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Acanthea Grimscythe (300 KP) rated The Jesus Man in Books
May 16, 2018
The Jesus Man by Keith Anthony Baird is a tough book for me to rate, if I’m being honest. It’s part of why, despite completing it last week, I’ve taken so long to write up my review. The book isn’t an easy read by any means, especially with its vast amounts of purple prose. It does, however, have a uniquely intriguing plot.
One of the major deciding factors for me when I read a book is its ability to make me feel emotion. I want a connection with the characters, even if it’s a seething hatred that I feel in the depths of my heart. With The Jesus Man, I felt loathing and disdain, but nothing beyond that. I felt disconnected, for the most part. The characters seemed to me as if they were in limbo between fully and halfway developed.
In regards to plot, Baird does an excellent job. As a horror fan, I end up reading a lot of apocalyptic books. Most of the time, the cause is a viral outbreak of zombies. It’s a cliché we deal with far too often and it’s been beaten to death time and time again. Baird goes an entirely new route, with the dredges of Hell returning to claim what should be theirs. Described as the Fallen, we know these creatures as the angels cast from Heaven in the wake of God’s love for mankind stoking rebellion among them. It’s an interesting take on the world’s post-nuclear was end and I feel that Baird did a wonderful job in this area of his book.
I do have to take a moment to appreciate one beautiful perk to Baird’s ornate writing style: his depiction of gory acts is absolutely stunning. I’m a sucker for splatterpunk, so this served as a nice treat for me. While his characters felt lacking to me (which I discovered was the author’s intent post-read), his vivid descriptions (even if heavy-handed) are breathtaking and nightmare invoking.
I’ve danced between a two and four for this book several times, so ultimately I’m going to go with a three. While I loved the concept, the difficulty of reading this book made it hard for me to enjoy.
I would like to thank the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
One of the major deciding factors for me when I read a book is its ability to make me feel emotion. I want a connection with the characters, even if it’s a seething hatred that I feel in the depths of my heart. With The Jesus Man, I felt loathing and disdain, but nothing beyond that. I felt disconnected, for the most part. The characters seemed to me as if they were in limbo between fully and halfway developed.
In regards to plot, Baird does an excellent job. As a horror fan, I end up reading a lot of apocalyptic books. Most of the time, the cause is a viral outbreak of zombies. It’s a cliché we deal with far too often and it’s been beaten to death time and time again. Baird goes an entirely new route, with the dredges of Hell returning to claim what should be theirs. Described as the Fallen, we know these creatures as the angels cast from Heaven in the wake of God’s love for mankind stoking rebellion among them. It’s an interesting take on the world’s post-nuclear was end and I feel that Baird did a wonderful job in this area of his book.
I do have to take a moment to appreciate one beautiful perk to Baird’s ornate writing style: his depiction of gory acts is absolutely stunning. I’m a sucker for splatterpunk, so this served as a nice treat for me. While his characters felt lacking to me (which I discovered was the author’s intent post-read), his vivid descriptions (even if heavy-handed) are breathtaking and nightmare invoking.
I’ve danced between a two and four for this book several times, so ultimately I’m going to go with a three. While I loved the concept, the difficulty of reading this book made it hard for me to enjoy.
I would like to thank the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Unsympathetic Magic (Esther Diamond, #3) in Books
Feb 15, 2019
Here we are in the third entry into the Esther Diamond series. UNSYMPATHETIC MAGIC doesn't feature the zany characters that the previous two books had, which is a nice shift, and the focus on Esther and Max that was lost in [b:Doppelgangster|6678045|Doppelgangster (Esther Diamond, #2)|Laura Resnick|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275658691s/6678045.jpg|3150652] is back. The plot about Vodou*, zombies, and bokors is okay, but gets a little too predictable for my liking. Luckily, the author writes well enough to lift it up a level and ends up entertaining, and at times interesting.
Now for the bad news: the humor isn't as fresh or funny and I can't remember once laughing aloud during the book. Some of the scenes felt too forced to be funny, and one scene in particular had me cringing because of a character that got hurt. Maybe that scene wasn't supposed to be funny, but it seemed as if that was it's purpose before the injury happened. Basically all the humor in the book is a comedy of errors, and that's fine, as long as it's humorous and not as repetitive as it's been in these three books. Next, the length of the story needs a drastic paring down. While the book moves at a fairly brisk pace, I can't help but feel that another go or two with an editor was needed and the plot should have been tightened so it's more cohesive. I think it'd be a much better book with at least fifty pages less and I wouldn't get as tired of the plot or characters by then. There's a reason for the phrase "too much of a good thing" and both DOPPELGANGSTER and UNSYMPATHETIC MAGIC fit the bill. Still, I didn't hate the book and thought it was a small step up from the last, so I'll give the next book a shot because I enjoy the characters a lot (sorry for the unintentional bad rhyme). Even if the series hasn't hit the mark for me since the first, I have hope yet. Besides, how can I pass up a book called VAMPARAZZI? 3.5 stars
*Apparently Vodou is not pronounced like 'voodoo', it's either vo(like in toe)-dow(cow) or vo-doo, but I'm not sure which is right, from what I've figured out online. The book has a glossary, which is rather unnecessary since everything is explained in text, but not a pronunciation guide.
Now for the bad news: the humor isn't as fresh or funny and I can't remember once laughing aloud during the book. Some of the scenes felt too forced to be funny, and one scene in particular had me cringing because of a character that got hurt. Maybe that scene wasn't supposed to be funny, but it seemed as if that was it's purpose before the injury happened. Basically all the humor in the book is a comedy of errors, and that's fine, as long as it's humorous and not as repetitive as it's been in these three books. Next, the length of the story needs a drastic paring down. While the book moves at a fairly brisk pace, I can't help but feel that another go or two with an editor was needed and the plot should have been tightened so it's more cohesive. I think it'd be a much better book with at least fifty pages less and I wouldn't get as tired of the plot or characters by then. There's a reason for the phrase "too much of a good thing" and both DOPPELGANGSTER and UNSYMPATHETIC MAGIC fit the bill. Still, I didn't hate the book and thought it was a small step up from the last, so I'll give the next book a shot because I enjoy the characters a lot (sorry for the unintentional bad rhyme). Even if the series hasn't hit the mark for me since the first, I have hope yet. Besides, how can I pass up a book called VAMPARAZZI? 3.5 stars
*Apparently Vodou is not pronounced like 'voodoo', it's either vo(like in toe)-dow(cow) or vo-doo, but I'm not sure which is right, from what I've figured out online. The book has a glossary, which is rather unnecessary since everything is explained in text, but not a pronunciation guide.
RəX Regent (349 KP) rated Night of the Living Dead (1968) in Movies
Feb 19, 2019
Iconic, influential and ground-breaking. All words to describe George A. Romero’s inaugural zombie horror, but what sets this apart from its contemporaries and the endless variations in the genre in which this Indie movie helped spawn?
Well to begin with, this is far from a simple zombie thriller. The real villains here are the collection of damaged human characters who all find themselves trapped together in an old farmhouse, barricaded within its fragile wooden walls, fighting not only the onslaught of zombie without, but the angst and fear from within.
At times they work together but unlike most films like this, the group rarely work at all, with conflicted views on how to survive, blinding them to the fact that if they only worked together they may just do so.
Instead, they all end up dead, with our leading man, a strong, smart black character, which at the time was a bold choice, being murdered by the redneck police posse, who mistake him for a zombie. But the metaphor, though hard to ignore, of a black man being gunned down without the white men bothering to ensure that he was zombie, may just be a coincidence, but the irony that he, Ben (Duane Jones) manages to survive until the end only be to gunned down in the final moments, is a tragedy that sums up this film’s tone.
With a killer child, a nude female zombie, a dysfunctional couple and the first named victim displaying a complacent contempt for God and the church, this group are real, though the acting standards are variable, the writing and direction are constantly very good, with a sense or gritty realism permeating throughout. Maintained by good pacing and gruesome cannibalistic action, this raised the bar of the genre, both now and then.
Even the zombies get a reasonable, yet none definitive explanation, as told through the radio and TV news. Radiation bringing the dead back to life, well, it may be the trope of 1960’s sci fi but it was well explained and the news reports were well composed, feeling more realistic than most movie news broadcasts.
Romero may have gone on to milk this franchise for all it is worth in the decades since but this opening low budget gem is a real piece of work; A complex moral drama set on one chaotic night in which the dead become living again.
Well to begin with, this is far from a simple zombie thriller. The real villains here are the collection of damaged human characters who all find themselves trapped together in an old farmhouse, barricaded within its fragile wooden walls, fighting not only the onslaught of zombie without, but the angst and fear from within.
At times they work together but unlike most films like this, the group rarely work at all, with conflicted views on how to survive, blinding them to the fact that if they only worked together they may just do so.
Instead, they all end up dead, with our leading man, a strong, smart black character, which at the time was a bold choice, being murdered by the redneck police posse, who mistake him for a zombie. But the metaphor, though hard to ignore, of a black man being gunned down without the white men bothering to ensure that he was zombie, may just be a coincidence, but the irony that he, Ben (Duane Jones) manages to survive until the end only be to gunned down in the final moments, is a tragedy that sums up this film’s tone.
With a killer child, a nude female zombie, a dysfunctional couple and the first named victim displaying a complacent contempt for God and the church, this group are real, though the acting standards are variable, the writing and direction are constantly very good, with a sense or gritty realism permeating throughout. Maintained by good pacing and gruesome cannibalistic action, this raised the bar of the genre, both now and then.
Even the zombies get a reasonable, yet none definitive explanation, as told through the radio and TV news. Radiation bringing the dead back to life, well, it may be the trope of 1960’s sci fi but it was well explained and the news reports were well composed, feeling more realistic than most movie news broadcasts.
Romero may have gone on to milk this franchise for all it is worth in the decades since but this opening low budget gem is a real piece of work; A complex moral drama set on one chaotic night in which the dead become living again.
Leighann Twist (26 KP) rated Pet Sematary (2019) in Movies
May 15, 2019
Meh....
Contains spoilers, click to show
I am so on the fence about this film. I liked some of the changes they made to this film. The kids in the masks made me uneasy which I like in a horror film but I feel like they could have done more with the orgin of the masks but other than the kids wearing the masks in the beginning of the film, the only other time you see them is when Ellie starts her killing spree. So the scene at her birthday party....I find it ridiculous that there were all those adults there and while Louis is blindfolded no one is watching the kids to make sure they dont run out into the street. Now one could argue who was watching Guage when he dies in the original but there are A LOT more parents around in this one. And who plays hide and seek in the front yard of a house on a busy highway anyway? Dont they have a backyard too? But despite all that I really enjoyed the scene leading up to Ellies death. They did a good job with Louis going after Guage and then Ellie getting hit instead. It was intense and sucked me right in. Let's talk Zelda for a second. Quite possibly the best and most terrifying part of the movie. Wasnt sure how Zelda could be anymore creepy than she was in the original but OMG they so nailed it. My favorite parts of this remake were the Rachel and Zelda storyline and it had me on the edge of my seat for sure. The ending however lost it for me and left me so angry that I paid to see this movie in the theater. The ending is where everything fell apart for me. It seemed very rushed and sloppily done. Such cheese. Realistically would everyone turn 3 seconds after they were buried? Do zombies have superhuman strength? Cuz Ellie taking her dad to the burial ground and making it over that hill with the weight of his body seemed so cheesy. Then the father killing the mother and them going to get Guage
...I dunno it fell apart for me and was so cheesy. It felt rushed
But hey Zelda... am I right?
...I dunno it fell apart for me and was so cheesy. It felt rushed
But hey Zelda... am I right?
