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Feeding the Masses (2004)
A fine independent zombie flick.
Feeding the Masses is billed as a "darkly satiric horror film that takes an acid look at the current state of the news media." Right away they've got my attention, because I absolutely love it when someone starts taking pot-shots at the media. Basically, the dead are returning to life via the "Lazarus Virus" and our illustrious government is controlling the media by not allowing any walking dead footage on the air, thereby protecting us from ourselves and averting a widespread state of panic.
Overall a fun watch as the filmmaker's blast not only the media, but also politics, redneck militia anarchists and even worse, vegetarians. While no part of the movie came across as scary, it was rife with some decent low budget zombies noshing on human flesh, ample amounts of humor, a bit of nudity, and some great, poignant dialog delivered by Torch after a few bong hits. Also worth mention is the camera work, and some pretty good CGI effects that deal with fires, explosions, and weapon bursts.
So one of the main characters, "Torch" is a cameraman for the news, he is getting footage of explosions, zombie attacks, assassinations, and getting all of said footage confiscated by thug-like government agents with names like "Guido" and "Joey Bagadoughnuts" just kidding, but the thug could easily slip onto the set of "The Sopranos." Just imagine, zombies, kept out of the news? After all, what exactly does the evening news even provide for us anymore? Other than death, hatred, war, violence, rape, kidnappings, you know, your basic run of the mill unpleasantness. Oh wait, I almost forgot, the media DOES have some positive reporting to do, they let us know which stars are banging each other this week, who's on what diet and the feuds between the disgustingly rich teenyboppers who can't decide if they're singers or actors, but I'm drifting away from the point, sorry.
Average independent caliber acting, with a few rough spots here and there, but I enjoyed the story nonetheless. The writer, Trent Haaga (who you've heard me mention before) penned the cult classic "Citizen Toxie The Toxic Avenger IV" and he did a great job with the screenplay. There is some really funny, original, and creative stuff in "Masses." I also liked Director Griffin's addition of what he calls "bumpers" or commercial parodies. They added just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek "cheese" that a horror movie needs.
Finally, the most impressive thing to me was dialog at the end, or "moral of the story" if you will. What is conveyed there is something that I've been preaching for a few years now, call me a cynic, call me a doom sayer, but try to convince yourself that it's 100% false. Live everyday like it's your last! Do yourself a favor; don't just watch "Feeding the Masses," LISTEN.
3 out of 5 soldiers with unhealthy sexual fantasies
Dead Life (2005)
A great zombie film for TRUE zombiphiles
It's so much easier to pick out all the bad things in a film and write a really crappy review. Trust me, I've written my share of crappy reviews. However Dead Life was not one of them. Dead Life IS in fact shot on 8mm, and it looks grainy and low quality and you know what? That's a good thing. The film quality adds to its gritty retro feel. The effects are MUCH better than what you see in indie. Amateur acting, gee that's funny given that the actors are...wait for it...AMATEURS! I will concede that Dead Life isn't for everyone. If your true love is stupid teens and tired horror cliché's then steer clear. If your love for zombies is insatiable then you could do a whole helluva lot worse than Dead Life. At least the dude on the cover is IN the movie, which can't really be said for a lot of independent horror these days. Don't base your judgment solely on what's written here at IMDb, if you're a zombiephile do a search, you'll find plenty of reviews singing the praises of Dead Life.