October 22nd

The Walking Dead 4.05: "Internment" (2013) directed by David Boyd
Good. The end of the plague story has come early enough in the season that they can get to doing more interesting things. I'm utterly tired of seeing people coughing inside of the gray walls of the dull prison location. Gotta love how Rick splashes water over his face from a community barrel of water. They all deserve to cough up their lungs for being so stupid.


The Walking Dead 4.06: "Live Bait" (2013) directed by Michael Uppendahl
This was one of the best episodes in quite a while, likely because it was completely divorced from the folks at the prison. Instead, we follow a bearded and depressed Governor, who walks the streets not really caring what happens. He stumbles upon a family living in an apartment who've been holed up there since the SHtF thanks to a handy truck full of food. It was nice to see how other people were dealing with the apocalypse for a change, and to see the Governor as a regular person instead of a villain. I wish the show had hung out here longer.


The Walking Dead 4.07: "Dead Weight" (2013) directed by Jeremy Podeswa
Their father dead and the truck full of food nearly empty, the family leaves the safety of the apartment with the Governor as their new protector. Not having dealt with the horrors of the apocalypse, the family is complete useless out in the real world and they soon run into trouble. Luckily for them, the Governor's old pal Martinez wanders their way and they soon join Martinez's camp. The Governor discovers he just can't deal with not being the leader -- he's super-anal about security -- so, obviously, he begins to murder or threaten the other alpha males in the camp. Boo, old Governor is back.


The Walking Dead 4.08: "Too Far Gone' (2013) directed by Ernest R. Dickerson
And within the space of just 3 episodes, the Governor's return is completed with his death. Kind of a waste. On the plus side, the prison is destroyed, so I'll never have to sit through another episode in that boring place.

The Governor's pseudo-wife, carrying her dead daughter all the way to the prison in her arms to show the Governor what he has wrought... yeah, writers, you reached further than your grasp on that one. There's already a giant war going on, with Herschel getting his head chopped off and all. Lots of emotions already there. Your attempt to push it further just came off as manipulative.


The Craving (2008) directed by Sean Dillon

Wow. Another movie from my $5 Highway to Hell Collection that wasn't half bad. This one, like the horrible first film I watched from the set, is another one of those "filmed with a camcorder by a group of friends" productions that are usually painful to sit through. Surprisingly, The Craving wasn't torture. These folks seem to know what they're doing. Decent editing. Original story. Nice acting. Even an appropriate level of humor added into the horror (everyone whipping out a cellphone at the same time when they discover they're in trouble; calling shotgun for both the car and the guy with a shotgun that pops up; the guy with the broken leg letting out painful yelps as he has sex: lots of chuckles). Nice work, guys!

Their story idea is mostly pretty standard stuff. Five horny teens in a van breakdown in the middle of nowhere and have to deal with the horrors there. Except, the horror they find is fairly unique. It's kind of a demon-beast-man that only comes out at night and likes to eat people if there are no dogs handy. It also stinks very badly and it's odor is actually an addictive drug. It's so addictive, people crave it enough to want to hang out in the middle of nowhere and feed the beast puppies in order to get a whiff. Can't say I've ever seen a movie using this idea before. Love it.

Also, the movie was filmed in Desert Center, CA. The founder of that town was an interesting guy.