BARE BONES: PROWL and WARM BODIES

PROWL (2010)

Written by Tim Tori and directed by Patrik Syversen, horror flick tells the story of a group of teens who breakdown on the way to Chicago and hitch a ride with a truck driver, who brings them to an abandoned slaughterhouse filled with vampire-like creatures. If the contrived premise is OK with you, this is actually a mildly amusing horror with some vicious action sequences. Leading lady Courtney Hope (Shark Night) is a likable and strong-willed heroine, our vampires are right out of 30 Days of Night and this flick is actually better than the direct to DVD sequel to that movie. Vampire horror does take an interesting turn in it’s final act as well, but also has an abrupt, open ending. So, take it for what it is and as long as you don’t expect much, it’s an entertaining rental.

-MonsterZero NJ

WARM BODIES (2013)

Silly, yet engaging enough…if you can get past the preposterous-ness of it all. During a zombie apocalypse, a young girl named Julie (Theresa Palmer) is trapped outside her walled city and is befriended and then falls in love with a zombie boy (Nicholas Hoult), who appears to have retained some of his humanity. The more the two spend together, the more human he appears to become. Can love heal all wounds including zombie-ism? Movie is very silly, but well directed by Jonathan Levine, well enough to make it somewhat entertaining as the two try to convince both the humans and the zombies to get along. Palmer makes an engaging heroine and Hoult does well making ‘R’ endearing with minimal dialog. Also stars John Malkovich as Julie’s dad and the city’s stern leader with a personal grudge against the flesh eating undead. An amusing enough watch, but nothing really special.

-MonsterZero NJ