The Xavierpop Ye Old Hallow's Eve TrailerFest - Halloween (1978)

In honour of ye Old Hallow's Eve, Xavierpop is revisiting the trailers of some of the most proper scary movies of modern film.

Behold..

The original bad-ass himself Michael Myers in Halloween:

Filed under  //  All Saint   Halloween   Holidays   Michael Myers   Opinions   Religious   Trick or Treat   United States   film   nerdiness   pop-culture   tumblrize   xavierpop  
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Louis does Toronto After Dark Festival - Review of War of the Dead

It's the middle of the Second World War and a group of American and Finnish soldiers are sent to attack a German bunker.  In doing so they stumble upon one of the most horrible and closely guarded secrets of the Nazi regime.   The unit's mission having now changed, the small band of men try to both survive the onslaught and destroy the bunker from whi ch they sprang as they now face an enemy more terrible and terrifying - the undead.

This is a dark film.  Literally and figuratively. The movie takes place over a single night with the final shot being the first light of the next morning. The lighting is such that you can (mostly) see what is unfolding onscreen. Except for the bunkers, I was never sure if what I saw was soundstage or built set.  I found the sets to be accurate, almost to the point of distraction as the director seemed to want to show every type and style of period setpiece he could come up with.

The acting is competent with veteran British actors Andrew Teirnan (Survivors) and Mark Winggett (The Bill) working alongside Finnish actor Samuel Vauramo  and strongman Jouko Ahola.  If their performances fail to deliver, I find fault with the writer and director first as I didn't find myself caring about any of them.

Save Magdalena Górska's brief and confusing foray into the film's narrative, there isn't much that one can find sympathetic about the plight they find themselves in.  The problem is twofold - the first one being the characters themselves are relatively humorless.  Soldiers tend to joke, even when the situation is hopeless.  This movie desperately needed some comic relief in it somewhere.  The second problem is that the Nazi-Zombies were neither Nazis or Zombies but captured Russian soldiers who were experimented on.

The opening shot is of a solider of unknown origin, in a frock, getting shot and turning into undead.  The rest of the movie they are in uniform, side cap and all attacking our heroes.  Most have been given special powers of speed, strength and endurance, but seem unable to speak.  Still they manage coordinated attacks, leaping from the ground to the top of a building in a single leap, breaking doors and windows yet somehow unable to keep up with a car moving at a walking pace.

"Dead Snow" this is not. It isn't "Outpost" either. It really isn't comparable to any of sub-genre of Nazi-Zombie films even though that is the impression the trailer gives.  The narrative is a bit hard to follow as the main characters tend to wander aimlessly for a bit. After dying one by one, the final few then decide to call in an airstrike from the middle of the bunker full of super undead.  Even as a horror fan I found this quite hard to accept as a legitimate way to handle the problems the plot gave itself.   Much of it felt forced, out of place and fake.  Even though, the gore is well done it is not enough to save this film from itself.

I'd wait for it to come out on cable.

Filed under  //  Bill   Jouko Ahola   List of zombie films   Nazi   Nazi-Zombie   Nazism   United States   World War II   Zombie   film   nerdiness   pop-culture   tumblrize   xavierpop  
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American Reunion Red Band Trailer ..and it's pretty much what you'd expect

I was going to give this a pass. I mean how many of these movies can you make. The first couple were funny and made huge stars out of the cast. But I am getting old and this stuff shouldn't be funny anymore right?

Right?!?!

Alright, I have to admit that I laughed out loud during this trailer, much to my chagrin, and that earned this trailer a spot here. The whole gang is back and if the the movie is like the trailer, then it will definitely worth the watch.

What say you?

source  -  Empire.

Filed under  //  Alyson Hannigan   American Pie   Arts   Empire   Jason Biggs   Teaser trailer   United States   film   nerdiness   pop-culture   trailer   tumblrize   xavierpop  
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Can't Knock the Hustle - How To Make It In America: Season 2 Trailer

Entourage is done.

What else can we watch to replace it?
For the few the few of us that caught the first season of How To Make In America, the answer is a real easy one. The question is when the hell is the next season coming out?

Soon....

Like October 2nd soon.

Don't believe me, behold the trailer for the next season.

Revel, enjoy and see you on the 2nd.

Filed under  //  Arts   Drama   Entourage   HBO   Programs   Television   Third Watch   United States   film   nerdiness   pop-culture   tumblrize   xavierpop  
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