Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979)
Sub-Genre- Zombie
In Attendance- Me, Machine, Geo, Chris, Christian (He shows up sometimes), and Sadie (She's the dog.)
What's it about?- Good luck figuring this one out; Italian horror is about as hard to follow as a butterfly on meth sometimes, but it's just as captivating. I'll give it my best shot.
When a boat drifts into the Harbor of N.Y.C., we find out that the Big Apple is now populated by lip-syncing Italians. Giuseppe and Paolo find a Zombie stowaway, and they quickly prove that they're the worst cops in the history of the world.
The boat belongs to some scientist who has been incommunicado on a tropical island, which worries his not really pretty daughter. So naturally, she and some random stranger head to Ooga-booga island to find dad.
What they find instead is a plague of zombies unleashed by an evil native witch doctor, who you never see... although you hear his tribes drums playing all throughout the movie...
Needless to say, zombie carnage ensues. I wont ruin the ending here, but let's just say that New York finally gets what it deserves.
This movie also contains one of the most infamous scenes in horror movie history:
The Bad- As with most Italian horror flicks, it starts slow, is paced slow, and it can be a test to make it through the whole thing for the average person.
The Downright Horrendous- Did any girl in the 70's have boobs bigger than a B cup?
What did we learn?- Zombies and sharks hate each other.
Rating- B+ An all-time classic, and a must own for zombie and horror fans.
Machine's Random Musings: He loved the part where the girl got her throat ripped out... He actually purred. Creepy bastard.
Zodiac (2007)
Sub-Genre- Serial Killer
In Attendance- Me, Machine, Geo, Chris, Christian (He shows up sometimes), and Sadie (She's the dog.)
What's it about?- Basically, it's a story about how inept cops were in the 60's and 70's, and how they sucked so bad, that they let one of the most infamous serial killers in U.S. history pretty much go on killing and get away with it.
The gay cowboy from Brokeback Mountain is hired as a cartoonist for the "Reach-around Pass Gazette", and becomes obsessed with doing the police's job and catching the Zodiac Killer.
The Zodiac, who seems lonely, writes letters to the police and newspapers telling them all he wants is a pen pal. He says he will keep killing until he gets one, and so California is screwed because pen pals are gay.
I wont ruin the end here, but it involves a bald guy, some random tools and hardware, and a smoky man look reminiscent of Brokeback Mountain.
The Good- Here we get the rarest of all things: A great horror movie as well as a superbly made film all in one package. David Fincher has made his finest film with Zodiac, and it's brilliant in every way. From Robert Downey Jr. acting his ass off yet again, to Jake Gyllenhall making me forget all about gay cowboys, to the pacing, cinematography and even the script.
Oh yeah, its creepy as shit too.
Any self respecting horror fan needs this in their collection.
The Bad- I'm not sure why he didn't, but Iron Man should have used his suit to fight the Zodiac Killer. He so would have won.
The Downright Horrendous- Why would you want to kill this cutie pie?:
What did we learn?- Never go in the fucking basement. Never, ever.
Rating- A+ A tour de force in film making, you need to see this and own it.
