Spawn Atomic’s new POWERPLANT EP, recently issued on CD and just out on vinyl, showcases a solid sound delivering the band’s clever brand of horror-punk. POWERPLANT takes right off, and immediately you know where they’re going: right into a Misfits-worshipping realm of zombies, werewolves, blood, guts and sex—and it’s a lot of fun!
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The remake of THE CRAZIES opens on an apocalyptic setpiece—a small-town main street engulfed in flames—that probably cost more than all of the 1973 George A. Romero film that inspired it. Thankfully, the film that follows makes a case for reworking a low-budget cult fave with a budget that can truly serve the subject matter.
2K’s original BIOSHOCK game added a new twist to traditional first-person shooter storytelling, the onset of madness created by utter isolation in a crumbling dystopia. The Randian beliefs of Andrew Ryan led to a world where every man truly served himself, but by the most violent means necessary. The new sequel, BIOSHOCK 2 (available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC), takes players back to the horrendous city of Rapture, though through a more bubble-domed view.
I must confess that when I was offered the chance to review I AM VIRGIN, I was a little upset when Fango’s managing editor added, “You’d be perfect for it!” Jeez, Mike, I’m just saving myself for the right lady. Can’t a guy be chaste and unsullied in this day and age without being made fun of? And I have had sex. Yes, only with myself, but that still counts for something, don’t it?
If you know the name Kazuo “Gaira” Komizu, it’s probably as director of the super-slimy and super-gory ENTRAILS/GUTS OF A VIRGIN/BEAUTIFUL WOMAN films, which feature (can you guess?) entrails, guts, beautiful women and a phallus monster. His 1991 film BATTLE GIRL: THE LIVING DEAD IN TOKYO BAY (just out on DVD from Synapse Films) is another story.
THE WRAITH hits you in the face with the ’80s so hard that after watching Lionsgate’s special-edition DVD (coming March 2), I had to double-check and make sure that I hadn’t gone BACK TO THE FUTURE.
“The first time I ever held a pancreas in my hands, I got an erection.” That’s the darkly humorous and attention-grabbing first line of Eric Garcia’s REPO MEN, which first saw publication as THE REPOSSESSION MAMBO last March and has now been rereleased by Harper as the retitled REPO MEN, to coincide with the film adaptation hitting theaters March 19 from Universal Pictures.
For all those who think zombie literature began with the great Max (WORLD WAR Z) Brooks, think again.