Tag Archives: Films

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Vampire Horror Films

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Screenshot of Christopher Lee as Dracula in the 1958 film (public domain image from Internet Archive)

 

If zombies are the flesh of horror films, vampires are the blood – and these are my Top 10 Vampire Horror Films in one of my shallow dips or top tens on the spot.

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER – OR IS THAT DRACULA-TIER?)

 

1 – LET ME IN (2010)

 

epiction of vampires as alien predatory entities to humanity to invoke horror on the screen for me – the shark-like predators of 30 Days of Night, or the Lovecraftian parasites in the TV series The Strain.

A refreshingly revamped horror film – revamped also from its origin in the Swedish novel and film Let The Right One In. For one thing, there is just something inherently unsettling about child vampires – in this case, the vampire girl played by Chloe Grace Moritz. For another, the horror was not so much from any scares in it, but again more conceptual or existential – particularly in the relationship between the vampire girl and an alienated and bullied boy.

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

2 – FRIGHT NIGHT (1985-2013)

 

Probably my favorite vampire film to watch – classic pulp fun! What do you do when a vampire becomes your next door neighbor? Call on the celebrity film vampire hunter turned late night horror TV host, of course.

Also a media franchise with a sequel and remake (and remake sequel).

 

3 – FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (1996-2016)

 

A vampire horror film by Robert Rodriguez (and Tarantino) so iconic that it has spawned a whole franchise extending over two decades – mostly lacklustre film sequels but I liked the TV series adaptation.

Gangster criminals on the run in Mexico vs stripper vampires? What more could you want? Well, apart from Salma Hayek’s Santanico Pandemonium, whose snake dance will be hot-branded in my psyche forever.

 

4 – 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (2007-2010)

 

Technically this should be in my comic book films as it is based on a comic series of the same name but it’s one of my favorite vampire horror films to watch so I’m ranking it here instead.

The title says the plot and premise – vampire congregate on the Alaskan town of Barrow for an all you can eat buffet opportunity of the titular thirty days of night in the depths of winter.

Also spawned a media franchise.

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

5 – THE KEEP (1983)

 

Vampires and Nazis – what more do you want? How about Gandalf vs Dracula? (Well, before Gandalf facing off with Dracula actor Christopher Lee as Saruman in the Jackson Lord of the Ring films).

Okay – technically it’s not a vampire (or Dracula) but something posing as one, adapted from the novel by F. Scott Wilson. Still, I’m counting it as another of the more ‘artsy’ vampire horror films out there, albeit somewhat lacking in coherence for anything but cult following. Some big names among its actors – including Ian McKellan obviously for my Gandalf vs Dracula joke.

 

6 – LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM (1988)

 

Stoker strikes again! A film adapted from his 1911 novel – I suspect very loosely, borrowing from his more famous novel to feature snake-vampires in a pagan cult to a snake-god. Snakes for the snake-god! Slither in!

Directed by Ken Russell in his characteristic controversial flamboyant or psychedelic style – not to mention kinky, hence coiling itself deep in my psyche.

 

7 – SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (2000)

 

Nosferatu got a lot more real than you’d think. Willem Dafoe shines as usual, as does John Malkovich.

 

8 – BLOOD RED SKY (2021)

 

Putting the red into red-eye flight when hijackers take a plane with a surprise among the passengers.

 

9 – ABIGAIL (2024)

 

Apparently loosely based – very loosely based – on the 1936 film Dracula’s Daughter.

Part of the fun was the ensemble cast. Giancarlo Esposito, who seems to be the go-to guy to add smooth badass vocal charm to film or animated series. Dan Stevens – who is always fun in horror film roles and should be in more of them. Melissa Barrera further establishing herself as horror film scream queen (although she’ll never eclipse the high queen Jenna Ortega).

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

10 – SINNERS (2025)

 

A vampire horror film that essentially pulls a From Dusk till Dawn switcheroo halfway through the film, but in a 1930s Mississippi blues speakeasy rather than a 1990s Mexico strip club. Quite frankly, the vampires seem to be doing almost everyone involved in the former a favor, given life in this Mississippi Delta sharecropping town – and given that the speakeasy, run by the Smokestack gangster duo, was doomed in three different ways before the vampires showed up. The vampires just got there first – and not by much.

The film has its highlights, foremost among them its Irish vampire antagonist Remmick but also its music, which essentially becomes its own character in the film.

 

 

SPECIAL MENTION

 

(1) DRACULA (CARMILLA & ELIZABETH BATHORY) – BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992)

 

Special mention has to go to Dracula films within vampire films – and Bram Stoker’s Dracula is still my favorite cinematic adaptation of Dracula, albeit playing somewhat loose with the novel at times.

Apocalypse Now in Transylvania!

(Amusingly, Kim Newman did a short story doing just that inspired by the film).

Yes – that’s a quip based on the same director, Francis Ford Coppola, but captures the same cinematic visual style he brought to both. Also – it wouldn’t take too much to rewrite it as Apocalypse Now, except going upriver in Transylvania to take out Dracula.

Shout-out to films of literary vampire Carmilla and historical ‘vampire’ Elizabeth Bathory – not as prolific as Dracula but still worthy of their own special category within vampire films.

 

(2) NOSFERATU (2024)

 

“He is coming”

Yes, I know it’s Dracula with the serial numbers filed off but it’s essentially become a franchise all of its own, of remakes as well as a recurring model with Count Orlok (and the name nosferatu) for vampires. Although the original film was the 1922 German silent film – also remade by Werner Herzog as the 1979 German film Nosferatu the Vampire which is the ‘original’ version I saw – I’m giving this entry to the passion project remake by Robert Eggers as the outstanding version.

As played by Bill Skarsgard (upping the ante on his previous eldritch horror depiction of Pennywise), Orlok is still grotesque but also a towering and terrifying figure of apocalyptic plague, literal and metaphorical. And that’s not just by sight but also by sound – with his reverberating, sepulchral voice.

As usual, Eggers excels in the atmospheric and visual nature of his films – with the use of darkness so palpable here that it is virtually a character in its own right (and indeed usually is as part of Orlok). Much of the film has a dream-like quality, or rather a quality of nightmare – not coincidentally as Orlok has the power to invade the dreams or minds of his victims, being as much like a lich as he is a vampire.

The only drawback is the naked virgin on horseback – I would have liked to see much more of her, or even a whole film about her as naked virgin vampire hunter. Apparently she was played by a Czech model Katerina Bila – you’re welcome.

 

(3) SALEM’S LOT

 

A media franchise based on Stephen King’s version of Dracula in Maine.

 

 

HONORABLE MENTION

 

(1983) THE HUNGER

 

One of the more ‘artsy’ vampire horror films out there – with a cast of beautiful people (Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon). Based (loosely) on a novel by Whitley Streiber, it features a love triangle between a doctor specialising in ageing research and a vampire couple.

 

(1987) THE LOST BOYS

 

Classic 80s vampire film, albeit trying a little too much too be cool for my taste and not as fun as Fright Night, that other classic 1980s vampire film.

 

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Horror Films (Revised Entry) (7) The Cabin in the Woods

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Theatrical release poster art

 

(7) THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012)

 

“On another level, it’s a serious critique of what we love and what we don’t about horror movies.”

I’m ranking The Cabin in the Woods in top tier, because it is virtually an encyclopedia of horror film genre tropes and references, the latter so congested at times you have to pause or watch frame by frame to get them all (and probably not even then).

It is a horror film that is also meta-horror – a love letter to the genre, or more precisely a love-hate letter to the genre.

“I love being scared. I love that mixture of thrill, of horror, that objectification / identification thing of wanting definitely for the people to be alright but at the same time hoping they’ll go somewhere dark and face something awful. The things that I don’t like are kids acting like idiots, the devolution of the horror movie into torture p0rn and into a long series of sadistic comeuppances.”

That is of course from Joss Whedon as producer and co-writer of the screenplay, the latter with director Drew Goddard as the other co-writer” – and the film is definitely Whedonesque in its troperiffic and reference-heavy quality (rather than the more, ah, negative qualities that might be associated with that term from developments since that film). Indeed, it has distinct similarities with the creation that still is definitive of Whedon – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 4 and the Initiative in particular.

“Five friends go to an isolated cabin in the woods for a weekend vacation.”

And that’s pretty much all you’re getting of the plot here, because any more detail spoils the premise of the film. Let’s just say the premise of the film explains why the plots of horror films often seem so contrived in a deconstruction of both the “cabin in the woods” setting and the horror genre.

Film critic Ann Hornaday summed it up nicely:

“A fiendishly clever brand of meta-level genius propels The Cabin in the Woods, a pulpy, deceivingly insightful send-up of horror movies that elicits just as many knowing chuckles as horrified gasps. [It] comes not only to praise the slasher-, zombie- and gore-fests of yore but to critique them, elaborating on their grammatical elements and archetypal figures even while searching for ways to put them to novel use. The danger in such a loftily ironic approach is that everything in the film appears with ready-made quotation marks around it… But by then, the audience will have picked up on the infectiously goofy vibe of an enterprise that, from its first sprightly moments, clearly has no intention of taking itself too seriously”.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Horror Films (Revised Entry) (10) Sinners

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SInners film poster

 

 

(10) SINNERS (2025)

 

Yeah, I know, hyped but I liked it.

My favorite horror film of 2025, matching my usual criterion for wildcard tenth place as best of the current or previous year.

Sinners is a vampire horror film that essentially pulls a From Dusk till Dawn switcheroo halfway through the film, but in a 1930s Mississippi blues speakeasy rather than a 1990s Mexico strip club. Quite frankly, the vampires seem to be doing almost everyone involved in the former a favor, given life in this Mississippi Delta sharecropping town – and given that the speakeasy, run by the Smokestack gangster duo, was doomed in three different ways before the vampires showed up. The vampires just got there first – and not by much.

The Smokestack duo are Elijah “Smoke” and Elias “Stack”, both played by Michael B. Joran – identical twins and First World War veterans who worked for Chicago Mob before making off with Mob money and Mob beer to go into business for themselves.

The film has its highlights, foremost among them its Irish vampire antagonist Remmick but also its music, which essentially becomes its own character in the film.

By the way, that comparison to From Dusk till Dawn is not out of the blue – it was a comparison made by several critics (some of whom preferred the “more grounded first half” to its “supernaturally driven” second half but those critics don’t know that everything’s better with vampires) but also by writer and director Ryan Coogler himself, who cited it as inspiration.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

 

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Animated Films (3) Kung Fu Panda

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(3) KUNG FU PANDA

(2008-2016: KUNG FU PANDA 1-3. Yeah…I just can’t bring myself to count the fourth film)

 

“Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend”

What’s not to love about Dreamwork’s Kung Fu Panda, or for that matter, the rest of the trilogy (discounting the fourth film)?

It’s set in an anthropomorphic animal version of pre-modern China – that alone would be enough to make it awesome.

And then there’s the story, deftly balanced between comedy and epic magical or wuxia martial arts action, with CGI animation and beautiful art – for even more awesome, such that will make your enemies go blind from overexposure to pure awesomeness. And just like the titular Panda, I love kung fu, or more precisely, my kung fu movies ever since seeing Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon

The eponymous panda, Po, is a hopeless fanboy of the kung fu masters, particularly the Furious Five, composed of animal homages to kung fu styles (Tiger, Monkey, Crane, Viper and Mantis) – hopeless, that is, until he is thrust, by fate and fireworks, into the position of the legendary Dragon Warrior. Worse, he has to fight the dangerous snow leopard Tai Lung (awesomely voiced, as always, by Ian McShane), who seeks the title of Dragon Warrior for himself…

However, my favorite kung fu panda in the film trilogy is not Po, but the red panda Master Shifu – voiced by Dustin Hoffman, who combines just the right amount of wise mysticism with worldly exasperation (usually at Po).

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Very much the fantasy side of the scale – combining both wuxia fantasy and animal fable.

 

COMEDY

 

Very much the comedic side of the scale as well.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Animated Films (8) Inside Out

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(8) INSIDE OUT

(2015-2024: INSIDE OUT 1-2)

 

The depiction of a mental landscape may not have been an entirely original concept, but it was executed superbly in Pixar’s Inside Out.

