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Mrs. Zombie’s Top 20 Best Movies of 2009

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Hey all. Since Mr. Zombie did a list of his top movies in 2009, I decided to make one as well. You can read his article here. I just couldn’t stop at 10 movies, because I didn’t have the heart not to mention all of these great films. So here are my top 20 best movies of 2009. Surprisingly it has been an interesting movie year especially for animation, comedy and science fiction.

SPECIAL MENTION: I KILLED MY MOTHER (J’ai tué ma mère)

I felt compelled to include this film to my list. Firstly because it’s a damn fine movie about a young homosexual boy and his relationship to his mother. Secondly for it’s amazingly well written script, and finally because of who made it. Xavier Dolan is a 20 year old Canadian kid who wrote, directed, produced and played the main character, all of which he did impeccably. If this is what he can do with his debut film at the age of 20, what can he do in 10 years time..?

20. STAR TREK

J.J. Abrams’s reboot or prequel to the famous series is definitely the most entertaining movie of the year. Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock are absolutely perfectly casted, and the chemistry between the two characters is what keeps the movie going. I also really liked the way the movie looked, even (or especially) the audience blinding lens flares and white mac/apple like bridge. We can probably expect at least two sequels to the movie which I of course embrace with open arms.

19. THIRST (Bakjwi)

Thirst is a vampire movie with a twist. Director Chan-wook Park’s interpretation of the vampire genre was refreshingly different. In the movie a failed medical experiment turns a man of faith into a vampire. I loved the fact that being a vampire wasn’t glorified at all, but the condition was a decease more than anything. I also love Park’s dark sense of humor. So weather you’re a fan of the genre or not, this is a must see vampire movie of the year.

18. NORTH (Nord)

North is a heart warming and hilarious road-movie from Norway. It made me laugh like crazy. Following a nervous breakdown, ski athlete Jomar has isolated himself in a lonely existence as the guard of a ski park. When he learns that he might be the father of a child way up north, he sets on a strange and poetic journey through Norway on a snowmobile, with 5 liters of alcohol as sole provisions. Feel good movie of the year!

17. IN THE LOOP

In the Loop is directed by Armando Iannucci and it is a spinoff from the BBC TV series The Thick of It. In the film, the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom are looking to launch a war in the Middle East. The plot follows government officials and advisers in their behind-the-scenes efforts either to promote the war or prevent it. It stars Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander and James Gandolfini. Amazingly funny political satire.

16. THE MESSENGER

The Messenger is the directorial debut of Oren Moverman and that shows a little bit, but he is either an amazing actor director or he just casted the perfect people for the perfect roles. Either or, the films true magic lies in the performances by Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster. Foster plays Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who has returned home from Iraq, and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Montgomery is partnered with Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), to give notice to the families of fallen soldiers.

15. THE HANGOVER

The Hangover is almost a perfect comedy. It goes a little over the top, but other than that it is a super funny and crazy comedy with a surprisingly good script. Starring Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and my favorite actor from The Office, Ed Helms. The plot follows four friends who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, only to wake up the next morning not remembering a thing and missing the groom, whose wedding is scheduled to occur the next day. The best part is that the film was inspired by the filmmakers’ real life misadventures. LOL.

14. METROPIA

Metropia is a beautiful and very weird looking animation from Sweden and it is directed by Tarik Saleh. The very impressing voice cast includes Vincent Gallo, Juliette Lewis, Stellan Skarsgård, Alexander Skarsgård and Udo Kier. Metropia takes place in a not-so-distant future. The world is running out of oil and the undergrounds have been connected into a gigantic subway network beneath Europe. Whenever Roger (Vincent Gallo) from Stockholm enters this system he hears a stranger’s voice in his head. He looks to the mysterious Nina (Juliette Lewis) to help him escape the disturbing web of the Metro, but the farther they travel, the deeper he’s involved in a dark conspiracy.

Read my full review here.

13. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER

(500) Days of Summer is one of the most original and best written scripts of the year, and a desperately needed boost to the romantic comedy genre. In the beginning of the movie it is clearly stated that this is not love story. And that’s exactly what you get. An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman who doesn’t believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

12. PONYO (Gake no ue no Ponyo)

There’s just no one like Hayao Miyazaki when it comes to animation. In Ponyo the plot centers on a goldfish named Ponyo who befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sōsuke, and wants to become a human girl. So it is almost like a reconstruction of the classic tale of Little Mermaid. Fantastically told story and the beautiful animation are true Miyazaki trade marks. Ponyo is an absolute must for all Miyazaki fans.

