Reviews

I saw this at the video store for a long time, but never rented it, I figured it wouldn't be all that good, but when you like zombie movies, there really aren't all that many choices, so I gave it a whack one night. The beginning wasn't so bad, it seemed like it might be OK, it's kind of done as a sequel to Night Of The Living Dead, you see them wrapping up the zombie outbreak from that night. So far, not so bad.

There is one zombie that breaks off from the rest named Abbott Hayes, a notorious killer in the town, but he seems to be a smart zombie because he stays hidden for the next 20 years, and seems to have an agenda. He turns a group of teenagers into zombies, hence the title, and sends them to do his bidding. Every time someone sees him, they yell ABBOTT HAYES, despite the fact that his crimes were over 20 years ago, and he is now a badly decomposed corpse, somehow people recognize him the split second they see him.

The plot doesn't make a lot of sense, and the idea of a smart zombie with a goofy laugh and a strange dance like walk was really kind of off putting. I do want to give props to Jamie McCoy, she is a really beautiful woman, and she seemed like she might not be a bad actress if given good material. Not a very good movie, but there are worse zombie movies out there, and on a slow night, it might give you a laugh.

Minor spoilers

This is the definition of a guilty pleasure, it's so incredibly awful, but also fun to watch. Filled with unintentional comedy, I actually went to see this twice at the movies, I had to show a friend of mine how terrible it was. First of all, it takes place exactly a year after the first one, even though it's really been over 5 years, and Ralph Macchio is pushing 30, but playing a 17 year old. The evil karate instructor from the first movie wants to get revenge on Daniel for beating his star pupil, and enlists the aid of a pony tailed rich friend, and a teenage "bad boy" of karate. The pony tailed guy is really into this revenge plot, he goes over the plan sitting in a sauna, and just bursts out laughing, just like from a comic book. The ponytail guy pretends to befriend Daniel, and train him, because Miyagi wants nothing to do with Daniel fighting in this tournement because......well, because that's what it says in the script. Of course, eventually the terrible trio let Danny in on their little plan right before the big tournement, and miyagi shows up and says that he'll train Danny, and then proceeds to wipe the floor with all three of the karate experts, and as Danny and Miyagi walk away, the three are still laughing and taunting Danny, which seemed odd to me since he's being trained by the guy that just beat all their asses all at once....but the laughing and the taunting were in the script, so why not. Of course, Danny is losing badly up until the last moment, until Miyagi gives him a word of encourgement, and then Danny snaps out of his stupor and wins......because it was in the script. Yes, it's really as bad as it sounds, but you'll laugh yourself silly, I promise.

Possible spoilers

A lot of people say this is the worst Star Trek movie, and I suppose it is, but it's also fun to watch in a Mystery Science Theatre kind of way. At the beginning, some diplomats are taken hostage by Sybok, a renegade vulcan (also Spocks brother). The head of starfleet contacts the Enterprise, which is a new replacement for the original that was destroyed in Star Trek 3, and it's not in working order yet, the transporters don't even work. Well, Kirk explains this to the admiral, but the admiral cuts him off, and says that he wants Jim Kirk their. Now, I know Captain Kirk is probably legendary in starfleet, but all they had to do was send a ship with a working transporter to beam the hostages out, problem solved, even a garbage scow probably could have managed it, but since Shatner wrote and directed, some ego stroking was in order for the good captain.

Of course, since the transporters don't work, a landing party consisting of the most important officers on the ship, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, has to go to the planet on a shuttle craft. And they meet up with Sybock, who it turns out is a touchy feely vulcan that can touch you and take your "pain" away, he does this for Spock and McCoy, but when it's Kirks turn, Kirk shouts in the way only Shatner can, "I want my pain, I need my pain". Sybock is sensing some kind of great energy at the center of the universe, which he believes to be God, and he just has to meet God, so he takes over the Enterprise, and it really seems to be that easy.

Well, they get to the center of the universe, and everybody piles into the shuttle craft and goes down to the planet where Sybock senses God. When they get off the craft, they all look around at their surroundings, and have looks of complete awe and wonder, and they all remark about how beautiful it is, calling it paradise, eden, and so forth, but all it looks like to me is a Nevada desert, maybe they don't have deserts in the future, so it seems impressive to them. They pretty soon come across God, a brightly lit face, that everybody is impressed by and is bowing down to, except for Kirk of course, he has his doubts, he asks for proof that he's God, and that's when McCoy has a great line, "Jim, you don't ask the almighty for his I.D.". God proceeds to say that he will need their starship, that's when Kirk figures out for sure that it's not really God, and the face gets really ticked off, and starts chasing Kirk, and just when it looks like it's curtains for Kirk, Spock shows up in a Klingon shuttle and shoots the face with a big phaser, and saves the day.

Yeah, it was lame, but Shatners ego is really a sight to behold.

**Spoilers**

I saw this movie yesterday, I don't really know much about Rob Zombie, I don't listen to his kind of music. I'm not a big splatter fan, but I did like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and other horror films, so I thought I would give this one a chance.

I actually liked it at first, it was kind of scary and bizarre enough, but it just became more and more sickening, the evil family in this movie was just absolutely disgusting, which wouldn't have been so bad, but they are almost treated as the heroes of the movie, I get the feeling that Rob Zombie doesn't find their behavior all that reprehensible.

One thing that happened was just to ridiculous, there were 5 local cheerleaders that went missing that keep getting mentioned in the movie, and when one is discovered in the trunk of a car, dead, with the words "trick or treat" carved into her, they send 2 cops to check things out. That place would have been crawling with cops, my suspension of disbelief doesn't go that far.

I don't mind downbeat endings, sometimes I find them preferable, but this ending just took the cake, I think mostly because it wasn't presented as a downbeat ending, again, I get the feeling that RZ views this as a happy ending. Also, if they were going to end it that way, couldn't at least one of the villains have gotten their comeuppance? I would have loved to see that evil, annoying (but very pretty), blond bimbo get whacked. But of course, I think the director saw them as the heroes of the movie.

I felt dirty after watching this movie.

***contains possible spoilers*** I saw this movie a couple of days ago at a dollar movie theatre. I guess it was worth a dollar to watch, but I couldn't see spending much more than that to see it. Some other posts have said that Jennifer Lopez is a bad actress, I disagree, I think she proved her acting chops in Out of Sight, but she has'nt done anything to challenge herself since then. This movie was just pretty dumb, bad script, some of the lines the actors are required to say are just breathtakingly ridiculous. To be honest, I almost got up and left, but after I saw Billy Campbell punch Jennifer Lopez, I did want to stay until the end to see him get his butt kicked. Her character is lucky enough to have a very rich long lost daddy to bankroll her once she goes on the run. I think we were supposed to think his character was charming, but the truth of the matter is that he seemed like an older version of the Billy Campbell character. Once J-Lo goes on the run, she cuts her hair short, which we all know completely changes your appearance. At one point she has to escape again, and throws on a wig, which makes her look pretty much exactly like she did before she cut her hair. I could go on, but why bother, for some people just watching an abused wife beat the hell out of her abuser is enough for them to want to see this movie, and if thats the only thing that matters to you, and plot and dialog, and acting are of no concern then by all means watch this movie, but if those things do matter to you, then you should skip it.