285 Dead Snow

Another international zombie entry into Matt and Mark's zombie Halloween run-up. A ridiculously simple "teens, cabin in the woods, monsters" combination, Dead Snow is a high concept film. One can almost see a couple of Nordic would-be filmmakers smoking a little of Amsterdam's finest pondering the simple combo "Nazis?... zombies?.. Nazi zombies!" And Voulais! Unfortunately, Dead Snow has a lot of grist for the mill, but fails in its ability to tie up plot elements and expand/exploit more intriguing ideas. Regardless what you might think about National Socialism, it's staying power as an ideology among the undead is remarkable. One hopes we don't experience an even worse horror, say Ayn Randian Objectivist Zombies? Shudder to think...

Download: 285 Dead Snow

284 28 Weeks Later

Our first back-to-back sequel review! This week we review 28 Weeks Later as part of our zombie film run-up to Halloween. Matt and Mark, while remembering the movie as decent, stumble upon a change-of-heart. While the first half is memorable, the second half is nothing more than a typical chase scene with a nonsensical ending that betrays the valor of its heroes. While some framing exposition to the military fallback protocols would have helped us invest in the situation, 28 Weeks dismisses the notion. And as result, we dismiss it as well.

Download:  284 28 Weeks Later

283 28 Days Later

It's 28 Days Later and we're back with our 28 Days Later Podcast in our run up to Halloween! This go round we're reviewing zombie fair, in particular the "fast zombie" types. 28 Days kicked off the renaissance in how we depict the undead in film: more "Aliens" and less Romero. Besides its evocative beginning, 28 Days succeeds because it addresses fundamental humanity with its obvious juxtapositions. Because zombies allows us to play around with notions of humanity, fundamental morality is put into question, even mass murder.

Download: 28 Days Later