Zombies? Check. Guns and ammunition? Check. Gallons of blood? Double check. Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rochner’s The Horde is described as an end of the world battle between, cops, gangsters and zombies. So kinda like Assault on Precinct 13, but in a wearhouse full of the undead. Heather highlighted this in her most anticipated horror films of this year which you can check out here. I was pretty much sold before, but after watching this trailer count me all in. The Horde releases in France this September and I’m sure an stateside release won’t be far behind. Check out that gallons of blood in the trailer below.
This year is chock-full of intriguing horror films, most of which we in the U.S. probably won’t get to see in 2009. Some are American, some are international, and most are by first-time feature filmmakers. Here are a few that I can’t get out of my head:
Doghouse
In case you haven’t noticed, the British have really cornered the market on horror-comedies.
Their latest comes courtesy of Jake West, who directed 2005’s silly but underappreciated
horror/sci-fi Evil Aliens. That film was not without its flaws, but it was absurdly fun – dare I
say, Peter Jackson-esque. His follow-up Doghouse looks to be equally fun and gory, only this
time with better actors and a bigger budget. Danny Dyer (Severance) and Stephen Graham (This
Is England) headline this twisted take on battle-of-the-sexes. A group of men take a trip to a
remote village to escape their crazy girlfriends, but what they find is a town full of infected
women who have turned into man-hungry cannibals. It looks to be a bloody good time,
and a hilarious spoof of male-female relationships. Doghouse is currently playing in
UK theatres.
La Horde
Say what you want about the French, but they have given the world a lot – not the least of
which being kickass horror films. Frontière(s) director Xavier Gens is executive producer on this
apocalyptic zombie action/horror flick by first-time directors Benjamin Rocher and Yannick
Dahan. In a condemned Paris building, a group of corrupt cops faces off with gangsters just
as a horde of bloodthirsty zombies invades the building on a killing spree. Needless to say,
the cops and bad guys find a mutual enemy and must work together to survive. I love a good
siege-scenario film, and this one manages to incorporate cops, robbers, and zombies! All
during a Parisian apocalypse! Sign me up, please. La Horde opens in France this September.
Grace
I can summarize my excitement in two words: evil baby. As any fan of Braindead or It’s
Alive knows, creepy babies are great! In this feature debut from writer/director Paul Solet,
young mother Madeline (Jordan Ladd, Cabin Fever) loses her baby in the womb but insists on
carrying it to term. Upon birth, the child miraculously comes to life but with one unfortunate
side effect – a thirst for human blood. Now, Madeline will do whatever is necessary to keep her
baby alive. If this moral conflict sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking of 1986’s Little Shop
of Horrors. Now replace the Audrey II with your own newborn baby and imagine how fucked up
that scenario is! Needless to say, Grace is sure to be one disturbing and thought-provoking film.
The movie is currently making the rounds on the festival circuit with no official release date yet.
Teeth of the Night (Vampire Party)
Sadly, good vampire films are hard to come by. While I don’t expect the silly vamps in Teeth of the Night to be the badass variety I love, I would gladly settle for a fang-tastic (har har) comedy. In this French farce, a group of friends are invited to an exclusive mansion party, only to discover their hosts are vampires and that they are on the menu. Hilarity no doubt ensues as they band together to survive until dawn. Alternatively known as Vampire Party, this comedy draws surprising inspiration from films like Airplane! and Spaceballs. With any luck, debut directors Stephen Cafiero and Vincent Lobelle might give the British some competition on the horror-comedy front. Teeth of the Night was released in France in August 2008, but has no U.S. release date as of yet.
The Thaw
While most evidence suggests this film will be crap, I can’t help but look forward to it. When global warming defrosts a buried woolly mammoth in the Arctic, a deadly parasite is unleashed upon some ecology students. The Thaw looks like the lovechild of Slither and The Thing. If it’s half as good as either of those movies, then it ought to be worth a watch. And it has Val Kilmer in it! He plays a former eco-terrorist out to prove the horrors of global warming. The movie will obviously have a pro-green agenda, which I am fine with so long as it’s not preachy and stupid. It couldn’t possibly be worse than The Last Winter, right? Hopefully not. I am truly a sucker for parasite horror, no matter how crappy. The Thaw has no U.S. release date as of now.
Trick R Treat
This is truly the holy grail of modern horror films. It was indefinitely trapped in movie purgatory until a recent announcement that it will be released on DVD and a limited theatrical run this October. Michael Dougherty’s debut feature is a horror anthology with five interwoven stories all occurring on Halloween night in the same neighborhood. The film is sure to please the Halloweenaholics among us who can’t get enough of the holiday and all those nostalgic feelings it brings. It is also a throwback to classic spook-fests like “Tales From The Crypt” and Creepshow since each story bears a twisted lesson. As a plus, the film boasts genre favorites like Dylan Baker and Brian Cox. All the buzz around Trick R Treat has been extremely favorable, and therefore has teased me to no end. Fortunately, for me, Halloween comes twice this year.
Mutants<
Yes, another French film. In director David Morlet’s feature debut, the world is devastated with a pandemic that is turning human beings into cannibalistic mutants. Marco and his pregnant wife Sonia hide at a secret base until Marco is attacked and becomes contaminated, too. As he slowly turns into a zombie, Sonia must accept that the man she loves is soon to become her biggest enemy. Morlet’s choice to portray the transformation as slow and painful is refreshing for a zombie film, and sure to make for emotional storytelling. Visually, the film resembles the gritty and realistic 28 Days Later – the style is overused now, but still effective. Mutants was released in May 2009 in France, but has no U.S. release date yet.
Alright guys make sure to tell Heather how much you love her so she’ll come back and write more for us. In the mean time you can check out Heather’s site here. She’s got a great review of Who can Kill a Child up right now. Oh, and I’m absolutely psyched for West’s Doghouse. If you haven’t seen Razor Blade Smile or the very mean spirited over the top Evil Aliens they are two films you should add to your netflix queue right now.
In the mean time you can check out