paultagonist

Not a bad little micro-budget zombie flick. This one is pretty original, in that it starts kind of at the end, and then leap-frogs back to the beginning (kind of like Memento, or Irreversible). Now that would get quickly confusing in most of these micro-budget fares, but in Hell is Full, each part of the story focuses on a different character, and their story lines only overlap a little, although they do all interconnect. Each story begins with the characters doing what they're doing in their everyday life, and at the end, they encounter a zombie and get bit. The movie then leap-frogs (usually) to the person that did the biting, and shows how *they* got turned into a zombie.

And that's great for this flick, because otherwise, it's a straight- forward zombie flick: zombies come and slowly eat a small town's inhabitants, one by one. There's a bit of explanation about a fireball in the sky, but we don't really care about that (although it is cool when a couple of the characters actually find the landed, smoking rock- thing and it's all squishy and slimy).

My only really huge complaint (given that it's basically a homemade, cuz-I-wanna-do-it zombie movie, I'm overlooking stuff like acting, lighting, etc, none of which were awful anyway) is the editing. It just needed more of it. There's one scene in the beginning, where it just shows a guy walking up to a house. For several minutes. The running time isn't extremely long at 97 minutes, but I think maybe the filmmaker didn't want to cut anything since he loved every minute of his creation. Which is understandable, but ya gotta be tough and let some parts go. It could've easily been 85 minutes, I think.

I got this on eBay for around $6 I think, and the cover and disc are signed by the director. I know that doesn't increase its worth (unless Steve Hudgins gets famous in the future), but it still gives it a little personal flair that goes hand-in-hand with a micro-budget zombie flick of this type. I'd suggest seeking it out on eBay, or go to BigBitingPigProductions.com, and check it out. 7/10 from me as a zombie movie (loses a point for the massive editing issue), and 5/10 as a regular movie. I'll look forward to more from Mr. Hudgins.

Blood Moon Rising's a fun enough flick, if not packed with a few too many elements. Zombies are only part of the horror-creatures here: we also have werewolves, vampires, Satan, Satan's minions.. even skeleton-alien-zombies. It gets a bit confusing.

As does the plot. From what I can gather, Satan's great-great-great-great granddaughter has to save Earth from Satan's daughter, Lucy. Lucy wants to destroy Earth (for some reason), and.. might need a book bound in human skin to do so? I'm not sure, but only a virgin - comic-book nerd Darrell - can save the day. Oddly enough, only a virgin can help Lucy obtain the book as well. Along the way, there's zombies and biker gangs and vampires and werewolves (though it's difficult to distinguish the last two), all in a glorious cluster**** of a movie.

It doesn't help that the audio is extremely out of whack. I was continually turning the volume waaay up to hear some of the dialogue, then, seconds later, waaay back down when the loud music track kicked back in. Very annoying. Also, it's shot in a grindhouse-style, with artificial dirt and lines on the film. That's all right, I guess, since the movie takes place (mostly) in 1969, but they could've gone farther to really get a grindhouse feel. There's a few - blessedly few - shots of pisspoor CGI, which of course, runs counter to making it feel like a grindhouse flick.

The movie is definitely a character-driven piece and there's nothing if not.. rememberable characters. The geek inside me could relate to the on screen-geek saying, in reference to a zombie apocalypse, "I've been waiting my whole life for this," as he all-too-seriously mows down zombies. Oh, and speaking of characters, Ron Jeremy has a very small role, maybe 30 seconds of screen time. Not that his name gave the movie added cred or something though.

Even with all its faults, it's simply a good time. It's almost a spoof of zombie-Satan-vampire-werewolf movies.

I love Douglas Adams, and Hitchhiker's of course; and being narrated by Neil Gaiman, who also wrote "Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Companion," was a splendid bonus, in this documentary that went through all aspects of Douglas's life, from his love for technology, to his books, to his environmental passion.. except for one: his atheism.

To anyone educated in Adams, they'll know he called himself a "radical atheist," and had very strong beliefs on the matter. This important aspect of his life, surely something that helped shaped his outlook on, and joy of, being alive, is all too noticeably absent in this otherwise smooth and funny documentary. It's like watching a movie about Lou Reed that doesn't mention heroin, because it may be controversial. Despite this glaring, blinding hole though, the film trotted along at just the right pace, briefly examining all other aspects of his life, in a somewhat light-hearted manner. I can only guess the filmmakers thought mentioning Douglas's (non)religious views would make the film too heavy.

I almost dropped my rating a star, due to the negligence, but I just don't have the heart. 8/10 from me.