The film starts off innocently [...]]]> Ah, Gremlins. Gremlins is the ultimate movie to show kids who are begging mom and dad to get them a pet of some kind. For those who have never seen this, you have my pity because this movie is a bonafide classic of comedy, horror, and even Christmas genres.

The film starts off innocently enough with Randall Peltzer, a bumbling inventor whose inventions are great except for the fact that they do not work, looking in Chinatown for a gift for his son Billy (our hero played by Zach Galligan). He discovers a small antiques shop where he discovers the Mogwai Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandell, of all people). The owner of the shop doesn’t want to sell Gizmo because of the responsibility he would come with, but his sneaky underhanded grandson has no problem selling the little dude. When Randall takes Gizmo home, Gizmo’s greeted warmly by the family, but Randall recites the rules of caring for a Mogwai.

1. It hates bright light. And sunlight will kill it.
2. Don’t get it wet, not even to take a bath.
3. Whatever you do, no matter how much it begs, no matter how much it cries, never EVER feed it after midnight.

Easy enough rules to follow, right? But don’t forget, this is a B movie, and some poor schmuck, usually the hero, screws up at least one of the rules. Well, the poor schmuck in this movie is, surprise surprise, our hero Billy. When Billy gets Gizmo wet, a bunch of new, very mean, Mogwai are born, and when the little meanies trick him into feeding them after midnight, they turn into viscious, slimy, scaly, pimply demons that send Billy’s sleepy little town into the Christmas from Hell.

This movie is one of my top five favorite non-John Hughes 80s movies. Joe Dante’s film took a hokey B movie concept and milked it for all it was worth until it was pure comedic/horror gold. The film doesn’t take itself seriously, instead relishing in just how old school (despite some of the language) it is. It was a true genre bender that made a mark. It was almost two movies, the first half being a family friendly Christmas flick, and then the second half being an excellent horror flick. The two together was like peanut butter and chocolate, but some people are allergic to peanuts just like there were some complaints about one half or the other of the film. Many said that baiting the audience with family friendly fare and then turning it on its head with horror was too risky, as the film legitimately scared some children. In fact, it was one of the movies that led to the creation of the PG-13 rating. But these people obviously didn’t get the point of the movie.

The movie is a fun, riotous piece of cinema, and belongs on the shelf of any movie fan. I won’t touch on the sequel, because that movie’s a whole other ballgame that you either love or hate, but there’s no hating the original. It is a definite must own. Oh, and it features one of the kings of B movies, Dick Miller!

If you want to pick up Gremlins, you can do so right here on Bluray and DVD! (BTW I don’t want any crap for using an image from Gremlins 2. It was too epic to pass up.)

The film follows a family as they try to recover a little girl who has been taken by a river monster.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, no. First of all, this family is disfunctional [...]]]> I’m a huge, huge, HUGE fan of Asian movies. Especially Asian Horror/Sci-Fi movies. The Korean film The Host is no exception.

The film follows a family as they try to recover a little girl who has been taken by a river monster.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, no. First of all, this family is disfunctional at best. The main character, Gang-Du is “slow witted”. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, and it can be argued that his daughter’s, Hyun-seo, being taken is his fault. His slow wittedness is attributed to being beaten up and malnourished as a child. His brother is a college dropout and alcoholic. His father is somewhat of a pushover. His sister is an archery competitor, ashamed of only winning a bronze medal due to taking too long to fire. And to make it all worse, the US and Korean governments report that the creature is carrying a virus.

The thing that makes this monster movie stand above every monster movie since Jaws is simple: There’s a genuine heart and message behind it. The film shows how tragedy can bring a family together. Not only that, but there is also a biting political satire in it towards both the US military as well as (but to a lesser extent) the Korean Government. Director Bong Joon-Ho sets up some great shots to make this fim nice and atmospheric. Another great thing is that the monster only appears a few times in the film, instead choosing to focus on the main characters. And the monster itself is also a high point. Instead of a gargantuan, couple hundred foot tall beast, this monster is roughly the size of a large truck. Somehow that makes it scarier and more realistic to me. This movie stands as one of my favorite, if not my favorite, monster movies.

You can pick it up here!
The Host [Blu-ray]

The Host (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition)

Zombieland, as the name implies, takes place in a time when the world has become over run [...]]]> 2009 has been a big drag in terms of entertainment. It seems like there hasn’t been a genuinely good movie come out that audiences could get truly excited about. Well, now we have Zombieland, and it is AWESOME.

Zombieland, as the name implies, takes place in a time when the world has become over run with zombies to the point that they outnumber normal humans. It focuses on four people, identified by where they are from only. There is Columbus, played by Jesse Eisenberg. Columbus is a kid who is just looking for a place to call home. Then there is Wichita (played by Emma Stone), a big sister who has survived living in Zombieland by not trusting anyone except for her little sister, Little Rock. Little Rock (played by Abigail Breslin) is a kid who has been deprived of her childhood because of the Zombie Apocalypse. Little Rock and Wichita are trying to make it to an amusement park that is supposedly zombie free, and to give Little Rock at least one night of just being a kid. Accompanying all three of them is zombie killer extraordinaire Tallahassee, played brilliantly by Woody Harrelson. Tallahassee doesn’t want to get close to people and values only one thing: Twinkies. He argues that soon Twinkies will all be expired and unedible, and therefor need to be cherished/eaten when found.

This film was FUN. That’s all there is to say. It was the most fun zombie movie I had ever seen, and not because of the zombie killing. It’s fun because the characters do EXACTLY what you say you would do if you had almost an entire planet to yourself. Easily the most memorable scene in the movie is when they go to Hollywood and decide to stay in the presumably empty home of a celebrity who will remain unnamed because it is quite possibly the best cameo of all time. The action in this is solid, but it’s the comedy that stands out more than anything else. There’s nothing else I can possibly say other than GO SEE THIS MOVIE.