Saturday, November 14, 2009 Zombie Outbreak at the Portage Theater

So last night I was bored out of my mind and was looking for something to do. I was checking on-line to see if there were any cool midnight shows this weekend, and came across this:


The idea of a zombie film festival is mighty tempting. However, I've little interest in zero-budget amateur horror films at this point. I don't have a lot of time left on this earth, and there are plenty of other movies I want to experience before I subject myself to yet another work by a guy with a camcorder and a lifetime subscription to Fangoria.

That said, the festival organizers have made some pretty interesting selections. The centerpiece of the festival is Pathogen, a zombie movie written and directed by a twelve-year-old girl, and Zombie Girl: the Movie, a documentary about the making of Pathogen. Also screening is Colin, which is already notorious for it's incredibly low budget (around $70 US) and has earned some good buzz for its take on the genre, a zombie apocalypse from the point-of-view of one of the undead. If I was keen on checking out some amateur horror flicks, these would be them.

The final film playing tonight is Return of the Living Dead, one of my all-time faves. It just blew us away when we first saw it on the big screen all those years ago. Not only were the zombies fast (a cinematic first, as the nipple-slicing, oatmeal-faced mutants of Nightmare City don't count), they were smart and damn near indestructible. To say they freaked us out is an understatement. To say that we found Linea Quigley's turn as Trash "intriguing" is an even bigger understatement. The film's wicked sense of humor, killer soundtrack, and punk rockers that actually looked like punks are the icing on a particularly delicious cake.

So it's a pretty cool line-up, and I appreciate the effort that the festival organizers are making to showcase underground films deserving of a wider audience. But I just can't sit through six hours of amateur horror films at my age. And I'm not comfortable spending that much time in a dark room with people made up as zombies.

The good news is that this has alerted me to some really exciting screenings coming to the Portage Theater. Next Saturday is a Hammer/Amicus double bill, and I am so there. I have never seen a Hammer film on the big screen before, and I am excited even if it is one of their lesser efforts (The Evil of Frankenstein). And on December 5th, the Portage is showing [REC] 2 along with Night of the Creeps and The Blair Witch Project. I thought the first [REC] was terrific and I'm looking forward to the sequel. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I haven't seen the other two films despite their cult status, so they're a pretty big bonus. Now if only I can cajole someone into going with me...