Every Sunday, Gill delves into his archive of over 800 movie reviews and randomly selects three for your enjoyment! Here are this week’s…
Deadgirl
The premise of two horny teenagers having sex with a zombie was enough to get me interested in this movie, but I felt like the final product didn’t live up to the strength of its story. It seemed to me a case of weak direction as opposed to weak writing, and as a result, I didn’t find it nearly as disturbing as I had hoped it would be. If they had just made the zombie girl a bit more attractive and a bit less repulsive, this movie could have been a whole lot more twisted and interesting.
3 out of 5
Thirst
A very bizarre, truly twisted, and rather confused vampire film. Lots of good ideas are on display here and the movie works for the most part. There are, however, certain moments that just come out of nowhere, don’t make any real sense, and then leave, completely unexplained. The beauty of these scenes, though, is that they’re still really interesting and entertaining – enough that you can ignore the fact that they’re disrupting the otherwise ponderous flow of the film. All in all, Thirst is a cool vampire flick with a neat plot and top-notch cinematography, and is a welcome antidote to Twilight, even if it kinda trips on its shoelaces at some points.
3.5 out of 5
Dead Snow
Watching this, it’s clear that director Tommy Wirkola doesn’t have a ton of experience making movies. The scares fall flat, the characters are completely underdeveloped, the first half hour or so is pretty plodding and not much really happens, and there are moments where there doesn’t seem to be any logic to the events taking place whatsoever – and not in a good way, either. Still, once the film gets going, it doesn’t stop until the credits roll, and you’re not left with any time to question how someone could survive a fall off a giant cliff without even a limp before one of the characters is shredding a horde of zombies to bits with a chainsaw. The original ideas, jokes and good gore scenes manage to make up for Dead Snow‘s shortcomings, but only just. The Nazi zombies are great monsters, the splattery makeup effects are awesome (it’s been a while since I’ve seen so many miles of intestine on screen), the gags are funny when they’re pulled off properly, and the contrasting colour scheme of red blood on white snow looks excellent. In the end, you get what you came for, but nothing more, and there is more than one moment where the movie teeters on the edge of being totally stupid. Still, if you like zombie movies, you should check this out, because it’s definitely a lot of fun.
3 out of 5
See you next Sunday for three more thrilling short reviews!