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Horror classics: Good Halloween rentals
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Kevin
Delury
Entertainment Beat |
| With Halloween upon us for yet another
year, it’s time for the horror movie to make its annual resurgence.
While films like the “The Ring” play in theatres, the
reality for Appalachian State University students is that rentals
are the more budget-friendly way to go when it comes to a night
at the movies. Below are just a few classics available for rent
at all finer video retailers. |
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 When
it comes to zombie films, no one can top George Romero’s masterpieces.
Responsible for such films as “Night of the Living Dead”
and “Day of the Dead,” “Dawn of the Dead” is
the second film of what could be considered the Dead Trilogy.
The story begins where “Night of the Living Dead” left
off: The recently deceased are returning to life and eating the
flesh of the living. After all is lost in a not-so-epic battle between
SWAT team members and ghetto-dwelling zombies, four strangers flee
by way of helicopter to escape the mounting army of zombies. They
eventually decide to set up camp in, where else: a shopping mall.
The following scenes are hilarious, with zombies decked out in circa-1978
fashion. The award for most interesting zombie goes to the Hare
Krishna zombie, still carrying his tambourine. Watching all these
zombies walk mindlessly through the mall with only the thought of
consumption driving them, one has to wonder if this is a zombie
flick or a very astute social commentary. Either way, it makes for
an excellent horror film. |
According to www.screenit.com, an online service
that allows parents to decide whether a movie will be suitable for
their children, “From Dusk till Dawn” has “96 ‘F-words.’”
The list goes on with two solid pages of the violence that plays
out in the movie.
Thank you, Quentin Tarantino.
Just think “Pulp Fiction” with vampires. Extreme amounts
of blood and gore, and absolutely no time for character development
because everyone’s dying as quickly as they got on screen.
The story is pretty basic. The Gecko brothers, played by George
Clooney and Quentin Tarantino, are cold-blooded ruthless killers
who open up the film by setting a gas station clerk on fire in a
botched robbery attempt. After more senseless violence and kidnapping
a minister’s family, the group winds up at a strip club in
the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, the strippers turn out to
be vampires. Isn’t that always the case?
For the ladies, there’s always George Clooney. For the guys,
there’s George Clooney killing nearly everybody in the film
in some of the more epic ways imaginable. It’s a win-win situation
for all involved. |
 Although
there’s not much gore and the violence is sparse, viewers will
find all they’re looking for in the intense occult-meets-sci-fi
“Event Horizon.”
The plot revolves around a crew of deep-space rescue workers, sent
to examine the remains of the Event Horizon, a ship that is capable
of bending space and time. After having gone missing for seven years,
the ship reappears.
Inside, the crew, headed up by Laurence Fishburne, finds remains
of crew members who have seemingly mutilated themselves, as well
as one another.
From that point on, everything that can go wrong does, as the rescuer
team finds themselves trapped within the Event Horizon. Horrific
visions haunt the crew and possess others like Justin, played by
Jack Noseworthy, who stands in an airlock as the pressure drops,
causing his veins to bulge out of his body and blood to spew from
his eyes and mouth. After a few intense scenes one must ask: “Where
has this ship been for the past seven years?” It is obvious
the ship has been to Hell and brought something back with it.
While the film has a strong cast, the star of “Event Horizon”
is undoubtedly the ship itself. With its cold, grey metallic structure
and dim lighting, it creates the mood that carries through the entire
film and is further intensified with a soundtrack courtesy of electronica
masters Orbital. |
 Without
question, the award for No. 1 grotesque violence, low budget and
blood-and-guts film of all time goes to Peter Jackson, who before
earning acclaim as the director of “Lord of the Rings,”
was known as the director of “Dead Alive.”
The film begins with Lionel, played by Timothy Balme, and his mom
visiting the zoo, where the infamous “rat-monkey” is on
display. After the little creature bites Lionel’s mom, she
starts to become one of the living dead, and Lionel tries desperately
to cover up the fact his mother is a zombie.
Meanwhile, Mom is out zombifying everyone who crosses her path.
We even get to see a zombie baby. The horde of undead is met with
little resistance, except for a kickboxing priest who has one of
the most classic scenes in the movie.
The end finale is timeless, with Lionel, a lawnmower, a seemingly
infinite supply of zombies and a lot of fake blood. It’s touching
moments like this that make “Dead Alive” a film for the
whole family. |
 Sam
Raimi, director of the summer hit “Spiderman,” has more
to be proud of than the respect of the mainstream. He should take
pride in the fact that he is solely responsible for a cult following
that rivals all others. The films in question are the “Evil
Dead” series, and most notably, the final installment “Army
of Darkness.”
This film owes its greatness to the star power of B-movie legend
Bruce Campbell. His classic one-liners such as “groovy,”
“come get some,” or “shop smart…shop S Mart”
make this film a laugh riot. Moreover, who could forget the geysers
of blood and chainsaw/shotgun rampages done in true B-movie fashion?
“Army of Darkness” isn’t a film to be taken seriously,
but instead a film that begs to be watched over and over again for
the sheer campiness of it. |
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