Horror TV Show Review: Day Of The Dead 1.1 “The Thing In The Hole” (dir by Steven Kostanski)

Posted on October 21, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

First off, you may be looking at this review and thinking, “Someone’s a little late.”

Yes, I am. Thank you for pointing that out. I’m sure you’ve never had a busy week either.

That said, despite the fact that you shouldn’t have pointed it out, it is true that Day of the Dead premiered last Friday and it was only today that I finally got around to watching it on the DVR. That wasn’t necessarily intentional on my part. I just haven’t had a chance to sit down and really watch it or any other shows until tonight. In fact, ever since I first saw the commercials for the show on SyFy, I’ve been looking forward to watching it. Even though it looked like yet another Walking Dead rip-off, the fact that it was on SyFy held some promise as SyFy’s shows usually move quickly and feature lots of carnage. If AMC always seems as if it’s trying too hard to turn its zombie franchise into a prestige factory, SyFy promises the opposite approach.

The show is named after George Romero’s Day of the Dead, which featured a group of survivors trying to ride out the zombie apocalypse in an underground bunker. While the first episode did feature zombies and an anti-fracking plotline that felt like it could have come from one of Romero’s later films, it otherwise didn’t have much in common with Romero’s classic shocker. The zombie apocalypse did start about halfway through the episode and apparently the show is going to focus on a group of people trying to survive the end of the world but, during the first episode, there was no bunker. There was no Dr. Logan. No one shouted “Choke on them” while his intestines were being devoured. There was, however, some underground scenes due to the whole fracing subplot and there is a sinister character named Rhodes so I imagine we’ll be heading for some sort of underground bunker soon. I guess we’ll find out over the course of the next few episodes.

After opening with an exciting flashforward the featured plenty of undead chaos, the first episode focused on election day in the town of Mawinhaken. Mayor Paula Bowman (Miranda Frigon) is concerned about getting reelected but the election is brought to halt when the dead suddenly rise up from their graves and start eating all of the voters. I got the feeling that we were meant to dislike Mayor Bowman because she’s an ambitious politician who has apparently put her career before her family but, as far as I’m concerned, Mayor Bowman was the best character on the show. No sooner have the dead arisen than she’s running around with a gun and blowing them away while saying stuff like, “Second amendment, motherfucker!” Hell yeah! Plus, she has a great name. Mayor Bowman has a nice ring to it….

(But if I was mayor, would I still have time to watch and review Lifetime films? That’s the question.)

As for the rest of the characters …. well, there’s a lot of them. Hopefully, a few of them will get eaten during the next episode because, otherwise, it’s going to be a struggle to keep everyone straight. I did like Keenan Tracy, who played Cam McDermott, the son of a police detective who mows lawns to bring in extra money. The scene where he mowed over the dead as they rose from their graves was a highlight of the episode. Otherwise, the characters felt a bit interchangeable. The only woman working on the fracking crew is former special forces. The mortuary assistant is sarcastic. There’s two bullies who like to give Cam a hard time. They all made just enough of an impression that I can remember that they’re on the show but I’d by lying if I said any of them jumped out at me the way that Mayor Bowman and Lawnmower Cam did.

Anyway, it was a good enough first episode. The action moved quickly and the zombies were gruesome without being quite as icky as the decaying corpses that pop up on The Walking Dead. So far, the Day of the Dead zombies appear to move faster than the Walking Dead zombies and that’s definitely an improvement. It’s probably debatable whether or not, at this point, there’s anything new that can be done with whole zombie apocalypse thing but I’ll definitely give Day of the Dead a chance to show me what it has in mind.

