THE HATRED (2017)

Writer/director Michael G. Kehoe’s THE HATRED (2017) has a couple things going for it but not enough to elevate it above being anything other than a passable horror film.  Andrew Divoff stars as Samuel Sears, a man who leaves on the outskirts of town with his wife and his daughter away from the outside world in total isolation.  When his daughter tries to defy him, in a fit of rage he murders her and hides the body so that his wife doesn’t find out.  Instead, he claims that his daughter ran away which doesn’t hold water to his wife.  After the police leave there home for further investigation Samuel is killed by his wife who then, with nothing left to stay, leaves her home to rot.

Years later, Samuel’s home is resold to a new family.  Regan (Sarah Davenport) arrives  at the house with a group of friends to see to the new owner’s young daughter Irene (Shae Smolik) but then soon run afoul when they discover secret documents claiming that Samuel may be a former Nazi who was charged with the protection of a magical amulet with the power to harness “hatred” of those in its possession.  Soon Regan and her friends run afoul of an evil spirit that will unleash all the hatred that has been building up in the house once lived in by a Nazi and his reclusive family.

Divoff does the best he can with the material in regard to the elongated opening of the film (I doubt he was on set for most of the production).  The rest of the cast actually do a great job, overall, but the film itself lacks credibility and nuance to elevate it above the typical horror film cannon fodder.  The film looks good and I love the costume design for Divoff’s character but it’s still just an easily forgettable horror film.

IRON SKY: THE COMING RACE (2019)

Okay, so, I’m a huge fan of the original film Iron Sky (2012) and I’ve had to wait seven years to finally see the sequel…and it’s totally worth the wait!  IRON SKY: THE COMING RACE (2019) and it’s forbearer is one of those great guilty pleasure films that has so much going for it that you kind of forgive its faults probably because its faults add to its charm.

Renate Richter (Julia Dietze) and the last remaining survivors of Earth after the devastation at the end of the previous film find themselves back on the dark side of the moon on the now former Nazi base.  Years later the base is on its last leg and the only person keeping everything working and operational is Richter’s now grown daughter Obi (Lara Rossi) who is the only one that believes that time is running out and they need to leave the base before it is too late.

Not soon after Obi discovers that Vril Wolfgang Kortzfleish (Udo Kier) has been hiding on the base.  He tells her that if she’s goes back to Earth to a hidden world in the center of the Earth she will be able to find a power source that will extend her and her peoples’ live while providing her a means to power a ship to get everyone to safety.  When a rag-tag ship crashes on the moon she enlists the aid of its captain Sasha (Vladimir Burlakov) to help her get to the center of the Earth and help her.

With the help of Sasha and his ship, her best friend Malcom (Kit Dale), and an eccentric religious leader Donald (Tom Green), Obi plans to take a daring adventure into the heart of the Earth and steal the most precious power source on the planet in order to save her people on the moon.  Unfortunately for her she’ll have to combat Vril Adolf Hitler (also Kier) and his monsters and madmen on an adventure like none other.

If you enjoyed the original film, this one is just as bat-shit crazy but you get Kier in two of his best roles in years, pet dinosaurs, and everything you didn’t know you wanted in a Nazi fantasy film.  Director Timo Vuorensola returns for the sequel and crafts a film in the same vein as Big Trouble in Little China, The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonsai Across the Eight Dimension, or The Golden Child.  Although the film is extremely funny it never veers into campy territory which is why it (and its predecessor) are so effective and entertaining.

The only real gripe I have with the film is that there isn’t enough of Stephanie Paul as the Vril President.  She has so few scenes in the film that her absence is totally a missed opportunity.  This being said, the film is still very entertaining and one not to be missed…unless of course you are one of those few weirdos who didn’t love the first film.

Graphic Novel Review: MARVEL ZOMBIES DESTROY!

Coming up with a new way to breathe life into the Marvel Zombie franchise is hard so this latest graphic novel doesn’t even try.  Marvel Zombies Destroy! is the familiar story of the A.R.M.O.R. (Alternate Reality Monitoring & Operational Response) team being sent to an alternate world where the zombies have taken over and now want to enter another reality, possibly ours.  At the head of the team is Howard the Duck who has recruited Dum Dum Dugan for his Ducky Dozen team to rid Earth-12591 of the zombie plague only this time it seems that the Nazi’s won WWII by becoming zombies and thus have advanced to the point of not only having taken over the world but now have found a way to exit their world and to enter a new world with new flesh to pursue. 

It’s plain from the beginning that Howard the Duck has an alternative reason for bringing Dum Dum Dugan into the foil which makes for a very comedic episode but this series suffers from the same issue that many of the more recent Marvel Zombies stories suffer from which is the lack of substance to the story.  Written by Frank Marraffino & Peter David the story seems more concerned with having fun, killing Nazi zombies, and cracking as many jokes as possible (which is what you would expect from a story that features Howard the Duck and Dum Dum Dugan) but that’s the extent of the series and like previous series this one will be easily forgotten once read.  The series has been running on empty for quite some time and I do have to admit that Nazi zombies was an inspired choice to go with but putting Howard the Duck and Dum Dum Dugan at the center of the action does the story and the franchise a disservice.  I’m itching for there to be a return to the glory days of the Marvel Zombie franchise from such early stories as Dead Days and the first two stand alone series. 

The other bad thing that is happening with these stories as they are becoming way to predictable in terms of who is going to live and who is going to die and with a zombie story it should be unpredictable but with each subsequent story in the Marvel Zombie franchise this is telegraphed to the reader by the “who’s who” of no name supporting characters and especially in terms of Howard’s Ducky Dozen the reader knows from their first appearance that they are all more or less going to die as they are characters no one has ever heard of.  I do have to admit artists Mirco Pierfederici and Al Barrionuevo have found some unique ways to kill both the good guys and the Nazi zombie bad guys and for those who thrill at this aspect of the franchise this series does not disappoint.

I do miss the alternative covers for each of the individual issues that used to accompany the graphic novel at the end and even the regular covers from the initial five issues are nowhere to be seen so there are absolutely no extras to be had with this edition which is sad.  Only an “undead” letter from the editor and a page of recap art are at the end and this is just a travesty.