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Dread Nation in Books
Jul 24, 2018
So, as a general rule, I don't read zombie stories. Zombies are the one monster that will almost invariably give me nightmares. This book, however, had such hype built up around it that I decided to bend my rule.
I should not have.
Before I start in on this, let me say it's a good story. It's well-written, the plot is paced nicely, and it's entertaining. All that said, it's quite problematic in many ways. I knew some of this before I read it; there was a Twitter thread about some of the issues, namely that in the Author's Note she describes the Native American boarding schools (where the government forced Native American children to go, and tried to destroy their heritage and culture in the name of "civilizing" them) as "well-meaning." The Twitter thread does an excellent job of dissecting that passage, and it's worth reading.
There's also the incredibly unrealistic scene where Jane gets flogged eleven times, walks back to where she's staying, has a coherent conversation where she lays out a plan she has formed, and then puts a shirt on. That last part especially got me. Like, what? You're going to be in more pain than that! Being flogged barely seems to slow Jane down. She asks for laudanum - for her plan. Not to take for the pain.
I don't know. There's a lot about the book that set my teeth on edge. There's the absurd amount of racism, but the protagonist is a black woman and it's civil war era, so that's to be expected. And it's coming from characters, not from narration. Jane lies. A lot. So it's hard to trust that she's even a reliable narrator.
I guess it's okay. I didn't care for it. I found it really hard to get past the author's "well-meaning" comment about the Native American boarding schools. And the plot of "as soon as they're old enough, black children get sent to combat schools." Especially with what's going on lately with the jailing of migrant children, it feels tone-deaf, ignorant, and genocidal.
One good point was the oh-so-casual mention of bisexuality (a female friend taught her "everything she knows about kissing") but it was only two sentences and never mentioned again. Not nearly enough to make up for the rest of the book.
You can find all my review at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
I should not have.
Before I start in on this, let me say it's a good story. It's well-written, the plot is paced nicely, and it's entertaining. All that said, it's quite problematic in many ways. I knew some of this before I read it; there was a Twitter thread about some of the issues, namely that in the Author's Note she describes the Native American boarding schools (where the government forced Native American children to go, and tried to destroy their heritage and culture in the name of "civilizing" them) as "well-meaning." The Twitter thread does an excellent job of dissecting that passage, and it's worth reading.
There's also the incredibly unrealistic scene where Jane gets flogged eleven times, walks back to where she's staying, has a coherent conversation where she lays out a plan she has formed, and then puts a shirt on. That last part especially got me. Like, what? You're going to be in more pain than that! Being flogged barely seems to slow Jane down. She asks for laudanum - for her plan. Not to take for the pain.
I don't know. There's a lot about the book that set my teeth on edge. There's the absurd amount of racism, but the protagonist is a black woman and it's civil war era, so that's to be expected. And it's coming from characters, not from narration. Jane lies. A lot. So it's hard to trust that she's even a reliable narrator.
I guess it's okay. I didn't care for it. I found it really hard to get past the author's "well-meaning" comment about the Native American boarding schools. And the plot of "as soon as they're old enough, black children get sent to combat schools." Especially with what's going on lately with the jailing of migrant children, it feels tone-deaf, ignorant, and genocidal.
One good point was the oh-so-casual mention of bisexuality (a female friend taught her "everything she knows about kissing") but it was only two sentences and never mentioned again. Not nearly enough to make up for the rest of the book.
You can find all my review at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
Marylegs (44 KP) rated Station Eleven in Books
Aug 14, 2019
Station Eleven follows a number of characters affected by the disintegration of modern civilisation and society caused by a mutated flu virus which wipes out around 99% of the world wide population. Flitting back over a series of timelines, including the start of the pandemic to focus on the lives these characters had before the virus, what happened to them after this virus became apparent and beginning the destruction of the lives they knew. The story also skips into the future to see how their lives changed and how they had to adapt to their changing world. There are a number of characters to follow and as the book progresses links form between some of them, but this is not the focus of the story.
I won’t go overly into details about the characters it is best to discover them yourselves. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this book was. Receiving it as an advanced review, I didn’t really know much about the story other than it being based in a post-apocalyptic world. Upon receiving the book I was slightly put off by the blurb stating it was following a group of traveling actors and musicians and that it was trying to show how art still had a place in this post civilisation world. But don’t let this put you off, I’m glad I didn’t. Whilst the story uses the actors and musicians in this ‘Traveling Symphony’ as a point to allow cross country movement and show that some people as trying to survive but also to enrich other people’s lives, that wasn’t really what gripped me. It was the relationships this characters had made, the stories about how they used to live and what they had been forced to do in this changing world that kept me turning pages.
I would recommend this book, and I would probably re-read again and possibly try some of the authors other works. The author wrote beautifully and it never felt pretentious or like they were trying to over moralise things. If like me, you like a good end of the world, dystopian story but want something different from the general, zombies, vampires and hunger games type read, give this ago. It may surprise you, like it did me.
I won’t go overly into details about the characters it is best to discover them yourselves. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this book was. Receiving it as an advanced review, I didn’t really know much about the story other than it being based in a post-apocalyptic world. Upon receiving the book I was slightly put off by the blurb stating it was following a group of traveling actors and musicians and that it was trying to show how art still had a place in this post civilisation world. But don’t let this put you off, I’m glad I didn’t. Whilst the story uses the actors and musicians in this ‘Traveling Symphony’ as a point to allow cross country movement and show that some people as trying to survive but also to enrich other people’s lives, that wasn’t really what gripped me. It was the relationships this characters had made, the stories about how they used to live and what they had been forced to do in this changing world that kept me turning pages.
I would recommend this book, and I would probably re-read again and possibly try some of the authors other works. The author wrote beautifully and it never felt pretentious or like they were trying to over moralise things. If like me, you like a good end of the world, dystopian story but want something different from the general, zombies, vampires and hunger games type read, give this ago. It may surprise you, like it did me.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Patient Seven (2016) in Movies
Oct 24, 2019
Characters – Dr Daniel Marcus is the man trying to learn about six disturbed patients at a mental hospital, each story needs to be broken down in a different way, he is doing research for his book, but leaving us wondering what his motives are is the biggest mystery in this film. we do meet the different patients which all have different stories and we follow the events of their stories each different from the rest. We do meet the doctors, but as the film is an anthology we just don’t get enough time to look into their characters.
Performances – Michael Ironside is the star of this film with his calming presence while interviewing the patients that can turn on them in a heartbeat. We have a couple of known names in the supporting cast with Alfie Allen in the second story being the highlight of the rest of the performances, while no one is bad in their roles here, they just don’t get the time they deserve.
Story – The story here is told like an interview process to give us seven short horror stories, the fact each one goes in a different direction helps the audience find one they can enjoy even if the previous one isn’t for them. Vampires, ghost, spirits, serial killers and zombies are the main topics each one feels short enough to be entertaining, even if one did make me want to see a feature film about that character. For a horror anthology this does check the boxes well and is one that can be enjoyed.
Horror – The horror in the story comes from the different stories, while we don’t always get the best build up to the horror moments, we do follow the horror guidelines well.
Settings – Each story does take us to a new setting which helps make the film feel fresh, though I don’t quiet understand how the crimes from England, New Zealand and Iceland ended up in an American mental home.
Special Effects – The effects in the film across the different stories are great and make you feel like you are part of them.
Scene of the Movie – The second story.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Some of the stories are slightly too short though.
Final Thoughts – This is a good horror anthology even if the ending feel slightly flat, we get plenty going on and can enjoy the different ideals of horror.
Overall: Horror anthology does correctly.
Performances – Michael Ironside is the star of this film with his calming presence while interviewing the patients that can turn on them in a heartbeat. We have a couple of known names in the supporting cast with Alfie Allen in the second story being the highlight of the rest of the performances, while no one is bad in their roles here, they just don’t get the time they deserve.
Story – The story here is told like an interview process to give us seven short horror stories, the fact each one goes in a different direction helps the audience find one they can enjoy even if the previous one isn’t for them. Vampires, ghost, spirits, serial killers and zombies are the main topics each one feels short enough to be entertaining, even if one did make me want to see a feature film about that character. For a horror anthology this does check the boxes well and is one that can be enjoyed.
Horror – The horror in the story comes from the different stories, while we don’t always get the best build up to the horror moments, we do follow the horror guidelines well.
Settings – Each story does take us to a new setting which helps make the film feel fresh, though I don’t quiet understand how the crimes from England, New Zealand and Iceland ended up in an American mental home.
Special Effects – The effects in the film across the different stories are great and make you feel like you are part of them.
Scene of the Movie – The second story.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Some of the stories are slightly too short though.
Final Thoughts – This is a good horror anthology even if the ending feel slightly flat, we get plenty going on and can enjoy the different ideals of horror.
Overall: Horror anthology does correctly.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated The Walking Dead - Season 6 in TV
Nov 10, 2019
Rinse and Repeat
Contains spoilers, click to show
Season 6 of The Walking Dead is really not too dissimilar from season 5, once again presenting us with a couple of amazing episodes, a handful of good ones, and then a whole lot of filler.
Once again a season of two halves - the first half of season 6 is mostly about a stupidly massive hoarse of zombies moving towards the Alexandria safe zone, and the groups efforts to herd them away.
For the most part, it's pretty good and where the strength of season 6 mainly lies.
An early highlight comes 2 episodes in, where Alexandria is attacked by a group called The Wolves. It's a sucker punch to the face, and the action is tense and the stakes feels high, proving that TWD can still pack a punch when it wants to.
Another highlight is the mid season finale 'No Way Out', another tense episode with some shocking and unexpected moments. The amount of work that's clearly gone into the huge zombie horde is impressive for sure.
However this episode also marks an important negative point for me - the relative ease in which the horde is dispatched is the moment where the walkers no longer felt like a threat, and from here on out, they've seem like more of an inconvenience.
The second half of the season slowly introduces us to The Saviours and teases their leader throughout, the now infamous Negan - a much loved villain straight from the comics.
This second half is once again, fairly boring, as the characters slog from one place to the next.
TWDs insistence on character focused episodes rarely push the right buttons. (There's an episode fairly near the beginning that focuses on Morgan that just switched me right off).
Negan arrives properly in the closing moments of the season, and leaves an immediate impression, although the finale ends on a cliffhanger (a lot of fans were pissed), giving us no time at all to see much of him (but don't worry, the show completely over compensates for this during seasons 7 and 8...)
Season 6 is also where the infamous 'Glenn fake out death' happens, which also rubbed a lot of viewers up the wrong way.
Overall, my thoughts on season 6 are mostly positive, but maybe that's because TWD is about to enter it's most testing seasons...
Once again a season of two halves - the first half of season 6 is mostly about a stupidly massive hoarse of zombies moving towards the Alexandria safe zone, and the groups efforts to herd them away.
For the most part, it's pretty good and where the strength of season 6 mainly lies.
An early highlight comes 2 episodes in, where Alexandria is attacked by a group called The Wolves. It's a sucker punch to the face, and the action is tense and the stakes feels high, proving that TWD can still pack a punch when it wants to.
Another highlight is the mid season finale 'No Way Out', another tense episode with some shocking and unexpected moments. The amount of work that's clearly gone into the huge zombie horde is impressive for sure.
However this episode also marks an important negative point for me - the relative ease in which the horde is dispatched is the moment where the walkers no longer felt like a threat, and from here on out, they've seem like more of an inconvenience.
The second half of the season slowly introduces us to The Saviours and teases their leader throughout, the now infamous Negan - a much loved villain straight from the comics.
This second half is once again, fairly boring, as the characters slog from one place to the next.
TWDs insistence on character focused episodes rarely push the right buttons. (There's an episode fairly near the beginning that focuses on Morgan that just switched me right off).
Negan arrives properly in the closing moments of the season, and leaves an immediate impression, although the finale ends on a cliffhanger (a lot of fans were pissed), giving us no time at all to see much of him (but don't worry, the show completely over compensates for this during seasons 7 and 8...)
Season 6 is also where the infamous 'Glenn fake out death' happens, which also rubbed a lot of viewers up the wrong way.
Overall, my thoughts on season 6 are mostly positive, but maybe that's because TWD is about to enter it's most testing seasons...
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated World War Z (2013) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019 (Updated Aug 6, 2019)
World War Z - the movie that finally dared to make the zombie genre family friendly.
That premise sounds horrible on paper, but somehow, it's not too bad!
Zombie films as a rule of thumb, tend to have a slow build up, before all hell breaks loose, and were treated to over the top violence and gore.
Not the case here... WWZ takes no time at all to kick off, as Brad Pitt and his family find themselves stuck in traffic when the shit hits that fan. Were less than 5 minutes in at this time.
As mentioned, the gore is kept to a minimum, but that didn't bother me. WWZ is more a disaster film than horror, but instead of a tidal wave or a hurricane, the threat are the undead.
And there a lot of them. The zombies here run fast, and in huge numbers, making for some true spectacles as they climb on top of each other to climb buildings etc.
There are two set pieces that are particularly eye catching. The scene in Jerusalem, and the scene on the plane, are both pretty full on and entertaining.
The last quarter of the film is a bit puzzling.
After the aforementioned set pieces, the film really slows down for the last 25 minutes. It's not necessarily a bad move, but just a bit...odd for a Hollywood blockbuster.
The film ends rather abruptly (after feeling a little overlong) and on a freeze frame no less (shoot me now).
The cast are pretty good for the most part - I'm an absolutely unashamed fan of Brad Pitt. I've never seen him play a bad part, so his involvement was always going to be a winner for me.
I've never read the book of WWZ but from what I've heard, the movie sharply deviates from it, pretty much only sharing the title.
From what I've gathered about the books layout, it seems that the film could have explored so much more - it may even suit a series rather than a movie.
WWZ is not much more than a dumb, Hollywood action film, with a couple of jump scares thrown in, but it's pretty entertaining here and there.
And with David Fincher in the directors chair for a future sequel, I'm up for what comes next.
That premise sounds horrible on paper, but somehow, it's not too bad!
Zombie films as a rule of thumb, tend to have a slow build up, before all hell breaks loose, and were treated to over the top violence and gore.
Not the case here... WWZ takes no time at all to kick off, as Brad Pitt and his family find themselves stuck in traffic when the shit hits that fan. Were less than 5 minutes in at this time.
As mentioned, the gore is kept to a minimum, but that didn't bother me. WWZ is more a disaster film than horror, but instead of a tidal wave or a hurricane, the threat are the undead.
And there a lot of them. The zombies here run fast, and in huge numbers, making for some true spectacles as they climb on top of each other to climb buildings etc.
There are two set pieces that are particularly eye catching. The scene in Jerusalem, and the scene on the plane, are both pretty full on and entertaining.
The last quarter of the film is a bit puzzling.
After the aforementioned set pieces, the film really slows down for the last 25 minutes. It's not necessarily a bad move, but just a bit...odd for a Hollywood blockbuster.
The film ends rather abruptly (after feeling a little overlong) and on a freeze frame no less (shoot me now).
The cast are pretty good for the most part - I'm an absolutely unashamed fan of Brad Pitt. I've never seen him play a bad part, so his involvement was always going to be a winner for me.
I've never read the book of WWZ but from what I've heard, the movie sharply deviates from it, pretty much only sharing the title.
From what I've gathered about the books layout, it seems that the film could have explored so much more - it may even suit a series rather than a movie.
WWZ is not much more than a dumb, Hollywood action film, with a couple of jump scares thrown in, but it's pretty entertaining here and there.
And with David Fincher in the directors chair for a future sequel, I'm up for what comes next.
Ghost Town: Mystery Match Game
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Epic journey leads you in abandoned township to help the cute local characters. Exciting plot about...