Home Media Magazine - July 6-12, 2008 - (Page 14)

REVIEWS documentary can uncover clues to her life before death. We also see profiles of bureaucrats trying to track the revenant population, humans who prefer to date the undead, and people who specialize in hunting zombies. The movie even offers a pseudo-scientific explanation of the re-animation process. The movie is clever but not especially edgy. Some of the best moments occur when Lee and Solomon bicker over what they want to cover. Convinced that zombies are addicted to human flesh, Solomon insists all his interview subjects show what’s in their refrigerators. Lee prefers to be more sympathetic. The ultimate goal is to steal a glimpse of Live Dead, a sort-of zombie Woodstock the filmmakers are not being allowed to attend. Does that rule have something to do with a potential human sacrifice and feast of flesh for the attendees? The movie drags for about a halfhour after making its point, losing focus and settling into a Blair Witch-style finale. Still, horror fans should enjoy the various parody elements. – John Latchem www.homemediamagazine.com I DEATH ON DEMAND Street 7/8 MTI, Horror, $24.95 DVD, ‘R’ for strong violence/ gore, sexual content and language. Stars Jerry Broom, Elisabeth Jamison, Anne McDaniels, Brandon Goins, Josh Folan, Sara Christal, Krista Grotte. F I AMERICAN ZOMBIE Street 7/8 Cinema Libre, Comedy, B.O. $0.003 million, $24.95 DVD, NR. A merican Zombie is a new mockumentary that profiles a group of high-functioning zombies and their daily existence. As stated by director Grace Lee and co-writer Rebecca Sonnenshine, the film is as much a satire about life in Los Angeles as it is a parody of the zombie concept. In that regard it fits very much into the mold of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its classic episode “The Zeppo.” According to the film, zombies are disoriented shortly after reanimation, giving rise to their clichéd ghoulish activity. They often are mistaken for homeless people, but with time some manage to maintain a normal life, find jobs and contribute to society. Lee and her onscreen co-director, John Solomon, take viewers through several issues related to zombie (un)living. The undead are presented in various states of decay, presumably related to the circumstances of their death. Some must go through routine procedures to clean maggots from gaping sores. One zombie girl likes to create scrapbooks and dreams of one day marrying a human. Another woman agrees to be filmed in hopes the I ASYLUM Street 7/15 Fox/MGM, Horror, $26.98 DVD, ‘R’ for strong horror violence and terror, disturbing images, language and brief nudity. Stars Sarah Roemer, Travis Van Winkle, Jake Muxworthy, Cody Kasch, Carolina Garcia. D irector David R. Ellis (Snakes on a Plane and Final Destination 2) strikes again with his intense slasher flick Asylum. The film is set on a typical college campus, where the newly renovated dorm proves to be anything but normal for a group of incoming freshmen who uncover its dark past. Their snooping brings back the deadly ghost of Dr. Burke, a crazed psychiatrist who ran a controversial mental institution where he performed torturous, experimental procedures on his teenage patients, who eventually revolted and killed him. Now the ill-fated group of collegians, who all have their own secrets (from a suicidal family, to an abusive boyfriend, to a molesting father), come face to face with the homicidal doctor who makes them confront their own deepest, darkest fears before slaughtering them. Only those mentally strong enough to battle the evil doctor will have a chance at surviving his torture and fighting their way out of the haunted building before becoming his next victims. With a hot young cast led by Roemer (Disturbia) and Van Winkle (Transformers), Asylum isn’t just another teen horror film. It’s a twisted, nail-biting journey reminiscent of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series, with its own Freddy Krueger, Dr. Burke. Ellis, an excellent director, has assembled a great team of filmmakers to bring this shocking tale to life. This is one of the rare instances where a direct-to-DVD release could have easily made a bloody splash at the box office. But since you can’t see it on the big screen, Asylum is definitely one horror movie you won’t want to miss. The gore is extreme, and the film’s psychological aspect will push even die-hard horror fans to the edge. – Matt Miller ive college coeds and a busty adult-film star sign on as contestants in a Halloween-night webcast to see who can survive the longest in a house where a once loving father and husband butchered his family and took his own life 20 years ago. The story of Sean McIntyre is a legend among locals: Once a world-class ice climber, McIntyre lost his mind during an expedition in the Himalayas, sending him on a killing spree in which he slaughtered his Sherpa, then returned home and brutally murdered his family before hanging himself. No one has entered the cursed house in two decades until Richard, an entrepreneurial young man, comes up with the idea to offer a $5,000 prize for the couple who can make it through the night by following clues and being the first to escape. The teams include two sex-crazed football players, their girlfriends, a Gothic lesbian and the porn star, who is offered a bonus for having sex with any of the other contestants. With video cameras placed strategically around the house to catch all of the horror and hijinks, what no one accounted for was the spirit of McIntyre to return and hunt down the coeds with his grappling hook one by one. Now the only way for the participants to escape alive is to figure out a way to banish his soul back to hell before he kills them all, making for a highly entertaining webcast for the thousands watching and wondering if the horror is real. Death on Demand is a grizzly independent horror film filled with locker-room humor, over-the-top killings and gratuitous nudity — a trifecta for this genre. The underlining story isn’t terribly original, but the outlandish characters, especially using a mountaineer as the antagonist, create a horrifically entertaining experience. Death on Demand is another example of our crazy obsession with reality TV and the Internet, and their continued influence on today’s horror films. The cast brings a youthful energy that drives the film and helps keep it from falling flat. – Matt Miller 14 Home Media Magazine July 6–12, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - July 6-12, 2008

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