Tag Archives: plague

Nosferatu

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Vampire Owl: Finally, our Count is coming back to the big screen.

Vampire Bat: This one is not really the true Dracula Uncle.

Vampire Owl: Well, Count Orlok is not lesser than Count Dracula.

Vampire Bat: I have heard from humans that this Orlok is an illegal version.

Vampire Owl: Well, there are no such rules in vampire kingdom, right?

Vampire Bat: Human rules need not apply here, but we should know.

Vampire Owl: We will never really know the humans.

Vampire Bat: We will know everything except their inherent evil.

Vampire Owl: Well, which is why we do not transform humans into vampires anymore.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that they want to; the greed for eternal life and perpetual youth.

[Gets a tea cake and three cups of Ooty tea].

What is the movie about? :: Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) is a recently married young woman who has had too many nightmares in her life in the past, and it is revealed that her recent bad dream about being married to death and everyone around her dead. It is revealed that while looking for consolation from her loneliness and depression in life, during her random chants and prayers, she had ended up creating a psychic link with Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), or what they villagers of Romania used to call Nosferatu, with Romanian roots. The nocturnal creature of pure evil had marked Ellen from thousands of kilometres away, and this connection often led her into situations of seizures and sleepwalking. She keeps having hallucinations and a feeling of being with death, from which escape seems almost impossible. She has been living in the German town of Wisborg with her husband Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) and is irreversibly in love with him as it seems, but this connection seems to have journeyed through the unimaginable, the darkest of the woods and deepest of the rivers and lakes.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: It is then that Thomas accepts the offer to sell the partially ruined Grünewald Manor to a reclusive lord named Count Orlok located somewhere in Romania. Ellen talks about her nightmares and pleads Thomas not to leave for those unknown lands where a certain cursed evil lurks, but the offer from his employer is too much for him not to accept this opportunity of a life time. He leaves her in the care of his wealthy friend and famous shipbuilder Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his wife Anna Harding (Emma Corrin) who lives with their two little daughters. As he arrives at the Carpathians in the Transylvanian area of Romania, Thomas is warned not to wander around during the nights and not to visit Orlok. During the same night, he still wanders around and witnesses a group of gypsies running a ritual with a fully naked woman on a horse which ends with the exhuming and impaling a vampire’s corpse with a wooden stake, ending the undead life with a lot of blood coming out of its mouth. The next morning, he finds no help or support, and leaves for the count’s castle alone and on foot.

And what is to follow as the Count maintains all the control over the world known to him? :: In his castle, Count Orlok welcomed Thomas as the aristocrat that required respect at all times. But soon, his existence as something more than human is revealed to Thomas, who hopes to escape, but the paths of the castle only lead to the crypt where the count is sleeping in his coffin, and he is not able to attack him as the vampire awakens, and so do his demonic hounds. He understands that he will have to remain a prisoner in the castle forever, as the document which the count made him sign might not be the Romanian version of the deal concerning the property, but a document dissolving his marriage to Ellen and the vampire had also taken his locket, containing a lock of her hair. He understands the vampire is going after his wife, and jumps into the river below the castle to escape. But the count has already started his journey and has infested a ship which is on its way to Germany. He will not stop at anything unless he becomes together with Ellen. Can anyone stop this evil from embracing her and also spread through the whole of Western Europe? Or will the blood-seeking demon have a blood feast that will last forever?

The defence of Nosferatu :: The movie achieves atmospheric horror and thrives with the sound effects as much as the visuals. There is fear running through the air, as we rarely see a world thriving on light here. The psychological side very strong here, and the performance of Lily-Rose Depp is truly magical here, with so many moments to remember, and the final few moments of her is out of this world. I cannot stop myself from not being the new admirer of Johnny Depp’s daughter as I have been a fan of him. I can say that I have never seen the main female character of any version of Bram Stoker’s work getting such attention which is supported by a performance of grandeur. The connection to the demonic creature and talk about all of this terror has never been so perfectly detailed and connected to the female lead. Nicholas Hoult and Willem Dafoe works the roles just as expected, while Bill Skarsgård’s demon is something we have not seen before, well divergent in looks and actions to create more terror. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corin move through expected paths. These are not just characters, but people who immerse us in their wisely created world with fine performances.

Positives and negatives :: It can be said that there is no movie based on Bram Stoker’s work that has provided an emotional and haunting touch like this one, and a terrifying vampire movie becoming an emotional tale of love and selflessness keeps us rooting for the film even more, like never before. The movie basically like music which strives for a fight against the most terrifying form of evil with love. By the end, here we know that as evil always finds a way, so does goodness and self-sacrifice. Finally, we know that the melancholy of the main character is not hers alone, but of all of us. It is a poetry on what it takes to thrive against the most ancient forms of evil. The sequence in the forest makes a fine reflection which is to come, and there are some classic shots in the castle that elevates this movie to a psychic-psychological mood which is rarely seen in the adaptations. The final image from where the camera zooms out reflects the same, and that too with a melancholic beauty. There is also some work with demonic possession, which is actually shown without any overdose. This is indeed a fine Gothic work that reflects the Victorian Age even when not in Britain. The one thing that we might really be missing is the Brides of Dracula.

How it finishes :: This is the one movie which becomes a fine divergent tribute to both the 1922 version of Nosferatu and the many later versions of Dracula as well as the original book, along with being a different entity in itself. There seems to be so many inspirations, and many creative ideas placed around here. This version is sure to be remembered as a classic in future, no matter problems critics would find, which would be lost in the process. This version might be the one which needs even more attention than what it has managed. This is that version of the vampire that maintains all kinds of feeling which are related to a vampire as a nocturnal creature that feeds from the lifeforce of humans. There are not many movies which can pay homage to so many of its predecessors and still remain something new. This one, with some fantastic performance and an atmosphere which would put even the high-budget movies to shame, manages to rise and seek theatre experience – it is quite depressing that the movie was not really found in theatres when it released.

Release date: 25th December 2024
Running time: 132 minutes
Directed by: Robert Eggers
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, Katerina Bila

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Apocalypse Z

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Vampire Owl: Are we going to watch the end of the world again?

Vampire Bat: We are never tired of watching it.

Vampire Owl: Would this be like World War Z?

Vampire Bat: Well, there is never really a shortage of movies showing the end.

Vampire Owl: How beautiful can the end of the world be?

Vampire Bat: I would say that it would be a life with less anxiety and depression.

Vampire Owl: Train to Busan showed a lot of anxiety.

Vampire Bat: It was lessened with Peninsula, right?

Vampire Owl: You know where Resident Evil stands.

Vampire Bat: Still, not all sequels of Resident Evil stands at the same level.

[Gets a paneer puffs and three cups of Sikkim tea].

What is the movie about? :: Manel (Francisco Ortiz) and his wife Julia (Iria del Río) returns home after visiting his sister Belén (Marta Poveda) and her husband Mario (Oriol Ruiz), and meets with an accident on road while losing focus during an argument about having children. Following the incident, he leaves the town and lives in isolation with his cat. Due to the same reason, he does not care about a new virus called TSJ which has spread around the nation and even outside the continent like COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Then, the one thing which is not said in the news is that this particular pandemic differs from the corona virus and would cause people to turn into flesh-eating zombies. The whole Europe has been under attack and going down for some time, and the Germans had already evacuated Berlin. As Belén’s family is evacuated to the Canary Islands, Manel tries to join them, the government closes the borders, and declares a general state of emergency which cancels all the flights and leaves people where they are.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: With no option to join his sister and brother-in-law, and having all routes closed, he promises her that he will stay there safe and within the house, only to lose all internet and communications soon enough. While going out to collect supplies, he finds out that people are quickly turning into zombies, and finds even police officers turning into zombies or killing themselves to escape from the terrible fate. Running out of supplies and while searching for food in nearby homes, he comes across an old lady named Gabriela (Amalia Gómez) who has also run out food herself. They help each other, as she knows where he could find the food and he get them with relative ease. Soon, they are able to intercept a radio transmission which has a message from the survivors who feel that they would be evacuated soon and it is safe where they were staying. This provides hope for both of them, even though Gabriela is not sure if she would survive the journey.

And what more can follow in a zombie-infested world? :: Gabriela understands that she would only slow him down and could end up being a burden, and commits suicide when Manel comes to get her on the next day. This leaves him and his cat to go through the journey to the place which might be a safe haven. With the cat Lúculo, and with a diving suit and a speargun for defense, Manel barely manages to escape from a zombie horde, but finds all larger boats either taken away or unusable. After finding a little zombie toddler, he is only able to use an inflatable dinghy to travel to his destination, with all roads taken over by zombies. On the way, he finds a few Russians who asks for his help while on the way and offers him a cabin to stay in their big boat. But Manel feels that the Russians are not that straightforward as they claim to be, even though the only person in the ship who can speak Spanish denies his suspicions. Now, it seems that it would not be that easy to get away and reach the new place which is claimed as a safe house. Can he somehow do what he has been planning to?

The defence of Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End :: Some of the most interesting foreign movies which I have watched were in Spanish, and the movies like The Platform has always gained the attention of a wider audience. As the main character grapples with the zombie-powered societal collapse and fights to reunite with his only family, this movie remains strong both as an emotional as well as terrifying one, with an adventure that keeps us going. The man’s survival from a tragic loss makes this another journey of a flawed character who wishes to finally get back to his family from that self-inflicted solitude. All those real‑world COVID-19 pandemic responses like acts of selfishness which are not limited to panic buying, along with those lockdowns and quarantine that we have experienced will keep us close to the movie’s reality, for it does not give away the fact that there are zombies involved until quite some time into the film. The terrifying elements do follow, and they are pretty much effective along with the emotional side.

Positives and negatives :: There might be similarities to the other titles dealing with similar topics, and it is not easy to come out of that feeling that we know what would happen, and it is know how this would keep going. Yet, powered by the performance provided by Francisco Ortiz, the movie rises above the usual expectations. One cannot help wondering how well the Spanish movies have managed to keep its side strong, no matter what kind of a genre it deals with. The support is really good too, even from the kids and one cat. There is a certain amount of realism when the zombies are shown, as they also seem as much desperate as humans for food, seemingly emotional too, unlike the usual mindless displays. It is also based on the novel by Manel Loureiro, and how much this one stay close or deviates from the original, is something we can only understand from the fans of book. The heartfelt zombie film seems to be appreciated enough to bring more viewers to the same on OTT.

How it finishes :: We are never short of some fine zombie movies, and the apocalypse is something we can never stop waiting for, whether in fiction or in reality as an inevitable fate. There is a fine journey through the world affected by the terrifying zombie reality which is slowly destroying the world as it is known. The terrible situation is shown with a fine scary side as much the emotional moments which makes this one a thriller drama as well as part of the genres of horror and adventure. This movie becomes another addition to that fine list. The ending makes sure that a scope for sequel is there to be taken, and from what is heard, it is there to come soon enough. Among the movies about the end of the world, it seems that the Spanish has managed to get on a higher level. We can have many similar movies to follow, but in between the earlier movies and those which are to come, this one has maintained some fine class while keeping the entertaining side high enough.

Release date: 31st October 2024
Running time: 118 minutes
Directed by: Carles Torrens
Starring: Francisco Ortiz, José María Yazpik, Berta Vázquez, Iria del Río, Marta Poveda, Amalia Gómez, María Salgueiro, Yuri Mikhaylychenko, Oriol Ruiz

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Phoenix

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Vampire Owl: I take this as an opportunity to rise from the ashes.

Vampire Bat: Vampires have already risen from the grave.

Vampire Owl: Rising from the ashes like a phoenix is different.

Vampire Bat: There will never be a Vampire Phoenix.

Vampire Owl: An owl is bird enough to be a phoenix.

Vampire Bat: So, you are going to be burned on a stake?

Vampire Owl: I can always hide in the ashes and rise from it.

Vampire Bat: Does this mean that you only need that title and nothing more?

Vampire Owl: Once I become a phoenix, my vampire powers will surely be different.

Vampire Bat: Well, vampires are real, but phoenix birds are not.

[Gets a butterscotch cake and three cups of Darjeeling tea].

What is the movie about? :: Advocate John Williams (Aju Varghese) moves away from his hometown, choosing an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere, after having some problems in the court where he was practicing as a lawyer. This new house has been deserted for too long, and the owners ask for an advance rent payment of six months. John is happy about it as nobody will evict them for six months even if he creates some unnecessary problems. He is accompanied by his wife Daisy John (Nilja K Baby) and three children who are not really that happy to be in this strange place where nobody is present to help them. Ameer (Bhagath Manuel) is John’s only friend as he keeps making enemies out of people he knows. He does not try to meet the parish priest Fr. Geo Kuttikadan (Zhinz Shan), the local shop owners, or the village authorities. He begins practicing at a local court, even though that also does not become a successful adventure for him.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: But the new house becomes a strange place for John and family as they feel that there is somebody else living with them. They ask around and understand that the place where they lived used to be a graveyard where so many people were buried underneath during the time of a cholera outbreak. They discover that the letters come from Anna Rose George (Abhirami Bose), an orphan girl who died during a cholera pandemic in the 1970s, who was in love with Freddy Mathew (Chandhunadh), son of an aristocratic businessman who was proud of his lineage and money power. The alliance is not a widely accepted one, as Margaret Tharakan (Aradhya Ann) is chosen as the right choice, as she is the daughter of a doctor who is studying for MBBS. It turns out that Freddy has to finish his research in marine engineering, for which he leaves to Madras. At the same time, cholera spreads in the village, and Anna is affected. What follows is a twist of events which would separate the two lovers, but for how long? How is this related to the sinister events?

The defence of Phoenix :: From a distance, the movie might look like a horror flick, but it is basically a tale of doomed love having an emotional touch told with the presence of spirits that haunts a family. The requirement for the past to be dug up makes the horror not more terrifying, but more emotionally relevant. The quality of all of these elevates the movie to a new level, as the location as well as the settings of the past never ceases to amaze us. The tale is nicely told with right focus on the necessary elements at all times. The movie never lets us keep away from the proceedings here. The divergent approach towards the genre brings the refreshing feeling here. Despite not focusing that much on special effects, the terrifying feeling never really goes away. The music is really good here, and songs remain touching. The experience of Phoenix would move away from the usual trends, and could bring new life to the genre of horror which has not done the best work during the last year, not just in this part of the world, but also outside.

Positives and negatives :: There is something about the movie that runs the emotional undercurrents so well in this movie, while the side of horror is always ready to move to the backseat to let the emotions rise about the rest. When the people behind the movie are associated with Twenty One Grams, Anjaam Paathira and Garudan, you know that there has to be more than just horror about this particular movie which impressed with the trailer itself. The deviation from horror is still there, and some people might not like the same. We focus on a longing for lost to be more than having vengeance on people, and in that case, horror will have taken the side seat. Vishnu Bharathan who is directing his first film, has made us feel a veteran touch, and for the same, the performances especially from the new face in the industry, Abhirami Bose has the biggest role to play. The ghosts of the past have the roles to play in this movie in a beautiful manner, and with the spirits, we have the blending of multiple genres, and with the same, the movie only gets better as time progresses. The worlds of the living and the dead is connected by the eternal love which stays strong in both.

The performers of the soul :: Aju Varghese in a serious role works like a dream in this movie, as he impresses us in a different way, in the form of a character which would not be loved by many people who watch this. Nilja K Baby plays the character of the wife with a certain amount of sadness always present on her face, and it is more like reflecting the overall mood of the film. Bhagath Manuel’s supporting role also remains a notable one. But the tale that remains the soul of this movie is that of a forgotten past, where Chandhunadh shines as the Shakespearean tragic hero who brings about his own fall out of grace and Abhirami Bose who becomes the lovely Ophelia who is destined to meet the unexpected but awaiting doom. Abhirami’s work as the doomed lover who is stuck in a Waiting for Godot situation even after death which comes to her after being proclaimed death, is one of the most tragic situations which calls for a spirit to return to life. The way in which she blends into this character is remarkable. Anoop Menon’s priest role is smaller, but more relevant to the proceedings of the long-lost past. Zhinz Shan’s priest also makes a point.

How it finishes :: The best thing about Phoenix is that it does not try to limit it to the usual jump scares despite it being known as a horror flick. It is like Crimson Peak, as the words which are told in that movie about the spirits of a particular type – “Others that hold onto an emotion. A drive. Loss. Revenge. Or love. Those, they never go away”. We know that by end of the movie, and we wonder how we can separate love from horror and hope from loss, as they are all interconnected; often one rests on the other to provide the substance. The film creates the bond of eternity which binds and curses people through love, and the emotional side only grows. I would safely say that this one of the most underrated romantic horror movies of all-time in Malayalam movie industry, as this stretches the arms towards the eternity which both romance and horror searches for in a world of modernity. The movie does what Ezra could not, as it found the possibility of multiple dimensions in a tale of horror, characterizing both the living and the dead beautifully.

Release date: 22nd December 2023 (Amazon Prime Video); 17th November 2023 (Theatre)
Running time: 132 minutes
Directed by: Vishnu Bharathan
Starring: Aju Varghese, Bhagath Manuel, Abhirami Bose, Nilja K Baby, Anoop Menon, Chandhunadh, Jess Sweejan, Babi Avani, Abram Ratheesh, Asha Aravind, Aji John, Sini Abraham, Devendranath, Aradhya Ann, Rajan Pootharakkal, Zhinz Shan, Paul D Joseph, Premananandan, Aroop Sivadas, Rahul Nair R

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

<<< Click here to go to the last review of the year.

<<< Click here to go to the review of the last big film watched at the theatre.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Resident Evil VI

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Vampire Owl: I am pretty much not in support of this franchise.

Vampire Bat: What? But you do like this kind of action, and praised the first movie.

Vampire Owl: Yes, but this is becoming a little too much. Too many zombies are being killed, and my team of zombie minions have given a petition.

Vampire Bat: And what was the petition about?

Vampire Owl: It was about saving the remaining zombies of the Resident Evil by an airlift.

Vampire Bat: But they are brainless zombies and this is a movie.

Vampire Owl: Yes, but killing so many zombies is nothing more than racism leading to genocide.

Vampire Bat: But they are just infected humans mutating into zombies.

Vampire Owl: In the end, there is no real difference, you know.

Vampire Bat: Okay, you can accept the petition and decide to watch this movie only in parts.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with special dosa].

What is the movie about? :: Alice (Milla Jovovich) wakes up in the ruins of the White House, after being betrayed by Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) again. She is attacked by the Umbrella employees as well as giant flying creature which seemed to have taken the mutation to another level. Once again on the wrong side of success, it is The Red Queen (Ever Gabo Anderson) who appears in front of her and gives her the clue on how to save humanity, and build a future that seemed near impossible some time ago. It means that Alice has to returned to where it all started in the first movie of the franchise, to the Hive in Raccoon City within forty eight hours, as the Umbrella Corporation has successfully developed an airborne antivirus, which has the power to kill each and every organism infected by the T-virus – but there is only those two days left before the last human settlement is destroyed.

So, what happens next? :: Alice, despite the fear that this particular antidote will kill her too, decides to make this journey to end all of these, and after fighting through Dr. Alexander Isaacs (Iain Glen) and his team that captures her, goes through to reach a human settlement which has managed to keep the undead creatures away until now. There she is captured by the team of Doc (Eoin Macken), Abigail (Ruby Rose), Christian (William Levy), Cobalt (Rola) and Razor (Fraser James) who don’t believe her until her old friend Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) shows up as part of the group, once again alive and ready for battle. The group makes a stand against the group of armored vehicles and the army of undead lead by Alexander and defeats them, although Cobalt is killed and the man in charge of the Umbrella operations escape. Soon, more of similar groups seem to be coming in their direction.

What is to follow in this final chapter? :: With almost no defence left against the bigger horde which is to follow, Alice decides to go to the Hive, and the rest of the group decides to go with her. There they will face more horror, starting with the mutated dogs which kill Christian. It will be followed by more, and Red Queen will reveal something else to the group, a secret that will show the true nature of the Umbrella Corporation which has always wanted to play God, and deal with the people whom it considered to be below them. The Red Queen reveals that even though it could never hurt an Umbrella employee, it was also programmed to value and protect human lives, which is why it is helping Alice to get into the Hive and get her hands on the anti-virus; after all, she is the only who seems to have the skill and capability to do the same, as she has proven many time before. But with only a few minutes of time left, can Alice do what she needs to do?

The defence of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter :: This movie continues what the franchise has been doing for so long, with all the action going on, and those zombies hungry for more coming after the survivors. This movie is also the best reviewed one in this franchise by the critics, which do seems strange – maybe they considered the fact that this is the last movie of the franchise, and they will have to review the movies of the series no more; still this improved opinion can be taken in consideration for the defence of this movie, as this final flick is not that far behind in action at any point of time. Milla Jovovich is at her best with what she does, and as Kate Beckinsale does to the Underworld franchise, she makes things work so well, and seeing Ali Larter again adds to the happiness. This time, people have reason to fight, and so the battles go great. The world also remains really good, and the post-apocalyptic setting has us a lot interested, and the same can be said about the return to the underground facility where all started in the first movie.

