtful. And in the beginning I felt like I was watching two different movies until the plot came together about 20 minutes in. But overall I thought it was well-done and definitely action-packed, keeping me on the edge of my seat for most of the second half of the movie. At 90 minutes its just short enough that you feel wanting a little more but also happy that it didn't have too many slow-moving plot issues.

My verdict? On a "Zombie Movie Scale of 1-10" I'd give this one a 6.

Slightly better than average and entertaining. I didn't come away feeling like I wanted 90 minutes back of my life that I wasted, and the different take on the genre was interesting.

WATCH IT IF: re-animated dobermans and horses, a hundred year old Nazi bad-ass, and a fast-moving plot are your things.

DON'T WATCH IT IF: you expect more than one Nazi, slow moving flesh eaters and a typical Zombie movie plot.

Blood Creek is currently available on NetFlix and more info can be found on IMDB here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450336/

Next week: The post-civil war era zombie flick "Exit Humanity".

Welcome to My Zombie Affair

This blog has been long in the making. 30 years actually.

Growing up in the 80's I was brainwashed by pop culture into thinking that unless something was made, written, or recorded in the last few years, it was crap. Only later in life did I figure out that things that my parents liked like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Gone With the Wind, John Wayne, etc were actually really good.

When I was twelve I spent the night at a friends house and watched "Night of the Living Dead" for the first time and was blown away. If you would have told me beforehand that a black and white movie made in the 60's with about 5 lines of dialogue would be so scary I would have told you that you were crazy......

That night sparked an interest, maybe even what some may call an obsession. Movies. Comics. Books. Anything that had Zombies in it I absorbed. When "Return of the Living Dead" came out a few years later in 1985 I waited in line for the first showing at our local movie theatre and then stayed for the second showing afterwards. "SEND MORE BRAINSSSSSSS!"

Today's technology has made it easier than ever to keep up with my obsession interest: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Crackle, Roku, YouTube, etc.

Zombies on demand 24/7. Woot! Grr! Argh!

I've been with my significant other for over 20 years now, and she has only one flaw: She absolutely hates Zombies. "Hate" may sound like a strong word but it really is the best way to describe her feelings when it comes to the genre. Being an artist she is blessed (or cursed) with an overly active imagination. This means if she is subjected to a Zombie flick, or any really scary movie, she has nightmares for days. I remember we weren't allowed to sleep with the bedroom window open for weeks after we watched "Mothman Prophesies". While that wasn't a Zombie movie, it was still scary as hell for her. Although for some reason, Vampire movies are "OK" and we can watch those with no problems. I guess Rob Pattinson isn't that scary.........

So my Zombie obsession has been relegated for several years to being fulfilled in print or watching movies while traveling. I travel to China often for my job so I have several 14+ hour flights a year to catch up, yay! (/SARCASM).

However, in the past year or so, I've found myself alone on Tuesday nites. My sig-other has Yoga and Pilates every Tuesday after work. So at our house, those have become my "Zombie Tuesdays": The one night a week I get to cheat on her with my Zombie obsession. A few guys at work are also into Zombie movies so I find myself reporting back to them every Wednesday about what I watched and what my rating of the movie was. After doing this for awhile I figured it made more sense to put my thoughts in print so that I had a reference to look back on; hence the creation of this blog. I originally wanted to call it "Zombie Tuesdays" but quickly found that name has been taken. So since Tuesday nites are my "affair" nite with my Zombie movies, the name "My Zombie Affair" made the most sense!

So stay tuned. I like all Zombie movies: the scary ones, the funny ones, the old ones, the new ones, even the bad ones. Well, I'll watch the bad ones but will be honest if they are bad...........but hey, even a bad Zombie movie can be entertaining.  Every week I'll give feedback on what I've watched and let you decide if you want to waste spend your time to watch it yourself.

My first movie that I'll watch and report back on is "Blood Creek". Joel Schumacher and Nazi Zombies? How can you go wrong?!?