Top Ten Zombie Moments.

Halloween is but a week away, so in time for that I’ve composed a personal list of my top ten favourite zombie moments:

28 Weeks Later (2007)

Though overall a poor follow up to the Danny Boyle original, the opening scenes are still worth a mention, launching straight into a full scale zombie attack. The audience will gasp as Robert Carlysle leaves his family behind in a moment of ultimate cowardice; a brave way to introduce a protagonist.

The Evil Dead (1981)

Seen as a “video nasty” at the time, the Evil Dead has gathered a huge cult following. One scene that always comes to mind is, love it or hate it, the tree rape scene. Whether you see it as misogynistic, disgusting or just plain wrong, it’s got many people talking and is a brave, weird and undeniably memorable moment in film history.

Day of the Dead (1985)

You can’t cover the zombie genre without mentioning Romero, and this is one of the pinacle films in his “of the dead” series. A particular mention should be made of Bub, a zombie you, weirdly, can’t help but love and is actually in some way even cute? A very memorable film character.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

A rare case where, in my eyes, the sequel outshines the original, this version of Dawn is more fast paced and exciting than the original, and a favourite moment for me is actually the credits, where a montage of attack footage is played over the raspy vocals of my beloved Johnny Cash.

Zombieland (2009)

Horror and comedy are two genres that shouldn’t work, but in the case of zombie films there have been some gems. This recent film is a fine example of a sucessful “zomcom”, and is worth watching for the Bill Murray scenes alone. A brilliant cameo, he steals the film from the four other talented stars.

Planet Terror (2007)

Grindhouse “finest”, Robert Rodriuez presents to us this tongue in cheek pastiche of B movies from long ago. Widely slated, I actually find it hugely enjoyable, particularly watching gun toting El Wray blitz through a zombie infected town doing wheelies on a mini bike. Tacky, yes, but atleast it’s not deathproof…

Dead Set (2008)

A little scene gem from channel 4, this TV series in which the big brother house provides refuse from zombie infected Britain was a brilliant watch. Andy Nymans acid tongued Patrik was a joy to watch, a character who got darker and darker as the series progressed.

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

A pinacle in the history of zombie film, this Romero classic defined the genre. The eerie black and white opening credits set the scene for the glorious horrors that follow. they’re coming to get you Barbara!

28 Days Later (2002)

Is it technically a zombie film? Is it not? When a film is this good, who cares? Truly scary and ridiculously tense, the infection tale goes a mile a minute from the word go, though the best scene, of course, is watching Cillian Murphy stroll, dazed and confused, round a deserted London. Astounding camera work.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

You can’t mention zombies now without mentioning this modern classic. The absolutely hilarious Shaun of the Dead was a surprise hit, and has so many incredible moments it’s hard to pick just one. However, watching our heroes casually fight zombies to the rhythm of don’t stop me now is breath takingly funny.

Review; Children of Men.

2006. Alfonso Cuarón. Clive Owen

Set in 2027, Children of Men focuses on a world in chaos, where humans can no reproduce. Theo (Clive Owen) a former political activist, discovers a pregnant imigrant and it is up to him to lead her to safety and maybe restore some calm to the struggling world.

What’s good?

Most of it. The acting is phenomenal from everyone, the story is exciting and tense and the award winning cinematography really is incredible. Owen makes the unlikely protagonists hugely likeable, making just the right ammount of vulnerablilty visible without getting overly schmaltzy. Another thing that needs to be noted is the attention to detail; in one particular scene Theo is seen wearing a rather shabby London 2012 Olympics fleece. It’s the small details like this that make just as much of an impact as the large scale, gun heavy fight scenes towards the end of the movie. The film also has multiple twists and turns, with one scene taking virtually everyone by surprise. Talk about disequilibrium.

What’s bad?

Not a huge ammount, though some people won’t enjoy the relelntless depressing tone used throughout, visible even with the maudling grey colour schemes. Don’t go into this film expecting a lot of sunshine and smiles. Also, for those who enjoy a clear cut ending, don’t expect to find out everything, though  do feel enough is said to atleast feel satisfactory.

Standout Scene?

It’s hard to pick a favourite, as the film is so visibly stunning and well acted throughout, however, without giving too much away, the scenes where the baby is named packs a real emotional punch and is beautifully understated.

Children of Men is a visually striking piece of cinema that never gets too distracted by arty cinematography that it forgets to keep the plot going. It’s tense and exciting, and has a strong emotional undertone that leaves you really caring for the characters. Yes, it can be a bit grim, but if you’re willing to sit through some tough scenes you’ll find that it’s a hugely rewarding watch.

5 stars.

Diary; University for the Home Bird.

University, a magical place where teenagers drink, party, sleep, have lots of sex and, occasionally, study. In tedious career sessions at college you’ll no doubt be reeled off the classic line of “it’ll be the best years of your life” and the idea of little work and no play does seem like an inviting one, but what if it simply isn’t this amazing twenty four hour party? How does university feel for the quieter amonst us? As a newly reinstated second year I’d like to provide an insight.

First of all, moving out of home was, for me, one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I live in a small town with my parents, and less than a mile from us live both sets of mygrandparents; I rarely went a week without seeing them, and when the time came to leave I produced more tears than a gaggle of hormonal teenage girls watching the Notebook. To me, I feel I wasn’t prepared in advance for just how hard it would be.

Then, with crippling homesickness, you’re expected to not only meet but also spend a week getting drunk with an assortment of strangers from all sorts of backgrounds, some of which you probably won’t even like a few months down the line. The pretty, confident, leggy party girls revel in this; it’s why they came to university in the first place. But for the quiet, shy, and, at this point, horribly sad ones of us, the week serves as a living hell of awkwardness, hangovers and an increbile yearning for the start of lectures just so you have an excuse to be sober for an evening.

The homesickness lasts a lot longer than you’d think; I didn’t quite feel right all of semester one, but you’ll get to know people, you’ll learn who you get along with and who you hide from when they’re cooking their food to save yourself from strained conversations, and, you’ll realise the weeks are rolling by extremely quickly, so dropping out isn’t really worth it. You’ll cram for assignments, you’ll nap during the day time, you’ll slowly make friends and then, before you know it, it’s the christmas holidays.

And after a lovely time with your family you start to realise that in your head you’ve made your home seem a lot better than it is. You’ll realise that rather than a sunshiney happy land where everything is fun and happy and lovely home is still a scruffy little town with about three shops and about a million people who look very likely to beat you to death if you look at them the wrong way.

Then you return back to your halls and after a few days you feel…good. Settled. You don’t know why or how it’s happened, but the homesickness just flitters away, the worries stop, you’ve made lovely friends and you’re cracking on with work and time rolls by and you’ve found another little bit of home. Only temporay, but home none the less.

So the quiet person can survive university, and there’s absolutely nothing to worry about if it isn’t the best time of your life. You may not want to go out and get “lashed” every single night, you may not want to play ring of fire until someone throws up on the carpets, you probably will live with people and realise they infact drive you insane, you’ll get stressed with work, but you’ll be ok. And with your degree you can head off into the world and have a go at whatever you like. University doesn’t have to the best time of your life, you can also see it as a bridge to your future. Keep your head up, count the weeks if you have to, and wait.

To quote Coling Hay, “I’m waiting for my real life to begin”.