Oh, The Horror! #20: Blade

One of my all time favorite comic book characters, the bad-ass Blade. If I was given the chance to write any book for Marvel, it'd most likely be Blade. There's just something about him. A bad-ass half-vampire who can dish out some sick martial arts moves to take out those creepy crawlies that stalk in the shadows. His head is focused on one thing: killing the vamps. And on top of that, he has their thirsts. He can easily slip and become one of them, but with enough self-control and a focused hatred against that kind, he instead works to protect the world from them. And the guy's a riot also. "Motherf'ker, are you outta your damn mind?!" Ha! I still crack up every time I hear that line delivered by Wesley Snipes when he's shot at by cops in a hospital.

In my last entry, I wrote a review about "The Unborn." The writer/director of that movie is the writer of the Blade movies. And like I mentioned in that previous entry, when other directors seem to have his script, they do a wonderful job in crafting it into the big screen. Directed by Stephen Norrington, we are transferred into a dark world where vampires exist, living in the underworld in their own sacred hierarchy where they have connections everywhere that include nightclubs, politics, and the police. Then enters Blade. A hard-hitting half-man/half vampire who hunts the vampires along with his mentor and closes thing to a father-figure, Whistler, played by Kris Kristofferson. We are also introduced to Karen Jensen, a hematologist who gets bitten by a vampired named Quinn who was burned earlier by Blade. Karen, played bad-assly by sexy N'Bushe Wright, is our every-woman who brings us into this crazy world that is just below the surface if we just open up our minds. Karen gets directly involved in the essential plot as she begins to help Blade with a strong serum to suppress his thirst for blood and she also creates nice batches of serums that explodes suck-heads and even cures herself from vamperism. Sheesh. And she was a tough lil' cookie who was able to stand with Blade in battle and interrogations.

So yes, we got the heroes down and a brief mention of Quinn, the main villain's second in command. We are also introduced to Deacon Frost, played by Stephen Dorff, who sees humans as simply cattle, food to vampires. He speaks against the elder vampires who plan out all the rules and who disregard him for what they see as "stupidity" as Frost presents his ideas to bring forth La Magra, an ancient vampire god. With the rise of the vampire god, vampires will be back on top and the humans will all be food. But there's one problem. Blade. Yep, Blade is the Boogeyman! And he's coming to get you! Heh, sorry, got over excited there. But yes, the rivalry between Deacon and Blade is actually a lot of fun to watch. Everyone in this movie is a lot of fun to watch. While you're awed due to the fights and effects, you're laughing and smiling due to how much the characters stand out. It generally is a fun action film to watch and you don't need to be dumb to enjoy it. Snipes is Blade in this movie and I don't think Blade wouldn't have been as much of a success without Snipes there playing him, producing the film, and choreography of the fights. Also, this was the film that got Marvel to notice that they could make more movies like this hence us soon getting X-Men and Spider-Man after wards. This movie also appeals to many. If you like a good solid plot, you can get into this. If you like horror, you can get into it. Heck, martial arts, all out action, bullet time, whatever it is. Just go and pick this movie up and see why I love this character so much. You most likely will not regret it. And c'mon. Who doesn't love that blood bath scene at the beginning?

Oh, The Horror #19: The Unborn

Now this movie I was semi-excited for. You can tell given that I put that trailer of it on this blog not too long ago. I saw the trailer and I saw it as a movie that would probably attempt to go back to the roots of the type of horror movie I enjoy watching. One of my best buds, Nadia, ended up getting free advance tickets and saw it as a proper birthday present for me so we went to go see it on Tuesday. As soon as the movie starts you're taken into the plot and it hardly lets go as the horror goes and goes. The special effects were great, scares and shocks were damn well done, but the story was "eh." Now, as stated before, I felt it seem like a movie that was attempting to recapture the charm of old school horror and when you watch the movie you see that, but it falls rather short in trying to achieve it. The story just isn't completely there. It seems incomplete and very simple and just... there. The plot-slash-premise were very damn interesting and the back-story were very attention grabbing along with the constant scares but there was just something missing.

The story is about a girl named Casey Beldon, played by Odette Yustman, who gets haunted by dreams and strange events in reality by an evil spirit revealed as the Dybbuk. Along with her best friend, Romey, played by sexy Meagan Good who also serves as a bit of a comic relief, tries to uncover the mysteries behind why Casey is the one experiencing all of this. She begins to learn about her family past which connects to Nazi geneticists and demons attempting to come into our world by possessing people and hoping to completely get into the world by being reborn as a deceased twin that was killed in the womb. We find out that Casey's grandmother had to kill her brother when he got possessed and also Casey's mother, played by Carla Gugino, had to also deal with this demonic entity which left her in an asylum and led her to commit suicide. So now it is Casey who is now next and it's up to her to stop it. She seeks help from a rabbi played by Gary Oldman who at first isn't too willing to help Casey due to her lack of faith but then becomes very determined to rid of this demon. She also has a Christian priest who comes to help her, played by Idris Elba, and her boyfriend. Let me not forget we have sexy Meagan Good who is determined to stick by and help her best friend despite all the warnings she gets. Mmm... Meagan. But anywho!

This movie also has something that I always shake my head and have to wonder why do people do that. Why is it that every time a character hears something weird they have to slowly... and slowly... walk... towards the noise... to see what it is? And this happens in the movie many damn times too. It's like the main character doesn't learn. She's experiencing all this weird crap, stop walking towards something suspicious. If you hear some weird noise on the other side of the wall, leave the damn room! Ugh! And there's also a part of the end of the movie that got me and my friend Nadia saying, "Oh, you a stupid bi-- um.. girl!" It's something that really got me annoyed but that cliffhanger I guess you can say you could see coming and is a staple of horror films. I won't spoil it for those interested in seeing this.

As stated, the effects and shocks are good. Damn good, in fact. But if that's what you want to see in a horror film, it'll appeal to you. One specific scene I loved was when Casey goes to visit her mother. The effects of that scene was fantastic and a few scenes that include bugs haunting Casey. But if you want a good solid story, this movie probably won't do much for you. If anything, I'd say wait for the DVD or till it premieres on cable. Despite me not caring much for the movie, I'm glad to see the attempt of trying to explore the supernatural old school elements of horror that I feel is missing nowadays. Directed by David S. Goyer who's written works are usually damn good to watch as they're directed by other folks but seem to fall short when he's on the directing seat. So take that as you will.

The Unborn trailer