It’s been 23 years since the world was introduced to Danny Boyle’s genre-defining horror film 28 Days Later. The film helped reinvigorate the zombie horror genre by introducing the so-called “fast zombies” to the horror lexicon.
It was a divisive change of pace, so to speak, within the zombie genre fandom. Some welcomed the change since it brought a new type of energy to what had become a stale, oft-ridiculed zombie film trope of the slow, shambling undead. The purists saw it as separate from the rules introduced by the zombie subgenre’s godfather, George A. Romero, with his Living Dead films. Yet, it doesn’t matter which side of the debate someone was on (something even I have fallen into spending way too much time with) there was no denying the fact that Boyle made a great horror film…no, let me correct that. He made a great film.
This was followed 5 years later by 28 Weeks Later (minus the involvement of the first film’s director and screenwriter, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland) with Spanish filmmaker Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. While not on the same level as the first film, it did add something new to the world created with the first film. It even had a mid-credit sequence that gave a hint as to how the series could move forward.
The latest “Song of the Day” comes courtesy of the series film composer John Murphy. He did the soundtrack for the the first film and the sequel. The song I picked was used in the first film, but took center stage in the sequel. The piece of music is the track titled “In the House – In a Heartbeat” that becomes the main theme for 28 Weeks Later.
Today’s scene that I love comes from Bob Fosse’s 1979 masterpiece, All That Jazz.This scene features the legendary Ann Reinking at her best. Roy Scheider said that he cried after shooting this scene.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we celebrate the birth and legacy of Bob Fosse. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Bob Fosse Films
Cabaret (1972, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Geoffrey Unsworth)
Lenny (1974, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Bruce Surtees)
All That Jazz (1979, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Giuseppe Rotunno)
Star 80 (1983, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Sven Nyvkist)
Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday June 23rd, we are showing AVENGEMENT (2019) starring Scott Adkins, Craig Fairbrass, Thomas Turgoose, and Nick Moran.
Convicted felon Cain Burgess (Scott Adkins) escapes prison and heads out to take revenge on those he holds responsible. The consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is as follows:
“AVENGEMENT compensates for a lack of narrative originality with thrilling sequences of violent, bone-crunching action, elevated by Scott Adkins’ brutally intense performance.”
So, if you like “violent, bone-crunching action,” it sounds like we have the movie for you! Join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch AVENGEMENT! It’s on Amazon Prime. The trailer is included below:
Problematic Summer Romance (2025) by Ali Hazlewood
I’m so proud of my fellow writers at TSL and how they’ve kept the site alive and vibrant while Jeff and I have been on vacation. Here’s some of what was posted last week! Check it out if you haven’t yet!
As for me, I’m writing this from our room at the Phoenix Hilton Airport Hotel. It’s currently 3:36 here, which means that it’s 5:36 in Texas. Time zones have always been strange to me. In about seven hours time, Jeff and I will be boarding a plane for Kauai where we will be spending the second week of our vacation. It’s a bit strange to think that we will actually be going backwards in time.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991! The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi
This week, it’s drugs and poker!
Episode 2.7 “The All Nighter”
(Dir by Eleanore Lindo, originally aired on December 16th, 1990)
This week’s episodes tells the story of several all-nighters.
Alex, who is now apparently a major character, pulls an all-nighter to write a last-minute essay, one that he was assigned over a month ago. Hey, we’ve all been there! Luckily, he gets it written. Because this episode aired at the end of the 80s, he has write on an old timey typewriter. I like old typewriters. I can’t imagine writing with one — seriously, how did people correct typos back then? — but I do like the look and the sound of them.
Luke, Yick, Joey, and Arthur play poker at Luke’s house. (Apparently, everyone’s forgiven Luke for giving Shane the LSD that caused Shane to plunge to his near death last year.) At first, Luke doesn’t want to invite Arthur but Yick talks him into it. Arthur turns out to be a poker hustler and soon, he’s made over $15 in dimes. Myself, I don’t think I’ve ever won a hand at poker. I’m good at blackjack, though!
Finally, the most important all-nighter is the one that Maya, Melanie, Caitlin, and Kathleen hold for Diana’s birthday! Woo hoo! Birthday all-nighter’s are the best! However, in this case, Kathleen decides to bring two joints to the party. Kathleen explains that she and Scott used to smoke weed all the time. (Uhmm….okay. I remember Scott and he really didn’t seem like a stoner.) Luke made the mistake of trying to hide his stash in the tampon machine in the girl’s bathroom, which is how Kathleen got her hands on it.
Everyone, except for Caitlin, plays truth or dare while passing around the joint. Uh-oh, can you see where this is going? While Diana complains that she’s not feeling anything, Melanie decides that she’s stoned enough to reveal that she read Kathleen’s diary and that Kathleen has anorexia, an alcoholic mother, an abusive boyfriend, and a therapist. Kathleen gets upset and runs outside. Caitlin comforts her while Melanie giggles inside.
And again, I think just about everyone has been there. From my own high school experiences, weed drama usually didn’t involve people who were actually stoned as much as it involved inexperienced smokers who were trying to convince themselves that they were stoned and who inevitably ended up doing something stupid as a result. Melanie, for instance, I don’t think was anywhere near as stoned as she was trying to act. For someone who has never smoked weed before, it apparently only took Melanie a few minutes to start talking about “the munchies.” Her giggly betrayal of Kathleen was more about her thinking she was “so high” other than actually being high. Still, the damage was done. This episode ends with Melanie apologizing to Kathleen and Kathleen walking away without saying a word.
(While we’re on the subject of weed, I have to admit that I kind of lost interest in it once it started getting legalized and became socially acceptable.)
Anyway, this was a good episode. I appreciated that it didn’t go for any of the usual melodrama that teen shows usually resort to when it comes to people experimenting with drugs. DegrassiHigh’s strength is its nonjudgmental attitude and that was on display in this episode.
Next week, Wheels wears out his welcome at Joey’s house …. again!
I love the Hong Kong actor and comedian Stephen Chow, who just happens to be celebrating his 63rd birthday today. While he may be best known for the smash hits SHAOLIN SOCCER (2001) and KUNG FU HUSTLE (2004), I first became a fan when I saw his James Bond send up, FROM BEIJING WITH LOVE. I was so impressed with his deadpan delivery style in the film, and even though he seems kind of goofy, he turns out to be a major badass. I loved it!
In honor of Stephen Chow’s birthday, I present this scene from the Hong Kong comedy FROM BEIJING WITH LOVE. Enjoy!
In honor of Bruce Campbell’s 67th birthday, I decided to watch a movie he’s featured in that I’ve never seen before. I thought the horror-comedy SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT looked like it might be fun so I went for it!
In the desert town of Purgatory, a colony of vampires led by Count Mardulak (David Carradine) want to live in peace, abstaining from human blood, and instead, drinking a blood substitute called “Necktarine,” which is produced in a local factory. They also use high powered sunscreen that allows them to go out in the day time as long as they wear thick sunglasses, big hats or umbrellas, and gloves. Unfortunately, the blood factory begins experiencing production issues, so Mardulak asks David Harrison (Jim Metzler), the unsuspecting human who designed the production process, to come to town and fix their problems. Harrison brings his family with him, including his wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany), and their two daughters. The Harrison family soon find themselves in the middle of an other worldly war as Jefferson (John Ireland) and Shane (Maxwell Caulfied), rebellious local vampires, plot to overthrow Mardulak so they can return to their murderous ways. Meanwhile, Robert Van Helsing (Bruce Campbell), the great grandson of the famed vampire hunter, walks into town, ready to romance the local vampire beauty Sandy (Deborah Foreman) and drive stakes into the hearts of as many bloodsucking freaks as possible!
As far as I’m concerned, SUNDOWN is a blast as a completely absurd horror-comedy that puts an interesting spin on traditional vampire legend, with its endless sunscreen slathering and a growing local weariness over “Necktarine” adding to the good times. It’s campy and silly, with purposely terrible stop motion bat effects, over-the-top family drama, and lots of cheesy one-liners, but of course that’s all part of the charm.
The B-movie dream cast is what I enjoyed the most about SUNDOWN. David Carradine plays it pretty straight as the town leader Count Mardulak, which is effective when you consider all of the craziness going on around him. Bruce Campbell, and his mustache, steals all of his scenes with his goofy charm and misguided heroics. And, of course, the inimitable M. Emmet Walsh is perfect as old man Mort, a vampire who loses his temper and beheads a disrespectful city slicker. He just can’t help himself. Throw in other veteran character actors like Bert Remsen and John Ireland and it’s easy to enjoy the movie no matter how silly it all gets.
On a personal note, I did want to point out a couple of performances in SUNDOWN that have Arkansas connections. First, Jim Metzler had a solid part a couple of years after this movie in the crime thriller ONE FALSE MOVE (1991), which was co-written by Billy Bob Thornton and partially filmed in Eastern Arkansas. It’s a great movie and Metzler is good in it. Second, Elizabeth Gracen has a small part in the film. Gracen, whose actual name is Elizabeth Ward, won the title of Miss Arkansas in 1981 and then went on to win Miss America in 1982. My uncle Billy was her hair stylist as she made her run to beauty pageant immortality. Other notable Gracen life events include her affair with Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in 1983, her appearance in Steven Seagal’s MARKED FOR DEATH in 1990, and her Playboy spread in 1992. Interestingly, 18 years old at the time, I saw the layout when my girlfriend’s mom bought the issue and let me look at it!
Overall, SUNDOWN lets us know right off the bat the kind of absurd movie we’re dealing with, so you’ll either be into it or want to just move on. I was into it, mainly due to its strong cast. It’s not perfect, and it overstays its welcome by a good 15 minutes, but SUNDOWN is a fun watch for fans of silly horror-comedies and the excellent cast. I had a great time with it!
Through the Shattered Lens 