Well I’m gonna switch gears here for a second and review something from the SyFy channel that isn’t about some giant creature attacking and devouring people.  ALPHAS is a new series premiering on the SyFy Channel on July 11 at 10pm (ET/PT).  This is an early review.  From the press release:

The ALPHAS team is a clandestine group of average people with amazing abilities operating within the U.S. Department of Defense.  Led by Dr. Lee Rosen … a preeminent neurologist, psychiatrist and Alpha phenomena expert, the team investigates cases that point to others with Alpha abilities.  As they work against the clock to solve this new brand of crime, they must prevent their own personality differences and disparate backgrounds from interfering with their ultimate mission.

So I was pretty much expecting a SyFy version of HEROES, and the comparisons are there.  But I also found myself really getting into the pilot.  The characters are well-written and I like that we didn’t get the typical pilot episode of Dr. Rosen (David Strathairn) tracking down and convincing the Alphas to “join the team.”  Instead the pilot begins with the team members already being assembled.  I got the feeling that the team is rather new and the various members are still feeling each other out and getting to know each other.

Speaking of the team members, we get a pretty eclectic bunch of powers.  Cameron (Warren Christie) has hyperkinesis whereby he can put his thoughts into action and manipulate the things around him; Bill (Malik Yoba) is hyperadrenal and experiences superhuman strength when faced with a fight or flight situation; Rachel (Azita Ghanizada) is a synesthete and can enhance her senses to extraordinary levels; Gary (Ryan Cartwright) is a transducer and can manipulate electromagnetic wavelengths; and Nina (Laura Mennell) is an influencer and when she stares into your eyes she can “influence” you to do whatever she wants you to do.  But what I like here is that each of the character’s powers comes with a price.  When Cameron is under a lot of stress his ability becomes very unstable; Bill’s superhuman strength drains him and after a while leaves him extremely vulnerable; when Rachel enhances one of her senses her body shuts off the other senses; Gary is a autistic; and Nina can never be sure if she can trust anyone because they might simply be under her control.

As I mentioned above, the pilot episode begins with the Alphas already assembled in a team.  This could have easily become just another superhero show, but the writers (more on them in a minute) take care not to turn the Alphas into the next X-Men.  The Alphas are very human and have believable powers (“enhancements” is a better word) and always remain in this world, not some fantasy comic book world.  ALPHAS has some pretty heavy talent behind the scenes.  It’s written by Zak Penn (who wrote X-MEN: LAST STAND and wrote the story for X-MEN 2) and Michael Karnow (who was a writer on THE CHEVY CHASE SHOW … yikes) and is directed by Jack Bender (who was the main director on LOST and directed eps of THE SOPRANOS, ALIAS, and CARNIVALE).

The plot in the pilot involves a mysterious man with the ability to hypnotize anyone with a simple touch of his hand.  He works for Red Flag which I believe will end up being the organization the “evil Alphas” work for.  What starts with an impressive assassination ends with the Alphas banding together to try and expose the man/men behind the Red Flag organization.  The action here is tight and director Bender keeps everything moving along at a nice, brisk pace.

The Alpha group’s government liaison is Wilson (Callum Keith Rennie, who has over 100 acting roles under his belt).  We don’t learn much about the mysterious Wilson but do know that he’s the guy that brings the Alphas onto the cases that seem to be beyond the normal limits of police work.  Wilson’s a no nonsense guy and has some of the more tongue-in-cheek moments in the pilot.  As Wilson and Dr. Rosen are standing on the street, Wilson is staring at a donut shop:

Wilson:  You know 40% of all businesses are owned by foreign nationals.

Rosen:  That’s not true.

Wilson:  Ah, maybe it is.

The pilot episode of ALPHAS is a well-written and acted show that does a great job introducing the main characters while at the same time getting a feel for the tone of the show.  We get a strong set up for the series and I hope the writers run with it.  The pilot episode of ALPHAS is extremely entertaining and I’m looking forward to seeing where it all goes.  Check this one out.  It premiers on Monday, July 11 at 10pm (ET/PT).

My Summary:

Director:  Jack Bender (pilot episode)

Plot:  4 out of 5 stars

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Yesterday I got a special screener and promotional package for the SyFy Channel’s new series HAVEN, premiering on Friday July 9, 2010 at 10pm (EST).  HAVEN is based  on the Stephen King novel The Colorado Kid and stars Emily Rose as FBI agent Audrey  Parker, Lucas Bryant as officer Nathan Wuornos in the town of Haven, and Eric Balfour as the mysterious Duke Crocker (who was recently in SyFy’s Dinoshark).  Now I must be clear that I’m only providing a review of the plot and story of HAVEN; the copy I got is a rough cut, and in the beginning it warns that “All music, colors, sounds, and visual effects are temporary.”  In many cases the special f/x weren’t even included at all!!  In the beginning, for example, Rose has an accident that leaves her car dangling over the side of a cliff.  But I didn’t exactly get to see that.  Instead a note came on the screen that read, “Wide shot:  Car dangling over cliff.”  It was a pretty unique and fun way to watch HAVEN.  But let’s get onto the plot of the pilot episode.

FBI agent Parker (Rose) gets assigned to check out the prison escape of a local con who killed a guard in the process.  Upon her arrival in Haven she is met by local cop Wournos (Bryant) and told that they found the escaped convict murdered earlier that day.  As she further investigates, strange weather starts to hit the small town.  At one point it starts hailing and in another scene a fog descends onto the town so thick Parker couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face (this is another f/x that wasn’t yet included in the screener.  Instead there was a sign inserted that said, “Fog rolling down from all sides”). Her investigation leads her to some pretty crazy conclusions; mainly that someone in the town of Haven has the ability to control the weather.

It’s a solid pilot that will remind you of an X-Files episode.  But besides the main story, we also get the standard set-up for the series.  We meet some of the town’s colorful characters and are also introduced to a mystery that keeps agent Parker in Haven.  She finds an old photo from a local newspaper from the “Colorado Kid” crime scene, and in that picture there’s a woman that looks just like her.  So at the end of the day we have a entertaining and interesting story that nicely sets up a mystery that will be explored over the course of the series.  Nothing cutting edge here, but it kept my attention and looks pretty promising.  The acting was above-average for a TV show, and my biggest complaint is that Emily Rose looks a little too young for the role she’s playing.  She’s not very believable as a seasoned FBI agent who already has a peppered career past.  But Rose is also pretty cute, especially when wearing only a man’s dress shirt, so you can overlook this.  I’ll be looking forward to seeing the finished pilot with the completed f/x, soundtrack, and colors.  This one has promise and I’ll be tuning in.  Check it out.

My Summary:

Director:  Adam Kane (of the pilot)

Plot:  3.5 out of 5 stars

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Brace yourselves.  I have a review for an original production from a cable channel that has no giant creatures, no world ending catastrophes, no shitty CGI f/x, and no questionable acting.  That’s right; last night I watched an advanced DVD copy of Chiller Channel’s first original special … and it doesn’t star Dean Cain and wasn’t directed by Colin Ferguson!!  Premiering this Friday night (December 17th at 8pm) on the Chiller Channel, is CHILLER 13: THE DECADE’S SCARIEST MOVIE MOMENTS.  As I mentioned, this is the channel’s first original programming they’ve put together.  It’s a “list show” that counts down the scariest films of the last decade.

CHILLER 13 is presented exactly like Bravo’s 100 SCARIEST MOVIE MOMENTS that airs around Halloween every year.  We get a bunch of genre celebrities (actors, directors, f/x specialists, etc …) sitting around talking about the scariest films from the last decade.  Here we get staples such as Greg Nicotera, Tony Todd, Lucky McKee, Ti West, and Steve Niles, but we also get a lot of comedians and big breasted chicks who really don’t seem to be experts in the field or even really know all that much about horror films.  Sure there’s a lot of funny comments about the films (i.e., “it was so scary I peed my pants a little”), but there wasn’t a lot of insight or fun facts about the films.

And the list itself?  Well I’m gonna let you watch it for yourselves so you can be as disappointed as I was.  All we get are the typical mainstream releases from the last 10 years.  There’s not one indie horror film or even a French film to be found on the list (and let’s face it, the French have dominated the genre in the past decade).  In fact you could probably write the list right now and name all the films yourself.  Big genre hitters like MARTYRS and INSIDE are nowhere to be found.  I was very disappointed.  And the typical flicks like (and I’ll only list 2) 28 DAYS LATER and SAW make the list.  And let’s talk about 28 DAY LATER … We all know my thoughts on this one; there isn’t an original thought in this entire film AND this isn’t a zombie flick.  The killers here are people infected with a rage virus; they haven’t died and come back to life.  But besides everyone referring to this as a “zombie movie”, one commentator even has the balls to say that “Before 28 DAYS LATER there was no such thing as a fast zombie.”  REALLY??  Are you fucking serious?!!??  There were fast zombies as far back as 1980, in NIGHTMARE CITY, and 1985, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (both which came out decades before the inferior 28 DAYS LATER).  It’s one thing if the person who made the comment (I’ll let you discover who said that for yourself) doesn’t know their film history, but this is definitely something that should have been caught in post-production (I mean seriously, who hasn’t seen RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD??).

And I’m gonna get a little picky here and point out that the title of the show is somewhat misleading.  The title reads THE DECADE’S SCARIEST MOVIE MOMENTS.  This implies that the list would be comprised of specific movie moments and not entire films.  If this were the case then I could understand why 28 DAYS LATER was on the list.  Even though I hate that film there are one or two scary moments.  But this list isn’t about specific scary moments; this show does indeed count down the decades scariest films.

Besides being thoroughly annoyed at the inclusion of 28 DAYS LATER being on this list there were many other films that I just don’t understand how they made the cut.  Hell; one flick here was on my “Worst of 2009” list from last year!!  I really can’t go into much more here without giving away the other films on the list, but I urge you to watch CHILLER 13 (again, premiering this Friday night, December 17 @ 8pm on Chiller) and then come back and visit me.  THEN we can really pick apart the list and comment on it in the only way anythinghorror.com can!!  It’s definitely a flawed list (in so many ways), but its also a lot of fun to watch these kinds of “list shows” with some friends and tear them a part!!  Check this one out and then we’ll discuss the list in more detail next week.

My Summary:

Director:  Shane O’Brien

Plot:  3.5 out of 5 (I don’t agree with 98% of the list, but it’s fun to watch)

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Over the holidays I received a beautiful promo/reviewer package in the mail from the folks over at SyFy promoting their new series BEING HUMAN, premiering this coming Monday, January 17 at 9pm ET/PT.  Besides containing DVD screeners of the first 3 episodes, the package also has a really impressive scrapbook-like feel to it as it introduced me to each of the main characters in the series.  BEING HUMAN has been adapted from the hugely popular British TV show of the same name and plot for an American audience.  I’ve never seen the original British version so I couldn’t tell you if it keeps the same storyline or not.  But I think there might be something here.  There’s a few areas that need to be improved upon, but overall I think this series has potential.

The first episode, “There Goes the Neighborhood, Part 1” is exactly what a good pilot should be.  We’re introduced to the three main characters Aidan (Sam Witwer), who’s a vampire; Josh (Sam Huntington), who’s a werewolf; and Sally (Meaghan Rath), who’s a ghost.  Aidan and Josh both work in a hospital and know about each other’s unique condition.  Aidan is what you might call a “recovered active vampire” in that he doesn’t stalk and hunt down victims.  Instead he gets his blood from the hospital’s blood bank.  He and Josh are already friends as the show begins and they are both fighting to try and fit into society.  They finally decide to move in together in their efforts to be as human as possible.  In their new 2-story brown stone they meet Sally, a ghost, who used to live there with her fiancee until she fell down the stairs and died.  Sally’s fiancee Danny (Gianpaolo Vanuta) still owns the brown stone, and there are innuendos about Sally’s death being a little suspicious (at least it feels so to me).

The pilot, as mentioned above, does a great job setting up the characters as well as introducing a bunch of subplots that will carry on throughout the series’ run.  The biggest subplot concerns Aidan:  As the episode opens Aidan, it seems, has fallen off the wagon.  He goes out with a girl, Rebecca (Sarah Allen), and during sex he looses control and feeds on her like a tick on a dog’s ass.  So he calls his old buddy (and I do mean OLD buddy) Bishop (Mark Pellegrino) to help him.  Aidan was turned by Bishop over 200 years ago and they used to go hunting together, and recently Bishop has missed the “good old days” and wants to bring Aidan back to his violent ways.  There are also a lot of hints that Bishop has been recruiting a lot of new vampires for some big event in the near future.  But Aidan, who’s actually repentant about his violent past, stays true to Josh in trying to fit in with humanity.  We get a really good balance as we’re introduced to the characters and are given a lot of subplots that are most definitely setting up future episodes.

The actors playing Aidan and Josh are terrific.  Aidan plays the brooding, melancholic vampire nicely without ever becoming the whiny, annoying TWILIGHT-esque vampire.  and Josh plays his role as a neurotic, OCD werewolf perfectly.  He does a really good job in portraying a cursed man.  He also has most of the shows comic relief and has good timing to pull off the funny scenes while at the same time never letting us forget he’s also a cursed man.  And then there’s Sally.  Compared to the actors playing Aidan and Josh, Sally really sticks out as not being that strong an actress.  As soon as she’s introduced, you’re immediately aware that you’re watching a TV show.  She pulls you out of the moment as you become aware that she’s acting in a role (and not doing a very good job at it).  I assumed this was her first acting gig, but she actually has a string of TV movies and shows under her belt (including the SyFy movie 10.5: APOCALYPSE).  I think Rath needs to get some more experience outside the TV realm to help her grow as an actress.  She plays the “bubbly, energetic girl” part well enough, but there’s also the part of her hat is struggling to come to terms with being a ghost trapped in this world, cursed in being able to see her fiancee but unable to interact with him.  Unfortunately Rath just doesn’t have the depth to pull this side of her character off.

Adam Kane (who directed a handful of episodes of HEROES) directed the first 2 episodes and does a good job.  The writing, especially the dialogue, could have been tighter in spots but overall I think BEING HUMAN is off to a good start.  I watched the first three episodes with my wife and even she made the comment, “This could be so good if they just did something with the dialogue.”  I agree with her (and no; not because I have to).  The dialogue often went for being cutesy and tried its best to be clever instead of being “natural”.  I mean we are dealing with three supernatural beings after all … let the dialogue get dark at times!!

But if anything gave me hope about the direction of BEING HUMAN, it was the third episode, “Some Thing to Watch Over Me.”  In it the guys bring in an older ghost to essentially teach Sally how to be a ghost, but the main story is about Aidan.  A cop, who’s now in his 40’s, recognizes Aidan from his childhood.  It seems Aidan killed the cop’s dad when the cop was 10 years old and now he’s obsessed with proving that Aidan is the same man.  What I really liked about this episode is that is ends on a dark and depressing note.  It’s nice to know the writers aren’t afraid to explore such territory.

Overall I think BEING HUMAN has a lot of promise.  Besides some of the supporting cast members and the actress playing Sally, the acting is strong, and the writers have demonstrated they aren’t afraid to explore darker themes.  Given time I think BEING HUMAN will hit it’s stride and become a really compelling TV series.  I’m gonna be tuning in every Monday night to see where it goes!!  Check out the pilot this upcoming Monday night, January 17 at 9pm ET/PT.

My Summary:

Director:  Adam Kane (first 2 episodes)

Plot:  3.5 out of 5 (for first 3 episodes

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains (for now; I bet we’ll see a zombie or 2 in the future)

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

What can I say about THE WALKING DEAD?  I mean seriously; what could I possibly say about the most anticipated horror event of 2010?  I first started reporting on this AMC original project way back in January of 2010 (January 21 was my first article), and I’m happy to say that it was well worth the fucking wait!!  THE WALKING DEAD isn’t just a kick ass zombie feature; it’s one of the best genre films I’ve seen this year.

I’m sure most of you reading this review already watched the pilot episode, “Days Gone Bye,” and know about how this amazing serialized graphic novel made it to the big screen.  So I’m gonna spare all of you the history of this project.  But I do wanna note that AMC really deserves some praise here.  Not only did they see the potential of THE WALKING DEAD as a feature, but once they committed to it they didn’t pull any stops and went full-on balls-to-the-wall in developing it.  Their first (and probably best) move was hiring Frank Darabont, the only man to really successfully bring Stephen King’s books to the big screen.  He adapted and directed THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994), THE GREEN MILE (1999), and THE MIST (2007).  That’s a pretty good track record (and I know a lot of fans didn’t like the ending of THE MIST, but I thought it worked even though it was a bit schmaltzy).  So when he was handed over the reins to THE WALKING DEAD I knew AMC was serious and committed to making this a fantastic series.

For those of you who may have missed the premier, I will say that if you’ve read the comic then you already know the story.  Deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is shot and when he comes out of his coma he discovers he’s woken up in a totally different world.  The hospital is abandoned, except for the barricaded doors holding back a swarm of the dead; the streets are abandoned; and when he finally makes it home he discovers his wife and son aren’t there.  Confused he wanders outside only to get smashed in the face by lil Duane Jones (Adrian Kali Turner).  Duane (a nod to the same-named actor who starred in Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD??)and his father Morgan (Lennie James) take in Grimes and catch him up on what exactly is going on in the world.

I was really happy with the casting here.  The actors playing Morgan and Duane couldn’t have been better, and Andrew Lincoln is great as Rick Grimes.  There was some skepticism about Lincoln playing the lead but I think Darabont made a great choice.  The only other character we got to see in any detail was Grimes’ partner Shane (Jon Bernthal).  We meet some of the other main characters but the focus in the pilot was definitely on Grimes.  I can’t wait to start “getting to know” the other characters.

Now I can’t talk about the characters in THE WALKING DEAD without talking about the characters that mean the most to us … the zombies.  The zombies, done by Greg Nicotero, are, simply put, absolutely fucking amazing looking.  At times I forgot I was watching a TV show; Nicotero didn’t pull any punches with the make-up.  The zombies were terrifying, juicy, and decayed.  There were also a lot of zombie’s that were plucked directly from the pages of Kirkman’s comic.  There’s one that Grimes sees while he’s still in the hospital; he looks through a window in a door down a corridor and sees this gnarly fucking corpse.  The corpse is stripped down to the bone and we can see the ripped open abdominal cavity.  It’s a gruesome fucking scene and the camera lingers on it for a few seconds.  But by far the best looking zombie was the one Grimes comes across as he’s getting on the bike.  You know the one from the commercials; the make-up is horrifying and it has only half its body.  One of the legs has been gnawed down to the bone and is just a stick, and we can see the spinal cord as it tries to make its way across the park.  These are some terrific looking zombies that are in all different stages of decay.  Easily some of the best looking zombies I’ve seen in a long time.  Just wait until you see the scenes where Grimes rides the horse into downtown Atlanta!!

I certainly hope THE WALKING DEAD can maintain the momentum it’s had since around this past June-July.  Based on the pilot episode I think we’re in for one helluva great series that is gonna do justice to the deep characterizations of the humans without forgetting about the zombies (like so many zombie projects often do).  I’m really looking forward to getting to know the characters all over again and seeing them struggling to survive.  Yes the overarching message here is that humans are the true monsters, but fuck me if this message isn’t presented in a savage and brutal way (unlike the recent snooze-fest MONSTERS).  And don’t let the “AMC Presents” moniker throw you off; Darabont does not skip on the gore.  Putting aside the CG blood splatters (they weren’t done well at all), the effects here are all practical, using CG only to enhance some of the effects.  Don’t believe me?  Just wait till you see what happens to Grimes’ horse.

It’s not often we get such a strong genre TV show that delivers on the writing and the gore.  Let’s support this one people … I wanna see how far they go with this story.  I can’t wait to see what they do with the psychotic character Philip.  You remember him?  The one who repeatedly rapes one of the main characters and has a little girl zombie chained up in his house that he fucks?  Yeah that one.  I can’t wait to see how Darabont gets around the censors with Philip!!  There is so much here to love; from the dialogue to the zombie make up to the sets.  THE WALKING DEAD is off to an amazing start and I for one will be eagerly tuning in every week.  I’ll see ya there.

This is one of the best looking zombies I've ever seen!!

My Summary:

Director:  Frank Darabont (also series creator and writer)

Plot:  5 out of 5 stars

Gore:  6 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  5 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer