Quarantine (2008)

On March 11 2008, the government sealed off an apartment complex in Los Angeles. The residents were never seen again. No details. No witnesses. No evidence. Until now.

TV reporter Angela Vidal arrives with her cameraman to get the inside scoop on the night-shift at a Los Angeles fire department. When a seemingly routine call brings them to a small apartment complex, they find police already on the scene. Terrible screams are emanating from one of the apartment suites. It is soon revealed that the occupant of the suite has become infected with an unknown virus... a virus that begins to turn its victims violent and zombie-like.

Angela and the others try to escape the increasingly dangerous building, only to find out that it has been put under quarantine and they are now trapped inside. All communications have been cut off, and no information is being relayed by the outside world. Their desperate attempt to escape the quarantine will uncover the origins of the rapidly spreading virus, while uncovering unheard of horrors.

Quarantine is a remake of a Spanish film, Rec, which was made the previous year and is supposedly even better. A future review will delve in to those claims. One thing is for sure; Quarantine is a well made, frightening, intense horror film.

The camera work is very much in the style of The Blair Witch Project, or Cloverfield. The viewer sees the film taking place through the eyes of the camera man, supposedly as the events take place. It may not fare well for those who suffer motion sickness, but it is effective.

The movie starts out slowly, almost lulling the viewer into a false sense of security before quickly becoming increasingly troubling in the lead up to the shocking conclusion. If you are looking for slapstick zombies stumbling around moaning about brains, this isn't for you. But if you want to get your heart pumping, Quarantine should do the trick.


4 zombie children in the attic out of 5

Rated R for bloody violent and disturbing content, terror and language.

Camp Blood (2000)

Wide open with nowhere to run.

Ignoring stories of a clown-masked murderer who stalks a wooded area which has become known as Camp Blood, Tricia, Steve, Jay, and Nicole embark on what is supposed to be a fun filled weekend of camping and exploration.

They meet their guide, Harris, and begin their hike deep into the woods. But they lose Harris in what seems to be a brutal murder. Now they are alone and lost in a desperate bid to navigate their way out of Camp Blood alive.

Camp Blood is a low budget, straight to video slasher flick which seems to borrow from more famous slasher classics like Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but obviously doesn't exactly live up to the quality of such films.

First of all, there are an awful lot of plot holes which, in the interest of avoiding spoilers, will not be listed here. You can find them yourself if you chose to watch the movie. The acting is mostly pretty bad, much of the dialogue is pretty brutal, and most of the characters are fairly unlikeable.

There's not a lot of scares here either. The killer is only really scary if you suffer from coulrophobia. The whole thing pretty predictable right down to who will die by a cheesy-looking machete to the head and who will live. The ending, on the other hand,  is a bit convoluted, and leaves the viewer unclear on who the killer actually is. But the door is left wide open for sequels, of which there are two. Over all, not a very compelling slasher flick.


1.5 well-done guides out of 5
Not rated: Contains violence, nudity, sexual content, language.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

If Nancy Doesn't Wake Up Screaming She Won't Wake Up At All...

High School student Nancy Thompson, and three of her friends, are haunted by nightmares about a mysterious and frightening man with knives for fingers. When her friend Tina is horrifically murdered, the police suspect her boyfriend, Rod, of the crime. But Nancy begins to believe that the man from their dreams is killing them in her sleep.

She deprives herself of rest in a desperate attempt to stay alive. Finally she learns that the man is Freddy Krueger, a child murderer who was burnt alive by the townspeople years ago. Yet as more of her friends are killed, she realizes that Freddy is alive and dangerous in the dream world. She must face him on his turf if she wants to survive.


Nightmare on Elm Street is undoubtedly one of the greatest horror films of all time. Few slasher films have successfully created such an all encompassing atmosphere of tension, suspense, and terror. The film features a mix of decent and poor acting, with some of the better performances coming from Heather Langenkamp (Tina), Robert Englund (Freddy), and Johnny Depp, who plays Tina's boyfriend Glen and dies in one of the most classic scenes in slasher history. Nightmare is brilliant from start to finish, even if a couple of the special effects are a little cheesy, and some of the music is a bit hokey.

Of course Nightmare on Elm Street has the dubious reputation of being one of the greatest horror films, but also spawning one of the worst series of sequels. Seven sequels followed the 1984 original, most of which were relatively poor all around. Freddy rapidly deteriorates into a wise cracking comedic character and the films transforming into cheese-fests composed of goofy kill scenes and plentiful female nudity strung together with feeble plots. The main exception to this sad rule being the 1994 sequel Wes Craven's New Nightmare, which saw horror master Wes Craven's return to the franchise as writer and director. The film was also remade in 2010 with additional unfortunate results, although nowhere near as dismal as the majority of the sequels.

