Update

Sorry for the lack of posts this past week. My internet connection if too slow to be much good. Now that I have today away from home, I will come up with some awesome posts that hopefully last for the next week! Hope you continue having fun with my blog!

Zombie Movie Review: Zombie Lake

Zombie Lake on IMDB

I watched this movie early this morning before I went to bed, just because it was a zombie movie. From this movie, I came up with my zombie movie rating system, so one good thing came from watching it. This movie came out in 1981 under its French name "Le lac des morts vivants", or "The Lake of the Living Dead". The international title is "Zombie Lake".

Story: 3
I decided to give the story a 3 rating because it is an interesting concept, though it could have been done much better. When a reporter comes by the village to investigate the murders for the newspaper she works for, it seems the flashbacks of what the mayor is telling her took up half the movie. The flashbacks were set in WWII when a group of Nazi soldiers had control over the village. One of the young soldiers had saved a teenage girl/young woman from a bomb and they fall in love and have a baby named Helen together. There were "tender" scenes between the zombie father and his eight year old girl later on in the movie. The mayor tells the reporter that it was his and the rest of the villages' hatred for the soldiers that created their zombified versions that lived in the lake. It is important to note that the people who were killed by the zombies stay dead. This isn't like your typical zombie movie where the dead come back to life. It would have probably helped immensely if there was conflict between the soldiers and the villagers. Instead, the beginning showed them all to be friends or something, so the resistance killing the officers made no sense to me.

Continuity: 2
Many reviewers complain that the movie was set in the 70's-80's when it was made (a common complaint is how is the zombie soldier's daughter born during WWII and isn't in her 40's, she's only 8?!). Rest assured, she is at the right age because the movie is set and based in 1957, though I can see how difficult it is for people to realize that. For starters, the wardrobe department should've done their homework by researching how people dressed in the 1950s. They got the older characters' dress right, however the teenagers? The girl's basketball team scene comes to mind. Let's just say that the duffel bags' colors in its pattern are the colors most often used back in the 70s, not the 50s. On top of that, many of their hairstyles were from the 70s as well, along with their gym wear. Another continuity error is the fact that when the French resistance killed the German soldiers, they took their boots off before throwing them into the lake. Yet when the zombies are walking around, they're wearing boots. What, did they leave the lake one day to go and find their boots or something?

Characterization: 1
I know it is mean of me, but I give this category a 1. Why? There wasn't strong characterization. It seemed as though someone just made up names for the script and came up with mediocre lines for them. The strongest characters in the movie were the zombie dad and his daughter, though I'm going overboard with the "strongest characters" part. Had they been fully developed with their own personalities, I think that the story would've had a chance to be a lot better. Stock characters, which are the stereotypes of personalities (naked teenage girl who trips over her feet after literally taking a couple of steps when she's attacked, the mayor with a secret about the town, the reporter who does anything for the next big story, all of these are in this movie), are what the crew had used for most of the characters. Can you say boring? If each of these stock characters had just one flaw, and one thing to motivate them, they would've been just a tad bit more interesting.

Acting: 1
It's like these people only took the script home and memorized the lines. The grandmother who screams and cries after seeing her daughter's dead boyfriend as a zombie is the best actress in the whole movie, at least she's somewhat believable! When the town is rallying for the zombies to be ambushed by them, they are shaking their fists and yelling, though in this case it is not very engaging. I mean, they're barely doing anything so it doesn't come off with a sense of urgency and anger like what they were aiming for. Did I mention the naked teen girl who tripped over her own feet after two steps when the zombie was coming for her. She had plenty of time to run, yet she just laid there with her arm blocking her face. I would block my face too after a performance like that! When the two inspectors were attacked, the had plenty of time to run away, though they chose to just stand there waiting on the zombies to get them like idiots. And no, they were not acting like they were frozen to the spot, they were just standing there. During the bar scene when one of the featured zombies went inside to tear apart the place, the men who were sitting in the spot ran away laughing. Seriously?

Don't even get me started on the zombies. There were a few instances where I though I was watching Frankenstein, what with them with their arms outstretched out in front of them! Then there are the wide-eyed stares from the two featured zombies, making them look ridiculous, not to mention they way they walk, if it isn't the classic Frankenstein walk, it is the drunken man walk. An interesting thing to note, was the "battle" between the two featured zombies as the zombie father was protecting his daughter. It would've helped to know why the other zombie was so "angry" at the other. I mean, if the soldier didn't like that the other one had fallen for the girl's mother, there should've been at least a discussion between the two while they were human, right? Then that scene would've made a little more sense. Another thing worth noting, the little girl who plays the zombie's daughter Helen, is the daughter of the producer, and those scenes with her and the zombie dad was added in just to have her in the film. There were a couple of times where I caught her looking at the camera.

