Ithaqua1987

This is the first movie in the popular film trilogy based on the popular books by J.R.R. Tolkien and it is nothing short of magnificent. Peter Jackson has cut a few elements out of the book in order to move the story along, but the film doesn't really suffer due to their exclusion. The acting is first rate all around, with notable performances from Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan and Christopher Lee. The special effects are still astounding nearly ten years later and I don't think that the movie will age poorly. The battle which takes place during the opening narration is an example of how CGI can greatly enhance a scene when done properly, and this examples such as this one repeat themselves throughout the course of the film. This is truly some of the best use of CGI I've ever seen and is far more believable than the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Overall this movie should be seen by everyone as an astounding piece of art, as this is far more than just summer popcorn entertainment.

Another pointless and mostly boring film from Italian schlock director Bruno Mattei. The movie itself is a mess. The plot isn't very coherent and it is often hard to discern exactly what is going on most of the time (or what the whole point of the movie is). It also lacks any real tension or scares throughout most of the movie and just falls into a boring monotony of nonsense. The Goblin soundtrack just sounds very strange and out of place here. Maybe because it isn't really an action film and the setting just isn't right for the synthesized music. The only thing I can say about the movie that isn't at least somewhat negative is that I was entertained by the movie's ending. The acting (albeit very over the top) wasn't the worst I've encountered in an Italian horror film either. Bruno Mattei himself seems to almost disown this film in an interview on my DVD copy so you know that this has got to be pretty bad.

I had to watch this movie a few times before I realized that it wasn't that bad of a film. I knew all about the financially motivated origins of the movie, and I think that kind of put me off originally. When I re-watched this movie I tried my best to put any notions of it being a "Dawn of the Dead" cash-in to rest. The acting isn't anything special, but it is kind of hard to tell since the dubbing on my copy is really bad. The story really has more in common with the older style zombie films that dealt with voodoo such as "White Zombie" and "I Walked With a Zombie". The special effects are the best thing here, and they are allowed front and center for a good portion of the movie's exciting finale. In my opinion, this movie has better SFX than Romero's "Dawn of the Dead". Overall, this movie is actually quite good once you get past the fact that it is kind of a ripoff.