Movies
Hell of the Living Dead (Virus)
“Except for a few laughs, and interesting moody scenes (check out the scene in which they enter a mansion that is somehow stuck in the middle of the jungle) that create the hope of a scary ambiance, this film does disappoint. However, I have found myself watching it on DVD to tap into that guilty pleasure that yens for attention.”
Hell of the Living Dead begins much like any other zombie flick that you have ever seen. There is a chemical leak at a factory, inept scientists scurrying around, and a hapless worker who ends up getting infected and (in turn) infecting everyone else. There is even a secret government conspiracy to create a serum that is supposed to revolutionize modern warfare as we know it. And for some inexplicable reason, we are transported to a hostage crisis situation in which a SWAT (oops, too much like Dawn of the Dead) “special forces” group take out the terrorists. To make matters “ironic” the last terrorist that they kill foretells them of their impending doom before he is killed.
Creepy, right?
Soon after that, the scene cuts to a jungle where a photographer and her hapless crew unwittingly fall into the clutches of the undead. We are left to assume that the chemical factory that had the outbreak at the beginning is somewhere near this jungle. The beautiful photographer, Lia (played by Margit Evelyn Newton), along with her cameraman, escape the undead. Luckily, they run into the Special Forces group (who were sent there to contain the factory outbreak and investigate).
This is the beginning of obviously bad dialogue, less than mediocre acting, and a storyline that is thinly veiled, but strangely intriguing. To watch the group try to keep their sanity together as they battle the overwhelming forces of the undead is comical (in a very dark way). The acting is thin. One of the characters, Zantoro (played by Franco Garofalo), spends most of the film teasing the zombies to eat him. He devolves into a caricature of himself near the beginning of the film and continues to spiral downward until (thank God) he is eaten by the zombies himself. Even the look of shock on his face when he is taken is god-awful and very humorous.
The ending of the film, like lots of other zombie films before and after, ends in a very apocalyptic fashion. I am a fan of films that make me think. I especially like films that leave me with an uneasy feeling at the end. Hell of the Living Dead did neither. It seemed as if this film was trying to imitate Dawn of the Dead (right down to ripping off the score by Goblin). However, it did make me laugh. It does have a very campy quality to it. With the grainy jungle stock footage that reminded me of what was done so masterfully in Cannibal Holocaust and a script that had a decent storyline and little else, this film made me long for what it COULD have been rather than what it actually was.
Except for a few laughs, and interesting moody scenes (check out the scene in which they enter a mansion that is somehow stuck in the middle of the jungle) that create the hope of a scary ambiance, this film does disappoint. However, I have found myself watching it on DVD to tap into that guilty pleasure that yens for attention.
Movies
’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).
The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.
No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.
28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.
Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.
The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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