"Dance of the Dead" and "House of the Devil"

Spent last night checking out two movies - two VERY different movies. The first, "Dance of the Dead" is a fun, fast-paced zombie flick about a group of teens trying to rid their town of zombies. The citizens, of course, turned into zombies because of some hazardous run-off from a local power plant. Most of the movie takes place on the night of the high school prom.

Although it started off a bit slow (and also filled with some forced gags), I quickly came to love this movie once the zombie ass-kicking started. A few of my favorite scenes include: a zombie battle in the basement of a funeral home (I bet you can assume why this would be awesome), the Rambo-esque high school coach pulling a female zombie by her hair across a lawn and killing her with his bare hands, and the zombie on zombie make-out scene which ends probably how you'd imagine it ending...messy.


The next movie I checked out was "House of the Devil." I LOVE the way this movie was shot...it looks identical to the classic slasher flicks from the 80's - specifically, Halloween. The actual image is grainy and washed out, the camera angles are 80's-esque, and everyone and everything fits with the time period. Now, as far as the story goes...I was a bit disappointed.

It focuses on a young college girl strapped for cash who responds to a babysitting ad she sees on campus.  She gets to the old house out in the middle of nowhere and learns that she is actually babysitting an elderly woman. From there, things go downhill pretty quickly. I really enjoyed the beginning and even middle of the film. It moves slowly, methodically, making your stomach churn as you watch the suspense rise. The end, however, was kind of a let-down. As realistic as it may have been, I was kind of expecting an all-out gore fest (based on a brutal scene early in the film). Even if you agree with me and don't enjoy the ending, at least check it out for its artistic direction.

Here's a trailer to highlight the visual style: