The G.O.R.E. Score

G.O.R.E. Score: Stag Night of the Dead

Posted by Tony Schaab on November 24, 2010 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

: Stag Night of the Dead (2010)

Original Release Date: October 31, 2010 (online only; DVD release TBA)
Run Time: 81 minutes

Please welcome the newest member of the “Best Title Ever” department: “Stag Night of the Dead!”

(It also scores very high in the “Best Tag Line Ever” category, although for me, the primary “Six stags, one stripper, a million zombies – you do the math(s)” takes a definite back seat to the understated-but-insightful “When there’s no more room in Hell…you get married.”)

“SNotD” is one of those films that you’ll learn about and either really anticipate watching, or decide that it doesn’t exactly sound like your cup of tea. If you’re in the camp of those who still want to see the film – and you damn well should be, if you enjoy zombies, comedy, guns, and girls (and not necessarily in that order) – after you’ve seen it, you’ll be genuinely glad that you did.

It’s a film made by some British folk who, quite frankly, knew what they were doing and did it pretty damn well. “SNotD” swims in a sea of independently-made zombie movies, but it floats where others sink thanks to the attention to detail given by the filmmaker’s creators and their crew.

Tags: 28 days later, british comedy, british horror, british zombie, douglas adams, edgar wright, george romero, gore score, gore score review, mike busson, monty python, neil jones, nick frost, night of the living dead, review, ricky gervais, simon pegg, stargate, tony schaab, zomball, zombie film, zombie movie Permalink

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G.O.R.E. Score: Choose Your Doom: Zombie Apocalypse

Posted by Tony Schaab on November 19, 2010 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

: Choose Your Doom (2010)

Original Release Date: November 26, 2010
Publisher: Doom Press

Everybody loves a little retro action, right?

Whether it’s fashion trends coming around again, a Hollywood movie being re-made for a new generation of viewers, or simply taking a stroll down memory lane by looking at old pictures or boxes of treasure in the attic, it’s always an interesting experience to re-connect with a piece of our past. It can also produce a wide range of emotions, as well – happiness, nostalgia, wistfulness, yearning, fondness, the list goes on and on.

Now, I can be a pretty sensitive guy, so imagine the emotional kaleidoscope I saw in front of me when “Choose Your Doom: Zombie Apocalypse” showed up at my door. “Zombie Apocalypse” is the first book in a planned line of “Choose Your Doom” novels, all following the always-entertaining second-person-perspective “gamebook” format made popular by the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

For those unfamiliar with the “gamebook” format, the idea behind it is deceptively simple, yet quite genius: at the end of many pages in the book, you (the reader is actually inserted into the story as the main character) are presented with two or more choices, each choice instructing you to turn to a different page and resulting in a different outcome for your character.

Tags: Ana Bruno, book review, choose your doom, choose your own adventure, Dante Savelli, DeAnna Knippling, Doom Press, gamebook, gore score, gore score review, review, tony schaab, zombie, zombie apocalypse, zombie book, zombie novel Permalink

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G.O.R.E. Score: The Quick and the Undead

Posted by Tony Schaab on November 16, 2010 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

: The Quick and the Undead (2006)

Original Release Date: December 5, 2006
Run Time: 78 minutes

I’m sad to report that the second member of the MoSSZMFfaDA fared about as well as the first.

For those of you who haven’t heard about it in my previous entries, the MoSSZMFfaDA is short for “Motherload of Semi-Sketchy Zombie Movies Found for a Dollar Apiece.” It’s a collection of 10 films, all centered on the undead, that I found at a Hollywood Video near my home as they were going out of business. 10 movies, 10 bucks spent total, and away I went, one happy man. (Feel free to click here and read more about the experience, in addition to seeing the titles of all 10 of the included movies.)

To be fair, I know I probably shouldn’t expect too much out of this grouping of films; after all, I got them for a dollar apiece, and I put the phrase “Semi-Sketchy” right there in the group’s title! But, being the romantic dreamer that I am, I keep the hope alive that one of these films will present itself as truly enjoyable, one that I might recommend far and wide, or at least not totally suck. Some folks on one of the zombie forums even have a side bet going that no member of the MoSSZMFfaDA gets a Total Score above a 5. Not to spoil anything for those folks who haven’t skipped down to this movie’s Scoring, but so far, two out of 10 movies reviewed (“Invasion” being the other), that bet is a solid one.

Tags: george romero, gerald nott, gore score, gore score review, hollywood video, john wayne, low budget, the quick and the undead, tony schaab, zombie movie, zombie movie review, zombie western, zombie western movie Permalink

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G.O.R.E. Score: The Reapers are the Angels

Posted by Tony Schaab on November 12, 2010 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

: The Reapers are the Angels (2010)

Release Date: August 3, 2010
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

I just need to put this out there, right at the beginning of this entry: this is a damn hard book to review.

There are things to like about this book, most definitely. Things that the author does very well. There are also things that annoyed me while reading through this story. The more I sit and ruminate on my reading experience, the more the annoyance grows, moving dangerously close to umbrage and downright anger.

“The Reapers are the Angels” is a recently-released book, marketed as a “young adult” novel, written by Joshua Gaylord under the pseudonym “Alden Bell.”

See, even in the above sentence, where all I do is describe the book’s release information, I stumble across a few questions.

Tags: alden bell, apocalypse, book, Cormac McCarthy, gore score, gore score review, joshua gaylord, novel, psudonym, Temple, the reapers are the angels, The Road, tony schaab, Twilight, young adult, zombie book, zombie novel Permalink

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G.O.R.E. Score: Rise Again

Posted by Tony Schaab on November 8, 2010 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

: Rise Again (2010)

Release Date: October 26, 2010
Publisher: Gallery Books

Ben Tripp is not a novelist by nature. According to the various bios of him found on “official” websites like Amazon, Simon & Schuster, and his own personal site, along with being a writer he is also an artist, designer, and “one of the world’s leading conceptualists of public experiences.” Even if I’m not exactly sure what that last part means, I do know that his debut novel, “Rise Again,” is an above-average piece of zombie fiction, even if it does have its faults here and there.

I was fortunate enough to receive an advance review copy of this book a few months back from the good folks at Gallery/Simon & Schuster, and even though I had finished the book about a month ago, I had to wait to post this review until after “Zombies from Beyond!” Month had concluded, since this story doesn’t exactly fit the theme we had going. “Rise Again” is set smack in the current day, with references abound to the recent Middle East conflicts and the nation’s economic troubles, among others. This can be both a blessing and a curse, as the novel feels very “fresh” and reads quite well today, but who’s to say what the read will feel like in 20 or 30 years – would I feel as connected to a story written in the 1970s that relied heavily on incorporating “current events” like the Vietnam War, Watergate, etc.?

Tags: amazon, ben tripp, colorado, gallery, gore score, gore score review, iraq war, los angeles, middle east conflict, ptsd, review, rise again, san francisco, simon & schuster, simon and schuster, tony schaab, zombie book, zombie novel Permalink

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G.O.R.E. Score: Night of the Living Dead Live

Posted by Tony Schaab on November 3, 2010 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

: Night of the Living Dead Live (2010)

Original Run Dates: October 28-31, 2010
Location: Hedbeck Community Theater, Indianapolis, IN
Run Time: approx. 60 minutes

Thankfully, I am Facebook friends with fellow fine-arts guy Brian Noffke, otherwise I would have never known that he was directing a live-stage version of “Night of the Living Dead” here in Indianapolis, nor would I have seen his post calling for zombie extras to shamble around during the performances October 28-31, 2010.

Not only was Brian kind enough to let me join his talented cast on stage at the Hedbeck Community Theater, home of Footlite Musicals, for the midnight Halloween show, he let me see the show as an audience member during the 8pm Halloween show so I could objectively review it for The G.O.R.E. Score. I’ll talk briefly about my experience as a Zombie Extra here, but my main focus in this review is the show itself!

Overall, the experience was a highly-entertaining one. There’s a significant difference between reading about a zombie in a book or seeing one on a TV screen versus having one physically shamble right by you. The production was set up so that the audience was on the stage with the cast and set, with a center aisle running down the middle of the audience seating and the aisle extended perpendicularly all the way along the front of the stage in both directions as well; throughout the show, undead in various costumes and stages of decomposition roamed the aisles, sometimes physically brushing against audience members who were (un)fortunate enough to sit on the end of their row.

Tags: Amelia Laudig, Barbara, Ben, Brenda Upchurch, brian noffke, Chelsea Anderson, Claire Cassidy, Craig Light, Damon Denmin, David Mosedale, Dennis Forkel, Dr. Grimes, Ed Trout, Erica Freeman, Footlite Musicals, george romero, gore score, gore score review, Greg Raley-Barrett, Harry Cooper, Hedbeck Community Theater, Helen Cooper, Indianapolis, Jeff Angel, Johnny, Josh Schultz, Judy Rose, Karen Cooper, lori allen ohm, Meagan Matlock, Michael Davis, night of the living dead, night of the living dead live, night of the living dead stage, Paul Hansen, Police Chief McClellan, Rebecca Bowman, Sam Fain, Stacy Reynolds, Susan Yeaw, They're coming to get you Barbara, Tom Barley, Tom Bitner, tony schaab, Zach Rosing, Zach Rosing Productions Permalink

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G.O.R.E. Score: Star Wars: Death Troopers

Posted by Tony Schaab on October 21, 2010 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

: Star Wars: Death Troopers (2009)

Release Date: October 13, 2009
Publisher: LucasBooks

“Death Troopers,” the mixing of a Star Wars story and a zombie horror story, feels a little like meeting a supermodel might: your preconceived notions make you insanely excited for the big event, it seems so amazing and perfect from a distance, but after you spend some time with it, you find out that it’s definitely not perfect and you actually end up a little bummed out.

The book was written by Joe Schreiber, who (according to the book’s jacket) has written a few horror novels before, none of which I have read. I’m not sure how big of a Star Wars fan Schreiber may have been prior to this assignment, but if he was a fan, I would hope that even he feels a bit disappointed by the way this story turned out.

The whole time I was reading this story, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it felt…rushed. Like the book was rushed into production so the creators could make sure to “cash in” on the current zombie wave before it ended.