Movies
Boy Eats Girl (V)
“Positive direction and a fun feel make this worth a watch if you are a fan of the zombie sub-genre, but keep in mind it takes an overly long time before any “goods” are shown.”
This is a film that despite its 2005 release I did not hear of this piece until around 2008. My initial inquiry into Boy Eats Girl did not fascinate me much, but it seemed promising enough to be added into my ever-long queue of horror films to give a watch to, and now two years later I have given this piece the time of day.
Boy Eats Girl follows David Leon as Nathan, an unpopular second-rate student/athlete who has finally decided to confess his love to Jessica(Samantha Mumba), a lifelong friend of his whom he cannot remain just a “friend” with anymore. On the night of his planned profession of love to her Nathan is killed in a freak accident involving his mother. His mother, an employee at an old Catholic church in town, uses an old pagan spell book hidden within the walls of the church to re-animate David, which comes with dire consequences. David is fine at first, but quickly succumbs to the symptoms of the undead and his craving for human flesh. Unfortunately for his fellow classmates, it is prom night, and David has arrived for the festivities, and the populous amount of human flesh.
I am always iffy on teen-oriented zombie films because they usually never stay remotely close to what true zombie lore is all about, giving us running zombies and very little gore. However, thanks to the success of the awesome Dance of the Dead, teen zombie films are not as risqué for me, but I still do not let my guard down. From the get-go this film’s atmosphere had me hooked, and its fun yet dark tone made this an enjoyable feeling film throughout its short 80 minute runtime.
Director Stephen Bradley made his feature film debut with this film, and despite this being his only non-TV non-short film he gave a positive effort in direction/execution. He brought a fun feel to the film that did not come off as a non-respectable teen zombie film but a teen zombie film that gets most of its elements right, such as the gore. Throughout the majority of the film we do not get as much gore as a zombie fan would expect, but the ending sequences give us massive amounts of gore that I really never saw coming, which in a way made the scenes fun to watch despite me having to wait and question whether or not they would come. Honestly, I gave up on this film not delivering the “goods” about an hour in, and I am glad that I was proven wrong.
Story-wise this flick gives an interesting look into teen love with its usage of the “gent” turning into a zombie before he can profess his love to his longtime friend and potential lover, who of course for the sake of all the females and romantics watching…equally loves him as well. While it comes off cheesy at times, we all probably can relate to such teen antics and that brings some fun into this film, so I’ll give the storyline props for that. The rest of the story was nothing special to me, and played off of the usual zombie formula in which everyone other than Nathan transforms into a zombie immediately whereas he, the person who “started” it all slowly develops into a brainless bub as he tries to save Jessica and his friends. That is really all that goes on in this film, but I must say that I really enjoyed the idea behind Nathan’s resurrection, which had nothing to due with toxic radioactive chemicals but hoodoo voodoo, which we don’t see too much in zombie films anymore. To me, resurrection at the hands of supernatural powers is much creepier than anything involving man-made mistakes any day.
Overall, this is an OK zombie film that plays on teen love antics that most of us can relate to, especially if your mother resurrected you from the dead before you could profess your hopeless love to your longtime friend and potential lover. Positive direction and a fun feel make this worth a watch if you are a fan of the zombie sub-genre, but keep in mind it takes an overly long time before any “goods” are shown.
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At the Abigail premiere, Dan Stevens listed Norway among his four favorite vampire movies. “I just saw a great movie recently that I’d never heard of,” he told Letterboxd. “A Greek film called Norway, about a vampire who basically exists in the underground disco scene in ’80s Athens, and he can’t stop dancing ’cause he’s worried his heart will stop. And it’s lovely. It’s great.”
You won’t find a better endorsement than that, but allow me to elaborate. Imagine Only Lovers Left Alive meets What We Do in the Shadows by way of Yorgos Lanthimos. The quirky 2014 effort follows a vampire vagabond (Vangelis Mourikis) navigating Greek’s sordid nightlife circa 1984 as he dances to stay alive. Not as campy as it sounds, its idiosyncrasies land more in the art-house realm. Stylized visuals, colorful bloodshed, pulsating dance music, and an absurd third-act reveal help the existentialism go down in a mere 74 minutes.
With the recent solar eclipse renewing public interest in the astrological event, Bloody Birthday is ripe for rediscovery. Three children born during an eclipse – Curtis Taylor (Billy Jayne, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose), Debbie Brody (Elizabeth Hoy), and Steven Seton (Andrew Freeman) – begin committing murders on their 10th birthday. Brother and sister duo Joyce (Lori Lethin, Return to Horror High) and Timmy Russell (K.C. Martel, The Amityville Horror) are the only ones privy to their heinous acts.
Bloody Birthday opened in 1981 mere weeks before the release of another attempt to claim the birthday slot on the slasher calendar, Happy Birthday to Me. Director Ed Hunt (The Brain) combines creepy kid tropes that date back to The Bad Seed with slasher conventions recently established by Halloween and Friday the 13th – with a little bit of the former’s suspense and plenty of the latter’s gratuity. The unconventional set up helps it to stand out among a subgenre plagued by banality.
Starting in the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s, Italy built an enterprise out of shameless rip-offs of hit American movies. While not a blatant mockbuster like Cruel Jaws or Beyond the Door, 1989’s Alien from the Abyss (also known as Alien from the Deep) was inspired by – as you may have guessed from its title – Alien, Aliens, and The Abyss.
After a pair of Greenpeace activists attempt to expose an evil corporation that’s dumping contaminated waste into an active volcano, the environment takes a backseat to survival when an extraterrestrial monster attacks. Character actor Charles Napier (The Silence of the Lambs) co-stars as a callous colonel overseeing the illicit activities.
Director Antonio Margheriti (Yor: The Hunter from the Future, Cannibal Apocalypse) and writer Tito Carpi (Tentacles, Last Cannibal World) take far too long to get to the alien, but once it shows up, it’s non-stop excitement. The creature is largely represented by a Gigeresque pincer claw that reaches into the frame, giving the picture a ’50s creature feature charm, but nothing can prepare you for its full reveal in the finale.
Set against the backdrop of displaced Syrian and Palestinian refugees, What Is Buried Must Remain is a timely found footage hybrid from Lebanon. It centers on a trio of young filmmakers as they make a documentary in a decrepit mansion alleged to be haunted on the outskirts of a refugee camp. Inside, they find the spirits of those who died there, both benevolent and malicious.
It plays like Blair Witch meets The Shining through a cultural lens not often seen in the genre. The first half is presented as found footage (with above-average cinematography) before abruptly weaving in more traditional film coverage. While the tropes are familiar, the film possesses a unique ethos by addressing the Middle East’s plights of the past and the present alike.
Cathy’s Curse is, to borrow a phrase from its titular creepy kid, an “extra rare piece of shit.” The Exorcist, The Omen, and Carrie spawned countless low-budget knock-offs, but none are as uniquely inept as this 1977 Canuxploitation outing. Falling squarely in the so-bad-it’s-good camp, it’s far more entertaining than The Exorcist: Believer.
To try to make sense of the plot would be futile, but in a nutshell, a young girl named Candy (Randi Allen, in her only acting role) becomes possessed by the vengeful, foul-mouthed spirit of her aunt, destroying the lives of anyone who crosses her path. What ensues is a madcap mélange of possession, telekinesis, teleportation, animal attacks, abandoned plot points, and unhinged filmmaking that must be seen to be believed.
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