The claws of flaw :: One would be surprised to see so much of repetition in this movie, as the whole thing just seems to go on and on rather than bringing something out of the box in a last movie, for which the franchise will be remembered for long – we can’t really say that this will stay the last movie for long though, considering that ending which doesn’t really end the whole thing, with scope always there for a new beginninng out of this. Those who have played the video games might have wanted more, and the same is the case of those people who were already planning to not like this movie. The character of Claire is underused, and some of the best characters from the franchise, Jill Valentine played by Sienna Guillory, Ada Wong played by Li Bingbing, Chris Redfield played by Wentworth Miller and Leon S. Kennedy played by Johann Urb were not there, and we could find no clue of what happened to them, which is real disappointment, as a movie fan as well as a gamer. It could have also used better twists in there.

How it finishes :: This is a franchise that has been entertaining us since 2002, and fifteen years later, with six movies to boast about, the whole thing is finally coming to an end. This series which started with Resident Evil went on to bring Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Resident Evil: Retribution and now, finally Resident Evil: The Final Chapter to finish off the big video game’s movie adaptations. The games have a total count that is going to touch thirty, sooner or later, and I am pretty sure that we are not done with that – I particularly remember Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and along with Silent Hill, this is another survivor horror game adaptation that I have close to my heart; this might not be among the best movies of the franchise, but still, after Need for Speed, Hitman: Agent 47 and Warcraft in the last three years, another action-filled and interesting video game adaptation is here.

Release date: 27th January 2017
Running time: 106 minutes
Directed by: Paul W. S. Anderson
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Ruby Rose, Shawn Roberts, Eoin Macken, William Levy, Iain Glen, Lee Joon-gi, Fraser James, Rola, Ever Gabo Anderson, Matthew Santoro

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Train to Busan

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Vampire Owl: I had the feeling that you were never going to write on foreign movies.

Vampire Bat: Yes, that was the earlier intention, but there are so many good titles among them. To add to it, I had written about a foreign short film.

Vampire Owl: So you mean to say that you are breaking the rules.

Vampire Bat: Yes, but only this rule. I will not be writing on a movie which gets a score of 70/100 when it is from last year, or 50/100 if it is new. I will also not write on any movies older than the previous year.

Vampire Owl: It is fair enough. So just more categories at Movies of the Soul?

Vampire Bat: Yes, an expansion was needed. These are the days when there is not much of a place for honest reviews.

Vampire Owl: Yes, I see that people take money from the movie makers and write positive reviews, no matter how bad the movie is.

Vampire Bat: It is where we choose to write on only the movies which are good, thus not writing about at least half of the movies that we watch.

Vampire Owl: Well, we need more reviews then, because most of the movie pages and celebrities are only sharing those reviews for which they have paid for.

Vampire Bat: This is an undead movie. So let us start the new saga with this one, and expand our territory.

[Gets three cups of Wayanad tea with Patanjali Doodh Biscuits].

What is the movie about? :: Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) a fund manager so obsessed with his work that he rarely think about the rest of the things in his life. Due to the same reason, he rarely get any time to spend with his only daughter, Soo-an (Kim Su-an) who wishes to be with her parents. But that wasn’t going to happen as her father and mother and divorced, and she could consider her lucky enough just to have some moments from her father’s busy schedule. Hoping to see her mother again, Soo-an makes the birthday wish to see her who is at Busan, to her father, who really had no clue what to buy his daughter for her birthday. Even though he really wants to keep on working, Seok-woo takes his daughter to the Seoul railway station to board the Korea Train Express. There seems to be something strange going on in the city with ambulances, police and fire fighters rushing, but they ignore the same.

So, what happens next? :: There they come across Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok) and his pregnant wife Seong-kyeong (Jung Yu-mi) who are looking forward to a rather peaceful and undisturbed journey. The journey has two of the strangest passengers, one being a homeless man (Choi Gwi-hwa) who has shut himself inside the lavatory being afraid of something, and there is an injured girl (Shim Eun-kyung) who has run into the train without the ticket checker noticing. While the former had just seen the attack to get scared, the latter had just been bitten by a zombie in the outbreak which had plagued the city causing panic all around. The girl turns into a zombie and spreads the infection beginning with an atttendant, and then on to the passengers. Along with the father, daughter, husband and the pregnant wife, a cheerleader Jin-hee (Ahn So-hee), her lover and baseball player Yong-guk (Choi Woo-shik)are among those who escape by getting them all into one compartment.

And, what is to follow next in the adventure? :: The zombies await the survivors in the very next compartment, but they are not able to get in, as they are not that smart. Sang-hwa is doubtful of Seok-woo as his a corporate man and was hesitant to open the door of the compartment for him and his wife. Seok-woo is not that fond of him either as he is concerned about his daughter more than anything else, and is afraid to do anything that has the slightest possibility of putting her in danger. Then there is the rich and selfish COO Yon-suk (Kim Eui-sung) who just wants to get him safe, even if it means that everyone in the train has to die a painful death. But time keeps running out for them, but hope comes as they are supposed to stop at Daejeon Station, where all passengers are to be quarantined. Seok-woo calls one of his influential colleagues and makes sure that he and his daughter would be able to get through without being quarantined. But you can never be safe as long as there are zombies anywhere, right?

The defence of Train to Busan :: There are not many zombie movies this quick, as this movie goes on as fast as the train itself – there is absolutely no dull moment in this flick which moves forward as if it is a bullet shot right out of a gun, and people used to say that the zombies were slow, or rather the slowest among all of the undead. There are so many thrilling moments here that we get to stop counting – there are so many of the undead, and there are so many occasions when our protagonists need to keep running or even fight back to keep the creatures out. We get to care for so many of characters like never before in a horror movie. All these are so nicely shot, and whatever we see have smartness behind them. There is the corporate evil shown with all brutality here, as we see the man in suit being the most selfish creature, even worse than the zombies. We also see a lot of emotions, and acts which define humanity in one way or the other – there heroes when least expected, and some acts of sacrifice will go very far down deep.

The claws of flaw :: A ninety six percent approved movie from the critics should mean to be something more when you look at it – and there are zombies, which means that you never bring the expectations down. Train to Busan is one of those rare Korean movies which got its release in the multiplex near our place, and we know that it got everyone’s attention by a huge margin. The movie’s biggest predictability is that a lot of people can figure out the two people who are to survive by the end of the movie – it seems like that is meant to make sure that even families are going to like it, even though the horror movie genre rarely make any inroads there. We have also had a lot of zombie movies, and we were looking for something that deviated like no other – there was also the need for an explanation of how zombies came into being; it would help, as it was proven by a franchise like Resident Evil which was rather one-dimensional in its content even though it was three-dimensional on the screen.

How it finishes :: We have had many zombie movies with the outbreak of something resembling a plague, which spread through bite – even if we forget those earlier movies, we have had quite a good number of interesting ones in the last few years, and the biggest money-maker has been the video game inspired franchise which never really seemed to have an end until they released one movie titled the final chapter, Resident Evil. Then there was the most divergent of them all, the one which had a zombie love story which threatened to take away more than just a few Twilight fans – Warm Bodies. Then there is World War Z which might be the most similar to Train to Busan, but we see that this Korean flick here is rather the improved version – a zombie movie which will stay in your minds with not just the action, but with all things combined. Well, the point to be noted is that it is not Hollywood who has come up with this all-rounder zombie flick. Even we had Go Goa Gone.

Release date: 20th July 2016 (Korea); 21st October 2016 (India)
Running time: 118 minutes
Directed by: Yeon Sang-ho
Starring: Gong Yoo, Ma Dong-seok, Jung Yu-mi, Kim Su-an, Kim Eui-sung, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee, Choi Gwi-hwa, Jung Suk-yong, Ye Soo-jung, Park Myung-sin, Jang Hyuk-jin, Kim Chang-hwan, Shim Eun-kyung

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Daylight’s End

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daylightsend-2

Vampire Owl: I know what comes after daylight’s end.

Vampire Bat: You mean to say that you already watched the end of the movie?

Vampire Owl: I am talking about us coming after the daylight’s end.

Vampire Bat: I am pretty sure that this is not a vampire movie, like the way we want it.

Vampire Owl: Still, daylight’s end is interesting for us too.

Vampire Bat: That doesn’t really make your point have a better meaning.

Vampire Owl: I am talking about what comes from the inner voice of my soul.

Vampire Bat: You mean to say that you have an outer voice for your soul.

Vampire Owl: Yes, I have developed all these through years of meditation.

Vampire Bat: I am going to pretend that you are talking while sleeping and watch this movie.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with jackfruit chips].

What is the movie about? :: Years have passed after a strange and mysterious plague outbreak had turned most of the people on the planet to cannibalistic, blood sucking creatures. As the daylight ends, the time of these creatures begin. They hunt through the remaining humans, whoever is left without shelter. But a person called Thomas Rourke (Johnny Strong) is determined to battle through this situation, and goes on killing these creatures one after the other in an armoured car. On the way, she sees Samantha Sheridan (Chelsea Edmundson) who is attacked by a group of criminals, and saves her. As he is about to leave, she offers him more guns and ammunition if he gets her to their secret hideout before sunset. Despite the initial doubts, he decides to go with them as he needs all that he can get in his never-ending battle with the creatures.

So, what happens next? :: Even as they drive very quickly, they are unable to reach their destination before sunset, but they get very close to the place. The creatures attack them, but they are saved by the survivors from the hideout, and they all manage to get in. Thomas identifies an alpha creature who leads the rest, as the one who was responsible for the death of his wife. The leaders of the gang of survivors include the old and experienced fighter Frank (Lance Henriksen), his son Ethan (Louis Mandylor) and the former police officer Chris (Hakeem Kae-Kazim). Even as they are suspicious of the intentions of Thomas, they let him in to honour the promise made by Samantha. They still keeps him locked in the cell and promises to provide him the weapons and let him leave after the sunrise on the very next day.

What is to follow in this world of chaos and death? :: As the survivors fall asleep, there are strong noises being heard everywhere. Some of them tries to look around, but are killed by some of the creatures who had managed to get in; but the group successfully kills the creatures and survive the night. In the morning, they find out that the door to the outside has been jammed by the creatures who pushed cars over it. It would take them a long time to move them, and without moving those cars, they can’t take their own vehicles outside. Their plan is to escape to an airfield where there is an airplane. With all of them trapped inside the building and the creatures all prepared to come back again next night, Thomas convinces some of the survivors to accompany him to the building which serves as the hive of the creatures, and kill the alpha creature that leads them. But it won’t be that easy.

The defence of Daylight’s End :: For a low budget movie, this one is a nice achievement, as there are lots of action in store, and that too in style. The whole thing is nicely shot, and we have a lot of shooting going on here, which has our attention, and the same is the case of the creatures who seem to be part-vampire, part-zombie, even though it is more on the vampire side. It is not easy to come up with a good movie in this genre, with too many movies of the same kind being there to be seen, but Daylight’s End manages to survive there. Making a low budget post-apocalyptic movie and having it work so well is too good a thing. The pace is very quick, and we don’t ever feel the need to look away. There is intensity in the happenings, and we get to feel the terror in the situations we have here. If you are looking for post-apocalyptic movies, or to see vampires or zombies coming right at you, take this one and join the ride.

The claws of flaw :: One would think that we had too much of the movies like this, with a situation post-apocalyptic, and the creatures roaming around looking for flesh or blood or both. Resident Evil is the biggest name among them with a new sequel currently running in the theatres, and there are flicks like I am Legend, World War Z and 28 Days Later; there is even Zombieland. Well, people who are tired of the same should go for this one – please choose to say nevermore, and get away. This surely does give that feeling that we have all seen this before. A lot more could have been done with the creatures though, especially with their origins, and also with some special scares added in between. With a setting and creatures like we have here, the possibilities are actually endless. There could have also been a big memorable collection of final moments, with some shocks added to make this a terrifying experience.

How it finishes :: Lead by Johnny Strong and supported well by a cast which has Chelsea Edmundson as the best noticeable female lead, Daylight’s End is the kind of movie that will keep your interest in the post-apocalyptic stuff going. It is not going to bring anything that will change the genre, but it is surely something that can keep you entertained till the end. In humanity’s fight to stay alive, it is us who get to see how things happen in style. It could have scored better with something bigger in its script, and some shock along with bigger scares, but as it is now, there is enough strength to be the action thriller with horror elements. It is surely a better choice than some of those overrated high budget movies, as this one manages to be one of the best of its kind made with such low budget. You can choose to travel to the end of daylight with this one. Just like Fender Bender and Shut In, this is too less known a movie, but it needs to be known by more people!

Release date: 1st November 2016
Running time: 105 minutes
Directed by: William Kaufman
Starring: Johnny Strong, Chelsea Edmundson, Lance Henriksen, Heather Kafka, Farah White, Louis Mandylor, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Krzysztof Soszynski, Chris Kerson, Gary Cairns, Mark Hanson, Sonny Puzikas, Matt Beckam, Susana Gibb, Ed Spila

daylightsend

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.