The Returned(2013) - Horror Movie - Review

Zombies have been all the rage since George Romero's classic "Night of the Living Dead" shocked us at the midnight theater scene, then finding a home on home-video, propelling it into cult status. However, while we can find a plethora of flesh munching zombies just about everywhere, unfortunately if you have seen one zombie flick you have pretty much seen them all. Originality has mostly taken a backseat for gruesome images of the undead eating the living --and even then not very well. And you have to look sometimes far and wide to find something new. "Fido" and "American Zombie" come to mind when I'm asked for something a little different, however, now I can add "The Returned" to that list as well.

Set 20 years after the last big zombie outbreak (there's a little nod if looked at closely to Romero and the time lines of the 2 outbreaks. The last taking place in the 1980's), Scientists have discovered a way to counter act the virus that turns humans into zombies if they are treated within 36 hours of being infected. The only draw back is if the treatment takes you're on the treatment for life. As the retro-viral drug is not a cure but a deterrent that keeps one normal. If you miss a dose you start to revert back to becoming a zombie. However, do to the high cost, the government is picking up the tab of research and dispersal to those that are referred to a "The Returned".





As you can imagine after 20 years people don't look at the poor souls that are infected as real people. And protest groups are now the talk of the day as they look to have the Returned people encamped due to the possibility of problems if they miss their dose. Add to that the rumors of a possible shortage of the retro-virus. As the infection has become a thing of the past the one place that they can harvest the proteins scientists need is drying up. As it becomes clear that the alternatives that are being researched are coming up bad and not effective, the government must take drastic actions as panic hits the streets as protesters from both sides clash.

In the midst of all this the story follows Kate, research scientist and doctor, as she tries to cope with the fact that her boyfriend is a Returned and has been stockpiling anti-virus for that "just in case" moment. But as it turns out things don't always go plane and that in the struggle of life and death and the possibility of things getting bad again you really can't trust anybody.

 "The Returned" at times takes on the thought process of how people were --and are-- treated that have an infectious disease (along the lines of HIV). Which gives the film a real world feel much to the effect that "Contagion" did to that film.

I give "The Returned" four out of five Severed Heads.

 

31 Days 31 Picks -World War Z TRAILER 2 (2013)

It's that time of the year again when the weather begins to cool, the leaves begin to change color and fall to the ground. And when we get to  this time of the year our minds start to wonder. Not about gum drops and sugar plus or even that of Santa Claus, no, we start to think about what lurks in the ever growing, ever lasting, darkness.

Yes it's that time of the year when the spooks come out and play havoc with out sanity.

And yes it's that time of the year for our annual 31 Days 31 Picks. 31 horror flicks to make you think about what lies just outside the door; inside the closet; under the bed.

This year we kick off the Halloween season with "World War Z".

I was originally looking forward to this big budget action zombie yarn, having read the book I was curious to see how they did it. (Don't worry fans of the book, other than the name it's a completely different story) But then the stories came out about it being WAY over budget and problems on the set and all the script rewrites. Then I heard that the third act was a disaster.

Some how Brad Pitt soldiered through, bringing in yet another new writer just to rewrite the ending, and, boy, am I glad they did. The new ending --the one in the film-- works FAR better than the one I had read about. And in the end "World War Z" is a half way descent zombie flick in a market that is saturated with zombies. Not great, but well worth a watch.

"Fear of the Living Dead" -Today's Horror Short as We gear Up for Halloween

Today's pick for our Halloween gear is the zombie gore fest "Fear of the Living Dead" An intense and gore-filled tale that zombie and horror film lovers will enjoy! Our picks up two weeks after the zombies took over, and goes for broke as we follow our hero as attempts to stay alive in the world of the dead.  This is the YouTube Edit, about a minute and a half shorter than the DVD version.

"Mother Died" - short horror film (Bloody Cuts)

As Macy's and Kmart gear up the Christmas season (and it's only fucking September) my cannibalistic babies and I think, well, why we gear up as well. Not for fucking Christmas but for the holiday that we always looked forward too: Halloween.

So with that said, I think we here at Cannibalistic Rage Babies are going to start counting up to our annual 31 Days, 31 Picks for October with our Horror Short collection. Today we are going to start with with the good old fashion zombie apocalypse entitled "Mother Died".

Until next time... stay scared.

Zombies, Crazies & More Return in Harry Shannon's "The Hungry 3: At the End of the World

Fans of Sheriff Penny Miller and her dealings in Harry Shannon’s (Co-Written with Steven Booth) “The Hungry” series (Genius Book Publishing) will be happy to note the third installment to the series has hit the proverbial book shelves with “The Hunger: At the End of World”.

For zombie fans this story has been on their “must read list” since 2011 and has followed the exploits of local town, and tough as nails, Sheriff Penny Miller as she has to deal with not only the usual things ones in law enforcement has to deal with in Flat Rock, Nevada but now has to deal with a plague of the undead. Unwittingly released by accident. And as it should be expected when it comes to zombie fiction “The Hungry” series is packed full of bloody, gory, zombie-munching violence galore.

“The Hungry” starts off as Miller and her gang of survivors (those include her pussy ex-husband, an off-the-walls biker, the scientist that did the deed of bringing back the dead and a National Guardsman, who, safe to say, isn’t the best and brightest) as they come to terms of what is happening in small town America and then trying to get a handle on what is what. The group makes their way to Las Vegas that, unfortunately, hasn’t fared much better when it comes to dealing with zombie hordes in “The Hungry 2: The Wrath of God”. This time around the army tasks Miller to head up to zombie ground zero to recover data that may help in winning the battle of survival. And while she has a team of Mercenaries at her disposal things go from bad to worse when she gets to the top secret lab.

This time around in “At the End of the World”, Miller and company escape the government's final solution to the zombie plague and end up at an old hunting cabin deep in the backwoods of Colorado. Hoping to at least catch their breath while avoiding zombies, the army, and just screwball survivalists, and just ride out the coming winter. But as we have come to know with “The Hungry” series nothing ever goes according to plan.  

You can find the entire series on Amazon.com as well as all of Harry Shannon and Steven Booth’s novels.

Until next time...