film – Page 5 – Looking to God

Trish Jenner

Posted on January 22, 2014January 24, 2014 by Jack Flacco

In one of the most underrated movies in Horror, Trish Jenner (Gina Philips) and her brother Darry (Justin Long) take a ride through the country in hopes of arriving home safe during spring break. Little do they realize something evil stalks the travelers, and they’re about to meet it face to face. This week, my Women Who Wow Wednesday series focuses its crosshairs on the reluctant hero Trish Jenner of the movie Jeepers Creepers.

Gina Philips as Patricia "Trish" Jenner — Gina Philips as Patricia “Trish” Jenner

It starts with the siblings witnessing a possible crime and the story escalates from there. Released in late August of 2001 with a budget of $10 Million and directed by Victor Salva, the movie went on to make almost $60 Million worldwide. Yet, not only did most critics pan it, the film is not a Horror fan favorite either.

Although for a third of the movie Trish appears as a self-centered sister, her character shines once her brother returns in shock after having explored a hole in the ground. Her “keep it together” phrase comes in handy with every passing moment Darry losses touch with reality. Instead of fear, which her brother shows without restraint, her strength lies in remaining calm regardless of what is going on around her.

The turning point in her character comes when she gets behind the wheel of her busted up collector car and decides to take matters in her own hands. Gone is the apprehensive, smart aleck. In its place, an action hero takes control to save the day. One of the best lines of the movie goes something like this:

Darry: Is he dead?
Trish: They never are.

Trish then proceeds to run over whatever’s been chasing them for the length of the film several times before her brother says, “Enough.” Nothing quite like a character who’s had enough of a situation to let her inhibitions run wild.

As much as Trish fulfills the role of a Doubting Thomas, in the later half, she makes it clear her only intention is to protect her and her brother from harm’s way. As much as she complains, throws sarcastic remarks or hides her emotion, she is very much a woman as any woman could be—but stronger. Her instincts guide her in times of peril. When everyone else runs away, she remains firm in her stance against the unknown.

And it’s that firmness in resolve that makes her someone to admire.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, now on sale.

Have you seen Jeepers Creepers? What did you think of Trish Jenner?

Women Who Wow Wednesday

Selena

Posted on January 8, 2014January 10, 2014 by Jack Flacco

No one messes with Selena. No one. At first glance, she doesn’t say much. Her beautiful looks do not betray her enthusiastic will to survive. Not until the infected crash through a safe house does she show her true colors. With a machete in hand, she kills her best friend after seeing his arm bleeding from a bite wound. She would do it again in a heartbeat.

Adding to Women Who Wow Wednesday is Selena, the 28 Days Later character that shows no qualms in dispensing justice against the infected.

The story begins in a primate lab where scientists are experimenting with chimpanzees, infecting them with a virus called Rage. Animal rights activists overtake the lab’s security and quickly proceed to free the subjects of the experiments. Unbeknownst to any of them, they unleash the deadly virus on Great Britain, leaving the island in tatters from the devastating effects.

When Jim meets Selena (Naomie Harris), she and her fellow fighter, Mark, take him in as one of their own. Jim came from a hospital nearby, the sole survivor from the medical facility. The first thing Jim witnesses is Selena’s willingness to kill in order to remain alive. He can’t understand what drives her to want to destroy everything around her. Within days, he discovers her unyielding determination to survive—even if it means killing everyone around her that exhibits symptoms of the Rage virus.

Other characteristics set Selena apart from the rest of the survivors. She sees things as black and white. Do this, get killed. Do that, live. You get bitten, you die. Simple as that. Her definition of living is surviving. The infected are fast. The infected are strong. Nothing she will do can replace her life that was. But she can certainly ensure her safety by keeping her wits about her.

That is, until we see her eyes light up when passing a grocery store with the other survivors in the car. They go shopping. The first thing she advises everyone to do is to not take anything that needs to be cooked, which prompts Jim to say, “I think I can eat that raw.” Of course, Selena has her own weakness. “If I never see another chocolate bar again, it’ll be too soon. Not counting Terry’s Chocolate Orange!”

