COURTESY OF DISNEY - Official poster.

WOW! That’s all I have to say in my review to this movie. Not only was the animation great, but also the experience of 3D was the best I have ever had in a movie theater.

I remember viewing a 3D movie in the Epcot Center of Disney World when I was eight years old, but the quality was nothing compared to this. No longer do you wear the cardboard glasses with one blue and one red lens; you get legitimate glasses. They are not very stylish (you look like Buddy Holly when you wear them) but they are much easier to handle while watching the movie.

My expectation of the movie being in 3D was to see the movie in regular style with the occasional hand popping out or some­thing; this was not the case at all. From the very beginning, you are able to see through windows and feel the snow falling all around you. The movie opened with a flight sequence through the town, and it simply blew me away.

I went into this film with low expectations for the movie itself. I figured they would try to blow me away with 3D moments rather than focus on telling the story. Once again my expectations were wrong. The movie was phenomenal; it was interesting to see this twist on a story told hundreds of times. This version was completely different from your average telling of the Charles Dickens classic. It was dark and gloomy and sometimes terrifying, especially considering that the action was happening all around you. The best word to describe it is probably creepy, but that doesn’t keep it from being very entertaining.

Jim Carrey does the voices for the majority of these characters and does a fantastic job. Those who go to see this may be expecting funny voices from Carrey, but this is not the case. His characters are serious and dark and none sound the same. This movie creates a whole new respect for Carrey’s talents and is another reason this is such a spectacle.

I’m not sure how well this movie would stand on its own without the 3D, as it feels long and drawn out at some points, but it is a great rendition of this timeless tale.

Official poster.

The movie that everyone is going to and talking about right now is Paranormal Activity. This movie features an engaged couple that lives in a seemingly nice house in the suburbs. The girl, Katie, is followed by a demon her entire life but is never provoked until her boyfriend, Micah, decides to catch it on tape. More and more things begin to happen and it soon becomes a dangerous situation. The movie is a documentation of their lives and what happened.

This has become a box office sensation that thrill seekers are flocking to. It has become an appealing movie in the way it was made and marketed as well. The only reason this movie is available to be viewed in our area is because the public voted it on. The campaign asked consumers to vote on whether it should be shown here or not and apparently Amarillo voted YES. Now the people of Amarillo and Canyon are able to get their fill of motion sickness and screams from Paranormal State.

The way this film was made is almost as interesting as the movie itself. This movie was made three years ago in a seven-day shoot. The idea for the movie came from the everyday creeks and groans of the producer’s house. He thought about video taping to try to catch the sounds and see if there was anything else happening. It then evolved into the story you see on the big screen. It was actually taped with a handheld camera, which was out of necessity but has now added to the reason why this film is so popular.

This low budget horror film is being compared to classics like Blair Witch Project and Open Water because it has matched them in buzz and profits. These movies have become popular; as they are cheap to produce and create revenue, so expect this to be one of many low budget movies to come in the future. Go see it to get in the mood for Halloween, but be prepared to sleep with the lights on.

Official movie poster.

HERE – NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (DVD, Image Ten)

Review by Frank Rodasky

“They’re coming to get you, Bar¬bara…”

When George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was released on October 1968, it was another in a long line of “zombie” horror movies, a genre that had been around for more than thirty years. But the film’s use of a black man as a strong, intelligent hero during the height of America’s Civil Rights upheaval, shocking violence and stark, black and white photography made the film ground¬breaking.

With a tiny production budget using amateur actors, mortician’s wax for zombie makeup and chocolate sauce for blood, the film created a new sub-genre, the “zombie apocalypse,” in which humanity faces extinc¬tion at the hands of the undead cannibals.

Set in rural Pennsylvania, the story opens with Johnny (the film’s co-producer Russell Streiner) and Barbara (Judith O’Dea), brother and sister, visiting their father’s grave. Barba¬ra’s phobia of cemeteries makes Johnny taunt his sister, telling her that a man they can see walking nearby is after her. When the man, acting as if in a trance, wordlessly attacks her, Johnny is killed trying to defend her. The killer, joined by several others who are actually reanimated corpses, chase her into a nearby abandoned farmhouse. Soon after, a mysterious man (Duane Jones) arrives to fight off the zombies and secure the house as a fortress for the human survivors.

Jones’ role as Ben, the leader of a group of people trying to survive a zombie plague, was historic. Not only was he the first black actor to star in a horror film, but his role was completely race neutral. In a time when black Americans were margin¬alized in film and society as a whole, Ben is more than an equal to the white char¬acters. He takes charge of their survival, demonstrating a strength and resourceful¬ness unheard of for blacks in film of that time.

Released six months after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the film’s intent was to scare, not preach. Director Romero has said that he had no real intention to make a statement on race; he was simply cast Duane Jones because he gave the best film audition.

The character’s race is never di¬rectly addressed in the film; tension between the characters is grounded in their fight for survival. Still, much credit has been given for letting the character of Ben be more than a racial stereotype.

Compared to today’s expensive digital effects and “torture porn” style of horror, Night of the Living Dead is dated. The film is grainy black and white, with poor audio synching. Multiple production gaffes (watch for film crew member’s hands placing props into frame) help to create the overall low budget feel.

But the film generates some real tension. There is an overwhelming sense of dread from the first frames, a dread that continues to the shock ending.

As a time capsule of the turbulent sixties, the film is a flawed classic.

Official movie poster

THERE – Zombieland (Sony Pictures)
Review by Sam Carter

The newest addition to the Zombie movie saga is Ruben Fleischer’s new film, Zombieland. This movie stars Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg as two of the last survivors in a post apocalyptic, zombie-ridden world. This movie completely represents what zombie movies have evolved into. It is well done but still hinges on moments of cheesiness and gore. It follows the narration of Eisenberg’s character, Columbus, through his cowardly ways of surviving since the virus hit. He meets Harrelson’s character, Tallahassee, who is a zombie-killing freak who prides himself on his killing ability and is searching the earth for the world’s last Twinkie. The movie actually becomes a story of family and love as the last survivors band together in one of the greatest zombie fight scenes ever at the end of this film.

This movie is action- packed at the beginning and end and does a great job of being ominous and building tension. You can’t help but feel the tension, as you believe there is a zombie around every corner. Even greater than the horror in this horror-comedy is the comedy part. Zombieland is full of laughs; the banter between Tallahassee and Columbus is hilarious as they are complete opposites.

Zombieland isn’t quite the groundbreaking film that some of its predecessors in the genre have been, but it is an entertaining film that would make for a great Halloween outing. This movie has funny and scary moments; it has a Bill Murray cameo and zombies. What more could you possibly ask for?