The first film was set in the mind of a young girl Riley, dominated by a console or control panel run by five personified emotions – Joy, Sorrow, Fear, Anger and Disgust (color-coded for your convenience!)

The control room overlooks an imaginative mental landscape, primarily consisting of islands of memory or personality about the memory dump – which is a literal memory abyss or hole (or a metaphorical Lethe of forgetfulness). The plot revolves around a typical odd couple pairing of Joy and Sadness, as the two are accidentally sucked into Riley’s long-term memories and try to return to the control room, as the mental landscape deteriorates into outright collapse around them in something akin to emotional breakdown (due to Riley’s family moving from Minnesota to San Francisco). Of course, while Joy is paired with Sorrow (and helped by Riley’s imaginary friend), it leaves only Fear, Anger and Disgust to run her psyche (or as Honest Trailers quipped, leaving her psyche to be run by “your average YouTube comments section”. Or any internet comment section for that matter, as well as the X formerly known as Twitter).

Although now that I think about it, it would be interesting to see the (adult) Freudian version of the film, particularly with the superego, ego and id. (But then again, I am my own id. I’m all id, baby!). Or perhaps, the Jungian version, with all those mythic archetypes…

There was the sequel film in 2024 which added a few more adolescent emotions headed by Anxiety to Riley’s mental landscape.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Given it’s the emotional or psychological landscape, it probably evades easy genre distinctions but I’m going with fantasy.

 

COMEDY

 

Comedic – but not surprisingly it has many emotional (heh) moments.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP-TIER)

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Comics Films (Introduction)

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TOP 10 COMICS FILMS

 

Exactly what it says on the tin – my top ten films adapted from comics.

As I observed in my Top 10 Comics, comics are my guilty reading pleasure I have retained from childhood, much like animation in TV or film. And much like animation, whatever the comic, I’ll usually enjoy checking it or its characters out. However, I don’t read that many comics, let alone actively follow them. For most comics, I don’t go beyond checking them or their characters out in brief overview or review to reading them in depth. Usually, my interest is satisfied by the idea of a comic – or ideas in a comic – rather than the comic itself.

In particular, I don’t follow or read any comics from the ruling duopoly of DC and Marvel, although I have an enduring interest in and familiarity with many of their characters – but more in their film or television adaptations, hence this top ten, even if it leans towards entries adapted from comics by other publishers.

Similarly to my Top 10 Animated Films, my Top 10 Comics Films is effectively a subset of my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films, as (almost) every entry is either fantasy or SF and I will note the extent of each entry as such. As a general rule, animated films lean towards fantasy, while films adapted from comics lean towards SF – consistent with the comics on which they are based. They also tend to be comedic in nature, with both verbal and visual humor – such that they might also effectively be a subset of my Top 10 Comedy Films and again I will note the extent of each entry as comedy.

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Films (Revised) (10) Robert Eggers – Nosferatu

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Theatrical release poster

 

 

(10) ROBERT EGGERS –

NOSFERATU (2024)

 

“He is coming”

My wildcard tenth place entry in my Top 10 Films as best film of 2024.

Yes, I know that I should technically include it in one of my genre film top ten lists – specifically my Top 10 Horror Films (although I will certainly add it to my special mention for vampire horror films) – but I’m substituting it for my previous Eggers entry in this top ten, The Northman.

Although come to think of it, there’s something of a running theme for horror or at least dark fantasy elements in all four of the films Eggers has directed so far – The Northman had arguably the fewest such elements, but Nosferatu follows on from the atmospheric horror of his first film The Witch, aptly enough as Nosferatu has been a passion project Eggers has had bubbling since then and he intended it to be his second film.

If there’s one thing for which Eggers is known, it’s for making mythic worlds – films that utterly and viscerally immerse their audience into the world of their stories, characteristically with “their central elements of mythology and folklore”, down to the finest detail.

He did it with The Witch, he did it with The Northman, and he did it here in his Gothic horror passion project. Indeed, I’d argue that he did it best here – for one thing he has the dark fantasy elements to play with from vampire folklore and for another he improves upon the more ponderous pacing that is arguably a side effect of his world-immersion to make his best paced film yet.

If you know Dracula – particularly the book – you know the central plot of this film. Nosferatu is a remake of the 1922 German silent film of the same name (also remade by Werner Herzog as the 1979 German film Nosferatu the Vampire which is the version I saw). That film in turn was based on the book Dracula, transferred to Germany (instead of England) with the names of characters changed to avoid copyright, most notably the titular vampire renamed to Count Orlok.

Forget the more suave depictions of Dracula or indeed any vampire – Count Orlok as he appeared in the original film (and the 1979 remake) was a distinctively grotesque figure, albeit perhaps unintentionally comic at times.

However, forget that unintentionally comic appearance at times here – as played by Bill Skarsgard (upping the ante on his previous eldritch horror depiction of Pennywise), Orlok is still grotesque but also a towering and terrifying figure of apocalyptic plague, literal and metaphorical. And that’s not just by sight but also by sound – with his reverberating, sepulchral voice.

He’s also gloriously moustachioed, evoking the appearance of Dracula in the book – in turn drawn from the original Dracula, Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler. You certainly get the impression of a literally larger than life Romanian nobleman, that has torn himself through centuries and swum through oceans of blood, both when alive and undead, by sheer size and force of will. And again that’s not just by sight but also by sound – with his accent and speaking what I have read to be a reconstructed form of the ancient Dacian language of pre-Roman Romania. That’s how far back the Orlok of Eggers’ film goes…

As usual, Eggers excels in the atmospheric and visual nature of his films – with the use of darkness so palpable here that it is virtually a character in its own right (and indeed usually is as part of Orlok). Much of the film has a dream-like quality, or rather a quality of nightmare – not coincidentally as Orlok has the power to invade the dreams or minds of his victims, being as much like a lich as he is a vampire.

That’s helped by the dark blue-tinted scenes at night resembling the black and white of the original film but also by the frequent firelit smoky scenes. Even in daylight, the scenes seemed to have a sepia tone.

The only drawback is the naked virgin on horseback – I would have liked to see much more of her, or even a whole film about her as naked virgin vampire hunter. Apparently she was played by a Czech model Katerina Bila – you’re welcome.

Although that also did prompt me to missing an appearance by Eggers alumni Anya Taylor-Joy – she (or her body double) always likes to get naked in his films. Don’t get me wrong – while I have thing for Taylor-Joy with those fey eyes of hers and it would have been interesting to see what she did with the central role of Ellen, Lily Rose-Depp succeeds in bringing an ethereal, otherworldly nature to the role.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

And how! The most dark fantasy elements of any of his films except for The Witch – and writ more large even than that film.

 

COMEDY

 

Eggers…isn’t big on comedic elements. So, no – or few and far between.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Horror Films (Special Mention) (20) Erotic Horror

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Nothing kinky going on here, no sir – 2004 Romanian stamp (and therefore public domain image) featuing Dracula (used as feature image for Wikipedia “Erotic Horror”)

 

(20) EROTIC HORROR

 

Wait – what?

As usual, I tend to throw in a kinky entry among my wilder special mentions – usually as the final or twentieth special mention, where the subject permits, and you might be surprised what kink I can squeeze out of a given subject.

And for the subject of horror films, that kinky entry pretty much writes itself.

Firstly, horror tends to be relegated to a cinematic ghetto not unlike adult film – and often uncannily resembles the latter in production values and with similar restricted ratings (for the more softcore adult films at least). As noted by TV Tropes, “you’d be hard-pressed to find professional film critics who don’t view horror as a land where grisly violence and exploitation stand in for plot and characters…none other than famed horror director John Carpenter once remarked that horror is viewed by the mainstream as being just a notch above p0rnography”.

Secondly, adult films borrow from horror films in visual imagery or what passes for plot surprisingly often, except of course for titillation rather than terror – at least going by the spoof titles for adult films parodying those of horror films. I take it the script is probably the least valued part of the production of adult films so if you can just copy and paste it from another film, all the better.