As tough as Selena appears, she also has a soft heart. Embracing the sight of horses running free on the moors warms her face with a smile that stretches from ear to ear. Talking with Jim, she states, “You were thinking that you’ll never hear another piece of original music ever again. You’ll never read a book that hasn’t already been written or see a film that hasn’t already been shot.” Huh, Selena—the softie.

Inasmuch as Selena sleeps with a machete in her hand, she’s very much a woman. Nonetheless, nothing will deter her to outlive the infected. She has life built in to her makeup.

Always cautious, always ready for a battle, Selena is a powerhouse fighter ready to take on anything that may get in her way.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, now on sale.

Do you remember Selena from 28 Days Later? What did you think of her?

Women Who Wow Wednesday

Hero Girl

Posted on December 25, 2013December 27, 2013 by Jack Flacco

She doesn’t have a name. Her costume consists of a nightgown. By the time it’s all over, she sports the moniker “Leader”. I’m proud to include Hero Girl from the movie Polar Express in my Women Who Wow Wednesday series.

Polar Express' Hero Girl — Polar Express’ Hero Girl

During its release, not many people liked the film Polar Express. Ratings on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes confirm the movie’s status as, if at best, average. The production budget for the flick came in at $165 million while the overall take at the box office worldwide netted $308 million. I wouldn’t call it a financial disaster. Far from it, I’d call it an opportunity movie where it’s best to watch with the lights turned low a few days before Christmas.

Since its release in 2004, this film has become a staple viewing tradition for our family every evening of December 23rd.

Why do we like it so much? For us, the song Believe by Josh Groban says it all:

Believe in what your heart is saying
Hear the melody that’s playing
There’s no time to waste
There’s so much to celebrate
Believe in what you feel inside
And give your dreams the wings to fly
You have everything you need
If you just believe

That’s where Hero Girl comes in. We don’t know her name and throughout the movie she second-guesses every decision she makes. In some respect, she wouldn’t qualify as a hero at all. But her faith in what she doesn’t see is what pulls everyone together to work as a team, lending credence to her belief in something altogether greater than anyone or anything they know as real.

Hero Girl also provides the direction the group needs to continue on their way to the North Pole. Not an easy task for a young child, let alone a girl who doubts everything she says. Her strength, however, lies in her ability to lead those willing to follow her to their true destination. This involves trust on the part of her friends, and an eternal hope that she will lead them to their true destination.

Once Hero Girl affirms her leadership status, not in name but in action, the group of kids follows this time without dismissing her ideas. She leads them to where all the magic begins.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, now on sale.

Have you seen Polar Express? What did you think of Hero Girl’s role in the film?

Monday Mayhem

Zombie Kids

Posted on December 23, 2013December 25, 2013 by Jack Flacco

I don’t see that many zombie children in movies. Most of the zombie movies I’ve seen have one or two token kids, but what about a whole schoolhouse filled with them? Something must have happened to the children. Something must have made them all disappear. Or is it that film producers shy away from such a scene knowing parent groups may rebel against such a movie?

My Monday Mayhem series wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t talk about such a controversial subject as children in zombie movies. I say controversial because of the ramifications a film may possess if kids became the focus of a zombie apocalypse.

If the opening scene of 2004’s Dawn of the Dead is any indication, I can see why movie studios would repel ideas depicting children as undead corpses craving human flesh. Although the producers presented the notion in a tasteful matter (no pun intended), the fact of the matter lies with the question posed, “What do we do with the kids when they’ve completed their task?” Of course, the answer to that dilemma has more to do with the answer to the same question exchanging the word “kids” with “adults”. And we all know what happens to zombies when their turn is up.

I’m sure the decision not to include more zombie children in movies has to do more with child labor laws than creative license. For instance, hiring a child in a movie involves having that child work limited hours, whereas adults can work round-the-clock. Also, there’s the moral question that would come into play portraying kids in a bad light. Would it benefit or detract from the production if a child has blood dripping from its mouth?

Again, if the production has one child to work with, the director could utilize some creative means in order to not represent the scene in a most brutal and gruesome way. Dawn of the Dead does a good job at that.

What if, though, it wasn’t one child? What if the script called for a whole schoolhouse filled with them, as I had mentioned? What kind of logistical problems would that pose for the production?

Given each child actor would probably have to sign a contract, the parents or guardians would probably do their best to ensure their child does not commit something that would present them in a unfavorable light. This would otherwise pave the way for a lawsuit, should any of the children do anything beyond their stringent agreement with the studios.

And the schoolhouse filled with children, what happens to them?

It’s an idea that may never come to fruition, given the legal nightmare such a scene would present.

Therefore, we may never see that schoolhouse scene in the theater. Or anywhere else, for that matter. But at least we have zombie movies that can still cause heads to turn (no pun intended).

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, now on sale.

What do you think of a group of children attacking an unsuspecting victim on the street? Do you think it’s something you’ll like to see in a movie?

Monday Mayhem

Classic Films Zombie Style II

Posted on December 9, 2013December 11, 2013 by Jack Flacco

Remember the movie Jurassic Zombieland? How about Star Wars: Attack of the Zombies? Tell me you remember Zombies of the Lost Ark. Well, I don’t remember them either. They don’t exist. However, for a short time in August, I wrote about these fictitious films in my post Classic Films Zombie Style. I wrote about them as a fun way to enjoy Monday Mayhem.

How does it work? Well, I pick a film everyone ought to recognize, then I add a few zombies, amp up the violence, throw in a generous splattering of gore and voilà, you have yourself a zombie classic. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

Let’s see what Part Two of this series holds for us adventurous hunters of the undead.

Zombienator XVII—Sent from the future, a zombie hunts a boy named John Kenner in an effort to ensure the zombie apocalypse occurs as planned. The eater, an undead beast fitted with an indestructible endoskeleton coated in mimetic polyalloy, hungers vast quantities of human meat. In its mission to find the young man, zombienator leaves behind a vast swath of death and chewed bodies in the wake of its attacks, from one side of Los Angeles all the way to when they first meet. Unknown to the evil maggot bag, another zombienator makes an appearance. This one, as John’s protector. A cat and mouse game ensues until the zombienators clash in a final battle that will determine the fate of humankind. Regardless of who wins, will there be a zombie apocalypse?

Planet of the Zombies—When a U.S. spacecraft breaches the atmosphere and crash lands on what first appears as a uninhabited planet, the astronauts on board have all they can do to escape the destructive inferno. On their trek to find life, they encounter a band of primitive humans grazing in the corn. Without warning, a hunting horn sounds and the humans scatter. The hunters ride on their stallions shooting and tripping snares, capturing the humans as they storm through the cornfields. Within a matter of minutes, the former astronauts discover the riders’ identity is none other than zombie. On this planet, the undead have evolved to become the top species on the food chain, and their plans involve nothing more than to serve human as their main course. Can someone please pass the salt.

Close Encounters of the Undead Kind—Ships from another planet visit Earth with the seedlings of a zombie apocalypse. Their mission to conquer humanity from the inside out propels ordinary citizens into extraordinary actions of courage. Who knew tearing apart a garden would lead to the central headquarters of the alien invasion. Zombies functioning as the aliens’ protectors take to the streets killing all humans who dare stand in their way of total world domination. Only one species will survive, but the aliens may have underestimated the zombies’ ability to yield to their commands. No one knows who will win.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, now on sale.

What classic movies would you like to see done with a zombie makeover?

Women Who Wow Wednesday

Nikita

Posted on December 4, 2013December 6, 2013 by Jack Flacco

Convicted for the cold-blooded murder of a police officer, Nikita finds herself at the end of a needle crying for her mother. Women Who Wow Wednesday celebrates Luc Besson’s signature character in the 1990 film La Femme Nikita.

She awakens in a sterile, white room thinking she may have gone to heaven. But a man dressed in black tells her otherwise. On the record, she died committing suicide taking a massive dose of tranquilizers and her remains lie in Maisons-Alfort, Row 8, Plot 30. The man reveals he works for the government and the government is willing to give Nikita a chance to make amends for all the wrong she had committed.

If she refuses—Maisons-Alfort, Row 8, Plot 30

Nikita’s first order of business entails her to undergo a rigorous set of training exercises dedicated to computer wizardry, weapons mastery, martial arts and beauty. Her task? To become someone else. Someone she would never have imagined possible of becoming when she had taken the life of that police officer.

The film stars Anne Parillaud who underwent a year’s transformation to make her believable as the rogue government agent Nikita. She had received the script ten days prior to filming, allowing her to create realistic reactions to many of the film’s brutal scenes.

Nikita came from the cold streets of drug abuse. She eyed every pharmacy as a potential score. The company she kept equally hated society. Their dark world consisted of scoring and getting high. Between the binges of scores and drugs, they lived empty lives lacking hope for the future and direction for a better life.

In some ways, when her mentor and boss, Bob (Tchéky Karyo), recruits her, he did her a favor by removing her from the streets, saving her life in the process.

And when she meets Marco (Jean-Hugues Anglade), the wave of an ordinary life washes over Nikita. She finds happiness for the first time in her abused life. She finds love for the first time as well. His love for her grounds her, keeping her sensibilities pure.

But as in every fairy tale, reality sets in forcing Nikita to realize there’s only one solution to ending her double life.

Don’t worry I won’t spoil it for you. Suffice it to say her reality is what she wished for all along.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, now on sale.

Have you seen the movie La Femme Nikita? What did you think of it?

Monday Mayhem

Zombie Evolution

Posted on November 25, 2013November 27, 2013 by Jack Flacco

George A. Romero, the father of modern zombie flicks, said in a recent interview with Daily Dead that zombies are advancing at a rapid pace—in his words, “advancing even a little further.” As part of my Monday Mayhem series, let’s have a look just how advanced zombies have become from their docile, sloth-like beginnings.

When Night of the Living Dead made its debut in 1968, the campy feel to the scenes made this film a Horror lover’s delight. What audiences didn’t know was the movie would go on to become an anchor to which other movies in the zombie genre would aspire. For years after its release, zombies had the intellect of vegetables and lurched to wherever they needed to go. They didn’t have reasoning skills. They lacked any sense of intelligence. If they wanted something, they’d hunt for it until they found it. Zombies back then were somewhat silly.

This is where Romero’s 1978 Dawn of the Dead exceeds. All of a sudden, zombies became focused, one-track-minded, machines. They wanted flesh and would do anything to get to it. Their strength to combat those who stood in their way became paramount. Their greatest asset became in attacking in numbers. One zombie will not do it. But maybe many would. And that’s just what happened in this film.

Then in 2005, Romero made a point with Land of the Dead that zombies were here to stay. The undead became intelligent. A character by the name of Big Daddy took over the screen teaching other zombies how to fight the human resistance, taking arms, and pushing forward to destroy those who interfered with the zombie plan to annihilate humans from the face of the earth. (Incidentally, filming took place in a prominent location in Toronto of which I am very well familiar.)

At the same time, in 2002, director Paul W.S. Anderson presented a version of zombie others couldn’t soon dismiss. In Resident Evil, the idea of a fast zombie took hold, the impact of which wouldn’t be realized for a decade or more. When 28 Days Later appeared later that year, the fast zombie had begun to proliferate modern media, and studios looked to screenwriters for original ideas regarding the concept.

But it wasn’t until 2013 when World War Z’s fast zombies became the norm. The film depicted the undead as stampeding Velociraptors that had the ability to hop from walls without consequence. Gone are the days when zombies lurched from area to area in a slow drag that would aid in the salvation of mankind. Instead, these zombies had the ability to launch from their stationary positions to a determined path simply by allowing a smell or a sound to guide them.

What will 2014 hold for the zombie evolution? Will there be a film so different, so astounding that it will rock the zombie apocalypse foundations from its axis?

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, now on sale.

What do you think will come next for the zombie genre?

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