11. DEAD SNOW (Død snø)

Dead Snow is a Norwegian nazi zombie movie that is one of the funniest and entertaining movies of the year and most definitely the best zombie film of the year. I can’t remember when was the last time I laughed so hard during a movie. Director Tommy Wirkola has found the perfect balance mixing pure comedy, horror and slasher genres. In the story a ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies.

Here’s Timo’s review of Dead Snow.

10. THE ROAD

The Road is a hopeless and sad post-apocalyptic tale of a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) trying to survive by any means possible in a world where most of the population has died and the world is dying along with them. The rusty and beautiful production design appealed to especially. Directed by John Hillcoat and based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy, whose masterpiece No Country for Old Men was adapted to the silver screen by the Coen brothers in 2007.

9. THE HURT LOCKER

The Hurt Locker wasn’t a very big success financially, but has received praise and numerous awards from all over the world and it is also a very strong candidate for this years Oscar race. The movie is set during the Iraq war and focuses on an elite Army bomb squad. The theme of the movie is clearly stated in the quote from War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning that opens the film: “The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug”. The best part for me was the performance of Jeremy Renner who was absolutely amazing in portraying a war-addicted SSgt. William James. No doubt The Hurt Locker is director Kathryn Bigelow’s best work to date.

8. THE WHITE RIBBON (Das weisse Band – Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte)

The most powerful and visual work Michael Haneke has ever done and definitely one of his best, although not my personal favorite from his body of work. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2009 where it won the Palme d’Or. The story is set in a village in northern Germany just before World War I and according to Haneke himself, the film is about the origin of every type of terrorism, be it of political or religious nature.

7. MOON

Moon is set in future where the worlds energy crisis has been solved by using resources found from the moon. It is a story about a solitary lunar employee who experiences a personal crisis as his three-year contract nears it’s end. It is an amazing directorial debut from Duncan Jones, and one of the best scifi movies of the year. Sam Rockwell is made for the role of Sam Bell and Kevin Spacey as the voice of GERTY was the icing on the near perfect cake.

6. UP

Up is probably the best movie Pixar has ever done and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets a lot of attention at the Academy awards this year. Maybe even the first animation to win Best Picture… The first 20 minutes of the film are amazingly moving and the whole feel and over all look of the movie is just spectacular. Especially in 3D. They did go a bit over the top into to just being entertaining and silly with the talking dogs etc, but that aside, Up is a great piece of animation art with a great story to go with it.

5. MARY AND MAX

After I saw Up I thought that nothing could be better than that, and then along came Mary and Max. An Australian animation (stopmotion claymation) from Melodrama Pictures. It’s a story of a friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary (Toni Collette), a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York. The movie looks absolutely amazing, has a touching and sad story, but it is good to keep in mind that it is not for kids.

4. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

The enjoyment I got from watching Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is just unbelievable. Most definitely one of Quantin Tarantino’s best work to date. The opening scene of the movie is probably the best of the year, only competing with the Tavern scene that came a bit later. As a viewer I felt my intelligence was respected especially with the use of language in the film. Also Christoph Waltz brought the house down with his performance of Col. Hans Landa. Tarantino’s movie is entertaining, smart, bold and unapologetic. Just the way I like it!

Here’s my full review.

3. AVATAR

Avatar is director James Cameron’s first film in 12 years after Titanic and it was well worth the wait. For me Avatar was the movie experience of the year. I felt like a little kid again watching Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones for the first time. The revolutionary 3D technology used in the movie was just extraordinary and it set a pretty big bench mark for all film makers. I also liked the story a lot, it was a good old fashion epic adventure movie that will will be talked about for years to come. I for one feel privileged to have witnessed the birth of a phenomenon!

Here’s my full review.

2. A SERIOUS MAN

After I saw A Serious Man, I said that I’m officially elevating the Coen Brothers to God status. The movie is so well written, it just blew my mind! Best script of the year hands down. A Serious Man is also a movie you could only do after winning an Oscar. Meaning that the fairly unknown cast, religious subject matter and dark under tones of the story might not go too well with studio executives (or distributors for that matter) other wise. And even now it was made only with 7 million dollars. But who needs tons of money with this kind of visionaries behind the camera.

1. LOOKING FOR ERIC

I have to say it wasn’t easy to decide between A Serious Man and Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric, but after a long consideration I chose the latter because of the pure originality and warmth that the movie offers. In the film, Eric a football fanatic postman whose life is descending in to crisis receives some life coaching from the famously philosophical Eric Cantona. The movie is moving, funny and serious all at the same time. Eric Cantona is so awesome in this movie I can’t even tell you. Also great performances from the whole cast. An absolutely perfect film and the must see movie of the year!

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ALSO GOOD THIS YEAR:

Adventureland
The Box
Coraline
District 9
The Informant!
Mammoth

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And in case you are wondering why some films are missing from my list, keep in mind that I haven’t yet seen these (all of which I’m desperately eager to see):

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
An Education
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Lovely Bones
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
A Single Man
Up in the Air
Where the Wild Things Are

That’s it. What were your favorite films of 2009? Drop a comment below.

The Zombies want to wish you a happy New Year 2010!

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Posted in Top lists | 84 Comments »

Mr. Zombie’s Top 10 films of 2009

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

SPECIAL MENTION: STAR TREK & DISTRICT 9

Star Trek and District 9 were surprisingly similar films in many ways. At first, they felt like a bite out of a fresh apple, but slowly they started to taste mealier, ditching head first into a pool of cliches and unanswered expectations. Visually, both were outstanding – at first. District 9 ran out of money somewhere around the midpoint, and JJ Abram’s visions of running around on powerplants and blinding the audience with lens flares became too apparent by the end.

And finally, both had quite amazing marketing campaings: Star Trek was sold to me as a teen gay drama in space, and District 9 as a harsh commentary on prejudicament and western immigration politics. Unfortunately, neither of the films eventually responded to things that made me interested. But they were both definitively remarkable films, and deserve to be mentioned.

10. METROPIA

Whine, whine, boo-hoo it was boring, the story was crappy, the world was shitty and nothing happened in it. Wrong. It was a great film, the atmosphere was amazing, the story was maybe the strangest and wildest of the whole year and the cast was excellent. Metropia was not flawless, but a brave, ambitious and exactly what the world of animation needs – completely different from Pixar/Dreamworks dominating the market nowadays. I think we’ll see loads of groundbreaking films from the director Tarik Saleh in the future. So quit whining and respect the film!

Here’s Essi‘s review of Metropia.

9. UP!

Pixar never fails. I love everything they’ve done so far, even Cars, and Up! didn’t let me down. The first 20 minutes of the film is easilly the best and most moving 20 minutes in 2009 – hell, maybe in 2000′s. Unfortunately, as the film takes the absurd Pixarian twist, surprisingly enough the story doesn’t live up to the expectations (which is strange, since usually it’s exactly the absurdity that makes their films so excellent). Nevertheless, Up! is a lovely story and Edward Asner delivers one of the best lead performances of the year as the old man Carl Fredricksen. And as a viewer, I feel like somebody respects my time, unlike with most of Dreamwork’s pieces of shit they keep on spitting on the big screen every year.

(BTW. Ever wondered what’s the main difference between Pixar and Dreamworks? Well, here’s quite a good explanation.)

8. CORALINE

Stop-motion 3D animation is here to stay, and Coraline is a living proof that you don’t need a CGI-rendered animation when you have a visionary director working on a story that’s based on a book by one of the greatest modern storytellers. Those being, of course, Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick, in reverse order. Coraline is fun, atmospheric, brave, experimental, beautiful and dark and creepy enough! It’s a humble courtesy for the animaton lovers.

7. AVATAR

The film looks like one of those creepy airbrush-painted dolphin posters that were quite popular in among the most tasteless of us back in early 90′s. The story may not be the most original one – hell, you know exactly what’s going to happen from the very first minutes, and if not, make sure to watch a trailer, it’ll spoil the rest for you. But still, it’s a honest work of love from the grown-up nerd James Cameron, and if you’re able to leave behind the cynicism that’s probably fueling your lost fight against mediocrity, the film is quite damn enjoyable. Most importantly, it’s a film that will last quite long, and spawn heaps of sequels, TV-serieses, cool merchandising – and create a massive fanbase around it. You should enjoy it while you still can – it’s either theaters now, or never on your home telly. The 3D environment is such a big element of the whole film that watching it in 2D is almost like watching bad quality internet porn instead of… Well, the real thing.

Here’s Essi’s review of Avatar.

6. PONYO

The overlord Hayao Miyazaki is back, and takes a dive into the story of the Little Mermaid, giving it a surreal and fantastic twist, and delivering another masterpiece into a long line of masterpieces from the Ghibli Studios. Ponyo felt completely different from any other animation this year – honest and loving in a way only Miyazaki can do. His style is unique, and we sure should hope he stays in good enough shape to make at least few more, because as much as there’s nobody to step in for mr. David Lynch once his time is up, also Miyazaki is unique in this way.

5. MARY AND MAX

“So, you want to make a monochromatic animation about mental illnesses, and you want an all-star cast to it? Yeah, good luck with the funding…” Mary and Max was one of the biggest and most positive surprises – no, out-of-the-blues – this year. It’s a really touching, intelligent and extremely well-written animation about a life-long friendship between a girl in Australia and a man in New York. The story follows the letter exchange between these two, and builds up two perfectly believeable lives with all of the stranger-than-fiction odds and quirks life brings to you.

4. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

To be honest, I was a bit bored with Quentin Tarantino before watching Inglourious Basterds. I mean ever since Jackie Brown, his films haven’t been that impressive, and I started to feel like he had “found his slot” in the industry and descended from this once so promising young director into another retro freak repeating the same joke film after film. But I was wrong. Inglourious Basterds proved that there’s quite a lot of gunpowder still running through his veins, and he’s brave enough to do a film that’s basically long dialogues following each other, seasoned with hefty dozes of sudden violence. And there’s never enough of alternate history movies out there.

Here’s Essi’s review of Inglourious Basterds.

We got so excited about the film that we even did our own version of the trailer – sort of :) Enjoy “Iroun Sky Basterds”!

3. MOON

Semi-hard science fiction with slow pacing, great music, awesome performance and close relations to my next film, Iron Sky, when it comes to Moon as an environment, and Helium-3 as a new target for pure humane greed. Moon is the directioral debute for Duncan Jones who, with this film, catapulted himself among the most interesting directors of the next century. It was recently announced that he will direct the feature film adaptation of Escape from the Deep: The Epic Story of a Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew by Alex Kershaw. Jones also revealed that he will be doing “another science fiction film, called Mute, which takes place in a future Berlin. It’s a Blade Runner-inspired piece, a little love letter to that film.” And he will also direct Summit Entertainment project Source Code, a Science-Fiction thriller from Vendome Pictures, which will be produced by Mark Gordon. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal is in negotiations to play a major role in the film. So there you go, quite interesting films – and Duncan Jones is also a very active Twitterer.

2. A SERIOUS MAN

The Coen Brothers are able to “tilt my camera”, so to speak, so that suddenly everything around me feels a bit stranger and makes a little bit less sense, making life a little bit more exciting experience. A Serious Man was definitively one of those films – but it’s also a film you can do with two conditions: you need to be Jewish, and you need to have an Oscar to prove you know what you’re doing. Otherwise, you’d end up lynched.

1. DEAD SNOW

We’ve been raving about Dead Snow enough for one one year already, and to be honest, I’m not even sure if the film’s actual official release year is 2009 (that’s what IMDB claims, though, but I saw it in 2008 already) but who the hell cares? I just can’t get enough of the Norwegian Nazi Zombies, and Tommy Wirkola‘s excellent timing in both comedy and horror genres is stellar. He’s among the few directors I’m following very closely, and I’m very interested to see how his next film, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, turns out!

Here’s my review of Dead Snow.

Everyone – have a merry christmas, and remember not to go outside after dark – who knows what’s lurking there!

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Night Visions Diary # 5: Over and Out

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Halloween is now over and so is Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3009. Hands down this was the best and most successful Night Visions in the history of the festival. This once again proves that people want to see all kinds of movies and they are willing to make the effort to go see them, even in the middle of the night.

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The Zombies had a great time at the festival and here’s a little recap of what went on. The opening night was probably the most memorable for us, because we organized a Dead Snow Zombie Walk, with the help of Zombiewalk Helsinki, to take place before the screening of our favorite Nazi-zombie movie ever, Dead Snow. Although not too many zombies showed up, the ones that did were an awesome group of people. The screenwriter and actor, Stig Frode Henriksen, presented Dead Snow and also judged the zombie costume competition which Timo won! The opening night continued with the 25th anniversary of the amazing Finnish classic Yön Saalistajat. Matti “Reuna” Mäntylä was also present at the screening.

Read the full article about the screening of Dead Snow and Yön Saalistajat here.

On friday I went to see The Crispin Glover Experience! This was definitely the high point of the festival for me. Too bad if you missed it, because these kind of rare opportunities don’t come too often. But I do advice everyone to go see Glover’s show, if he ever comes to your town. I guarantee it will be a night to remember. We were also lucky to have lunch with mr. Glover the day before.

Read about our lunch with Crispin Glover here and the full article about The Cripsin Glover Experience here.

it_is_fine

Night Visions had an amazing selection of films this year. The ones I was really looking forward of seeing were Richard Kelly’s new movie The Box and John Hillcoat’s depressing post-apocalyptic film The Road. I really enjoyed both of the films and I highly recommend them to everyone. Luckily both films can be seen in Finnish theaters later this year.

Read my review of The Box here.

We had a blast at the festival and we will be eagerly anticipating next Night Visions and a another set of great movies.

We would once more like to thank Liisa Lehmusto, Mikko Aromaa and Kalle Kinnunen, and all the crew behind Night Visions. We are looking forward to continue our collaboration with upcoming festivals. Also a special thanks to our zombie expert Janne Tourunen for helping us with the Zombie Walk.

Until next time, Zombie’s are over and out.

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Posted in Diaries, Film festivals | 3 Comments »

Night Visions Diary #2: We are the Dead of Night Visions

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

zombies
(Photo by Marko Saari | mrksaari on Flickr | Check out the full Dead Snow Zombiewalk Set)

It’s 8 p.m., and we are standing in front of the Helsinki Railway Station, dressed up in black leather and dripping blood, freezing our asses off. The very first snowflakes of the winter are dropping slowly from the pitch black sky. It’s the beginning of a Dead Snow zombiewalk, we set up to celebrate the first and second-to-last-ever Dead Snow screening in Helsinki. Shit it’s cold.

To be honest, nobody came. Well, not “nobody”, there was five of us, but compared to 100+ -zombiewalks they’ve had in Helsinki before, it’s close to nothing. But who the hell cares, at least the five of us are here, plus a small audience.

zombies2
(Photo by Marko Saari | mrksaari on Flickr | Check out the full Dead Snow Zombiewalk Set)

So we turn into zombies and creep our way through the city to the film theater where the screening is at. The house is packed – sold out, to be exact. And Stig Frode Henriksen, one of the screenwriters and main actors of the film is on stage, opening up the show. He invites all the zombies to stage, and the audience gets to vote the best zombie.

That’s me. Nazis win.

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(Photo by Miika Ullakko)

But then again, there’s just five of us, so we all get cool prices – DVDs, posters and whatnot.

But I get the main price – a very unique and special bottle of beer called Herzog. Branded and bottled for Dead Snow, and as far as I know, the only existing bottle of it. If you know otherwise, don’t tell me, or you crush my world.

dead_snow_herzog_beer

The screening is an absolute success. I mean, what more could you ask – a fully packed theater, great film, people laughing, clapping, cheering and enjoying the film, and they even have a possibility to shake hands with one of the creators. Really, it’s an experience. And that’s what we’re looking when we go to film theaters, nowadays. We want to experience the film.

Francis Ford Coppola was just recently talking about something like this: that film theater experiences becomes more of an event in the future, in order for them to compete against piracy, home theaters and retarded distribution – not to mention other millions of things that are stealing people’s attention nowadays.

“I think the cinema is going to live off into something more related to a live performance in which the filmmaker is there, like the conductor of an opera used to be,” Coppola says. “Cinema can be interactive, every night it can be a little different.”

The article is quite interesting, have a read.

The evening ended with 25-year Anniversary Screening of Yön saalistajat, a legendary Finnish filmmaker Visa Mäkinen finnploitation feature. Gotta say, either I’m not born with the exploitation gene in me, or I just haven’t seen too much of good stuff from the genre, but I just didn’t get the film. There was one thing, though, that I got really excited about – the bad guy, Reuna (Matti Mäntylä). His performance was quite strange in Heath Ledger’s Joker-ish way, and I wouldn’t mind if the character was to re-emerge in some form on Finnish screens in the future.

A remake of Yön saalistajat? Aleksi Mäkelä, you reading this?

There’s going to be another screening of Dead Snow during the Night Visions -festival, so if you missed the first one, but are around in Helsinki – don’t miss this. Honestly, I haven’t seen a theaterful of Finnish filmgoers go so crazy over a film in ages. It’s really worth it, like a 12-pack of ice cold beer in a very good company. With Nazis. You can buy the tickets from here.

Can’t go wrong.

Ps. Special thanks to both the people of Night Visions and Helsinki Zombiewalk for helping us pulling this zombie walk stunt together! Too bad not too many zombies showed up, but at least we were one damn devoted bunch! Thanks, and be seeing you guys in the future Helsinki Zombiewalks!

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Posted in Diaries, Film festivals, Movies, Nazis, Zombies | 74 Comments »

Night Visions Diary # 1: When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Hello everyone! Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3009 starts today and it’s time for our first official diary entry from the festival! Let’s have a look at what movies to see and what events to attend during the rest of the week. The Zombies will be attending the festival every day (28.10-1.11) and we will be reporting from the scene in a form of a daily blog. So let’s get started.

Dod_Sno_09_medium

The opening night of the festival is very cool. First up is the screening of our favorite Nazi-zombie movie, Dead Snow. Some of you might also know that we have been busy organizing a Dead Snow Zombie Walk to take place just before the screening in which the zombies will drag themselves across town to see the movie. Also as a special treat, Dead Snow screenwriter/actor Stig Frode Henriksen will be attending the screening and he will also be the judge of the zombie costume competition. Keep in mind that there is also another screening of the movie on saturday 31st and Henriksen will attend that one too (but there will be no zombies).

There are still a few tickets left, buy them here.

And here is the trailer.

Right after Dead Snow we will be hurrying to another movie, the Finnsploitation gangster flick, Yön Saalistajat. Actor Matti Mäntylä, who plays “Reuna” in the movie, will be attending the screening. After the movie the Zombies will be going to the anniversary/opening party at Maxim.

Get your tickets to the classic Yön Saalistajat here.

If you are not convinced yet, just check out the trailer.

Definitely one of the coolest events at Night Visions is THE CRISPIN GLOVER EXPERIENCE! The eccentric American actor and filmmaker has been an idol of mine for a long time and I can’t wait to see his “one man live-performance”. The Crispin Glover Experience contains a screening of his film It Is Fine. Everything Is Fine! (2007), Glover’s Big Slide Show, Q & A and a book signing.

You can only buy tickets to this event from Finnkino theaters (not from the website for some reason), so go get yours. This is one show you don’t wanna miss!

Also join us after the show for the official Night Visions after party at Piano 23:00 (Rauhankatu 15). You never know who will show up ;)

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I would also like to mention two very interesting films that you can see at the festival. Richard “Donnie Darko” Kelly’s The Box and John Hillcoat’s post-apocalyptic tale The Road. I have been dying to see The Road for a while now and at one point it was unclear if they would ever get the movie finished. But they did and on Saturday I can see if it will live up to my (very high) expectation. Both of these movies are being distributed in Finland theatrically, so if you miss them on saturday, you can still see them later. This rule doesn’t apply to most off the movies, so Night Visions could be your only change.

TheBox_Movie_poster

A complete list of movies, schedules and more info can be found from the official site.

Allright, stay tuned because tomorrow we will be posting photos from the Zombie Walk and the anniversary screening of Yön Saalistajat.

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Posted in Diaries, Film festivals, Movies, Trailers, Zombies | 42 Comments »

How To Transform Into a Zombie 101

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Since we are getting closer and closer to Dead Snow Zombie Walk, I thought it would be good to go over some basic tips and tricks on how to actually transform yourself into a zombie. I will tell you a little what I will be doing and then some tips from all over the internet. Keep in mind that I’m not an expert, so if I can do it – so can you!

COSTUME

Start by choosing what kind of zombie you wanna be. We are going as nazi-zombies, since that’s what they have in Dead Snow, but it can be anything you like. After deciding your character, you need to think how did you die. Was it resent or have you been roaming the streets eating brains for decades? So dress accordingly. The present day is of course the easiest since you can use some of your old clothes and just zombify them.

What you wanna do is take those clothes you’ve chosen and just give them a feel of them being under ground as zombies usually have been. So just dirt them up a bit. The most important thing is of course blood, but by adding mud and ripping your clothes to shreds, you get a bigger effect. Flea markets are the best place to find clothes cheap and they might be a bit torn already. Here’s an example of what I did today to a shirt I just bought.

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This is only one part of my look, the rest is still under development. But you get the general idea.

MAKE-UP

All you really need is a white face paint for the base and some black to define your eyes and cheek bones. And of course a lot of blood. A good place to buy this stuff is Punanaamio in Helsinki.

Here’s a great video on the most basic and traditional zombie make-up. This is the direction we are taking with our look.

And here’s a couple of more advanced tutorials. The first one shows you how to get that “fresh dead look”.

And here’s how to do the rotten flesh effect. It’s actually quite simple.

And remember to have fun, this is not in any way serious and it doesn’t really matter what other people think, as long as you are having fun. I would also like to remind everyone that you can of course come to see Dead Snow even if you weren’t going to be dressing up as a zombie. This is a movie you don’t wanna miss!

Dead Snow Zombie Walk 28.10 20:00 from Rautatientori, Helsinki (RSVP to the Facebook event here)

Dead Snow screening 28.10 21:00 Maxim 2 (buy tickets by pressing this link)

Read my previous article about Dead Snow Zombie Walk here.

Hope this helped and see you at the Zombie Walk!

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Countdown To Night Visions: Dead Snow Screenwriter/Actor, Stig Frode Henriksen, To Visit Night Visions

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

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Norwegian zombie film Dead Snow screenwriter and actor, Stig Frode Henriksen, will visit Night Visions Film Festival next week. Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3009 is held in Helsinki 28.10.-1.11.2009. Dead Snow will be screened twice on the festival and Henriksen will be visiting both screenings.

First screening is on the opening night of the festival and I can promise you it will be quite something. Not only are we organizing a Zombie Walk to take place at the theatre, but there is also a Best Zombie Costume competition, which Henriksen will be judging. And let me tell you, that guy knows his zombies! There’s gonna be some awesome movie stuff for the winners, too.

To buy the tickets to either of the screenings just press links below:

Screening # 1 28.10 21:00 Maxim 2
Screening # 1 30.10 01:30 Maxim 1

More about the Dead Snow Zombie Walk here and here.

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More information: www.nightvisions.info
Official Dead Snow site here.

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Dead Snow Zombie Walk in Helsinki 28.10.!

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

When there’s no more room in hell, the dead shall walk the Hellsinki.

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The Norwegian Nazi Zombies are finally crawling to Finland, and what better way to hail their excellency than throw in a proper Zombie Walk! In collaboration with Night Visions and Zombiewalk Helsinki, Zombie Room is proud to invite all you freaks to join the Zombie Walk from Helsinki Railway Station to Maxim movie theater, and then watch the greatest nazi zombie film ever - Dead Snow.

    Dresscode

Well, it’s simple – Dead Snow Zombies are deceased soldiers and wear military – you know what I mean. Now add some blood, guts and gore and you’re all set. Then show up at Helsinki Railway Station at 20:00 on Wednesday, October 28th – and be sure to book your ticket for the screening beforehand! The price ain’t bad – 7,5€.
You can (and you should!) order the tickets in advance from here.

And remember to RSVP to the Facebook event here!

    Competition

There’s also a competition here! The Night Visions organizers will pick the most rotten zombie corpse among all of the Zombie Walkers and hand out some cool prices.

Oh, how about the film? Yeah, we’ve seen it – we were actually among the first ~15 people who saw the film – and you can check out a review for the film from here.

TL;DR: Fucking awesome.

Here’s the trailer:

Here are some photos from the movie for inspiration:

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For more info visit the official site www.nightvisions.info
Check out also the Helsinki Zombiewalk official site
And here’s Dead Snow official site.

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Posted in Awesome, Film festivals, Movies, Zombies | 13 Comments »

Countdown to Night Visions: Dead Snow review

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

This is a repost from an older review posted to Iron Sky blog right after the first screening of Dead Snow, but I’m reposting this for Night Visions’ Dead Snow screening in Finland. You can get the tickets for the screening here - it’s the only possibility to see the film on screen in Finland as far as I know, so don’t miss this.

And here’s the review:

While visiting in Os, Norway, I was honoured to be invited by the producer Kjetil Omberg to see the Norwegian Nazi Zombie flick Død Snø in a private screening. I’ve been following the film actively ever since I heard about it through Twitch because, well, it has Nazis, zombies and it’s from Scandinavia. Before we go further, do check out the teaser poster art. With artwork this cool and a concept this strong (and don’t forget the coolest tagline ever: Ein, Zwei, DIE!), what could go wrong?

The story unfolds with a very classical setting: a group of youngsters are heading for a cabin, with the intentions to drink, party and preferably have sex through the whole weekend. But, as we are talking about a Norwegian film, the events take place during wintertime, and the cabin is located high up in the mountains, in the middle of endless fields of snow.

What starts out as a fun in the snow and sun, snowball fights, fooling around with a motor sled and a Stiga, soon turns into a gory zombie onslaught as the kids find a box full of Nazi gold that definitively doesn’t belong to them.

The unique setting in the genre gives an unforgettable flavor to the easily one of the greatest zombie films that I’ve seen in ages. Director Tommy Wirkola breaks most of the deeply-rooted Zombie traditions with Norwegian rock and metal banging in the background – the Zombies run, think and even talk (well, just one word). Død Snø manages to do what many have tried and almost as many have failed while trying: it’s entertaining, scary as shit, agonizing, bloody, fun and kicks in like a 12-pack of beer. The story is well written, actors do an awesome job and director Wirkola’s comedy timing is excellent, as is his ability to build up the horror. He seems to know exactly how scary place an outhouse can be when it’s -20 degrees outside, in the middle of the night. Added with a Nazi zombie roaming outside, it’s definitively not a place you’d like to be with your pants around your ankles.

Död Snö is a wonderful piece of film that isn’t ashamed of it’s roots and language, and stands proudly as one of the great examples of Norther horror wave that’s going strong right now (with Sauna and Let the Right One In).

And here’s the trailer:

I haven’t enjoyed watching a film this much in a long time.

Tl;dr: 5 / 5.

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Posted in Movies, Nazis, Review, Zombies | 46 Comments »

Countdown To Night Visions: MAXIMUM HALLOWEEN 3009 28.10.-1.11.2009

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

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Hey to all you night owls and movie geeks! We are starting a countdown to Night Visions Film Festival here in Zombie Room. Night Visions focuses on horror, fantasy, science fiction and cult movies and is the biggest genre film festival in Finland. Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3009 is held here in Helsinki 28.10.-1.11.2009 and this year the festival has expanded to five days, which means more awesome movies and of course less sleep. I can personally guarantee a great line-up of genre films and a couple of incredible international filmmaker guests joining the festival.

Established in 1997, the festival has been organized in Helsinki usually twice a year, the first Night Visions event of the year taking place in the spring around February/March and the second one around Halloween in late October. The festival’s main venue is the historically and architecturally significant cinema Maxim in the very heart of Helsinki. Active non-stop since 1909, Maxim is the oldest cinema still operating in Finland.

And with that note let’s start with the most important thing, the movies. I went trough the whole selection and here’s a few tip’s on what to see at the festival. You can buy tickets by pressing the screening time link.

JENNIFER'S BODY
JENNIFER’S BODY
Jennifer’s Body is a dark comedy and horror film written by Diablo Cody. She is the writer behind Juno and United States of Tara, which is a TV series I’m super hooked on right now. Jennifer’s Body tells a story of Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and her best friend Jennifer (Megan Fox), the smoking hot cheerleader who turns into a blood thirsty killer. I’m expecting lots of blood and guts, spiced up with some snazzy dialogue à la Cody.

Screening 28.10.2009 19.00 MAXIM 2

Check out the Red Band trailer here.

Read my blog entry here.

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DEAD SNOW
For me Dead Snow is definitely the most exiting movie of the whole festival and it’s about time we got this film to Finland. I was lucky enough to see the movie already, but that won’t stop me from going to see it again. In Dead Snow a ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies!!!

We also have a few treats in store for all you Dead Snow fans, but more of that later :)

Screening 28.10.2009 21.00 MAXIM 2
Screening 31.10.2009 01.30 MAXIM 1

Check out the trailer here.

Read Timo’s blog entry about the Nazi Massacre Championships 2009 here

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THE BOX
I have been waiting for this movie like crazy. It’s Richard Kelly’s chance to redeem himself from the last movie mess he made (Southland Tales) and get back on track that he started with his first feature film, the amazing Donnie Darko.

A small wooden box arrives on the doorstep of a married couple, who open it and become instantly wealthy. Little do they realize that opening the box also kills someone they do not know…

Screening 31.10.2009 21.00 MAXIM 1

Check out the trailer here.

The Road
THE ROAD
The Road is directed by John Hillcoat and it is based on a book by Cormac McCarthy (writer of the novel No Country for Old Men). Hillcoat is most known from his work with Nick Cave, for example Ghosts… of the Civil Dead and The Proposition. Now he has taken on a post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible.

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Check out the trailer here.

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AND A VERY SPECIAL TREAT…

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YÖN SAALISTAJAT
And last but not least, we have the amazing Finnish exploitation movie (or Finnsploitation) from the 80′s Yön Saalistajat, directed by Visa Mäkinen. The movie is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary and Night Visions is organizing a gala screening for it. Do I really need to say more..?

Screening 28.10.2009 22.45 MAXIM 1

Just look at this awesome trailer! It is in Finnish, but I think you get the picture…

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Keep in mind that most (if not all) of these movies screened at Night Visions might never get distributed theatrically here in Finland, so this just might be your only chance to see them! So I advice you to buy your tickets now, before they are all sold out! Also all films in Night Visions Maximum Halloween lineup are eligible for the festival’s Audience Award. You can cast your vote after each screening. I think it goes without saying that my vote will go to Dead Snow, because there just can’t be anything more awesome than that!!!

During the festival The Zombies will be posting a daily festival diary, photos and we even have a couple of cool surprises in store, so stay tuned!

For the complete list of movies, events, schedules and ticket information visit the official site www.nightvisions.info

See you at the festival!

Ein! Zwei! Die!

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