Make-Up: 3
While it was a decent attempt at making the zombies scary, throwing green paint on their faces without painting their hands as well doesn't cut it. It didn't help that the paint rubbed off on the people they were attacking, either. One of the featured zombies had a nice attempt put on him where he was missing an eye, as if one of the lake fish had picked it off.

Violence: 1
Not much in the way of violence. Just people being knocked down or swung at. Flamethrowers are in the mix later on in the film as well as a guns being shot, though the targets seems to be missed a lot.

Gore: 1
Blood packets. Need I say more? No puncture wounds or anything of that sort to be found in this movie. Just fake blood smeared across the spot that the zombie is supposed to be eating.

Nudity and Sex: 6 Of course there's plenty of that in this movie. Teenage girls/young adult women are nude throughout the movie. There's the opening credits when the girl strips off and goes skinny dipping in the lake (everything is shown, and I do mean everything!), there is the so-called "love-making" scene, the older couple messing around, though they're not showing anything, the girl's basketball team stripping out of their work-out clothes and skinny dipping, the girl bathing in the bathtub out in her backyard. I think you get the picture. Lots of gratuitous nudity and it has nothing to do with the story, (my biggest pet peeve where movies are concerned). On some versions though, all the girls were re-shot to be seen wearing underwear during these scenes, which are included on the DVD of this movie.

Special Effects: 1
There are no special effects, unless you count the underwater scenes that you can tell they shot them in somebody's pool. I mean, you can see the pool walls, lights and the tile at the bottom! I don't think a lake has tiles at the bottom unless somebody had thrown them in at some point. Then while in the mayor's house, you can see the cameraman in one of the many mirrors throughout the room they are standing in. Oh, then there is the white foam that comes out of a zombie's mouth after it is shot. I guess you can add the flamethrowers and mannequins that was shown at the end of the movie.

My Rating: 1
Yes, I think this is a decent rating for this movie. If anybody else wants to take a look at "Zombie Lake", go ahead and try to come up with higher ratings. I doubt you'd be able to think of a reason while watching the movie for giving it a higher than what I've given it. If you're interested in watching a horrible Eurotrash B-Movie, go ahead and check it out.

Zombie Movie Rating System

I have come up with a system of how to rate zombie movies, which is what I'll use for all future reviews and lists (such as the 10 best zombie movies from my own perspective). The ratings for each category will go from 1 (the worst)-10 (the best). At the end I'll give a rating for the movie as a whole, usually whichever numbers I gave each category. So, if there were more 3's than anything else, I'll give the movie a 3 rating. Here are the criteria:

Story
Any good movie will have a strong story. Does the story make sense? Were the plot points used to the story's full advantage, or did the plot fail?

Continuity
Continuity can be a major factor in movies because if something is out of place story-wise, it can interrupt the flow of the film. This includes small things, like what a character is wearing between a conversation in a scene. Sometimes little hiccups occur, however, it is distracting to say the least.

Characterization
Characterization is just as important as story because strong characters that the audience cares about is what any good movie should strive for. Did the characters go well with the storyline, and what could have been done to make the story better?

Acting
This is a big one. You need strong actors in order for the characters to be played to their full extent. When the acting is horrible, it takes away from characterization and story, resulting in a big disappointment.

Violence
This category I've decided to have on its own from gore. How violent was the movie, squeamish, or mediocre?

Gore
This category has been separated from violence. How much blood and guts were there in the movie? Squeamish, or mediocre?

Nudity and Sex
In many zombie movies it is inevitable for some of the characters, especially females, to strip down to nothing and do sex scenes. For me, this is a gimmick that has nothing to do with the story, which is why I hate it. They add that stuff in to get people to watch it, which is a shame, because if the crew had done their job making a strong storyline with strong characters, they wouldn't have to add in all this nonsense in the first place. It's sort of my pet peeve with all movies and TV series that focus on gratuitous nudity.

Special Effects
This category is for all the extra stuff such as explosions, bodies being blasted apart, ect. Was it realistic, or could you tell it was fake? Did you see the tubes filled with fake blood behind a person's head? Was the arm that was chopped off a mannequin's arm? Something the effects of even the older movies are better than what they can do with a computer these days.

Make-Up
This category is for the zombies themselves. Was the job the make-up department good quality, or an absolute mess (in the bad way)?

Eastenders Profile: Kat Slater

For the first Eastenders Profile post, I'll highlight one of my favorite characters in the series; Kat Slater. When I first saw this character, I thought she was maybe 17, because older sisters looked like they were in their mid-late 20's, while the younger sister Zoe was about 14-15.

Her character first appeared back in 2000, which for me was several years later, as America is behind a number of years) and Kat has had some of the best storylines in the series so far. Kat was born Kathleen January 14, 1970, which means her character was 30 when she moved to Walford Square, the fictional square in the series. Kat is portrayed by the actress Jessie Wallace, who has done an amazing job portraying the character, which is why Kat is one of the best loved characters in Eastenders. Kat's parents are Viv and Charlie Slater and her sisters are Lynne, Little Mo (her grandmother is also called Mo, hence the "Little" part of her name), Belinda and Zoe (who is portrayed by Michelle Ryan, also a strong actress, especially for these scenes).

One of the first major storyline that has to deal with Kat, is why she is so overprotective over her sister Zoe. One point in the storyline, before everything explodes and the drama is anted up, is why Kat's Uncle Harry arrives to Walford. There is certainly something going on there, as Kat cannot stand to be around Harry. Eventually, Zoe, during Lynne's hen night, Zoe announces that she would be going to Spain with her Uncle Harry. Kat immediately shoots down that idea, which causes an argument between the two sisters. Zoe storms out and Kat follows her. While they're arguing in the street, Zoe tells Kat that she cannot tell her what to do because she's not her mother, to which Kat yells out, "Yes I am!". Watching this scene still gives me chills to this day!


The infamous scene between Kat and Zoe had millions of people on the edge of their seats.

The episode immediately following this one was a heartfelt episode where Kat explains that when she was a teenager, that she was raped by Harry. Zoe kept asking who her father was, yet Kat wouldn't say who it was. Finally, she relents and tells her that Harry was her father. This episode establishes Kat and Zoe both as strong characters and explains why Kat does the things she does up until this point. Below is the episode broken up into three parts if you're interested in this story. The parts where Kat almost attacks Zoe, and Zoe attacking Kat are particularly strong.



Kat decides at some point soon after to commit suicide by drinking a lot of alcohol, taking a bottle of pills and slicing her wrists. Zoe finds Kat and screams for help. Kat almost dies in the hospital and Zoe runs away from Walford. Zoe finds Roxy Drake and the woman persuades Zoe to become a prostitute for her. Kat finds Zoe and headbutts Roxy, which is pretty funny considering what Roxy said to Kat (Betty Boop reference) and what Kat was wearing at the time. The video below has both the suicide attempt, Kat in the hospital afterwards and the Roxy scene.



After this all happens, Kat becomes involved with Dr. Anthony Trueman. Eventually, the two break up and Anthony begins to see Zoe. Kat disapproves of the relationship and Zoe disowns her. Anthony reveals that he still loves Kat and Zoe ends up running away again.

Kat continues to see Anthony, though he is about to propose to her, Kat breaks up with him after she failed to impress his colleagues. She ended up being pregnant and tries to get an abortion, though she has a miscarriage before that can happen. That is when the Alfie and Kat storyline begins. Alfie Moon tries to comfort Kat and he falls for her. Kat briefly becomes engaged to the local gangster Andy Hunter, however, Kat finds out that Alfie loves her after she had confessed to his grandmother that she loves him as well. Their plans are stopped when Andy forces Kat to sleep with him and he ended up taping it and he sent the tape to Alfie. Alfie becomes cold towards Kat, which leads her to a one-night stand. She leaves Walford soon after and ends up in prison for prostitution. Once she gets out, she's determined to reconcile with Alfie, but he's already in a relationship with Little Mo. Alfie tries to get Kat back soon after, however she refuses him. So, Kat works on her relationship with Zoe, who leaves for Ibiza. Kat comforts Alfie after his grandmother dies, and that is when they decide to head to the U.S. to travel.

Because I have not seen the show since this part, I cannot really go into much detail over what happens next. Sure, I can look it up online, though I see that as a form of cheating. So, if you are still interested in knowing what has happened, there are plenty of sources online that are dedicated to Kat and Alfie, I'm sure. Lastly, there is a video called "Slaters in Detention", where the sisters and Mo are all held in prison for a night, and they go over what had happened up to that point of the series between them all. I loved the ending when the sisters played a prank on Mo, and then Belinda is brought into the station as the others are ready to leave. If you ever have the chance, check it out!

Happy Birthday: David Witts

David Witts at IMDB

Happy Birthday David Witts! The 22 year old is best probably best known as Joey Branning on the British soap, Eastenders. I haven't seen his character yet, as Americans are about 6 or 7 years behind. It doesn't help that I haven't actually seen the show in a few years, since I got satellite. If you get the chance to catch Eastenders, I highly recommend it, as it is usually much more realistic than the soaps in America. In Eastenders, the working class are the stars. I'll post a review of what I've seen of the show maybe in a day or two.

Happy Birthday: Angela Sarafyan

Angela Sarafyan at IMBD

Happy birthday Angela Sarafyan! The 30 year old is probably most known for her portrayal of Tia, the Egyptian vampire in Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2. She has had many television spots before her adventure in the Twilight series, however, since then, the dam has been broken and she has many movies filmed post-production that will be coming out soon.

Happy Birthday: Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Gugu Mbatha-Raw at IMDB

Happy birthday Gugu! The 30 year old is best known as her role of Tish Jones on the hit British series, Dr. Who. Acting isn't the only talent Gugu has. She also dances and sings, honing her craft at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, England.