5 finger knives out of 5
RatedR for bloody horror violence, language, sexuality, and some disturbing images.

Metropolis (1927)

There can be no understanding between the hands and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator.

The futuristic city of Metropolis is a utopia. Wealthy citizens live carefree lives free of want and strife. One of its wealthy citizens is Freder Fredersen, son of Metropolis ruler Joh Fredersen. One day, Freder sees a beautiful woman with a group of children. He tries to follow them, but they quickly disappear. Then, to his horror, he discovers an underground world of workers. It turns out that these workers, unknown to him previously, actually work the machinery which keeps the beautiful city above in operation. Yet, despite being solely responsible for the wealthy, beauty, and all-around functioning of the magnificent city above, they live and work in dreadful conditions themselves.

Freder learns that the woman he saw was Maria, an activist amongst the workers who espouses a way forward to a better life. Her programme centers around a single idea; the need to join the "hands" (the workers below) to the "head" (the wealthy and powerful above) by a mediator or the "heart". Freder us taken in by the idealism of it all, and joins the cause. But meanwhile, his father and his henchman, Rotwang, are working to smash the growing movement.

Metropolis is actually a phenomenal film and an important piece of German expressionism, with beautiful cinematography, art work, and sets. The robot is awesome, and many of the scenes are really powerful.

The film faced the danger of being obliterated by fascist censors both in Germany and in Chile, but today has been returned to its (almost) original state and is available on DVD. It's run in with the far-right thought police was due to its "dangerous" political message.

But that's not to say that Metropolis is politically radical or revolutionary. In reality, the clear message of the film is that workers and bosses must cooperate for the common good. It attacks abuse and exploitation, but at the same time it condemns the notion of revolutionary change. Insultingly, it refers to workers as merely "the hands" and laughably refers to bosses as "the head". It promotes the mythical "third way" between capitalist exploitation, and worker-controlled socialism. In other words, it uses science fiction to expose the unfairness inherent in the system, then it tells you that if you behave, maybe things will get better. Not a particularly useful or inspiring message, which is unfortunate for such an otherwise fantastic film.

3 robot clones out of 5
Unrated: contains violence, nudity.

Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

It's name is Quetzalcoatl... just call it Q, that's all you'll have time to say before it tears you apart!

New York police receive reports of a large flying lizard making appearances along the city's towering sky line. The write the reports off as bogus, and assume them to be completely unrelated to a coinciding strike of bizarre murders.

But when an unemployed, ex-convict, pianist happens upon the creatures nest, he sees an opportunity to be hero for a day while avoiding a return to the slammer. As the death toll rises, and the evidence of the existence of the monster begins to build, the police are finally willing to listen. But will they be able to stop the strange beast, or will they just become the next dish in its big apple smorgasbord?

Don't let the really stupid tag line fool you; Q is actually a decent film; well made if a bit campy, but fun as well. Q itself is a of course one of those wonderful movie monsters from the pre-digitally generated era. It's not as much a winged serpent as a winged lizard for some reason, but cool nonetheless.

The acting and dialogue are pretty decent for this type of movie. The main character, Jimmy, is a bad guy trying to be good. It's hard to like the guy, but hard not to root for him at the same time. There's even room left for a sequel, but it doesn't seem to have ever come to fruition. Q is little known, but worth watching  for monster movie fans.

3.5 window washing accidents out of 5
Rated R for violence, nudity, and language.

American Zombie (2007)

We're Here. We're Dead. Get Used to It!

American Zombie documents the lives of several members of the local zombie community in Los Angeles, California. Film makers Grace Lee and John Solomon follow the lives of Ivan, Lisa, and Judy, three members of the local undead community. They also encounter zombie rights activist, Joel. The zombies, or "Revenants", as they are called, vary in ability and intelligence. We learn that some members of the undead community are living normal lives, similar in many ways to their living counterparts. Theses high-functioning zombies work in places like convenience stores, they create works of art, and they gather annually for a big party out in the desert. They also face discrimination and abuse from the general populace, and this has got some zombies starting to think its time for change...

The mockumentary is a genre of film that undoubtedly has had its hits and its misses. It was only a matter of time before one was made about the timeless horror staple known as the zombie. But American Zombie takes us away from the mindless, flesh eating, killing machine which has become the traditional depiction of the zombie. Instead we find that zombies, despite their own particular problems and issues, are just like you and me. Naturally, its a bit hard not to be suspicious. But are those suspicions founded, or are you just being a bigot? No spoilers here. Either way, American Zombie is a convincing, well made mockumentary and an unconventional take on the zombie story.

3.5 zombie chasers out of 5
Not rated: contains violence and language.