Cleaning Out The DVR: Sea Change (dir by Chris Grismer)

Posted on January 17, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(Hi there! So, as you may know because I’ve been talking about it on this site all year, I have got way too much stuff on my DVR. Seriously, I currently have 162 things recorded! I’ve decided that, on February 15th, I am going to erase everything on the DVR, regardless of whether I’ve watched it or not. So, that means that I’ve now have only have a month to clean out the DVR! Will I make it? Keep checking this site to find out! I recorded Sea Change off of Lifetime on September 17th, 2017! Incidentally, Sea Change was the final 2017 Lifetime movie that I had sitting on my DVR. I have now watched and reviewed all of the Lifetime films that I recorded in 2017!)

Based on the novel by Aimee Friedman, Sea Change tells the story of Miranda and T.J.

Miranda (Emily Rudd) is a fiercely intelligent and independent teenager who, having lost her father, is spending the summer on an island with the mother (Maria Drizzia) that she barely knows. It’s a beautiful island, one that is very popular with rich vacationers, the majority of whom have spoiled children. It’s a struggle for Miranda to fit in. She has deeper interests than just popularity and money. Add to that, she doesn’t swim. With everyone on the island obsessed with getting in the water, Mirana is stuck on the land.

T.J. (Keenan Tracy) lives on the island year-round. His family is not rich. T.J. works for a living and he’s not going to let anyone push him around just because they happen to have more money than he does. When Miranda first sees T.J. she notices his scars. When she sees him a second time, the scars have disappeared. When Miranda falls into the water, T.J. saves her from drowning. T.J. claims that he just dived after her but Miranda gets the feeling that there’s something more to it, almost as if he was already in the water when she fell in. When he grabbed her underwater and led her back to the surface, there was something different about his eyes…

Could it have anything to do with the legendary Seawalkers? The Seawalkers are said to be half-human and half-fish. Everyone knows the story has to be a myth but, after T.J. rescues her, Miranda isn’t quite sure. Could the Seawalkers be real and could they be connected to the secrets that Miranda believes her mother to be hiding from her?

You’ve probably already guesses the answers to all of those questions but that’s okay. Sea Change won’t win many points for originality. If you’ve seen any other film adaptation of a YA novel, you’ll be able to guess almost everything that happens in Sea Change before it happens. But, again, that doesn’t matter. Sea Change is a well-made and likable film, one that is full of gorgeous imagery. (The film really makes excellent use of that island setting.) Keenan Tracy and Emily Rudd are both talented actors and they have a nice chemistry. Underneath all of the talk of Seawalkers, there’s a very real and sincere sweetness to their relationship. You find yourself hoping that things work out for them and really, in order to work, that’s pretty much the only thing that a film like this has to accomplish.

Sea Change ends with the possibility of a sequel. Personally, if they did make a sequel, I’d watch it.

Cleaning Out The DVR, Again #1: The Stepchild (dir by Roma Roth)

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Two weeks ago, I finally finished my Fabulous Forties series of reviews! Yay!

I was so excited and I could not wait until I could move onto the Nifty Fifties box set from Mill Creek. However, before doing that, I decided to check the status of my DVR and guess what?

I discovered that I only had 10 hours of space left!

Basically, stating in March, I recorded so many movies that I am now nearly out of space. So, before I do anything else, it’s time for me to, once again, clean out the DVR! I have 36 films to watch and review before I can truly declare that my DVR has been cleaned out. Fortunately, I’ve recorded a good variety of films — everything from Lifetime movies to horror films to Oscar nominees. Watching and reviews all of them should be fun!

So, let’s get started! Because you know what? If I don’t hurry up and get this done, my DVR’s going to start automatically deleting my older recordings. And that means that I’m running the risk of losing not only Jesus Christ Superstar, Bend It Like Beckham, and American Anthem but the final six episodes of Saved By The Bell: The College Years as well!

The first film that I watched was The Stepchild, which premiered on Lifetime on March 12th!

As you probably tell from the picture above, The Stepchild is a movie about secrets, lies, murder, tears, and possible insanity. In short, it has everything that we have come to expect from a Lifetime movie! Even better, it has a Degrassi connection. (Degrassi, as our regular readers should be aware at this point, is my favorite Canadian TV show.) The Stepchild stars Sarah Fisher, who played a somewhat unbalanced Christian named Becky Baker on Degrassi. Becky was perhaps one of the most annoying characters in the history of Degrassi but Sarah Fisher always did a good job playing her and she does a pretty good job in The Stepchild as well.

The Stepchild opens with Ashley (played by Fisher) in a mental hospital. She spends her time talking to her therapist and occasionally having brightly-lit flashbacks to the night that she found her father’s dead body and dropped — in a slow motion, naturally enough — a snow globe on the floor. Not only is Ashley shaken over the demise of her father, but she also fears that she may have inherited her dead mother’s schizophrenia. And again, it bears repeating that Sarah Fisher does a really good job in the role of Ashley, making her a character whose outward fragility disguises more inner strength than even she realizes that she possesses.

When Ashley is finally released from the hospital, she goes to live with her stepmother, Beth (Lauren Holly). Ashley is upset because it’s obvious that, in just the short time after her father’s death, Beth has rather quickly moved on to a new man, John (Paul Johansson). John was Ashley’s father’s business partner and, like Ashley, we are immediately suspicious of him. This is largely because he’s played by Paul Johansson and anyone who has ever seen One Tree Hill knows better than to trust any character played by Paul Johansson.

Ashley is convinced that John or someone else murdered her father. But did he? Or could it be that Ashley is having another nervous breakdown? (It’s a testament to Sarah Fisher’s performance that, even though the answer is obvious, the viewer still is never totally sure.) With the help of her boyfriend, Michael (Keenan Tracy), Ashley attempts to solve the mystery.

There’s nothing really original about The Stepchild. If you’ve ever seen a Lifetime film before, you’ll be able to guess what’s going to happen. That said, their inherent predictability is part of the appeal of Lifetime films in general and The Stepchild is an entertaining-enough diversion. Lauren Holly and Sarah Fisher both do good with their ambiguous characterizations and Paul Johansson always does a good job when he’s playing a jerk. The film has a few nicely shot dream sequences and, as we all know, dream sequences are always fun!

The Stepchild may not be a classic but it’s a perfectly enjoyable way to waste two hours.

(For those keeping track of my progress in cleaning out the DVR, that’s one down and thirty-five to go!)

What Lisa and Erin Watched Last Night #149: Pretty Little Addict (dir by Monika Mitchell)

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, the Dazzling Erin and I watched the latest Lifetime film premiere, Petty Little Addict!

Why Were We Watching It?

Yesterday was all about sisterly bonding time! Erin and I basically told the rest of the world to get lost and then we spent the entire day hanging out together, talking about life, pondering the great questions of the universe, and laughing. In fact, we probably spent more time laughing than pondering the great questions of the universe. We also chased a chicken out of our backyard! (He belongs to one of our neighbors.)

And really, what better way is there to bond than by watching a Lifetime movie!? When my friend Trevor informed me that Pretty Little Addict would be premiering last night, I knew that there was no way that Erin and I were going to miss it!

What Was It About?

It’s about a pretty little addict!

Her name is Jennifer (Andrea Bowen) and she has just lost her father to cancer. To deal with her sorrow, she drinks. Meanwhile, across town, Colin Brown (Keenan Tracy) is excited because he’s received a scholarship to run track in college. Colin’s entire future is pretty much set and it all looks great, assuming that he never loses the ability to walk.

As fate would have it, Jennifer and Colin end up at the same party. And, when a drunk Jennifer attempts to leave the party, she accidentally runs over Colin. Colin is crippled and Jennifer is ordered to check into rehab.

While Jennifer is trying to get sober, Colin’s brother, Alex (Scott Lyster), is looking for revenge. Alex is mentally unstable and has a drinking problem of his own. He also has a long and violent criminal record. When he discovers that Jennifer is in rehab, he gets a job working for the vending machine company that just happens to service the machines inside the rehab facility. Soon, Alex is flirting with Jennifer while also trying to manipulate her into giving up her new found sobriety.

Meanwhile, Colin’s family is making plans to sue Jennifer’s mother…

What Worked?

One thing that you can definitely say about Pretty Little Addict is that it had its heart in the right place. It sincerely did attempt to use its melodramatic storyline to say something meaningful about addiction and the struggle of recovery. Both Scott Lyster and Keenan Tracy gave good performances and I also liked Morgan Taylor Campbell in the role of Jennifer’s paranoid roommate.

What Did Not Work?

Good intentions aside, this is one of those films that just never really seemed to come together. It felt uneven and strangely paced and, even by the standards of Lifetime, the plot was full of obvious and glaring holes. Alex’s plan seemed unnecessarily complicated. Considering that he was an alcoholic, he could have just as easily checked himself into rehab and then he would have had much easier access to Jennifer than he did as a fake deliveryman. It would have been a lot less trouble for him as well.

From the start of the movie to the end, Jennifer was a fairly unlikable character. Even after she got sober, she never really seemed to understand just how much damage she had done.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

I rarely drink so there was a definite shortage of “Oh my God! Just like me!” moments. However, I did cringe a little when the rehab patients had to engage in a trust exercise that deal with being blindfolded. That’s because, in high school, I took part in a similar trust exercise. My friend Jennifer was blindfolded and I was supposed to catch her when she fell backwards. However, I’ve only got a three-minute attention span so, by the time she actually started to fall back, I was no longer paying attention and I kind of forgot to catch her. Whoops!

Lessons Learned

Don’t drink and drive, which is actually a pretty good lesson.

What Lisa Watched Last Night #120: Text to Kill (dir by George Erschbamer)

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the latest Canadian-made Lifetime original film, Text to Kill!

Why Was I Watching It?

I was watching both because it was on Lifetime and it was a Canadian production. I love Lifetime and I love Canada.

What Was It About?

High school senior Taylor (Emily Tennant) has a lot to deal with. It’s been two years since her father was killed in a tragic car accident. Her overprotective mother (Dina Meyer) is a cop. Her former best friend, Hannah (Stephanie Bennett), is now her enemy. Her current best friend, Barbara (Sarah Desjardins), is dealing with a secret of her own. And now, out of nowhere, she has started to get threatening texts from someone calling himself “Truth & Lies.”

Who could be behind the evil texts? At first, Taylor suspects that it’s Hannah. But could it be Brandon (Kurt Ostland), the school weirdo? Or maybe it’s Cody (Keenan Tracy), Taylor’s enigmatic new boyfriend who somehow had her number before she ever gave it to him. Or could it be someone else entirely?

What Worked?

Text to Kill was actually a pretty fun little thriller. It kept me guessing, all of the actors gave good performances, and — perhaps most importantly — there was not a single character who didn’t live in a big and tastefully decorated house. (One of the pleasures of watching movies on Lifetime is that you get to see how everyone decorates their home.) Sarah Desjardins especially did a good job in the role of Barbara, bringing a bit of social relevance to what otherwise could have just been a standard Lifetime thriller.

What Did Not Work?

From the minute Text to Kill started, I knew that it was going to be one of those thriller that ended with a totally implausible twist, the type of twist that it’s best not to think too much about. And that’s exactly what happened! Unfortunately, the twist was revealed when there was still 15 minutes of film left to go. That left the audience with 15 minutes to think about how little sense it all made. If the film had waited until the final 7 minutes to reveal that twist, it wouldn’t have been an issue. But 15 minutes is too long an amount of time to know about the twist without thinking about all the unanswered questions and issues raised by it.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

I related to the character of Hannah and I especially admired the fact that she was less scared by the stalker and more just annoyed by all the inconvenience.

Lessons Learned

When your mom’s a cop, there’s nothing you can’t get away with.