Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Zombie Apocalypse


OK, this reviewer must confess to very eclectic tastes in movies. If it's on the screen, TV or big screen, I will watch it, no doubt!

Zombies! Yes indeed. Lots of fun. What a great genre. I will review TV's very popular and praiseworthy Walking Dead in the future. Right now, I must laud the 2011 movie that garnered fine reviews among those who appreciate finely crafted blood and gore.

Ving Rhames, whose best work was the gangster-bully in Pulp Fiction, wows viewers with a fine, believable portrait of a survivor. The basic story? The human race has become infected with zombie-itis! For those of you who don't watch zombie movies, zombies are those who are the "walking dead": they sort of wander around mindlessly, trying to bite and infect humans who are healthy.

The result? Humans on the run!

Join Ving Rhames and about ten young people who have somehow survived multiple zombie attacks. They are headed to the west coast, L.A. to be exact, because rumor has it that the only safe human zone is on Catalina Island. The only problem is getting there!

The zombie genre is, of course, a great metaphor for all outcasts in our society. We treat those with viruses (eg AIDS, even flu) as entities we don't want among us. Our poor and homeless count among our "zombie" aliens. Others society rejects: black, hispanic, depressed, manic, divorced, separated, gay, lesbian...the list goes on.

So to appreciate the zombie world, which is gaining in popularity (e.g. Twilight, which offers vampires, simply another form of the zombie), please think in broad, metaphorical terms.

If you have not "tasted" the genre (bad pun), consider renting Zombie Apocalypse. You'll be surprised to find yourself "thirsting" (bad pun) for scenes and feeling very much a part of a vicious, man-eat-man (bad pun) world!

Grade of A-. I would have preferred a little different ending.


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