Things go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility, when they are attacked by real zombies.
On this IMDbrief, we break down the worst gifts ever given in our favorite holiday movies. For some great gift ideas, check out IMDb's Holiday Gift Guide, curated with the entertainment lover in mind!
A dark fairy tale about a gang of five children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by the drug war.
Director:
Issa López
Stars:
Paola Lara,
Juan Ramón López,
Nery Arredondo
A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.
A young mother living in the Irish countryside with her son suspects his increasingly disturbing behavior is linked to a mysterious sinkhole in the forest, and fears he may not be her son at all.
Director:
Lee Cronin
Stars:
Seána Kerslake,
James Quinn Markey,
Kati Outinen
A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
In Fabric is a haunting ghost story set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store and follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences..
In the wake of two back-to-back mass murders on Chico's frat row, loner Brent Chirino must infiltrate the ranks of a popular fraternity to investigate his twin brother's murder at the hands of the serial killer known as "Motherface."
Eddie Murphy portrays real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who proved naysayers wrong when his hilarious, obscene, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a 1970s Blaxploitation phenomenon.
Director:
Craig Brewer
Stars:
Eddie Murphy,
Keegan-Michael Key,
Mike Epps
A low-budget film about zombies soon features the best cast money could not buy, but the problem is that the new actors are not exactly getting along with the crew. Everyone involved is soon receiving a lesson in the merits of perseverance, the preciousness of family bonds and of course the dangers of the living dead.Written by
aghaemi
My husband and I watched this quite coincidentally a few days after seeing VICTORIA, the 140-minute true single take drama that is one of the most extraordinary accomplishments ever committed to film. After seeing what they had pulled off in that film (powerful performances, action scenes, no less than half a dozen distinct settings, a moving story), we were very underwhelmed by the single take zombie story at the beginning of ONE CUT OF THE DEAD. Thirty minutes in, my husband gave up and went upstairs to do other things. I trusted the glowing reviews I had seen and stuck with it.
The film has three acts. They're all fairly amateurish, which is to be expected considering the entire film was made for roughly the same cost as a new car. The first act--the single take zombie action sequence--is especially bad. Really weird pacing, an extremely corny story, and jarring errors that come across as cheap and unprofessional. The second act flashes back six months, showing us how the film-within-a-film we've just watched (i.e. Act I) was originally conceived and produced. This act isn't much better. The acting feels more natural and the story is a little more interesting, with some more meaningful character development, but there's also an extremely awful score and some really poor jokes, so it seems like a wash. Then the third act comes--a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the filming of the film-within-a-film that was Act I.
I don't want to spoil anything, but trust me that the third act redeems everything, not only evoking some genuine gut-busting laughter but also pulling off the miraculous feat of teaching you to appreciate the first act--the one you were probably just harshly judging half an hour ago--on its very own terms. Sure, you'll find the first act hilarious having seen it from a new perspective, but what makes this film quite special is that you might also chide yourself for having been so critical of it the first time around. The film-within-a-film has flaws, but even so, it's a pretty impressive achievement. By the time the credits roll (at which point we're treated to actual behind-the-scenes footage, which is just meta upon meta), you'll be cheering the filmmakers (fictional as well as real) for having pulled off the very thing that at first glance seemed unremarkable.
Even the corniest B-movie is a small miracle of teamwork, so the film ultimately becomes a celebration of filmmaking and an invitation to step off one's high horse and appreciate smaller acts of triumph. This movie is a very surprising joy.
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My husband and I watched this quite coincidentally a few days after seeing VICTORIA, the 140-minute true single take drama that is one of the most extraordinary accomplishments ever committed to film. After seeing what they had pulled off in that film (powerful performances, action scenes, no less than half a dozen distinct settings, a moving story), we were very underwhelmed by the single take zombie story at the beginning of ONE CUT OF THE DEAD. Thirty minutes in, my husband gave up and went upstairs to do other things. I trusted the glowing reviews I had seen and stuck with it.
The film has three acts. They're all fairly amateurish, which is to be expected considering the entire film was made for roughly the same cost as a new car. The first act--the single take zombie action sequence--is especially bad. Really weird pacing, an extremely corny story, and jarring errors that come across as cheap and unprofessional. The second act flashes back six months, showing us how the film-within-a-film we've just watched (i.e. Act I) was originally conceived and produced. This act isn't much better. The acting feels more natural and the story is a little more interesting, with some more meaningful character development, but there's also an extremely awful score and some really poor jokes, so it seems like a wash. Then the third act comes--a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the filming of the film-within-a-film that was Act I.
I don't want to spoil anything, but trust me that the third act redeems everything, not only evoking some genuine gut-busting laughter but also pulling off the miraculous feat of teaching you to appreciate the first act--the one you were probably just harshly judging half an hour ago--on its very own terms. Sure, you'll find the first act hilarious having seen it from a new perspective, but what makes this film quite special is that you might also chide yourself for having been so critical of it the first time around. The film-within-a-film has flaws, but even so, it's a pretty impressive achievement. By the time the credits roll (at which point we're treated to actual behind-the-scenes footage, which is just meta upon meta), you'll be cheering the filmmakers (fictional as well as real) for having pulled off the very thing that at first glance seemed unremarkable.
Even the corniest B-movie is a small miracle of teamwork, so the film ultimately becomes a celebration of filmmaking and an invitation to step off one's high horse and appreciate smaller acts of triumph. This movie is a very surprising joy.