Last Updated: January 9th, 2024







Reviews


Positives:
1. Pulp Movies
2. Horror Society
3. Behind the Couch
4. Zombie Media Database
5. Independent Flicks
6. Hacked in the Head
7. Maynard's Horror Movie Diary
8. CineZilla
9. Zombies Don't Run
10. The Man-Cave
11. 28 Days Later Analysis
12. Howlin' Wolf Magazine
13. Doctor Carnage's World of Horror
14. Tom H's Blog of Horror
15. DeadByDawn93's YouTube Video Review
16. Shattered Ravings
17. B is for Best
18. The Slaughtered Bird
19. Rogue Cinema
20. The Film Philosopher
21. Repulsive Reviews
22. The Movie Waffler
23. Dread Central
24. Attack of the Couch Potato
25. The Rotting Zombie
26. Midi's Horror Reviews Page
27. Horror Cabin
28. Warren is Weird
29. The Scream Review
30. Midnight Horrors
31. UK Horror Scene
32. Pete Ellot's Facebook Review
33. A Life in 24 fps
34. Theater of Guts
35. Ross Wilcock's YouTube Video Review
36. Legless Corpse
37. The Movie Guys
38. The Horror Honeys
39. House By the Video Store
40. HorrorNews.net
41. Casey Douglass: Dark Film Review
42. Hardgore Core's YouTube Video Review
43. (re)Search my Trash
44. Horror Geek Life
45. DecayMag
46. Gross Movie Reviews
47. We Are Indie Horror
48. Attack from Planet B
49. Watching the Dead
Negatives:
1. Quiet Earth
2. Arrow in the Head
3. The Jaded Viewer
4. Cinema Crazed
5. All Things Horror aka Film Thrills
6. Ain't It Cool News
7. The Zed Word Blog
8. I Like Horror Movies
9. Hayes Hudson's House of Horror
10. Basement of Ghoulish Decadence
11. Moria
12. Indie Horror Films
13. Haddonfield Horror
14. Extreme Horror Cinema
15. Silver Emulsion
16. Goddess of Hellfire
17. Necropolis Macabre
18. Blood Sprayer
19. Horror on Screen
20. kalafudra's Stuff
21. Addicted to Horror Movies
22. Splats of Blood
23. BloodGuts UK Horror
24. Love Horror
25. AndersonVision
26. Horror Movies Uncut
27. The Indie Film Group
28. Film Bizarro




* Conservative estimate too
since mixed counted as
negative, not positive.



** Consensus: Everyone loved
the FX. Some didn't like the
acting but others did. Praised
for originality, atmosphere, and
music. Complaints about occasional
quick editing and too many closeups
but cinematography was usually
complimented. Not too bad for a
first feature with no budget. All
agreed it had heart.

Top 10 Zombie Films


I'm using the term "zombie" here a little loosely, but these are some of my favorites:

1. Night of the Living Dead: you can't beat the original. Yes, it's black and white. There isn't a damn thing wrong with that. A classic. I love it. You love it. Even your mom loves it. I don't care how "old" it is (kids these days). It works, and Romero deserves respect even if his latest works aren't quite up to par.

2. Day of the Dead: notice a trend here? Yes, I love Romero, but I'm a bit weird in the sense I'm not a Dawn of the Dead super fan. Bub, though, I can't go without. Savini does great FX in this one too.

3. Cemetery Man: who knew the '90s could produce such amazing horror? Well, it can. This and Demon Knight are proof enough.

4. Evil Dead: again I don't know if it's a zombie film or not but it's awesome so it goes here. I probably prefer Army of Darkness out of all of them (Ash front and center), but let's not be silly; they all rock. Bruce Campbell is a living legend.

5. Fido: insanely clever and smart.

6. 28 Weeks Later: of course, I like 28 Days Later too (Brendan Gleeson!) but I prefer the sequel for its intensity.

7. Pontypool: really surprised and blown away by this little gem. I love how it leaves a lot to the viewer's imagination as well, but it's such a wonderfully unique take on the zombie subgenre.

8. Dead Alive aka Braindead: doesn't get crazier and gorier than this. Good ole Peter Jackson.

9. [Rec]: it is found footage, which I abhor these days, but regardless, it's still good.

10. Re-Animator: Stuart Gordon is one of my favorites, and of course, Jeffrey Combs.

There are actually tons and tons of zombie films that are really good (The Serpent and the Rainbow!). People like to trash them especially now when there are so many and The Walking Dead is so popular on TV, but it's a fantastic subgenre with endless potential. Just when you think it has worn out its welcome, you get something amazing like Pontypool or Cemetery Man that remind you anything is possible. Hell, Zombieland was phenomenal (that cameo!).

CGI vs Practical

I don't hate CGI. I just hate CG blood, but I think CGI is extremely overused now, and practical is better in horror. I'm always going to do practical. I grew up on Aliens, Predator, and John Carpenter's The Thing so those are the kind of effects I love. Plus, I watched Movie Magic all the time as a kid. It didn't get any better than that (ok, ok aside from MonsterVision with Joe Bob Briggs). I remember seeing how they brought Carnosaur's blood-thirsty dinosaurs to life on that show.


I understand some types of films like superheroes and space operas need CGI, but I just love practical. I want to make real monsters, mutated dinosaurs, etc. Rob Bottin, Stan Winston, and Tom Savini are some of my biggest influences besides James Cameron, David Cronenberg, John Carpenter, etc. Anyone can recognize the talent of these masters.

I just want to help however I can in keeping practical FX alive. Whether that is backing other projects with practical effects (Harbinger Down, Gehenna, etc.) or making my own films with them, I think it's an undervalued art form that we need to keep going, and I'm happy as hell it's starting to make a comeback (Frankenstein's Army!).

Ways to Save Money on Festivals

If you're applying to festivals, here is a link that will save you a lot of cash: Exclusive Deals. Not to mention, you should probably check out their 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee curated by MovieMaker Magazine. I disagree with some of their choices but it depends on the kind of film you made. If it isn't completely obvious, I prefer FilmFreeway.com for submitting to festivals. It's a lot easier and cheaper than any others. It's so crazy how much the internet has changed the whole process. Used to be you had to buy envelopes, print out labels, go to the Post Office, etc. Now, it's insanely easy although that also means you'll spend a ton without even realizing it so keep track of your costs (always essential on a budget). I'd suggest researching the festivals you're considering especially looking at their previous official selections, because if they say they accept horror but they never showed any horror films, you're wasting your money.

Found Footage Conundrum

Of course, there are some good found-footage movies. I like Cloverfield, The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity (the first one, not the 200th sequel), A Record of Sweet Murder, As Above So Below, etc. But a lot of them are a bit lacking (I guess that's normal for every type of film though). It's just that many found-footage films can get away with subpar picture quality, shaky cam, not much happening for most of the movie except the ending, etc. It also bugs me how they're always trying to justify or explain why they keep recording (you really don't need to explain this).

But again there are plenty of amazing examples too though like The Last Exorcism and I do love how real the best ones feel. I doubt I would ever make a found-footage movie myself but to each their own.

What's Next

A ton of practical FX monster movies. My second feature I made in China is a little sci-fi film like Primer and my third is a transforming tentacled monster movie shot in Tokyo called Bakemono.

You can find my latest film on Indiegogo. I'm also helping produce a lot of films like Night of the Living Deb with Ray Wise.

This is the teaser for my third feature: