Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Awful....

Every year, Hollywood releases hundreds of movies. Some of them are great, most of them are bad. While there were a lot of very innovative, creative pictures to hit the theaters in 2008, there were at least 5 clunkers I could think of. Here's my list:

Worst 5 Movies of 2008:

5) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I'll be honest with you, I was really excited for this movie to come out. I've loved the Indiana Jones movies for as long as I can remember. I recall my mom taking me and my brother to see the Last Crusade when I was 6. It was great then, and it's still great now. 19 years later, Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas put together what very well may be the shittiest movie of all time. This movie sucks people. It sucks so much that it makes me angry just thinking about it. I would go so far to say that it's worse than Batman and Robin or Battlefield Earth. Ughhh...



4) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Make no mistake, I could not wait to see what kind of hair-raising adventure Indy would find himself in for this movie. I thought about it for months leading up to its release, and even attended a pre-party where we watched the Temple of Doom and ate pot brownies. I could not have been more disappointed with a summer blockbuster than I was with this steaming pile of shit. It's really, really, really bad. There are way too many scenes to point out here, but I warn you that this movie has a very strong chance of making you want to kill people.



3) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Can you believe that this movie holds a 76% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes? Don't believe me? Here's a screen shot you dummies:

The movie almost made me think that none of the Indiana Jones movies were actually good, but you know, I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark shortly before seeing this deplorable piece of garbage and I still loved it. It's an amazing film that stands the test of time. This movie? Absolutely depressing.

2) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Why is this movie so bad you ask? Because it just is. There's no way to really explain it other than watching it (please don't) or mentioning a few of its shortcomings. One of them being a scene of that assclown Shia Labouf swinging from vines with monkeys. Another being Harrison Ford looking laughably old. One more being the completely incohesive plot and characterizations. The CGI didn't help. It was some of the cheesiest special effects I've seen since Mac & Me (and that's an understatement). How and why did so many people actually enjoy this trash? It boggles my mind!!!!



1) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Oh my god, the more I think about this movie the more I want to punch walls in my apartment. If you liked this movie, you are an idiot. I don't care if you're reading this and you're a friend of mine, you're an idiot. If you ever try to convince me that I just "don't get" this movie or that I should give it a second chance I will stop being your friend. Get over it, don't bring it up again.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Fan Made...

Fan made trailers are inherently shitty for a few reasons. A) There is a very limited amount of footage that can actually be used for them. B) There's only so much you can do with your parents' MacBook. C) The people making them are total douchebags. Enjoy.

Top 5 Stupidest Fan Made Trailers:

5) "Batman: Caped Crusader" a.k.a. "Shadow of the Bat" - Let's make a fake trailer for a Batman movie but show Batman in literally 2 shots. And let's show Philip Seymour Hoffman in a helicopter a bunch of times. Oh, and let's just tint the entire trailer green...because the Riddler wears green. You fuckin' nimrod. Whoever made this should be put to sleep.



4) "Green Lantern Teaser Trailer" - They shouldn't call this a teaser...they should call it a borer. Because it bores me to fucking death. Who on earth would want to watch this movie? The creator of this trailer deserves nothing short of continuous electric shock.



3) "National Treasure 3: The Search for Atlantis" - Wow....I thought the ones above were bad. This reaches completely new levels of shittiness.

Controvercies
Challenges
...and Pride


Someone please track down this guy's IP address and smother him with a pillow.



2) "Jurassic Park IV: The Dinosaur Conquest" - The Dinosaur Conquest? Oh - I thought there were raccoons on the island. And who the fuck is Douglas Hughes?

Dinosaurs have been extinct for 65 million years.
Yet these magnificent beasts live on in our hearts and in our imagination.


I can understand wanting to create a retarded PowerPoint presentation, but do they have to be so fucking poetic about it???



1) "Back to the Future: Part IV" - Dear lord...

Friday, December 12, 2008

Disturbing...

I enjoy watching horror movies - but there is a fine line between a horror/gore movie, and a movie that will make you question whether or not you're actually watching a snuff film. These are all films that I've watched (or at least tried to watch) once, and will most likely never go anywhere near them again.

Top 5 Extremely Disturbing Films That You Really Shouldn't Ever Watch:

5) I Spit on Your Grave (1978) - This movie pops up on a lot of "best-of" lists, but I had a really hard time watching this when I finally rented it a couple years ago. There's something about witnessing 45 minutes of a woman being tortured, raped and practically left for dead that has not an ounce of entertainment in it for me. Honestly, I'm disturbed by anyone who actually got past the first half of this movie and enjoyed it. Maybe it gets better towards the end, but I'll never know because I refuse to watch it.



4) Faces of Death (1978) - People who own any of the Faces of Death movies and even just occasionally view them are potential psychopaths. These movies are not fun to watch, they put a knot in your stomach and make you afraid to leave your house. I rented one of these with a friend when we were 15 and couldn't watch more than 10 minutes of it. The fact that any of these movies are even legal to sell and distribute makes me question my stance on censorship.

3) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) - Even though this film is extremely macabre and ominous, it actually is a very good movie. Just don't suggest to watch it with someone you don't know too well. You'll scare the shit out of them. Influenced by real-life convicted murderer Henry Lee Lucas, this "slasher" flick tells the story of a man who takes pleasure in killing (and videotaping) random women in Chicago with a seedy old friend of his from prison named Otis. There are many moments that are outright disturbing, and a little too realistic, that make you never want to watch it again. Example: after killing two prostitutes in cold blood, Henry and Otis share hamburgers and fries in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant and discuss the joys of murdering random people and getting away with it. This may not seem disturbing, but trust me, it is. Ever since I first watched Henry, I've had a hard time eating drive-thru in a parking lot.



2) Last House on the Left (1972) - I've never understood the appeal and popularity of this utterly unwatchable piece of shit. If Wes Craven hadn't given us Nightmare on Elm Street, it would be very easy to label him nothing more than a B-movie hack, incapable of delivering a coherent well-directed film. Fuck Wes Craven, fuck him.



1) Suicide Club (2002) - I had heard so much about this movie from so many people that it was inevitable I would finally watch it. No one warned me that it would haunt me for years. Make no mistake - this movie will disturb the shit out of you. It involves a pop song, and the effect it has on convincing Japanese school-children to commit group suicide. From the very first scene, you'll probably want to immediately turn it off. Well, you probably should. It doesn't get any lighter. I would say I'm surprised that this movie hasn't been remade by Hollywood yet, but then again, I'd be surprised if anyone even wanted to touch this subject in America. It's worth watching, but please, don't watch this.



Thursday, December 11, 2008

Childhood...

No real setup for this, apart from that I did absolutely no research on any of these items, specifically to give the most vague recollection I could for each. Any corrections/explanations would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy.

Top 11 Things I Vaguely Remember as a Child:

11) Popples - Popples were an extremely inventive line of stuffed animals, one that you could turn inside out and make it into a ball. I had a yellow one, I think, and I adored it. I'm pretty sure that I lost my Popple after turning it inside out and dropping it down a sewer when I was 5. Then a very scary clown in the sewer offered it back, along with a red balloon. Okay, that didn't really happen, but my Popple did mysteriously vanish.



10) Genesis - Land of Confusion - This video scared the hell out of me as a child. It was similar to watching Labyrinth, in that there were these puppets that were seemingly friendly, but in reality, were absolutely frightening. Still, there are references to Superman (even if it is just Ronald Reagan), which is probably why I watched it so much. Take a look.



9) Mickey's Christmas Carol - I don't know when this aired, but I do know that I had a VHS tape of this special that I probably watched 8,000 times as a kid. Watching it now is an extremely surreal experience, mainly because as a kid you make your own weird interpretations about things you don't understand.



