28 Day Later (2002)

Your Days Are Numbered

The movie opens up on, what we assume are, animal activists breaking into a lab to release chimps the believe are being abused/tested on. They stumble upon a lab worker who tries to tell them that these chimps are infected with a disease he calls "rage", but they do not listen and start releasing them. causing the chimps to attack them.

Four week later Jim wakes up alone in a hospital. He had had a bicycle accident and been in surgery when the disease spread enough to make the hospital evacuate. He stumbles around the hospital and the streets of London confused and angry at the fact that his city is empty. He finds his way to a church, hoping to find some answer and boy does he find them.

The church is filled with the infected and many dead bodies. Jim eventually connects the dots and realizes that a massive disease has affected London, possibly the world. While trying to find more information, Jim find himself surrounded by a swarm of zombies. Selena and Mark, well verse with the zombies, save him.

Something that always fascinated me about this movie was that they somehow got shots of London completely empty of humanity. From their IMDB trivia page it mentions how they had to close roads at 4 am to get shoot these scenes. They had police close the roads but also persuaded some attractive women to tell drivers about the delays, so that people would be less angry.

This is the must-see, essential zombie movie of the last 15 years, just an all around amazing watch.

10/10 For a great story, acting and being beautifully shot.
87% Critics score from Rotten Tomatoes
7.6 from IMDB

Psycho 1960

I have always heard that Alfred Hitchcock was the father of classic horror but hadn't actually watched any of his movies. I decided to watch the original Psycho as I am currently watching Bates Motel, the "modern" prequel to Psycho.

I don't often watch older black and white movies, as I don't always feel a strong connection to the characters or storyline, but that really wasn't the case this time. Hitchcock clearly knew what he was doing and completely flipped the genre on it's head.

Marion Crane, a secretary in Phoenix, steals $40,000 and runs away to join her boyfriend. On her road trip she decides to stop in a motel just off the highway, Bates Motel. Norman Bates, the owner, introduces himself and invites her to have supper with him. Marion soon realizes that Norman Bates' mother does not want her there and excuses herself as soon as possible from his company.

In the most famous scene of the movie and possibly horror movies in general, Norman Bates' mother enters Marion's bathroom and stabs her repeatedly. The soundtrack for this scene is so famous that most people instantly recognize it, even if they have not seen Psycho. Norman Bates then has to deal with his mother's mistakes throughout the rest of the movie.

This wasn't a particularly scary movie, but I can see how it would have been quite terrifying back in 1960 when horror movies were nowhere near as gory as they are now. In the trivia portion on the movie's IMDB page, they mention that Walt Disney would not let Alfred Hitchcock into Disneyland because his movie was "disgusting". Thats how far the impact of Psycho reached.

9/10 For an awesome story and great acting.

96% critics score from Rotten Tomatoes

91% audience score form Rotten Tomatoes

8.6% from IMDB

The Walking Dead Season 4 (2013)

I love zombies. I try to watch/read anything related to them no matter how scary I find it. Like everyone else, I was obsessed with The Walking Dead when it premiered in 2010. I must have watched the first season four times in a row. The entire premise for the show was strong (based on a graphic novel by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore) and their ten episode format is, in my opinion, the perfect amount.

After the first season I felt there was a drop in quality in the show and watched it with much less interest. No wonder I felt that, because from what I hear AMC treated their star show really badly by firing the principal director/writer Frank Darabont. They also cut their budget in half but added twice as many episodes, meaning less zombies (makeup probably costs a lot) and more soap opera characteristics. If you want a better worded description of how AMC screwed themselves over watch this video by YourMovieSucksDOTorg.

There was a period of time were a really didn't watch any episodes and completely lost track of the storyline. What you should probably know about me is that I hate giving up on TV series halfway through, which is why I recently went back and am trying to catch up to current episodes. It also really helps that Netflix recently added season four.

I'm still kinda disappointed by the most recent seasons, but I think it's picked up a little now that Frank Darabont is back (AMC must have realized their mistake quite quickly). Season four had a really good start and Carl is not as much of a little shit as previous seasons. 

7/10 because I really do love the premise, and I like the storyline for the fourth season.
97% critics score from rotten tomatoes
96% audience score from rotten tomatoes
8.7 from IMDB

Devil's Pass (2013)

So I was listening to this podcast last week about the Dyatlov Pass Incident and was completely enraptured by the entire story. Russian, hikers, mysteries, conspiracy theories! Tracy and Holly, from Stuff You Missed in History Class, covered what history knows about the incident and some conspiracy theories that have emerged from this unsolved mystery.

In discussing these theories, they mention a film that was loosely based on the Dyatlov Pass Incident: Devil's Pass. A group of documentary filmakers and hikers have decided to retrace the steps of the famous group that died in 1959. Holly, the groups leader, is very keen on finding out what really happened and is willing to survive the journey.

The group begin their adventure with high hopes and have a few successful days before things essentially go to shit. They start experiencing some of the same odd events that fill the conspiracy theories and eventually flee from their campsite in the middle of the night.

While not a terribly scary movie or that good of a plot, it wasn't completely a waste of time to watch. Apart from some terrible CGI used laster in the film, it does look pretty spectacular with the surrounding nature and mountain views.

5/10 for being based on an super interesting incident.

53% critics score form Rotten Tomatoes

74% audience score from Rotten Tomatoes

5.7/10 from IMDB.com

Bates Motel 2013

A boy's best friend is his mother.


Norman Bates and his mother Norma Bates have moved to a small town and bought a house/motel. Norman is an awkward teenager and his mother seems to have gone through some hardships. What is immediately obvious is the strange relationship Norman and Norma have. 

The property they have purchased was foreclosed upon and the previous owner, Keith Summers, is a drunk who attacks Norma while Norman has snuck out to a party. Norman arrives in time to knock him out, but not before Keith has raped her. While Norman steps out of the room, Norma murders Keith.

Norma and Norman must then cover up his murder, dealing with the local police and the fact that Keith's truck was left on their property.

Bates Motel has one of the most compelling pilots I have ever seen. I followed it up by immediately watching two more episodes and staying up way past my normal bedtime. All of the actors perform really well and their characters are well fleshed out. Since this is based on Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, they have really great source material to be inspired from.

I'm really excited to continue with this series, I'll probably end up binge watching this all Thanksgiving weekend, since the first season is on Netflix.

9/10 for the amazing pilot.
81% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes
90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes
8.2 score on IMDB

Scorpion Pilot 2014

This team is pure genius.

I stumbled into a discussion over on Reddit about this pilot Tuesday, and even though the trailer reveals every detail about the pilot I somehow decided I should still watch it. 

I don't know why people think including every moment into a trailer is a good idea, it doesn't generally make viewers want to see something more. Especially when it's this bad.

Walter and his team of super geniuses are contacted by the government because LAX has lost the ability to communicate with their flights, possibly causing thousands of deaths. They then carry out several crackpot ideas that somehow end up with a car and airplane connected by an ethernet cable.

This plot is like gas station nachos: cheesy and leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth afterwards. You know you'll return a week later anyways. The plot is so ridiculously bad it makes me want to see the rest of it just for shits and giggles. 

The trailer also boasts that this is based on real events. Well, the supposed "real" Walter made an AMA on Reddit about two weeks ago, it went about as well as expected. The internet is pretty mean when they think something is fake.

I think I'll watch a few more episodes to satisfy my curiosity for bad entertainment.

4/10 for having a mildly entertaining opening scene.
38% Critics score on Rotten Tomatoes
68% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes
7.7 Score on IMDB

Priest 2011

The War is Eternal.
His Mission is Just the Beginning.

Priests,Vampires, Paul Bettany, Maggie Q, Karl Urban, what could go wrong?

Well, pretty much everything.

Basically, in some alternate universe vampires have always existed alongside humans in a constant battle for domination. The humans eventually build some impregnable walls around their cities and somehow jailed most of the vampire population with the help of an army of ninja priests.

Now, because I completely love Paul Bettany and most vampire movies, I decided to give this movie a chance. It looks pretty great first of all, the landscapes and CGI are really well done. The acting was alright, but it's really hard to get past the sucky script and storyline. Also, Paul was trying out his Batman voice for this role, without much success.

I like the concept, but the execution didn't really follow through.

4/10 Mostly because of what it looks like
16% Critics score on Rotten Tomatoes
46% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes