Freaks of Nature

"Freaks of Nature" (2015, Robbie Pickering, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures) is a horror comedy set in a town called Dillford where humans, vampires and zombies co-exist together in harmony.... until some aliens show up, that is.

Dillford is famous for riblets... and for having a multicultural society comprised of vampires, humans and zombies. There has never been any issues with each group all cohabiting the town and attending the local high school without issue. It seems that vampire and zombie teens have all the same issues as human teens do (bullying, peer pressure, popularity...etc...).

Suddenly, a horde of aliens appear from outer space and the humans blame the vampires, who blame the humans, and the zombies... well, they're just being zombies... but they're sick of this shit regardless. Brains. Whatever.

The start of the film was surprisingly un-engaging. It set up like any other teen high school film, except with added zombies. The film takes the proverbial out of all the typical classic and modern horror tropes. However, once the aliens show up things do become more interesting and the main 3 characters become more than two dimensional.

I have to hand it to Josh Fadem who gave a pretty awesome performance as whizz kid-turned zombie. His background antics in pretty much every scene he was in was really superb.

Whilst it is very tropey and takes a while to get started, the film plays out quite well with a fair amount of gore and comedy value and co-stars a few fun recognisable faces. It's cheesy but I warmed to it as it unfolded. I had worried that it would end up too messy with all the monster mashing (get it?!) but actually it worked out OK. It's a cheesy horror comedy set in a high school. It does exactly what it says on the tin!

[Image: Sony Pictures]

Hani

Almost Human

"Almost Human" (2013, Joe Begos, Channel 83 Films & Ambrosino/Delmenico) is an alien abduction movie set in the US.

Mark Fisher (Josh Ethier) is taken, in what turned out to be the best scene of the film, by an alien spaceship. Several years later, he returns a changed man.... or whatever.

His buddy Seth (Graham Skipper) and his ex-girlfriend, Jen (Vanessa Leigh) must now try to stop this rampaging Alien-man.

For a low budget alien flick done by relatively unknowns it's an impressive feat. The effects are admirable and the alien 'roar' is disturbing. It has definitely shown the potential of the director and his team. It doesn't look like a first time effort at all and feels more like an older film.

As a film at a festival, it's forgettable; riddled with bad lines, a slow plot and an overdone theme.

The opening scene is brilliantly done, probably cost most of the film's budget and perhaps raised my hopes a little too high.

[Image: Channel 83 Films]

Hani