Humans Movie - The food bites back!

Yes, that's right, I'm involved in feature length zombie film. It's been written and produced by the company I work for Red Dog Film - and I am really excited about it! I helped the writer develop the first draft of the script, was a runner on the trailer we created - which won an award from Celtx for its script, and which you can see below.

I am now helping to run a crowdfund campaign for it, including its Twitter feed and on Facebook page. 

The film, called Humans, is a twist on the zombie movie genre, with the zombies being the good guys and the humans being - gasp - the monsters! It begins in World War II, with the British trying to create a super solider. This creations are actually zombies, and they are let loose during an attempted raid by the Nazis, and soon the whole world is overrun and taken over by zombies. 

But it doesn't stop there, the zombies evolve into a society of their own, only for it come full circle, when humans return - now becoming the scary, monsters of the tale. 

The film, as I said is being crowdfunded via Indiegogo - check out the page here! - where you can find out even more information and watch the pitch video presented by the very cool director Phil Stevens. 

We're also running a design a zombie competition as one of the perks, with the winning entries being turned into real characters in the finished film. To enter just donate to the the Indiegogo page and then upload a design on to the Humans on our Facebook page.

As I said in the beginning, I am honestly excited about this film. I love the concept for the film - its going to be full of World War II costumes and settings, zombies and dark humour -and I really want to see the characters I met on the page live, and breathe, and be loved by an audience via the big screen too. But of course the only way that can happen is if we have the support of the horde (excuse the pun) of zombie film fans out there! So please, please, check it out at - @HumansMovie, humansmovie.com or our Facebook page!

Okay that's enough links for now! Zombie on people. 

Review: The Crazies

I had no idea what to review this week. Which is ironic since I've watched several movies over the last few days. Three Woody Allen films, one Roland Emmerich disaster film and The Crazies (2010), which is the film I'm reviewing today.

The Crazies is directed by Breck Eisner, who also did that fun action movie Sahara back in 2005 and who, according to IMDb is going to be directing the new The Karate Kid 2 - which based on my experience of the other two films is probably going out to be something that's solidly done but nothing special.

Because unfortunately, I did not find The Crazies particularly special. The plot is as follows...a plane containing a biological weapon has come down and contaminated the drinking water of a rural farming town in America. This causes the residents who drink the water to become sick to go crazy and start killing people, including their families. The military of course turn up to deal with the problem, separating the town's Sheriff David (Timothy Olyphant) and our hero, from his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell) believing her to be sick. However David thinks they made a mistake. Judy is pregnant and that he believes has given her a fever. So, along with his deputy Russell (Joe Anderson) , he decides to go back and save her.

I think the main problem with this film is that it feels too familiar - when I first saw the case I was expecting a zombie scenario, and even though the killers were definitely not zombies, there were lots of similarities. 

Honestly, I felt they could've been a bit more creative with it. The writers could've come up with any disease they wanted under the heading of 'biological warfare' but instead we just had crazy people, made crazy by drinking water - and isn't an infected water source rather a cliche in movies? 

The disease was explained pretty vaguely anyway. We only knew what the main characters knew, after 48 hours you started going crazy. The symptoms were never fully explained or realised, and though there seemed to be hints of physical transformation later, it wasn't really explained either. 

Nonetheless, the film looked good and some stand out spots. I personally thought Russell was a lovely loyal character who brought some warmth to the film. Meanwhile a certain scene with a pitchfork was particularly menacing, and I thought the shots of endless farmland not only looked great, but really made you realise how isolated the heroes were, how far from civilisation. 

In summary: A well-made, but run-of-the-mill horror/thriller that will entertain, but probably not surprise most horror fans, especially not zombie fans. 

Scene 42: Zombieland, Life, the Universe and Everything

Ah, my 42nd blog post - I couldn't help making a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide in the title. Especially when I only learnt today that the show's theme is called Journey of the Sorcerer, by The Eagles. You learn something new everyday!

Talking of learning something new. I've also just acquired the skills, through film format, to survive a zombie apocalypse - I've just seen Zombieland (2009). 

It's a really good movie, and it feels really original compared to other zombie films - even though it is actually part of small genre of zom-coms, which include Shaun of the Dead (2004) and recently Cockneys vs Zombies (2012). However, I think serious horrors like 28 Days Later (2002) are still in the majority. There's the Resident Evil series of course, which is all good action fun, but it still its not playing it for outright laughs. 

Conversely though, what I thought made Zombieland so brilliant was actually the serious stuff, Zombieland's has a subtle bittersweet side. 

When I watched Zombieland I felt I was really watching what society is going to be like after a zombie apocalypse. There's no military, no safe haven as far as they can tell, its just survival - but not just the normal don't-get-eaten survival. Interestingly in this film, it seems to address the survival of the human spirit as well - think about it, how boring, how lonely must it be to be roaming  an America barren of anyone but zombies?  - and I found that really refreshing. The fact that its a comedy, and this sad side doesn't overwhelm means its nicely balanced out as well. 

In short, it's a fast, fun film with a heart that feels genuine, and it teaches you the best way to cope with a zombie apocalypse - just in case, you know, that happens. 

Check out the website for more: Zombieland Rules