Today's Movie: Zombie Night

Originally airing on the Syfy channel, and later receiving a home video release, 2013's Zombie Night provides that that certain level of schlock that I've come to expect from such productions. The film stars some familiar names like Daryl Hannah, Anthony Michael Hall, Shirley Jones and Alan Ruck but none of them are actually good in the movie.

Unfortunately, to go along with the half-hearted acting, the film's plot is about as bare-bones as they come; One night, for seemingly no reason at all, the dead come back to life and start wreaking havoc on a small town. About a halfway through the film Alan Ruck's character tells the others that he heard somewhere that the zombie attack will only last until sunrise. There is no proof or further explanation, just a ticking clock. Stay alive until sunrise. Some of the characters do make it until the sun comes up and all of the zombies have, in fact, collapsed without explanation. Then it ends.

If you're a horror fan and happen come across this one, it's not the worst movie but I wouldn't call it good either. I found my copy in a bargain bin for $1 (no joke) and I think that's probably a fair price for what I got. The whole thing is just an hour and a half of people running from, and being eaten by, zombies. While there is basically no story, if you're just looking for some mindless gore then I guess it's satisfactory. To end on a positive note, the makeup effects are decent and better than I expected going in.
I give Zombie Night a 1 out of 5.

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

Brandon Routh is a man desperate to play a comic book character and yet it doesn't seem to be a role suited for him. In between the disappointing Superman Returns in 2006 and his poorly written role as 'The Atom' on T.V., he played Dylan Dog in the 2011 film Dylan Dog: Dead of Night a horror/comedy that fails to provide either scares or laughs.

Dylan Dog is a private investigator in New Orleans, where monsters hide in plain sight just trying to get along like everyone else, and he used to specialize paranormal cases but has since given it up. However, after a couple of people are murdered, one of them being his friend Marcus (played by Sam Huntington), he gets breaks out his old gear and goes searching for the killer. He soon finds his friend who is now a zombie, and Dylan wants to find out why the undead are suddenly on a killing spree.   Along the way he encounters werewolves, vampires, and zombies. Admittedly, I'm not super-familiar with the 'Dylan Dog' comics, but I get the sense that there are probably some cool ideas in the comics that they just failed to execute in the movie.

Now, not every film that is panned by critics is poorly acted or stupid, and not every box-office flop is terrible... in this case the film is all of those. The writing feels lazy, the action scenes are sub-par, Sam Huntington as the comic-relief sidekick is just awful, and the monsters look lousy.

Overall, this isn't one I recommend. 
 I give it a 1 out of 5.


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