Flattened by bastard ear infection. Anti-biotics not working, therefore only remaining course of action is to watch a massive pile of DVDs. Here are some I tried earlier:
THE INNKEEPERS - Enjoyed, though perhaps not as much as HOTD. Similar approach, though - slow pile up of nuance and mood. As much a study of human loneliness as anything else - ghosts spring up as stand-ins for central character's terror of life. I liked the cryptic, off key exchanges between the players more than the jump scares, which felt a bit perfunctory. And that bit with the garbage bag - was that quite zen or do I need to get my temperature down?
ZOMBIE DRILLER KILLER - Blind buy based on title alone. Why, though? Anything called 'Zombie Driller Killer' is bound to disappoint, surely? Not in this case, which is all the more gratifying given that the title is sort of accurate and yet the film itself is kind of opposite to what one might expect... OK, basically some killer in an orange jumpsuit is drilling people's heads and turning them into black tar spewing zombies. The father of one of the victims does some detective work and finds sinister weirdness going on in a chemical plant. Sounds like the same film you got bored of watching about five years ago? It's not at all - far from being yet another in the seemingly endless procession of zombies-by-numbers, this owes much more to the approach of eg 'I, Zombie'... it's grim, downbeat and serious. Well actually there's quite a bit of black humour, but never at the expense of a pervasive feeling of bleakness and sadness: a good portion of the movie is given to the father's efforts to support his zombiefied daughter, who is less a shuffling flesh eater than someone who seems desperately ill (well, 'cos they are). Disturbing, pretty original and well worth a viewing, probably better served by its former title 'Dark Souls'. The polar opposite of 'Zombie 108', this year's other interesting zombie flick.
NIGHTMARE CITY - I always think this never gets enough credit. But I'm biased, it's one of my favourite ever Italian exploitation movies. I'm sure most people here have seen it or know about it so I won't go on about it except to say it never fails to entertain me with its eighties TV dance troupe routines, non-stop apocalyptic carnage, frequently perverse gore and frazzled zombies who just look like they're complete arseholes. I mean look at them, they're not just driven by instinct or a need for braaaiiinnnss, OK they drink a bit of blood but mainly they just seem to get off on chasing and murdering people. Anyway, hats off to Umberto for a movie I will likely never tire of. Now I must let my ear gently weep.
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