Day of the Dead: Bloodlines
Say what you want about the previous Day of the Dead remake. It was so unrelated to the Romero original it was easy enough to pretend the cretins that made it thought they had come up with an original title. No such luck here. Its a similar set up. Group of survivors hold up in a bunker. Here they seem to get on quite well for a fair portion of the film and the military guys are all rather nice chaps. This I can sort of live with I suppose. However then we get to Bub.
Howard Sherman as Bub in the Romero picture is one of those magnificent, Iconic characters that fans love. Here he's a rapist. Dr. Logan, Fisher and Sarah have all been rolled into one female character. Her one defining character trait beyond being a scientist is that she was almost raped by the Bub character prior to him becoming a zombie. When the group head into the city to find supplies she runs into bub. The old passion is renewed and bub manages to track the group based on scent from a bit of clothing she dropped. No, I'm not kidding. When Bub arrives at the bunker he's fortunate that no one notices missing people. No one notices noisy zombies moving through the air ducts so he gets pretty much free reign. Thankfully we don't see him rape anyone but the implication is very much there when we see him drag a woman into a room by her legs rather than just bite her.
I'm almost convinced that the idiots that wrote this were looking for something 'edgy' to include in the story and decided hinging the whole plot on rape because its 'dark'.
I can live with the other stuff. Even the stupid. Points where zombies jump out into frame to attack people in rooms cleared by military veterans. However Bub left a real sour taste in my mouth. Its impossible not to think of it as a remake of the Romero film. Not good. I was at a mates and he had to talk me down as I wanted to wreck something. Fortunately his new puppy consoled me.
Brawl in cell block 99
Much better. Vince Vaughn excels as a Stoic drug Runner who is basically a nice guy but capable of extreme violence when needed. He needs to get into the worst part of a maximum security prison to kill a guy on the behest of his boss who has his woman hostage. It's gritty, brutal and darkly humorous and not afraid to frame itself as an exploitation movie. Recommended.
 |