8) Ghost Busters (Filmation) - This is the type of cartoon that could cause a child to have a brain aneurysm. I loved nothing more than the Ghostbusters movie and subsequent cartoon, so imagine how confused I must have been when an alternate cartoon, also named "Ghostbusters," aired with a very similar premise. Except, where was Venkman and Egon? Is the gorilla supposed to be Slimer? Why aren't they driving around in the Ecto-1? Filmation (the company who owned the rights to the name "Ghostbusters") should be ashamed of themselves for having confused youngsters everywhere with this inferior version. Yes, I know they had the name first, but damn....this shit made me angry!



7) Ewoks: Battle For Endor - I didn't really get into the Star Wars movies until I was a little older, but for whatever reason, I was very much aware of the straight-to-TV Ewok movies. In particular, this bizarre sequel starring a Drew Barrymore lookalike and Wilford Brimley. This was another VHS tape I watched at least a million times, original commercials intact. Make no mistake, these movies are god awful, but that one Ewok (who isn't really an Ewok) who runs really fast is kind of cool. Watch this very weird scene, clearly inspired by Evil Dead 2.



6) The Peanut Butter Solution - Literally every person I have spoken to who was born in the 80's vaguely remembers this movie. No one owns a copy, no one saw it a couple months ago, and certainly no one has the poster hanging in their room, but every one kinda sorta maybe remembers this movie. It was an odd premise. From what I remember, a kid loses all his hair after walking through a painting or something, and then hears of the "peanut butter solution" which will cause his hair to grow back after spreading peanut butter all over his head. And didn't it involve some art supply company using his hair for its hairbrushes? Wow....this movie was fucking insane!



5) Mr. Boogedy/Bride of Boogedy - From what I can recall, and I'm pretty sure I watched these movies again only a few years ago, this movie starred Richard Masur who plays an 35 year old man-child who owns a joke shop and treats his family like total shit by constantly playing tasteless pranks on them. They move into the house of a dead Amish man, presumably Mr. Boogedy, and he haunts the fuck out of them. Eugene Levy is in at least one of these steaming shit-piles, and Michael Eisner did a very weird introduction with Goofy and/or Donald. If you don't remember these movies, I feel (sorry) happy for you. For further proof of Richard Masur being a total asshole to his family, watch the clip below:



4) This Very Creepy McDonald's Commercial - How come no one questions that a ghastly clown is ice skating with a group of unaccompanied children? Have none of these parents read about John Wayne Gacy??? This commercial is most likely on one of my VHS tapes of Ewoks or Mr. Boogedy, so I've seen it a lot. The image of Ronald McDonald spinning the kid in the air at the end still sends chills down my spine.



3) Hi-C's Ecto Cooler - I drank this stuff literally every day for at least 3 years. Once I remember my mom bought one of those gigantic cans of it, but it wasn't called Ecto cooler, it was the same exact drink, made by Hi-C, presumably prior to the Ghosbusters tie-in. I wish I could remember the name, and I've been doing research, but no luck. If you remember, please email me. Anyway, is it just me, or is the CGI in this commercial way to advanced for its time?



2) My Pet Monster - Wow, did this really exist or was it a figment of my imagination? I had a gigantic My Pet Monster doll for way longer than I should have, but I couldn't tell you what the hell the character was. I'm pretty sure there was a movie, and it involved some kind of statue, and the statue came alive when someone was wearing a ring or something, but I could just be making that up. Regardless, this was a very odd 80's franchise.



1) Madballs - Now that I've compiled this list, I realize how infatuated 80's toymakers were with creating grisly toys for small children to play with. What the hell was the deal with Madballs? I'm pretty sure I had the one that looked like a baseball and stuck its tongue out. If you never owned a Madball, I pity you.



Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Guilty Pleasures...

There's a lot of activities I partake in that I don't necessarily admit to everyone I meet. Along with hiding a couple Christina Aguillera songs in my iPod, here is a list of my Top 5 Guilty Pleasures:

5) That's So Raven - Have you ever woken up on a Saturday morning, after a night of drinking and eating fried foods with your friends until 3am? It's probably around 9 or 10am and you want to sleep more, but the aching head and stomach just won't let you? So you turn on the TV and the only thing on is ABC Kids Saturday Morning programming, with back-to-back episodes of That's So Raven. Welcome to every Saturday morning of my life. This show is so cringe-inducing, so abominable, so absolutely deplorable and evil, yet there is nothing else I would rather watch on a Saturday morning while I recover from a night of drinking. Raven Simone's acting will make you want to kill people, but only if you don't laugh at how embarrassingly bad her performance is on a weekly basis. For the love of god, please [don't] watch this show.



4) Saved by the Bell - I don't know if I can really call this a guilty pleasure, because I find absolutely no guilt in admitting how much I love this show. Then again, it is kind of embarrassing that I'm 25 years old and have seen literally every episode of Saved by the Bell (and its precursor Good Morning Miss Bliss) at least 3 times. To quote Billy Bob Thornton on the matter during an interview with Conan O'Brien, "I find that when I watch it...I want to watch more." Nothing could sum up my thoughts on this show more than Mr. Thornton's fine words here. Saved by the Bell is textbook-bad television, where people act in a way that would make you question humanity in any real-life situation, yet it is very hard to stop watching something like Screech trying to fight Zack Morris over his love for Lisa Turtle. Some favorite episodes include: the one where Lisa invites a big Tom Cruise type movie star to film a PSA against drugs at their school, only to discover that the guy is a crazed-out [marijuana] druggie. Yes, the guy literally smokes a joint at a party. Whoa. And of course there's also the one where Jesse becomes addicted to painkillers and in a bizarre meltdown attempts to sing "I'm So Excited" in all its glory, only for it to dissolve slowly into, "I'm so......scared!!!!" Trust me, shit like this never gets old. Don't bother watching the College Years, The New Class or any of the TV movies, just ain't the same.



3) Superboy - In the late 80's Ilya & Alexander Salkind, executive producers of all the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, created a weekly series based on the stupidest idea in comic book history. The very idea that Superman was "Superboy" before moving to Metropolis defies all continuity ever put forth by the original comic book series. Does it make any sense that they would call him Superboy while he is clearly being played by a 23-year old James Haymes Newton? May I remind you that Christopher Reeve was 25 when he was cast as Superman. I never watch Smallville, but at least they don't refer to him as Superman or Superboy on that show, knowing that the idea of Superboy is completely illogical. But I digress. This show is pure trash and perhaps one of the funniest versions of Superman to ever see the light of day. Watch if only for Michael J. Pollard's hilariously awful portrayal of Mr. Mxyzptlk. It's almost like they were reading his lines into an ear-piece with a faulty signal.



2) Hot Hot Heat - I know that I should technically hate this band, but I can't deny that "Bandages" is a great fucking song.



1) Maury - Okay, again, not really sure if this is a guilty pleasure, as anyone who knows me will know that I always have at least two Maury Povich episodes taped on my DVR, but still it's kind of embarrassing that I've been watching this show for almost 10 years. Much better than Jerry Springer ever was, this show is consistently raising the bar for what is trash-TV. In the late 90's, there were a variety of subjects that Maury would cover, ranging from abusive husbands to obese infants, and also drag queens and out-of-control teens. He still does those episodes, maybe once every 3 months, but it is a guarantee that 99.9% of the time it will be a paternity result show. And how exciting those shows are! I love when a woman brings like 3 guys on and promises that one of them is the father and then none of them are. I know it's not right to laugh at the misfortune of others, but I see no problem in laughing at the misfortune of people who publicly announce their habits of sleeping with 12 guys within a two-week period. What kind of lives do these people go home to? Do they become hometown celebrities? Do the fathers ever actually pay child support? Why do so many people have no fear in contracting an STD? I will probably never know the answers to these questions. But I do know that a girl who has a fear of pickles is fucking fantastic.




Monday, December 8, 2008

Four Christmases #1 For 2nd Week in a Row

You know how I know we're all fucked? A movie like Four Christmases makes $70.8 million dollars in two weeks.



Top 5 Movies Everyone Has Seen That I Haven't, and Never Will:

5) Good Will Hunting (1997)- I don't know why, but I've never watched this movie despite everyone telling me how great it is. I've viewed a couple of scenes, but as soon as Robin Williams shows up I immediately have the urge to switch the channel. That's no one's fault but Mr. Williams himself. I've also had a hard time sitting through anything Gus Van "Pretentious Douchebag" Sant has made since the agonizing experience that was sitting through all 97 minutes of Last Days in a movie theater. By the end of that movie I wanted to blow my head off. Anyway, my girlfriend bought this on DVD a few months ago and it's still in its shrink wrap.

4) M*A*S*H (1970) - Ever since I was a small child, the theme to the M*A*S*H TV show has made me want to kill people. I don't know what it is...but I hear the very beginning of that song and I'm instantly filled with rage, anger, frustration and extreme physical pain. So the very idea of sitting through an entire movie of this shit is so repugnant to me that I would rather eat a bag of severed kitten heads. Nothing will get me to watch this movie, NOTHING.

3) Sex & the City - The Movie (2008) - Sorry, no.

2) Gone with the Wind (1939) - I've honestly never met a single person who loves this movie enough to tell me to watch it. And believe me, a lot of my friends watch a shit-load of movies. I was once in an elevator with a woman about 6 years ago who said that she had watched Gone With The Wind on DVD over the weekend and exclaimed "I looooooved it! Oh my god I looooove that movie so much." But I rarely value the opinion of some woman who probably sits on the couch with a box of tissues, wrapped in a blanket for 48 hours straight. Regardless, with its gross adjusted for inflation, this movie is easily the most popular film of all time...and I swear to you I will never actually watch it.

1) Titanic (1997) - Yes, I'm probably the only person in the universe who has never seen this movie. And you know what? I guarantee you I'm a better person because of it. It's not that I have anything against the people in the movie, or the people who made this movie. Leonardo DiCaprio is a fine actor, and Kate Winslet has been in some really interesting films. James Cameron has directed T2 and True Lies. Sure, James Cameron is a total ass, but his shortcomings are completely redeemed when you watch those movies. Anyway, I already know pretty much everything that happens in this movie from hearing people talk about it for the last 11 years. So I've saved 3 1/2 hours of my life while all of you haven't. And trust me, those 3 1/2 hours were well spent playing video games.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Suspected Serial Killer Robert Zarinsky Has Died!!!

Suspected serial killer Robert Zarinsky, who became the first person in New Jersey to be convicted of murder without any body as evidence in 1975, died in prison at the age of 68 on Friday, November 28th.

So here you have it, my list of top 5 Slasher Films of All Time:

5) Friday the 13th (1980) - Does it really get any better than a bunch of young camp counselors out in the woods, while a stalker offs them one-by-one on a stormy night? I think not. I can watch this movie any time someone is up for it and it never gets old. The acting is awful, the script sucks, the lighting is terrible, but shit if it isn't the most entertaining thing to watch in the dark with a bunch of people. I remember renting the movie when I was 10 or 11 and kept asking my dad when they were going to show Jason. He kept telling me, "wait...it's good." Uhhh....yeah dad, it is fucking good. Showing this movie to anyone who hasn't seen it before is a real treat, as watching them shit their pants at the end never ceases to be hilarious.

4) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - My girlfriend still refuses to watch this movie, despite her need to watch Forensic Files every night, you know, where they show all the disturbing shit real serial killers do. That I will never understand. What I will understand is why so many people love this movie. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is so creepy that it's impossible to watch without feeling uneasy. Supposedly based on actual events (in reality inspired by serial killer Ed Gein), a group of five young adults head to a small town in Texas to check on their grandfather's grave after a series of grave robbings in the area. When they visit their grandfather's old abandoned house, they encounter a family of toothless rednecks, including the one and only Leatherface. The group is hunted down one at a time before subjecting the sole survivor to a family dinner, psychopath-style. The dinner sequence is by far the most disturbing scene, as they revive ol' granpa with a taste of the girl's blood, and repeatedly attempt to smash her head with a mallot (apparently it's really hard to do this when you're a decaying old man). By the end of this movie you feel like you just watched a documentary, and almost makes you think that maybe you have. The sequels and remakes have all been terrible because they missed the vibe of the original, which proves that less is more.

3) Psycho (1960) - Also inspired by the acts of Ed Gein, Psycho has been called the first slasher movie. Well, it is and it isn't. Norman Bates dresses up like his very deceased mother and kills guests at his seedy hotel. There's no real gore in this movie, apart from the shower scene (which in all honesty is really scary the first time you watch it), but he does kill at least two people on screen. I first watched this movie when I was 8 or 9, at the insistence of my dad who is a huge Hitchcock fan. Perhaps this movie is what turned me on to the horror genre. There isn't much to say about this movie that hasn't already been said, so I will say this: Anthony Perkins' delivery of "Shut up! Shut up!" still makes me laugh.


2) Friday the 13th: Part IV - The Final Chapter (1984) - Have you ever actually watched this movie? No? Well, you should. Better than the original in my opinion, the third sequel in the neverending franchise is the definitive Jason movie. Having received the iconic hockey mask in the nearly unwatchable Part 3(D!), our favorite serial killer is at it again, except this time a young Corey Feldman and his family are at prey. Did I mention that it stars Crispin Glover and he does a really weird dance during a party scene? That scene alone is reason enough for you to go to Amazon and order the most expensive copy of this movie (select overnight shipping for an additional $16.99 so you can watch this ASAP!!!). Adorable Tommy Jarvis (Feldman) chops Jason to peices at the end, effectively killing the character for good, but that didn't really matter because they pretended like this never happened in Part V. Never quite understood that, but seriously, watch this movie, you won't regret it. Plus you do get a good 5 minutes of an unmasked Jason!

...actually it really isn't all that impressive.

1) Halloween (1978) - Psycho may have been the first slasher movie, but Halloween invented the formula for all slasher movies that followed. I first watched this movie with two friends when we were 13. They both dismissed it as trash, but I didn't, I saw it as something much much more. What's so intriguing to me is Donald Pleasance's dedication to his character, so much so that I've come to believe that Pleasance actually was Dr. Sam Loomis and that's why he continued to enthusiastically portray the character in Parts II, IV, V and VI until he died. Don't get me wrong, his performance in the original is great, but hearing him say the same thing over and over in the sequels is damn near depressing (and hilarious). This movie has Michael Meyers stalking a couple of babysitters and their respective boyfriends in his hometown after escaping a mental institution. You know what's really weird? You don't find out about Jamie Lee Curtis' character being Michael Meyer's sister until the 2nd movie. It really makes you question whether John Carpenter originally intended this, or if it was an afterthought. Nonetheless, I always find it amusing when stories from inferior sequels become canon.

Notable slasher films that you should also definitely watch: Slumber Party Massacre, Sorority House Massacre II, Sleepaway Camp II and Silent Night, Deadly Night.

Biological attack by 2013?!?!?

That's right people, according to an article published today by AP, we're going to be attacked...biologically attacked, within the next 5 years. Perhaps we'll all become zombies.

Without further ado, here is a list of my top 5 favorite zombie movies of all time:

1) Night of the Living Dead (1968) - The quintissential zombie flick. I first saw this when I was about 8 or 9 and it scared the bejesus out of me. It's one of those movies that you always heard the name of but never actually watched because your parents wouldn't let you (i.e. A Clockwork Orange, Texas Chainsaw Massacre). I think my dad caved in and rented this one for us though, because afterall, it is a bonafide classic. When I watched it later in my teens, I couldn't believe how gory it actually was, and how well it still holds up. They show naked zombies eating the flesh right off of human bones! And the little girl in the cellar comes back to life and kills her mom with a gardening tool. Remember that? Pay close attention to the ambient noise during most of the picture. It's just crickets. The music is eery as shit, but for the most part all you hear is crickets. Fascinating.

2) The Evil Dead (1981) - I don't know if this is technically considered to be a zombie movie; there are dead people that come back to life as evil ghouls, but then again there are also people who are just outright possesed by the evil force. Hmmm.....whatever the case may be, it's still one of my favorite movies of all time. My experience with these movies was backwards. I first saw Army of Darkness in the theater with my mom and brother. I was 10. It was my mom's birthday and she thought the movie looked funny. We loved it, but had no idea it was a sequel to anything, we just figured the intro was a made up story to explain how he ended up in the past. Anyway, a few months later when Army of Darkness made its way onto VHS, my whole family was at Blockbuster and my dad found Evil Dead 2 and rented that as well. The first Evil Dead was damn near impossible to find back then. Seriously, it was like this movie was a myth. It wasn't until my brother and I stayed with my cousin in Long Island two years later, that we went to the local video store and found a copy of the Evil Dead. I distinctly remember that they didn't even have a box for this movie, instead this video store took the box for Evil Dead 2, cut out the skull and the words "Evil Dead" and taped it onto the front of a black box. Well, my brother and I watched the movie that night and I've fucking loved it ever since.

3) Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Some people say that the original Dawn of the Dead is great, but I'll be completely honest, I could never get past the first 30 minutes or so. It starts out well as far as I could remember but then once they get to the mall I just want to watch something else. Anyway, I saw the remake in college and thought it was great. It was gory, but not CGI gory (except the little zombie baby, that sucked), and the zombies ran and shit. I thought the ending was a little weak, but overall this movie seriously kicks ass and confirms my belief that Sarah Polley is awesome in anything she's in. Watch it.

4) Zombie, a.k.a. Zombi 2 (1971) - The unofficial Italian sequel to Dawn of the Dead, as that movie was released in Italy as "Zombi". This movie is flat-out disturbing. This sparked my interest in the Italian horror genre. I love how the actors are clearly speaking English, but their English is so bad that they have to dub all their lines over in English. This seems to be the standard for all these Italian horror movies. I don't get why they didn't just speak in Italian and use subtitles, but either way I feel lke it kind of adds to the vibe. This movie has a bunch of people on an island being attacked by zombies left and right. There's some really cool imagery....the zombies move slow, but fuck, they are really scary. As I recall there's a really good scene where a girl is looking through a peephole and a zombie stabs her in the eyeball. The ending is incredible and will scare the shit out of you.

5) Dead Alive (1992) - Fuck if this isn't the greatest movie ever made, it really is up there. A Sumatran Rat-Monkey bites an old lady on the ankle in a New Zealand zoo, and the old lady's son, a total momma's boy, takes care of her as she becomes a horrible puss-projecting zombie. God bless Peter Jackson for being the greatest director of comedic horror. The man simply gets that horror movies shouldn't take themselves too seriously. I remember reading an interview with him and he said that he watched one of the more recent Hellraiser sequels and was dissapointed with how there was nothing comedic about the film. He said, "If I made a 'Hellraiser' film, I'd like Pinhead to be whacked against a wall and have all the pins flattened into his face". Yes!!! Anyway, this movie has so many zombies doing crazy ridiculous things that you can't stop laughing and covering your eyes at the same time. I put this movie on at a party once, with the sound off, and people couldn't stop watching it. The scene with the zombie baby at the playground is probably the best part of the whole movie.

Well, there you have it. My top 5 favorite zombie movies. Stay tuned for more top 5 lists on Postcard from Space Mountain.