birdie15 Reviews

Fido (2006)

Quirky Zom-Com

[7/10 · 10 September 2007]

Fidois a very odd film. And in many ways, a very good one.

My first thought after viewing, was how the hell are they going to market this thing? If Shaun of the Dead is a romantic comedy with zombies, Fido is a boy and his dog story blended with fifties nostalgia comedy with zombies. Doesn't exactly trip off the tongue.

Fido has little of Shaun's carnage, gore & belly laughs. It is a different beast altogether (forgive the pun).

Fido kicks off with a black & white information film that explains the back story - humans have won a war against zombies by developing a control collar that subdues the flesh-eaters into dumb servants.

At first I thought we we were in for a fifties cold war paranoia parody a la Matinée, but we are soon hurled into a world of bright primary colours and fifties middle-class nostalgia.

Young Timmy Robinon is a lonely kid who doesn't fit in at school. His mom is would-be social climber,and his dad is nervy and detached.

Seeking to keep up with the Joneses, mom (Carry-Anne Moss) has acquired a zombie. Jimmy is disinterested at first, but 'Fido' (Billy Conelley) soon proves a great buddy for Jimmy. Until his collar goes on the blink...

Fido is NOT a horror film, but my problem with the movie is figuring out exactly what it IS.

Much of the humour is of the light family variety, and sometimes the plot line is too heavily reliant on the boy and his dog/family moments.

Yet the film is shot through with wonderfully dark, truly funny moments, which while welcome, will ensure an R rating for what is, for extended periods, a family comedy.

The film looks gorgeous, and is wonderfully performed by all involved.

Despite its difficult tonal problems, I hope this movie finds a niche, as it's quite a little gem in this year's deluge of cinematic crap.

City of Rott (2006 Video)

Zombie carnage & animated weirdness - Cool!

[8/10 · 20 August 2006]

City of Rott is a full-length animated zombie movie - yup, you heard right. Disney, however, it ain't.

Imagine Peter Jackson's splatterfest Braindead, only in cartoon form, and with twice the gore, and you are halfway to what City of Rott is dealing to us horror fiends.

Rott City is an American metropolis that has been wiped out by a zombie infestation of biblical proportions. Hordes (and I mean HORDES)of undead stagger around Romero style, searching for the few survivors eking out a meager existence.

Fred is a gnarly old dude, who just wants to find a new pair of slippers. His companion is his trusty walker, which talks to him. Or more precisely, it bitches at him a lot, warns him of zombie attackers, and acts as a lethal weapon against any ghoul who dares to mess with Fred.

This is Fred's story.Poor guy just wants some quality footwear and to be left alone.

City of Rott is funny, trippy and very, very, gory. The animation is kind of basic, almost South Park style in its execution. It's the artwork itself that is incredibly striking - uniquely stylised and full of over-saturated colours and grotesque creations. It's unlike anything I've seen before, and all the better for it.

Rott is a whole bunch of fun. The humour is sublimely weird, and the setup strangely fresh in such a tired genre. The holocaust has been caused by nasty little parasitic worms, that arrive one day in rainfall. They kill the host, reanimate them, then set them on a search for more food to sustain them. There turns out to be more than one type of worm, which leads to an interesting plot twist.

The movie has its problems. Its 70 minute runtime suffers from padding and repetition, and it has more false endings than Lord of the Rings. The ultimate conclusion, in fact quite a bit of the 'third act', went over my head. Maybe a second viewing will clear things up.

Ultimateley, though,City of Rott is a triumph of sheer gruey imagination, and was put together pretty much by one guy. I hope we get to see more.

One Tree Hill (2003–2012)

Generic Teen Garbage

[1/10 · 13 August 2006]

I just had the misfortune of catching this lowest common denominator WB dreck while round at my brothers. OTH is basically Popular without the black humor that made that show bearable. All the clichés are there: bitchy popular girl(s), dreamy thoughtful guy, tortured musician girl, jock guy desperate to succeed.

They've just excised the equally clichéd geek crew (y'know the pseudo-goth, skate slacker etc) As usual in this kind of ultra-generic teen fast food, all the actors who are meant to be in high school are in their mid-twenties and show no spark of originality beyond their shallow character types. The girl who is into NoFx must be into her thirties, I mistook her for a teacher! I know I'm not the target audience for this drivel, but please, could the scriptwriters not come up with a single original idea or character, or at least inject some humour that doesn't derive from bitchy remarks from one 'plastic' to another? Not a single original bone it its body. At least Dawson's Creek was so lame it was funny.

The producers and fans of this show should be made to watch Heathers on a loop to see how this type of material should be handled.

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)

Terrific, dark sequel

[14 February 2004]

It's a shame seeing so many reviews that just want to see a rehash of the first movie. Ginger's dead, get over it!

This is Bridgette's movie, and a fine piece of gothic horror.

This is one seriously dark & gnarly movie. All the teen humour of the original has been replaced by pain, desperation & some of the blackest smirks comitted to celluloid.

The plot follows Bridget in a totally logical sequence of events following the conclusion of the first movie. There is plenty of symbolism and subtext going on throughout, with the themes of puberty and menstruation replaced by comments on the nature of addiction and madness, and obsession

There is not a lot of grue (but still a lot of unpleasant imagery) and the werewolf is the same ropey old mutt from the first movie, but he doesn't get too much screen time to reveal the flaws of the small budget. The chills really come from what is happening to Bridget, and the horrors she goes through. The first half of the movie sets up this premise, but it is once we get to the bonding between Bridget and Ghost that things get interesting. The dialogue and acting in the second half of the movie between these two characters is awesome.

The last half hour is pretty nail-biting stuff, with nods to Night of the Living Dead/Evil Dead, and, yes, Dog Soldiers. The end is both shocking and funny. Loved it

On the downside, the editing could be be tighter, with some superflous characters, and the first hour is a little slow. There is an actress from the first series of Sabrina in it (!)

The soundtrack is great, an eery grinding electrical score that really amps up the moments of tension.

The performances are routinely superb, even the 'himbo' male nurse comes across as more than the usuul cardboard cutout. This is Emily Perkins' movie, though. She's destined to be a great genre actress.

Can't wait for the prequel!