Film Review: MOM AND DAD (2018)

Brian Taylor writes and directs the Mom and Dad (2018) a film that answers the question of what would Nicolas Cage do if given free range to go totally off the rails?  Cage stars as Brent who is a man whose life has stalled.  He has a lovely wife Kendall (Selma Blair) and a daughter Carly (Anne Winters) and son Josh (Zachary Arthur) whom all undermines him.  When for no reason all grown-ups start to murder their children, Carly and Josh must band together to stop their parents from killing them while trapped in their own house.

Taylor does a lot with a little as the majority of the film takes place in the family home but he gets a lot of mileage out of the film even when he uses flashbacks to show the family before the total breakdown.  The film allows Cage and Blair to be at their most maniacal as they will stop at nothing to kill their own children while their children use everything at their means to save themselves.

This could have easily been a throwaway film had Taylor not gone the distance to show the parents before they turn homicidal.  The flashbacks show that Brent and Kendall have a marriage filled with problems where they can’t seem to agree on anything but surprisingly through the events of the film they come together for a singular goal…unfortunately, it’s to kill their children.  The overall concept is interesting and quite entertaining as you see parents throughout the film killing their children (or at least trying) which makes for some very funny moments.

Even with its serious undertones it’s an amazing engaging and funny film.

Film Review: PATIENT ZERO (2018)

At first, the zombie film Patient Zero (2018) may seem like a knock-off of George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985) but that is just the surface.  Sometime in the near future what’s left of humanity hides away in a military bunker away from the infected that have taken over the world above ground.  Dr. Gina Rose (Natalie Dormer) uses soldier Morgan (Matt Smith) to communicate with the infected since he is the only one that can.  It seems that after being bit by one of the infected, instead of being turned into an infected Morgan is now able to communicate with the infected.  Morgan is the only person of his kind and working with Rose, they try to discover who is the original person who caused the infection or as they like to call him – “patient zero.”  Unfortunately, this requires the use of Knox (Clive Standen) and all his military men to continue collecting the infected so that Morgan and Rose and interrogate them into revealing this info.  Knox would rather shoot to kill the infected as he loses good men every time he brings more of the infected into their bunker.  When one the infected called The Professor (Stanley Tucci) allows himself to get caught, Morgan must figure out how the infected are evolving while also figure out what The Professor is up to before it too late.

Written by Mike Le, Patient Zero is smart and calculated new take on an old idea that works extremely well as it takes many of the zombie/infected tropes and presents something new with them.  Stucci has never been so manipulative and evil as he is as The Professor who doesn’t even show up until halfway through the film.  Similar to Romero’s film, this film plays a lot with the tensions between the military and the scientists who are trying to find a cure with is handled in a new and creative way.  Both Smith and Dormer hold their own as the leads making this and enjoyable film from beginning to end.

Praise should also be handed to director Stefan Ruzowitzky who has crafted a suspenseful and tense zombie/infected film that doesn’t feel like just another zombie film despite the similarities to other films.  This is definitely one of the more interesting zombie/infected films to be released in the last few years.

Film Review: GERM Z (2013)

I love zombie films.  I even like bad ones if they try to be original and are entertaining.  Germ Z (2013) is not one of these types of films.  This is one of those films that borrow from other (much better) films trying to pass it off as its own but fails miserably.  

 

When a military satellite scheduled to be decommissioned is struck by a meteor, the shrapnel crashes to the Earth in a small town.  While military personnel tries to clean up their mess the residents of the small town start to act crazy and violent to the point of being driven to kill others.  The film follows the ideas and plot of any standard zombie film but more importantly the modern day infectious disease films like 28 Days Later… (2002) and The Crazies (2010). 

Unfortunately, there are many problems with this film.  First of all the satellite falls in the uninhabited wilderness of the town so the only person who should be infected would be random hunters and fisherman.  It’s not even a day before most of the town is infected and running through the woods killing random people.  It’s never explained how the infection starts either through physical contact with the satellite, blood contact, or air contact because some people who get blood in their face never get infected whereas those in close proximity also never seem to get infected so there is no consistency with this.

Written by J.T. Boone and directed by Boone and John Craddock the film is your straight forward zombie film with random people running and getting killed and running some more before eventually getting killed later.  The film never elevates above its lowest common denominator and never offers anything new as a horror film or a zombie film in general.

Film Review: INFECTED (2013)

There is absolutely nothing original with director Glenn Ciano’s zombie film Infected (2013).  Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasing harder to come up with new ways to tell this old story and Ciano doesn’t try.  Instead, he does the next best thing which is putting together character actors Michael Madsen and William Forsythe and letting them have fun during a zombie outbreak. 

Louis and Dennehey (Madsen and Forsythe, respectfully) have decided to take their families on a little get together in the woods to their cabin in order to come closer since they’ve not seen each other in a very long time.  Unfortunately, a deadly and highly contagious disease is spreading like wild fire and Louis and Dennehey must protect their family from the horde of undead at their doorsteps.  The film eventually goes all Night of the Living Dead as everyone finds themselves trapped in the house with the undead trying to get in.  This could easily be a throwaway film except that Ciano let’s Madsen and Forsythe chew the scenery and have fun so whenever they’re on screen it’s like magic whether they’re together or with other characters.

Anyone looking for something different and new in a zombie film is not going to find it here.  Ciano knows this and plays on the fact that he has two accomplished actors in his film.  The entertainment and fun in this film is on his stars’ shoulders but the film also plays up the sex and gore so audiences just looking for an entertaining and good time won’t be so disappointed.  Infected is a highly forgettable film but if you enjoy Madsen and Forsythe and throw in some zombies then you’re good.