Contracted (2013) Not Your Average STD Flick

Pegged as what "Jaws" did the beaches "Contracted" does for sex is a bit of the stretch when it comes to  Eric England's new lesbian/horror film. And what should of been a great horror film falls flat.

"Contracted" follows a heartbroken Samantha who has just had an argument with her girlfriend and is forced back to live with her ever hovering mother. Samantha attends a party thrown by her friend, Alice, whose sole purpose it seems is to get Samantha drunk.  Later she meets a man calling himself BJ who slips her a date-rape drug. The two end up in a car where BJ takes advantage of her drunkenness and that of being drugged. The next morning Samantha wakes up severely hungover in her own room not sure what happened the night before. As the day progresses, however, it becomes evident that what she thought was a hangover isn't normal as Samantha begins to have period-like symptoms, beginning with heavy bleeding when she uses the bathroom. Then at work Samantha finds it hard to concentrate and is forced to leave early and heads to the doctor who at first thinks that she has contracted a STD from her one-night stand. Later on Samantha talks to Alice about the party and learns that the police have come by looking for a man that might of possibly been there. Not only that, but if anyone had come in contact with him as well. But do to the drug that was slipped to her Samantha fails to make a connection. Over the next couple of days, what she believed as a normal sickness becomes clear that it isn't anything of the sort as things go from bad to worse.

 

While I thought that "Contracted" had a great idea and premise the film ends up becoming muddled rather quickly. Eric England's attempts to gross out the viewers falls short and fails to actually achieve any desired effect. Along with the that, there is an underlying subtext that is prevalent throughout of that we are all shallow and self absorbed that becomes increasingly annoying as simple things are never addressed. Case in point: Samantha has blood draining from both eyes and the only thing people have to say is: "you look like shit". Really? No kidding . Then when the doctor she sees thinks what she has is something viral, his advice for Samantha to go home and not come in contact with anyone until the blood work comes in. Come on. Even a half wit, inbred doctor would of called an ambulance and have rushed to the hospital.

By the end of the film Eric England ties it all together of what is happening. Unfortunately that point was painfully obvious fifteen minutes into the film. A fact that would of been fine if the characters that populate the film weren't so horribly annoying.

In the end, "Contracted" at best, gets 2 out 5 Severed Heads. And that's because I thought that there was a great idea that was just poorly executed.


 Until Next time...

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.

Kirkman Talks Season 4 of "The Walking Dead"

After talking with a few people about the season finale of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” many have said that they felt cheated and let down, that the episode prior to the season finale was by far better. And in truth it was. However, I have been hearing a vast number of complaints since the beginning of season 2 of just everything. And some are rightly so. As with any adaptation from book, or in this case comic, the story, while start out roughly the same, tend to take on their own life on screen. I mean, where is the sense that it is a good idea to follow what is exactly on the page? there would be no reason for fans to continue to watch it long term because there would be no mystery. I know a lot of you will say that you would because you would want to see your favorite characters come to life, but in the end I think most of us would be bored by season 2, knowing full well what is going to happen and how it is going to play out. So a little deviation is a good thing. Because in truth we already know quite a bit of what is going to take place. Or at least we did.

Along with how the story is changing another of the complaints has been about pacing. That the show is too

slow. And at times that is a valid argument. However, when the show starts to be ALL ACTION a lot of these same people say that there is NO PLOT. Just random deaths and action. Another complaint is there are not that much in the way of zombies. Again a lot of these same people will go back to the NO PLOT argument when the show IS ALL zombies. And while I try to explain that the zombies are actually really just backdrop of how the world is, that the show is really a character based drama that happens to play out in a world plagued by zombies, it always seem to fall on deaf ears. However, if we look back at some of the greatest zombie films we see the same thing. That the zombies are more window dressing for the story, an extra element of hardship in the struggle to stay alive. All of George Romero’s zombie flicks are character based, 28 Days Later (I know, 28 Days is not really a “zombie” flick per say) is another that mostly focuses on the plight of the characters. We need all of it to equal out. And when we are dealing with a 16 episode ark ike season 3 was and what season 4 is going to be, we are going to have slow parts for the sake of character & plot development.

With that said and how season 3 of The Walking Dead played out many fans of the show are wondering where does it go now? Now that the showrunners are really taking the story away from the comics. IGN sat down with the creator of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, to discuss just that.

IGN: The last two seasons ended with this definitive change of location for the group, but they seem to be sticking in the prison for now, albeit with a bunch of new people. With the Woodbury threat out of the way, what other kinds of challenges might they be facing at the prison?

Kirkman: A bigger group brings with it bigger problems. They are certainly going to need a lot more resources, and they already have a lot of rebuilding to do, just from the things that happened in this battle between Woodbury and the prison. I don’t think there’s going to be a shortage of conflict and danger coming into the fourth season, despite the fact that they are still in the prison... there are a lot of familiar elements that are remaining. Michonne is still around, Rick and his group are still in the prison, the Governor’s still out there… so there are a lot of things that are carrying over from Season 3 to Season 4, but I can’t stress how different things are going to be.

There are going to be some radical changes to those elements that are going to bring in a lot of new storytelling. While [Season 4] does seem somewhat familiar, it’s going to be vastly different from Season 3.

ING: We didn’t really get any closure with the Governor in the finale. Is it safe to assume that he’ll have a big role to play next season?

Kirkman: Yeah, he’s still very much in the mix. That’s certainly not the last that we’ll see of him.

When we see him again and where we see him again, that’s the big question. It’s not going to be like it was in Season 3; it’s not going to be Rick and the Governor on a collision course with a conflict between them. He’ll be used in very different ways next season.

IGN: Carl and Rick seemed to have almost switched roles to some degree, with Carl being incredibly cold and Rick finding a sense of optimism to some degree. How does that inform their relationship from this point forward?

Kirkman: Rick has had a success. The people at the prison have survived this conflict with the Governor, he brought people from Woodbury into the prison, and he’s kind of had this big win. He’s had this moment where he’s brought people together and he’s doing good things. But he’s had this tremendous loss in that Carl has lost this piece of his humanity. This has been Rick’s main mission throughout the show, to protect his family. We’ve seen two very big failures on that front this season.

Moving into next season, we’re going to see a very different Rick, but one of his main goals is to manage this situation with Carl and see if he can bring him back from this darkness that’s crept into him. Whether or not he’s able to do that, we’ll have to see. But this is a big change in the character of Carl, but it’s something that’s going to be weighing heavily on Rick next season.

The Walking Dead resumes production in May with season 4 set to air in October.

The Robert Kirkman interview was taken from ING (http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/02/the-walking-dead-kirkman-talks-season-3-finale-teases-season-4) written by Joey Esposito.

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. If he could, he'd run away to live amongst wild cats for the rest of his days.

Until next time...

More For World War Z

Brad Pitt's long awaited apocalyptic zombie flick "World War Z" is set to destroy theaters on June 21st,  2013. And Plan B (Pitt's Production company) has given us another glimpse into what is to be expected. And from the looks of the latest trailer the film actually looks like it might be worth seeing.

For me I think that the whole Zombie genre is getting rather played out and needs a rest. While there are still zombie things worth watching and owning ("The Walking Dead" comes to mind, despite all the negativity & criticism about the show being slow and too much filler. But on the same token those complainers would say that there is no plot if the show was all action. And in reality "The Walking Dead" isn't really about the zombies anyway. But try to explain that to some... but I digress), but when we get "Twilightesque" zombie love stories & just about every other horror novel is zombies I say enough already. For me, if it comes to zombies now, I have think it is really going to worth it, or I am not even wasting my time.

But with said, with this new trailer for "World War Z" (I wasn't to excited about the first one) I am thinking it just might be worth my time. That it actually seems to have a real plot. I know the film is going to be huge departure from the Max Brooks novel. And while I thought the novel was okay (With way Brooks went about it, with Oral History of the after the fact zombie war, I thought some stories worked out great & some just boring & and a retread from movies that Brooks had seen) the movie is looking interesting.

I was beginning to think Pitt's foray into the horror genre was never going to come out after it was leaked that the film was a disaster of epic proportions. With production shut down for being way over cost because of the script rewrites and re-shoots.  And quite frankly that still worries me. I guess will just have to wait and see. However, I'm thinking the critics are going to have a field day tearing this film down.

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...   

"World War Z" Trailer and Thoughts

Holy shit, time to break out your Zombie Survival Handbooks because here it is, the trailer for the big screen adaptation of Max Brooks’ “World War Z”

Don’t worry if haven’t read the novel because from the first looks of it, “World War Z” is going to be nothing (even more than the “Walking Dead”) like the book. Which really is not a bad thng. In case you don’t know the novel, that version of the story is set 10 years after the great war with the undead as Agent Brooks of the United Nations Post War Commission travels around the world gathering information and facts from the years of battle to reclaim the Earth. Whereas the big screen version from Brad Pitt’s production company (Plan B Entertainment) takes us what is sure to be wild ride as UN agent Gerry Lane (Pitt) searches the globe of what the origin is that has brought of this onslaught of the dead and for a way stop it from destroying the world.

Originally set for release at the end of 2012 (because, hell, who doesn’t like death, destruction and the end of the world during the holiday season) “World War Z” seemed to be plagued (pun untended) with problems from almost the start. Everything from production shutdowns to being WAY over budget. Then there were the rumors that the ending was a complete disaster in its own right. Causing the Studio to have Pitt hire a new screen writer to re-write the end and re-film. When I heard that and how the movie was pushed from the Christmas release list I had figured this movie to be a dead issue, maybe finding the light of day either in movie Purgatory of January (that seems to be the time when studios that have little faith in their projects and since most people are recovering from the holiday season they are not typically heading to the movies, so usually there is little or no quality films be put so a movie like this would find no competition and perhaps might make some of it’s budget back) or just dumped on DVD. But with a movie this size and amount to produce the latter would be unlikely with out a big screen release. Then there comes the fact that the “Hobbit” looked slated to be released, if not on the same weekend, then, relatively close to “World War Z” which did not bode well either. So either from genus marketing or perhaps they have actually fixed whatever problems they have, “World War Z” is finally going to find it’s way to the theaters. And right in time for the summer blockbuster season, and reportedly going up against the revamped Superman franchise: “Man of Steel.”

Should be interesting, because the trailer makes it look pretty fucking awesome. However, I do have to note the zombie purists will not be happy as we have returned to the fast moving, rabid eater type zombies.



So check it out and let me know what YOU think.

"The Dead" My Fourth Must See Pick for the Halloween Season

What would a Halloween season be with out a good Zombie flick? and “The Dead” is right up that alley when it comes to good Zombie flicks.

In  the vein of the “Walking Dead” , “The Dead” is more about the humans that are caught up in the crisis of the recently deceased returning to life and using the living like fat people use a smorgasbord at your local “Old Country Buffet”, then it is about the zombies per say as we find ourselves caught up with Flight Engineer, Brian Murphy (Rob Freeman) as he hops one of the last planes out of Africa where -it should come to no surprise since Africa seems the place to find end of the world diseases originating (Ebola anyone?)- a zombie virus is plaguing the continent. But, unfortunately, for Murphy, things do not quite go according to plan and the U.N. relief flight he is on crashes just off the coast. Murphy now finds himself the sole surviving member of the doomed flight and is now completely cut off and on his own.

As Murphy fights his way through the Dark Continent -his only saving grace are his wits and ingenuity that he has learned through years as a soldier, that lend any hope for him staying alive long enough so he can escape and make his way back to his family- Murphy crosses paths with Daniel Dembele (Prince David Osei), a Sergeant in the African Army, as he finds himself on his own pilgrimage of the damned across the inhospitable landscape of zombies and the insane, as he tries to find out where his son was taken when the army evacuated his decimated village.

The two desperate men decide to join forces in hopes of perhaps evening out the odds against what are no doubt insufferable odds and with no real hope of winning.

Shot on location in never-before-seen on film parts Africa (Burkina Faso, French-speaking West Africa, and Ghana, as well as the Sahara), “The Dead” announces the arrival of the Ford Brothers onto the horror scene with what is being touted as one of the most unique zombie films ever. And a definite must see of fans of the genre.

Enjoy.

Until Next time…

"THE LORDS OF SALEM" News

THE LORDS OF SALEM is finally done! The world premiere is Sept. 10th at the TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Rec 3 : Genesis-Review One Wild and Fun Ride

“[REC] 3: GENESIS” is the third installment in the highly successful “[REC]” series. In case you are not completely familiar with “[REC]”, the American remake of it was called “Quarantine” which is basically a shot for shot remake of the original “[REC]” (although “Quarantine 2” deviates from “[REC] 2”).

The original “[REC]” follows a female reporter (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman (Pablo Rosso) as they basically do a fluff story on firemen and paramedics, who then fatefully end up going on a call at an apartment building for an unresponsive woman.

Upon arrival the fire crew hear screams coming from an apartment, the woman appears to be crazy and having some type of melt down. From there things go from bad to worse as the residents find themselves being sealed inside the building do to some sort of outbreak which the authorities are vague in explaining, even to their own people inside. The infection begins to spread thru the group that is locked in, making them come across as rage-filled (think “28 Days Later”) zombie-like creatures that move fast and attack in a second, and with each attack the infection spreads. In “[REC] 2” we follow as a SWAT team enters the building to asses the situation, along with a group of adventurous teens who find a back way in.

Both “[REC]” and “[REC] 2” are shot in POV so the action develops as the camera rolls and we see it first hand as the participants do, and whereas “Quarantine” is practically the same film as the first “[REC]” the two films deviate from each other over what causes the infection. In the American version of the infection is a super sized type of the Rabies virus made by a doomsday cult hell bent of destroying the world, and in the original Spanish version the infection is steeped in religion where a doomsday cult hell bent on destroying the world has figured out a way through exorcisms for the devil to come into our world and start Judgment Day.

Which takes us to “[REC] 3: GENESIS”. “Genesis” begins on the same day as the first two films only that it starts hours before and at a completely different location, and like the first two films begins in the POV style filming as we follow the wedding of Clara (Leticia Dolera) and Koldo (Diego Martín), in fact the whole first twenty minutes of the movie is just like raw footage you would have from an actual wedding. As we are introduced to the party goers who are destined to become the horde of psychotic possessed zombies we are shown who is to be patient zero of it all while they are still normal, tying in the first “[REC]” nicely because patient zero works at the same vet where the infected dog from the building of the first film was from.

You get your usual junk cuts and shaky camera work that is to be expected from using hand held camera as we watch the set up too and the wedding itself all the way up to the reception (on side note I might add if this is how Spanish weddings are, I so want to go to one). But as things go south and the shit hit’s the fan with zombies, the POV camera (and since if you are watching this film you more-than-likely know how the filming will be) that has become a staple of the “[REC]” series suddenly changes. We now go from POV to a more traditional style of film making. And at first I got the impression that maybe it was going to go back and forth from the two. Alas, while I, personally thought it would be cool, it is given up pretty quickly for a straight shot.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, because the “[REC]” series is like an onion and the more layers they peel away the more layers there are. Although I want to add that while films one and two were dead serious this third film brings in a lot of dark comedy to the series that works quite well with all that is happening, and the comedy doesn’t over step it’s bounds like it can and has been the case with plenty of horror films. When something funny happens it is usually followed by something really horrible.

In the end I found “[REC] 3 GENESIS” a fun and wild ride and a must see for those who have seen the series and like these types of horror movies and that it fir nicely with the first two films making yearn all the more for “[REC] 4 apocalypse.”

The only real problem I had with this “[REC]” is that some of the zombies shambled and moved slower than they did in the previous films.

I give “[REC] 3” 4 out of 5 severed heads.