Hey, everyone!  I know I promised the review of "Zombie" today, but that’s taking a little longer than I thought to work out, but I have something else for you now.  Asylum.com asked the Suicide Girls to do a horror themed photo shoot in honor of the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, and they were gracious enough to share the link to the pics with us here at Happy Horror.  And so, it’s my honor to bring it to you.  You can find the pics at this site:

http://www.asylum.com/2009/06/08/suicide-girls-are-scary-hot/

I’ll also be linking it up to our sidebar soon, so it’ll be up after this article leaves the front page.  Enjoy the pics!  Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!

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Hey, there, everyone, and welcome to a brief respite from International Zombie Week.  I know that I said I’d do a week’s straight of zombie films, and I intend to keep my word there, but this is Father’s Day!  The one day of the year that we honor the male parent in our lives, and I thought I’d take an in-depth look at one of horror’s most underrated fathers, the title character from the film The Stepfather.

Terry O’Quinn, Lost’s John Locke himself, plays Jerry Blake in the first film, a man obsessed with finding the perfect family.  To this end, he’ll do whatever it takes to make his family life work… even if he has to kill his family and take on a new one.  In this film, he marries a widow and becomes the stepfather to her daughter, Stephanie, who doesn’t trust him at all.  As Jerry tries to build what he sees as the perfect life, events conspire against him until he eventually starts to lose it and tries to start over from the beginning.

In Stepfather II (aka Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy), he succeeds in finding a perfect family with a son who loves him, but has to deal with outside forces trying to bring his past back to haunt him.  This was, I believe, the first Stepfather film I saw (the first one I remember seeing, at any rate), and I enjoyed it alot.

Stepfather III sees the same character played by a different actor, Robert Wightman (explained as him receiving plastic surgery to alter his looks).  This time, he poses as Keith Grant and takes a job at a plant nursery.  Wooing another woman with a son, Grant soon marries her but things go downhill quickly for him again as his new stepson starts trying to look into his past.  After deciding to just move on to another woman, Grant’s life becomes even more complicated when his current wife and the woman he’s wooing for his next marriage become friends.

That’s the last of the original run of films, but there’s a new one in the works!  That’s right, Dylan Walsh is set to take over the role of the Stepfather when the remake rolls out October 16 of 2009.  Only time will tell if this new film can stand up to the original run, but I think it’s looking pretty good.  And so, until next time, when we bring you Zombie, this is Red Hawk signing out!

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"Stand back, boy!  This calls for divine intervention!" - Father McGruder

So, here we are with Day Four of International Zombie Week and we’re at one of the first horror comedies I can remember seeing.  The film is also known to hold the record for being the goriest movie in history, at least last I checked.  Considering the bloodbath in the film’s finale, I can believe it still holds the throne (though the American film Blood Sickness comes pretty close, as well).  So sit back, relax, and let me take you for a ride through Dead Alive (also known as Braindead), our entry for New Zealand.

The film opens with a view of Skull Island, where a trio of people are running with a small wooden cage, away from a group of natives.  Surrounded, the head of the group, Stewart, reaches into his jacket and pulls out… some paperwork, stating that he’s authorized to transport the monkey in the cage (which we still haven’t seen) to the Wellington Zoo in New Zealand.  The natives are unimpressed, however, and Stewart grabs a machete and cuts the cage free of its carrying stake, picks it up and runs for the Jeep.  Upon reaching their transportation, they take off, but the cage falls on him and he yells that the monkey bit him.  The Jeep stops and Stewart’s guides see a bitemark on his hand, which they immediately cut off.  They then see another bite on his other arm, so lop off that part as well.  Finally, they see a scratch on his forehead… his scream after this carries us to the title, and a shot of the guides delivering the rat monkey’s cage themselves to a man at a plane.

From here, we meet shopkeeper Paquita, who has a crush on deliveryman Roger, which her grandmother notices and offers to read Paquita’s fortune with tarot cards.  The card that turns up for her destined love doesn’t look like Roger to her, and her grandmother informs her it’s because it isn’t him, then starts telling her that her true love will be surrounded by death, then finishes by telling her that she’ll know him by a star symbol.  At this point, we meet the real hero of our film, Lionel, who’s come to make an order for his mother.  Paquita’s less than enthused with his visit… that is, until he accidentally knocks over some colored pencils and they end up in the shape of the star on the card.

Later, Paquita herself delivers the groceries to the house and more or less tricks Lionel into agreeing to go to the zoo with her the next day, all the while Lionel’s mother, Vera, watches from the window suspiciously.  The next day at the zoo, Lionel and Paquita have a good time, not realizing that Vera’s in the shadows watching them.  At the monkey cage, Paquita tosses some fruit to one of the monkeys, but it lands close to another cage where a gnarled paw reaches through and kills it.  This is the first time we see the Sumatran Rat Monkey that Stewart went to retrieve and it’s extremely ugly.  Lionel leads Paquita away as Lionel’s mother starts to follow, but steps on something that causes her to fall back against the rat monkey’s cage, causing it to bite her arm.  She hits the ugly thing and squashes its head and Lionel comes back and sees her, leaving Paquita there to walk Vera back home.  That night, as Vera sleeps, the bite wound starts throbbing…

This movie was just fun for me.  The special effects and makeup effects were really good, especially in the aforementioned ending bloodbath where all the zombies tear through a party scene.  The acting was really well-done, as well, with Elizabeth Moody as Vera playing the perfect overbearing and controlling mother.  The film was directed by Peter Jackson, who went on to make Michael J. Fox’s film The Frighteners, and then a little trio of movies about some forgotten book series called Lord of the Rings, as well as a three-hour film about some mangy ape called King Kong or something like that.  Just kidding, I loved all of those films, also, and I also look forward to his upcoming alien film called District 9.

Timothy Balme played Lionel Cosgrove, the loving son whose motivation throughout most of the film is to try to protect his mum, even after her zombification.  He played the main character’s father in The Tattooist, as well as a film called Exposure.  Diana Peñalver played Paquita.  She did a great job, and as far as I can tell, this is the only English language film she’s been in.  I mentioned Elizabeth Moody earlier.  Some of her other films include The Scarecrow, as well as Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.  Father McGruder, the kung-fu using priest, was played by Stuart Devenie.  Mr. Devenie is listed for The Frighteners and The Tattooist, as well as for Bruce Campbell’s series Jack of All Trades, and as the voice of Imperius on Power Rangers: Mystic Force.

In closing, I give this film a 5 out of 5.  One thing I noticed when I put in the DVD for this (rented from a local video store) was that the main menu screen featured music that was very familiar… in this case, it was the exact same music I heard on the main menu screens for the Full Moon films Blood Dolls and The Creeps.  I don’t know why it had the same music, but it was interesting.  At any rate, that’s all for this edition of International Zombie Week.  We’ll be taking a break for a day for a special Father’s Day posting, and then we’ll be back on Monday with the first of our last two stops on this tour, the Italian film Zombie.  And so, until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!

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"Crazy has definitely come to town for a visit." - Marion

We’re going to the land down under for our third stop on the International Zombie Week World Tour.  I first saw Undead advertised on the DVD for Ju-On and thought it might be interesting.  I hadn’t seen any horror films out of Australia yet (I was still a while away from seeing Wolf Creek), so I added it to my Netflix queue.

The film opens on the idyllic small town of Berkeley, where we get several introductions to various characters: Rene, the current Miss Catch of the Day who wants nothing more than to leave the small town; the local police force, headed by Harrison, the loose cannon chief, along with Molly, the rookie; pilot Wayne and his pregnant wife, the former Miss Catch of the Day who bears a slight grudge against Rene.  After the introductions, we see a series of meteor strikes hitting random places and people around the town.  One old lady is crossing a street when one hits her.  As two guys look on, she stands up again with a large hole in her abdomen and goes after the onlookers…

This film is somewhat hard to classify.  It’s a zombie film, but it also has aliens in it.  It’s a scary film, but it’s got an underlying since of humor to it, also.  One source of humor is the serious gun-toting Marion.  Throughout the film, he’s not seen very often without a gun… and when he doesn’t have one, he’s quick to remedy it.  At one point during the film, when surrounded by zombies while naked, he does a sort of shifting motion and a pair of guns pop up from behind him, causing one of his fellow survivors to demand, "Where were you hiding those!?"  The film sort of jumps all over the place, but the story’s alright in itself.

The cast does well with their parts.  Felicity Mason plays Rene, the heroine of the film.  She definitely played the part well, going through a well-done character arc to find her inner strength.  Mungo McKay plays Marion, the survivalist gun nut and plays the part pretty straight, never losing his cool and always having a firearm within easy reach.  Mr. McKay is also listed for the film Daybreakers, an upcoming vampire film from the same directors of Undead.

So, for Undead, I give it 3 out of 5.  It was an entertaining movie, a fun pickup if you want to give it a shot.  And so, until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!

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"Life can surrender to death, but with the right chemical persuasion, death can surrender to life."

Okay, so we are now into Day 2 of our International Zombie Week, and I’ve got one of my old favorites here, Junk.  I actually planned on covering this one for my birthday a couple years ago, but it never panned out, so I’m bringing it to you now.  This is my third time viewing the film, and I loved it just as much each time I saw it, if not more.

The film opens on a lab where an American doctor and nurse are working on a nude, dead Japanese woman.  After giving the featured quote, the doctor injects the dead woman with no visible results at first.  As the nurse watches her, though, the dead girl opens her eyes suddenly.  The doctor approaches and checks out her vitals, then starts asking her name.  In response, the now-living dead girl takes a big bite out of his neck and he falls over almost instantly dead.  The scene changes as she stands up and advances on the nurse.

Next, we see some military vehicles as the army arrives at a hospital to pick up Dr. Nakada, who had been working on the project (called DNX).  They take him to Captain McGriff on the army base to brief him on the situation and get his advice on what to do.  From this scene, we go to a parking lot where a white van drives up to a parking spot.  As it parks, it’s female driver, Saki, watches as a man gets up and starts walking towards the buildings.  As he passes another man, that man also steps out and starts walking the same direction, followed by a third one.  These three are Jun, Kabu (Cub in the subtitles), and Akira.  As they walk along (with long shots showing the Sega logo on a building, most likely a Sega Arcade there), they approach a jewelry store and head in, wearing masks and wielding guns (and, also, a sword for Akira).  They rob the store, with the only drawbacks being Akira’s foot being stabbed by a pair of scissors and Jun’s subsequent shooting of the woman responsible.  As they drive away, they call their Yakuza contact, Ramon, who agrees to meet them in an old, abandoned U.S Military Base.  Little do they know what experiments just happened there shortly before…

As I stated above, I loved this movie.  I’m a big fan of Japanese movies, and when I found this film at the nearby Hollywood Video the first time, I knew I had to rent it.  However, the film isn’t without it’s problems.  There are a few English-speaking parts to it, most notably between Captain McGriff and Dr. Nakada, and these parts are actually somewhat difficult to get through.  Dr. Nakada’s actor, Yuji Kishimoto, speaks with a heavily affected accent, so it’s hard to understand what he says sometimes, but I know he can’t help this and don’t hold it against him.  However, Captain McGriff’s actor is somewhat stiff and a bit bad at his lines.  Since I can’t find a name for his actor, maybe he was an actual military man who was hired for a bit of authenticity?  This is just speculation, of course.

Castwise, there are several faces, though not very many have been in much else.  The actor playing Ramon, the fence, was Tate Gouta, who was also in the film Alive (not about the crashed rugby team, of course, but a Japanese prison film).  The main surprise for me when reading the cast info on the DVD was the fact that Ramon’s henchman, Toraji, was portrayed by Kotaro Tanaka (or Koutarou Tanaka, according to the Internet Movie Database).  Why was this a surprise?  Because he also played main hero Ryu, aka my namesake Red Hawk, on the Super Sentai series Jetman.  While wearing sunglasses and a goatee and mustache in this film, he’s definitely recognizable as the high-flying hero, and I applaud his limited role in the film.  Also, special recognition should go to Miwa, who played the initial living dead girl Kyoko.  She played the first half of the part in the nude, which is amazing considering this was her first film.  Her performance in the latter half of the film is excellent, as well.

In conclusion, I give Junk a 4 out of 5.  It’s a fun little zombie flick with alot of gunplay, alot of zombies, and even a bit of self-cannabalism (something I don’t think I’ve seen in a western zombie film).  So, tune in next time for another international film.  We’ll be covering something a little more lighthearted next time (though no less horrific for its troubles).  And so, until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!

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"We’re coming to get you, Barbara!" - Shaun and Ed

We’re in for a real treat as we kick off International Zombie Week in style.  See, I was watching Shaun of the Dead when I got the inspiration for a week’s worth of zombie films from all around the world.  While at first I didn’t realize where such a world tour would take me, I knew it would be a wild and fun ride.

Shaun of the Dead is about Shaun, a London man whose life is in a rut.  His days are spent at his job at Foree Electronics, while his nights are spent at the Winchester, the local pub near his home, with his girlfriend, Liz, best friend and roommate, Ed, and Liz’s best friends, David and Dianne.  He’s been in so much of a rut that Liz breaks up with him over it, albeit after he fails to secure a reservation at a fancy restaurant she wanted to go to for a change.

That night, Shaun and Ed drown Shaun’s sorrows at the Winchester before stumbling home, stopping outside the pub to beatbox with a staggering figure in the distance who moans in time with them.  Later, after partying a bit wildly at home, their other roommate, Pete, berates them for the noise.  Our two heroes also notice a bitemark on his hand, and Pete tells them someone bit him earlier that day.  (Check out on the DVD for an alternate take on this scene where they replace Pete’s repeated cursings with the word "funk" that’s pretty funny.)  Neither Shaun nor Ed are ready for what takes place the next day…

I loved this movie.  Where it’s supposed to be funny, it’s hilarious, and where it’s supposed to be scary, it builds suspense nicely.  One of the major things I liked in this film (which I liked in the Dawn of the Dead remake, as well) is how the early part of the movie gives you several hints, both subtle and overt, that something major’s going wrong.  Snippets of news reports, army vehicles driving past in the background, an unconscious driver blocking traffic while Shaun talks to his friend, Yvonne, all of this and more are telltale signs of zombie activity… if the characters just open their eyes to it.

The cast in this film is great.  Shaun is played by Simon Pegg, who also cowrote the film with director Edgar Wright.  Simon was also in Hot Fuzz, Run, Fat Boy, Run, and the recent Star Trek remake, playing Scotty.  Ed was played by Nick Frost.  Mr. Frost was also in Hot Fuzz, as well as playing Baby Eater in the fake Grindhouse trailer for Don’t!  Shaun’s stepfather, Phillip, was played by the great Bill Nighy.  I’ve enjoyed Mr. Nighy’s work in several films, including as Davy Jones in the second and third Pirates of the Carribean films, Victor in the Underworld series, and Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Hollywood film.  I should also note that many people in the cast were on several British comedies, especially Spaced (what Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright worked on), as well as The Office and Black Books.

In closing, I definitely will give this film a 5 out of 5.  Watching it was a fun experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun and funny horror movie.  Tune in next time, where we’ll make another stop on our international tour.  Take care, and this is Red Hawk signing out!

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