Thirdly, there’s a reason underlying both of the above two reasons – and it’s that there’s always been an underlying eroticism or erotic themes in horror, albeit in varying degrees across the genre, such that you might even call it part of horror’s DNA.

Just think Dracula and vampire horror, but that’s just for starters. You could argue that many horror films involve both variations of the male gaze – that of the audience and that of the antagonist, with the latter as more predatory. Many or perhaps even most of my top ten entries or special mention have some erotic subcurrent – or could readily be tweaked entirely to the basic plot premise (or “parody”) in adult film.

Indeed, erotic horror or erotic themes in horror are so distinctive that the former has its own Wikipedia entry (also featuring the latter) and lists of films. Although be warned – it gets a little weird, anime tentacles for example.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Horror Films (Special Mention) (19) M3gan

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Theatrical release poster – to be honest, that doll freaks me out even before she turns evil

 

(19) M3GAN (2022)

 

It’s the Terminator as a doll – what more do you need to know?

Well, in fairness, it’s both versions of Arnold’s T-800 in the first two films. You know, the bad Terminator in the first film and the good Terminator in the second film. If that sounds weird, it’s because she flips from the latter to the former – and worse, that’s from her programming as the latter driven to insane troll logic extremes.

And yes – I’m giving it special mention because of that dance, which became a meme from its brief appearance in the trailer onwards. It makes no sense and comes out of nowhere, except of course the titular doll getting its groove on as part of its murderous self-awareness.

We’re not talking high art here – but we rarely are when it comes to horror films. It’s cheesy and by the numbers but it’s a hoot.

And after all, it’s becoming a franchise – with a sequel due in 2025 and a spinoff in 2026. I also can’t resist citing the 2024 Subservience as something of a spiritual sequel purely based on the same robot gone wrong theme and the play on the name with Megan Fox as the robot in that film. She can be my hot robot nanny any day. That’s right – you heard me. I stand by that statement.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Horror Films (Special Mention) (18) The Cabin in the Woods

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Theatrical release poster art

 

(18) THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012)

 

“On another level, it’s a serious critique of what we love and what we don’t about horror movies.”

I’m ranking The Cabin in the Woods in top tier, because it is virtually an encyclopedia of horror film genre tropes and references, the latter so congested at times you have to pause or watch frame by frame to get them all (and probably not even then).

It is a horror film that is also meta-horror – a love letter to the genre, or more precisely a love-hate letter to the genre.

“I love being scared. I love that mixture of thrill, of horror, that objectification / identification thing of wanting definitely for the people to be alright but at the same time hoping they’ll go somewhere dark and face something awful. The things that I don’t like are kids acting like idiots, the devolution of the horror movie into torture p0rn and into a long series of sadistic comeuppances.”

That is of course from Joss Whedon as producer and co-writer of the screenplay, the latter with director Drew Goddard as the other co-writer” – and the film is definitely Whedonesque in its troperiffic and reference-heavy quality (rather than the more, ah, negative qualities that might be associated with that term from developments since that film). Indeed, it has distinct similarities with the creation that still is definitive of Whedon – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 4 and the Initiative in particular.

“Five friends go to an isolated cabin in the woods for a weekend vacation.”

And that’s pretty much all you’re getting of the plot here, because any more detail spoils the premise of the film. Let’s just say the premise of the film explains why the plots of horror films often seem so contrived in a deconstruction of both the “cabin in the woods” setting and the horror genre.

Film critic Ann Hornaday summed it up nicely:

“A fiendishly clever brand of meta-level genius propels The Cabin in the Woods, a pulpy, deceivingly insightful send-up of horror movies that elicits just as many knowing chuckles as horrified gasps. [It] comes not only to praise the slasher-, zombie- and gore-fests of yore but to critique them, elaborating on their grammatical elements and archetypal figures even while searching for ways to put them to novel use. The danger in such a loftily ironic approach is that everything in the film appears with ready-made quotation marks around it… But by then, the audience will have picked up on the infectiously goofy vibe of an enterprise that, from its first sprightly moments, clearly has no intention of taking itself too seriously”.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

A-TIER (TOP TIER)