Survivor Movies

House of the Dead

2011-10-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

Bro, check it out - Seriously huge rave on Zombie Island tonight! Seriously! A bunch of us are going over there. Why do they call it "Zombie Island?" Dunno. Think we should ask? Directed by the cult classic, Uwe Boll.

There's a big rave on an island off Seattle. Captain Kirk calls it "La Isla De Muerte"...lol, wasn't that used in Lost World? The movie features a lot of zombie ass-kicking in true video game style. When some of the characters die, their screen even goes red just like in the game. At first, there's an entire mob of people presumably killed at the rave. Then the movie picks up following a small batch of survivors (Rudy, Liberty, Hugh) along with a group of late-comers (Greg, Simon, Alicia, Cynthia, Karma). Plus there's a captain, skipper and a zombie-hunting police officer and we have ourselves a cast. Let the games begin!

Ding, Ding, Round 1!

Ravers Matt & Johanna (plus dozens of others) die in the opening 20 minutes. Matt and Johanna wander off to the lake to go skinny dipping. As Matt bashfully decides not to get naked, a zombie offs him off-screen. Johanna turns around and goes looking for Matt and ultimately gets killed too off-screen. We then see another anonymous couple having sex in the woods right before getting attacked and killed off-screen.

Skipper Salish is wandering around alone in the woods when he gets attacked and killed off-screen.

Off-screen zombie killings: 5++

Ding, Ding, Round 2!

The late comers have arrived to the island via boat, only to find the rave has been ravished. But that doesn't stop Greg and his girlfriend Cynthia from initiating sex. While Greg runs off to pee first, Cynthia is swarmed by zombies and bitten.

The other late comers bump into the last survivors of the rave and then find Greg trapped in the porta-john. When out of nowhere, Zombie Cynthia springs from the woods, and snaps Hugh's neck before being shot by Casper. We hardly knew anything about Hugh except that he had a video camera.

Round 3. The survivors flee to the coast to escape, but find that Captain Kirk's boat is already overtaken by zombies. Kirk, himself, is safe on land when everyone is attacked. Kirk gets bitten and Simon gets burned in the cheek by zombie spit. Later, Casper decides to go elsewhere for help and she takes Greg along with her. Greg doesn't survive the journey.

Round 4. The zombie battle of all zombie battles. This round is just relentless with shotguns, karate kicks and plenty of Matrix slo-mos. During the attack, Liberty, the red, white and blue little Asian chick, succumbs to zombie bites. And Casper gets her legs ripped off as they finally enter an actual house in this movie. Hopefully it's the house of dead.

Round 5. They've made it into the house. Captain Kirk takes a 2nd bite and decides to sacrifice himself with a stick of dynamite. The remaining four survivors wander through the labyrinth where they are attacked by pirates, oh wait, I mean zombies. Simon decides to be a hero and sacrifice himself so the others may escape.

The final three escape down more dark hallways when more zombies try to eat...or bite them. The writers decide that yet another character should sacrifice themselves so Karma screams for the others to GO as her futile attempts at fighting get her killed.

Final round. Rudy and Alicia (ex-lovers) have escape the house that they escaped into earlier. Then I think there's a sword fight (?) between Alicia and a zombie and the zombie impales Alicia right through the center of her chest. She should be dead at this point, but test audiences must have wanted a female to survive the movie so in the voice over we here a vague remark that she might not be dead.

Rudy is basically the sole survivor. He actually tells us this at the beginning of the film, that everyone but him died.

In a Survivor movie it's a big no-no to reveal who survives at the beginning, regardless of how predictable it is otherwise. So for that I give House of Dead just 2 torches.

Shark Night 3D

2011-09-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

Shark Night 3D is about 7 college students who travel to a lake house for a weekend of drinking and sex. They run into a few bad men who have lured them there to star in their newest reality show inspired by Discovery Channel's infamous Shark Week. But the little show turns out to be more of the snuff variety as several large, man-eating sharks have been put in the salt water lake with cameras under their jaws to film some teeth on flesh action.

The trailers made it clear that this was a Survivor Movie so I had to check it out. I wound up skipping work and seeing it the first day in theaters (today). That makes me feel like such a monster movie nerd. I quite enjoyed the movie for what it is. The reviews seem to shred the movie apart due to the lack of gore and nudity. For me, that's not why I love these types of movies. This genre and blog probably make me come across as some sick f*ck who gets off at watching people die, when that's not really the truth. I'm a huge fan of Survivor the TV show (hence the logo) where obviously nobody dies. It's hard to explain my interest in these "Ten Little Indians" chain of event type stories where players get eliminated one by one. Anyway, as a survivor movie fan first, monster movie fan second, Shark Night 3D left me satisfied. What's even greater is that I am typing this as I watch Shark Tank ;)

The guys who are so upset there are no titties in this film should just stick to porn. Anyway, let's meet the cast.

7 Friends

Nick is supposed to be nerdy and has trouble with the ladies. But once he takes off the shirt and glasses it's like (s)He's All That.

Sara is the cute blonde girl who has boy issues.

Malik is the jock and token African American.

Maya is Malik's girl friend, and noticeably Latino.

Gordon is the true dork of the group. A serious online gamer and clearly unsuccessful with women.

Beth is supposed to be the bad-ass/slutty girl. She has a tattoo!

Blake is the slutty guy who spray tans his entire body.

These seven friends and their dog ride to what appears to be an island on a lake. Oh and they don't get any cell phone service or have neighbors. All the cards are lined up for an hour long shark night ahead...in 3D.

The first near-death happens when a shark bumps Malik off his water board. The others find him swimming ashore and one arm missing. They freak and try to call for help, but oh no - they don't have cell phone service, remember? They decide to take him directly to a hospital on the boat. So Nick, Sara and Maya set off with nearly unconscious Malik, who's losing a lot of blood, on the boat. The still hungry shark follows the boat and rams it so hard that Maya falls out. She doesn't make it back to the boat alive and becomes the first person eaten off the island.

Their boat breaks down (and blows up) so Nick, Sara and Malik wind up back at the lake house. At this point the characters realize they should not be in the water. Shark deaths are an easy problem to solve. Enter the shady sheriff and his two cohorts, Dennis and Red. These are the guys who have brought the sharks to this lake with the sole intention on filming them eat people. They arrive to the rescue but pre-med student Nick suggests they don't move Malik, who's still losing a lot of blood. So Beth and Gordon decide to travel with Dennis and Red on their boat back to the mainland to...get a doctor or something. Little do they know they have just fallen into the men's trap. Later that night they stop, and Dennis forces Gordon into the water at gunpoint. Gordon refuses, so Dennis shoots him and throws him in the water. Gordon manages to swim away from the sharks and climb a tree to safety. Did you know there are 350 different species of sharks? Apparently, some of those can fly because one jumps out of the water and grabs Gordon out of the tree and proceeds to munch on him. Gordon, the sharks have spoken.

Meanwhile, the sheriff is back on the island with Nick, Sara, Blake and Malik. Malik learns that his girlfriend is dead. This makes him go a bit psycho and he walks out into the lake with a spear intending to kill the shark. And surprisingly he does kill a shark, a hammer head shark to be exact. Not the same shark that attacked them earlier. They pull the sharks body up out of the lake and find the digital video cam attached to its underbelly...strange. Back out on the boat, Dennis and Red are now planning to feed Beth to a bunch of cookie cutter sharks. The cameras start rolling and the sharks start biting. Beth, it's time for you to go.

Blake finds a jet-ski and after waiting too long for help to come, he decides to take Malik back himself. Malik is again somewhat unconscious from his wounds inflicted during the hammer head battle. As the two guys are flying across the lake, Malik notices a shark chasing them so he sacrifices himself to the shark so Blake can continue on. Malik dies, and as Blake circles back and continues on, another shark approaches the jet ski from the front. And like freed Willy, the shark flies out of the water right into Blake's pretty face. In a surprising double-boot, both boys have foolishly eliminated themselves.

5 down, 2 to go. By this point Sara has revealed to Nick that she had a rocky past with Dennis and that he might be out to kill her. Funny that, it's true and Sara overhears Red telling the sheriff that they killed the tattooed girl. The 3 men drug Nick, Sara and their dog and take them out to feed to the fishies. The sheriff attempts to drop Nick into a swarm of starving sharks, but Nick outwits and outplays him by igniting a conveniently spilled can of gasoline with his conveniently pocketed lighter. Nick then outlasts the sheriff by knocking him into the water first. The sheriff becomes the 6th person to be masticated off the island. That's not counting that blonde bikini-less girl in the opening scene.

The number of players remaining increases from 2 to 4 as now Dennis and Red are viable shark treats. The men have taken Sara and the dog out on their boat to feed 'em to an even bigger shark just let out of her holding pen. But before they can carry on, Nick arrives with a gun. Dennis flings a knife at Nick, but it winds up stabbing Red in the back - err I mean front. Red is dead and Dennis jumps into the water with Sara drowning in a metal cage. This is an interesting strategic move by Dennis because he's vulnerable and Sara is safe in the cage. The shark attacks and kills Dennis and then tries to break through the cage to Sara. Nick swims down with a spear and kills the shark with one swift jab.

The survivors are Nick, Sara and the dog.

Alien 3

2011-08-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

I just saw Alien 3 for the second time this past week. I had only seen parts of it on cable nearly a decade ago, and since I didn't care for it then I had little desire to rewatch it until now. It picks up right where Aliens leaves off with Ripley being the sole survivor of her escape ship. Newt and Hicks have died enroute and that is one of the key factors to many fans disliking this third Alien chapter. I think Alien 3 will only gain likability as time goes on and fans get over these deaths. The movie itself is dark and certainly not goofy like Alien Resurrection. I think it has gotten and will earn more respect as time goes on.

Alien 3 brings us a survival scenario similar to the original. There's one alien on the loose chasing a finite group of unarmed people, widdling them down one by one...and there is only one survivor. The plot gave the characters little weapons against the alien which I learned to appreciate on the rewatch. My favorite contribution from Alien 3 to the series is the half dog alien breed. This shows us that the alien which we've come to know in the first two movies is half parasite/half human because its hosts were always human. This little twist comes into play in later Alien movies.

The cast primarily consists of 25 men on Fury 161 and one woman, Ripley. Here is the bootlist:

26. Murphy

25. Rains

24. Boggs

23. Clemens

22. Warden Andrews

21. Frank

20-16 - Several unnamed prisoners are killed as a result of Frank's action

15. Junior - Sacrifices himself to trap the alien (not shown in theatrical release)

14. Arthur - Guards door and killed by Goric (not shown in theatrical release)

13. Golic - Insane and runs after "dragon" (not shown in theatrical release)

12. Vincent

11. Troy

10. David

9. Kevin

8. William

7. Eric

6. Jude

5. Gregor

4. Dillon - Lures alien into lead chamber where he sacrifices himself.

3. Aaron 85 - mocked for having an IQ of 85, he's the wardens assistant. He is shot and killed by Bishop and his company after he tries to knock out Bishop.

2. Ripley - With the new queen alien inside her, she commits suicide by jumping into the fire

1. Morse - Sole survivor.

Eight Legged Freaks

2011-07-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

Invasion of the jumping spiders!

This movie packs a lot of over-the-top, giant spiders jumping on people. It really doesn't disappoint when it comes to that. I remember seeing posters for this movie at the theater and really looking forward to it back in '02. It stars the lovely Kari Wuhrer, from my favorite movie of all time, Anaconda, so that's partly why. Oh and David Arquette's there at the end of his career and Scarlett Johansson at the beginning of hers.

For a lower budget (presumed) this movie does a good job blending the CGI with the puppet spiders (good, not great). It's the actual context of some scenes which can be absurd at times (spiders chasing and jumping on a group of dirt bike riders for instance). But the special effects alone never ruined a scene IMO. In a movie like this the believability of the spiders is more important than the human storylines and acting. So there's not much competition there.

The movie begins with a chemical accident and we instantly realize where things are headed. Farm animals turn up dead or missing and the town is worried. Next thing you know there are giant, jumping spiders everywhere! Eventually they corner Sheriff Kari and Arquette in a shopping mall and later a mine where the movie climaxes in an all-out war. While in most monster movies there may be 2-5 good scenes of monster carnage, this one has too many to count. I had a hard time picking just one scene to use in the monster movie montage i'm working on.

Eight Legged Freaks reminds me so much of well done 80's monster movie, despite being made during the crappy computer generated horror era. I award it that, but it's personally not one of my favorites. I would say it's only mildly scary, mildly funny, and mildly freaky.

Survivors do not include Joshua, the spider specialist, some ostriches, some miners, some dirt biker guys, some truck drivers, some senior citizens and most of the other townspeople for that matter. Survivors do include nearly everyone likeable and given a name for their character.

The Edge

2010-07-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how many awesome Survivor movies were made in 1997! Anaconda, Alien Resurrection, Cube, Event Horizon, The Lost World, Starship Troopers...and the most Survivor-esque of them all: The Edge. What a great year.

In The Edge, four men take a quick flight over the Alaskan wilderness in search of an Indian man for their photoshoot. The plot is so very non-epic which is great. The movie teased me in the beginning with a cabin full of several other people. I thought -oh yay- a large expedition into the woods, but no, they all stay back at the cabin safe and sound. After smashing through a flock of birds, the four men's plane crashes. They are stranded out in the middle of the wilderness and being hunted by that bear.

The pilot dies in the crash leaving us quite quickly with just 3 men left: Alec Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins and Michael from Lost.

Stephen (aka Michael) gets seriously injured and later eaten by the bear in one of the most frightening scenes.

Things get heated when it's just Charles (Hopkins) and Bob (Baldwin) left. Charles' wife is cheating on him with Bob, and Bob is on this trip to kill Charles out in the wilderness ($$$).

Charles outsmarts the bear and Bob [justly] gets fatally wounded and does not make it back.

My final word: The Edge is a good movie, but not very fun to rewatch.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

2010-07-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (AVPR) picks up right where Alien vs. Predator (AVP) left off. The "PredAlien" offspring crash lands on earth and terrorizes a small town. There's an endless amount of characters and attacks, which really makes AVPR a poor Survivor movie. It fits perfectly into the Jaws model which I don't care for. There is a band of several characters the story tries to focus on amidst the carnage of an entire town which includes a couple hobos, some pregnant women at a hospital, and a dozen National Guard troops.

The humans in AVPR are supposed to have secondary billing to the real stars; the predators and aliens. It is their movie after all. Even though it's not that hard to predict who will survive (oh wow the dickhead, jock bully dies? The little girl lives? I'm falling off the edge of my seat...), the best part about AVPR is seeing who gets to claim each kill...the predators or the aliens.

In AVP the score was pretty much tied. In AVPR however, I think the aliens scored a major upset. Granted, I'm not sure which team the PredAlien is on and half the time I wasn't sure if it was the PredAlien or just some regular alien getting the kill (it's such a dark movie - literally). I'll put the PredAlien on the aliens team for simplicity. And there was only one real Predator in this sequel so the odds are not in his favor.

Victims
1. Buddy and Sam (father & son) - impregnated by aliens
2. Three Hobos - 2 impregnated by aliens, 1 killed by PredAlien
3. Deputy Ray - killed and skinned by Predator
Aliens: 5, Predator: 1
4. Carrie & Richie (diner) - killed by aliens/PredAlien
5. Man at the power plant - aliens
6. Mark (swimming pool) - alien
7. Nick (locker room) - alien
8. Jim (Molly's father) - alien
9. National Guard Troops - aliens
Aliens: 20+, Predator: 1
10. Hospital Nurse - PredAlien
11. 2 Stoners at the weapons shop - Predator
12. Dale - alien acid
13. Doctor and pregnant women - PredAlien
14. Pizza One Manager - aliens/PredAlien
15. Jesse - Predator
16. Eddy, Darcy & the rest of the town - The US Government
Aliens: 30+, Predator: 4

Survivors
Kelly & Molly (mother & daughter)
Dallas & Ricky (brothers)

The Pattern
Notice that the sole survivor in AVP was a woman, just like in Alien.
The survivors in AVPR include a kick-ass heroine, a little girl and an injured young man, just like in Aliens.
I appreciate this little homage whether it was intentional or just coincidence.
This means only 1 random bald guy will survive AVP3 :D

Creature

2010-06-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

Creature is the 1985 rip-off of Alien. It's not like me to say something is a rip-off because I tend to defend monster movies when people accuse them of copying Alien. But Creature was low budget and made right after Alien came out. I can only imagine it was made to cash in on the other movie's success (wait, was The Asylum making movies in 1985?). The "creature" looks just like the alien in Alien, the title is eerily similar, and the plot feels the same. They even cast a Ripley look-alike to kick some creature ass!

The story takes place on Titan, a moon of Saturn. The Germans have already landed on Titan and since they're competing with the USA for technological power, a team of American astronauts follow. The USA team crashes and seek help from the Germans, but they discover the entire German crew has been slaughtered. The astronauts then discover some strange specimens on board the German ship. These strange, small bug-like creatures begin to infest the humans and take over their brains. There's also a bigger creature lurking around (see below). The astronauts and scientists must somehow fix the German ship and escape.

The creature...

The humans...

	Name: Mike Davison Position: Captain Survivor: Yes
	Name: Beth Sladen Position: Damsel in Distress Survivor: She gets left alone, captured, chased, falls a sleep, and insists on nudging the creature with her foot but yes.
	Name: Bryce Position: Weapons Specialist Looks Like: Sigourney Weaver Survivor: She gets lost for a third of the movie, but yes.
	Name: Perkins Position: Commander Looks like: Alan Seaver Survivor: No (5th death) Cause of Death: Creature
	Name: Hans Hofner Position: Sole survivor of German crew Survivor: No (4th death) Cause of death: Bug-like creature infect his brain. He tries to kill Davison but Perkins shoots him.
	Name: Wendy Position: Doctor Survivor: No (3rd death) Cause of death: Led to creature by infected Jon. Creature bites her head off.
	Name: Jon Position: Boyfriend of Susan Survivor: No (2nd death) Cause of death: Thinks Susan is still alive, goes looking for her, finds her, but she's infected and implants a bug in his brain. He later returns to the crew and Davison blows his head off after he turns on them.
	Name: Susan Favorite Position: Top Survivor: No (1st death) Cause of death: The crew gets chased through the German ship by the creature. Everyone slips through a closing steel door but she doesn't make it through. The creature corners her and...splat

The Descent

2010-05-31T19:16:00.000-07:00

The Descent is a British horror film about 6 women who go spelunking in an undiscovered cave system where they run into a strange breed of predators and fight for survival. The Descent just so happens to be genuinely frightening and one of my favorite Survivor movies of all time! The creatures the women run into are suggested to be a variation of humans that evolved overtime underground. They are pale white and blind, which would be expected for creatures living in a world with no light. I enjoy when stories interject a bit of realistic science fiction; it makes you think. Actually, the whole movie makes you think...do these creatures in the caves even exist or are they all imagined by one woman's descent into madness?

Well, part 1 of The Descent leaves you thinking and tingling with goose bumps. Part 2 steam rolls over these thoughts and bewilderment when a group of rescuers go down to review, repeat and regurgitate the first film all over again. But hey, bring on a third and i'll watch it!

Of course, like any cave movie, the plot is driven by the characters becoming trapped inside. But what makes this movie different is that 1) it's realistically dark throughout. The only lighting is from the peoples head lamps and torches, etc. This really sets the mood for a very dark, claustrophobic and sometimes hard to see, movie. And 2) the cast is mostly women which is unique and gives itself a bit of originality in the genre.

I actually heard of this movie long before it was released in the United States. I stumbled upon the title on imdb.com after thinking this might be the movie version of a book I had been reading titled the same. It is not based on the book by Jeff Long, but apparently The Descent was released in Europe a year or so before the US. It had a quiet release in the US without a lot of fan fare, but over the years it's picked up notoriety. It might even get spoofed in the next Scary Movie...even though, The Descent: Part 2 actually feels like a spoof on Part 1 at times.

Part Spoilers 1:

Holly (first to die) - Sort of the tomboy of the group. Holly falls and injures her leg before the group encounters the creatures. When the group is later ambushed she's becomes the first victim.

Beth (second to die?) - Sarah's best friend. During the initial ambush with the creatures, Juno whips out her pickaxe. Thinking a creature is behind her, Juno swings and stabs Beth right through the neck. Later, a dying Beth tells Sarah that Juno injured her (albeit accidental).

Sam (third to die) - Flees from the creatures and attempts to scale a cavernous ceiling over a deep, dark pit. Midway across the ravine a creature climbs onto her and..

Rebecca (fourth to die) - Spends most of the chaotic part of the movie with Sam. Immediately after Sam is killed, another creature attacks Rebecca killing her.

Juno (last to die?) - After the initial ambush Juno becomes Lara Croft and spends most of the remaining film doing acrobatics and karate type stuff killing creatures left and right. In the final scene, Sarah takes a pickaxe to Juno's thigh disabling her so the creatures can finish her off (as revenge for killing Beth)...oh irony!

Sarah (Escapes?) - Sarah manages to escape the caves. In the original film ending, however, she only imagines escaping. In the [happy-ending approved] American version the movie stops before she realizes she's still in the cave. So [Yay!] Americans can sleep at night knowing she's ok. Either way she does make it out and moves onto Part 2.

Part 2 Spoilers:
Dan (first to die) - The leader of the rescue squad is the first to die when the creatures come back for a second helping and a taste of man.

Cath (second to die) - Cath and Greg are the cute couple on the rescue team. During the ambush they stumble upon Sam's body dangling above a dark ravine. Cath makes it across swinging on Sam (Greg falls), however the creature on the other end of the ravine slaughters her.

Vaines (third to die) - Vaines is the sheriff who insists on accompanying Sarah and the rescuers back down in the cave system looking for the other 5 women. At one point he handcuffs himself to Sarah...slips...long story short Juno ends up hacking Vaines' arm off so he doesn't take Sarah with him when he falls.

Greg (fourth goner?) - One of the rescuers. Greg is bitten and falls down a deep and dark hole into water. You later see the last of him in the creatures' bone pit.

Juno (Finally dies) - Juno the creature slayer takes one too many gashes to the abdomen before finally saying adieu.

Sarah (Sacrifices herself) - In the end it's just Sarah and Rios. Sarah's character is an interesting one. She lost her daughter in the beginning of part 1, suffered from amnesia and didn't remember the creatures until about 3/4s of the way into part 2. She sacrifices herself so Rios can escape and be with her daughter.

Rios (Sole Survivor?) - She escapes the caves. Relieved, she calls her daughter and then BAM. Shovel to the head. The old man who lives above the caves knocks her out and feeds her to the creatures. It's like the ending of Lake Placid, but moreso out of nowhere.

The Mist

2009-12-29T19:42:00.001-08:00

When talking with others about Steven King's The Mist, i'm always surprised at how much people hate this movie. I thought it got great reviews but I think there are 2 reasons someone may really despise The Mist:

1) It's technically a monster movie with giant bugs and octopi. It's hard for many people to take a movie with giant bugs and octopi for what it is even if it is Steven King. Therefore, they blow this off as just another lame monster movie that ripped off of every previous one.

2) The downer ending. Most American movies let the audience leave satisfied. Infact they had to change the ending of The Descent just to release it in America. However, The Mist has an extremely unsatisfying ending too. The type of ending that makes you angry and sad. I too, was pretty unsatisfied with the ending. But I can also appreciate something different every now and then.

So thank you, The Mist, for biting the bullet and risking being a hated movie for a more shocking and thought-provoking ending.

The only thing that would have made The Mist better in my mind was if we learned the fate of every character, because I really could NOT f*cking stand that Norton character and i'd sleep much better if I knew for a fact he died in this movie (well, i'm being dramatic). I'd rather deal with the acidic web-spewing spiders than deal with a stuck-up, stubborn old man like Norton any day. I picked up racist vibes from this character and he was too annoying with his irrational defensiveness. But I do like that he acted this way because of the disaster situation.

Stubborn doubt was a strong theme in The Mist. Every time someone would say something about the mist or what was out there, nobody would believe a damn thing. You as the viewer just want to slap nearly everyone in there. For one thing, this movie definitely can bring out emotion for the characters whether it be good or bad. I wasn't really rooting for anyone except maybe the funny old lady who was throwing cans of peas and the dude from Battlestar Galactica.

Here's the spoilerific rundown of the characters, the key events, the victims and the survivors!

Meet the hero:
David Drayton. He's a commercial artist who works on movie posters (I love that he had a movie poster of The Thing hanging in his studio). David lives by the lake with his wife, Stephanie, and his 5 year old son, Billy. A large storm knocks out the power and a fallen tree damages David's house. David, Billy and his neighbor Mr. Norton drive together to the local Food House grocery store to pick up some supplies. While shopping, a foggy mist engulfs the grocery store parking lot and the panic begins.

Fellow Shoppers: Amanda Dumfries, Mrs Carmady, Myron and Jim (left) who are friends and likely coworkers, and many others.

Food House employees: Bud the manager (right), Norm the bag boy, Ollie, Sally and Joe

Event 1:
David, Ollie, Jim, Myron and Norm the bag boy go back to investigate. They decide to send Norm outside to clear whatever might be in the way of the garage door. David figured this would be a fatal mistake and he was right.

Victim: Norm the bag-boy (left). While he's not technically the first victim of the movie he's the first slightly-significant character to go. He gets grabbed by some spiny tentacles from outside the loading garage door.

Event 2:
Mr. Norton and "his people" don't believe there is anything to fear with the mist. They don't believe that Norm is dead, nor that any of the others who walked out into the mist and yelped a horrifying scream were really dead either. So Mr. Norton and his people leave the grocery store.

Victim: The Biker (right). It's cool that this actor was in the other two Steven King movies made by the same director. He's the only guy not given a name who made this list. He gets ripped in half when he walks out into the mist with a rope tied around his waist so the others could see how far he didn't make it.

Victim: Mr Norton (left). The most obnoxious character in the movie IMO. Disaster situations can really bring out the worst in people but this guy topped the crazy cake. Everything people were telling him about the mist he did not believe. He rode his high horse right out into the mist and presumably was killed with a bunch of "his people" (we can only hope).

Event 3:
The survivors barricade the front glass wall of the store with stacks of dog food bags. At night, the lights inside the store attract a bunch of football-sized mosquito-looking creatures, which then attract some much larger pterodactyl-like creatures, which wind up breaking through the glass.

Victim: Tom (right). During the night attack he was swatting at giant mosquitoes left and right, but he was no match for a pterodactyl-like creature that ripped open his neck.

Victim: Sally the clerk (left). Sally was sweet, innocent and you could tell she was loved by the community. During the night attack she got bit by a giant mosquito. The bite caused massive swelling of her neck and face; to the point of death.

Victim: Hattie (right). This older Jamie Lee Curtis lookalike basically played the role of Billy's baby-sitter up until her death. The situation with the creatures and the guns and such were too much for her so she committed suicide by overdosing on pills after the attack subsided.

Event 4:
During the night attack, Joe was severly burned and now on his death bed. He was in need of some medical supplies. So David, Ollie, Mike, Bobby, Irene, Dan and Jessup venture out to the neighboring pharmacy to stock up.

Victim: Mike (left). During the quest to the pharmacy, Mike got webbed and swarmed by killer spiders.

Victim: Bobby (right). Bobby almost escaped the pharmacy with the meds for his burned brother back at the Food House, but the spiders sliced open his leg and killed him on the way out.

Victim: Joe (left) He accidentally set himself on fire during the night attack. Despite the somewhat success of the pharmacy quest, Joe doesn't survive the night.

Event 5:
A large theme of The Mist is the religious undercurrent of the stranded Survivors in the Food House. It all stems from one very religious character, Mrs. Carmady. She sees the mist as a form of God's punishment onto humanity. By three-quarters of the way through the movie she has spread her gospel to the majority of the other survivors. As a strong group they are against David and his smaller group of people who now want to leave the grocery store. Mrs. Carmady and her followers do not want anyone else to leave, but instead they'd rather sacrifice those who are not believers in the eyes of God.

Victims: Morales & Donaldson (right) These two soldiers knew exactly what the mist was but they never told anyone. They hanged themselves in the storage room to escape their inevitable fates.

Victim: Private Jessup (left). The others got news that the soldiers knew about the mist and that it was partly their fault. By this point everyone is a little crazy and religious (sorry for the redundancy). The majority of Mrs Carmody's followers believe that if they sacrifice the last remaining soldier then God will reward them by pulling back the creatures (or something of this nature). They stab Jessup and throw him out into the parking lot where a giant mantis-like creature nabs him.

Victim: Mrs Carmody (right). The break-out star of The Mist. Marcia Gay Harden does a superb job playing the unstable "vessel of Christ." She riled up most of the survivors in the super market and got them all believing that the mist was Gods punishment and that they could escape the disaster by giving into prayer and following Mrs Carmady's lead. And like with most religious groups of people, this led to violence and war in the form of a knife fight. Unfortunately for Mrs Carmady, the sole gun of the group was in the hands of a non-believer (Ollie) and Mrs Carmody gets shot twice and killed.

Event 6:
After Mrs. Carmady's death, the rest of her followers resist David and his group attempting to leave the grocery store. So David and his group (his son Billy, Amanda, Ollie, Dan, Irene, Myron, Cornell, and store manager Bud) flee out into the mist towards his truck.

Victim: Ollie (left). This guy worked at the Food House. He quickly teams up with the lead character, David, and also got ahold of the only gun among the group. He sticks with David, Amanda and his boss, Bud. During their final escape to David's truck, he gets sliced in half by a giant crab-like creature.

Victim: Myron (right). Myron and Jim are two of the maintenance/janitorial workers at the Food House. During the final escape, Myron gets killed by a giant spider that jumps on top of him.

Victim: Mr Cornell (left) joins David, Amanda, Myron, Bud, Billy, Irene, Dan and Ollie on their final attempt to escape the mist. But Mr Cornell does not make it.

Event 7:
David, his son Billy, Amanda, Dan and Irene make it to his truck. They drive back to David's house only to see that his wife, Stephanie is dead. They then drive until the truck runs out of gas. The only things they saw on their trip were more creatures and less hope.

Victims: Amanda, Billy, Dan and Irene (below). With 4 bullets left in their only gun, they decide to end their lives. David volunteers to be the odd man out and leave his fate up to the creatures. After shooting the four including his son, David then discovers that the world is not over and he just killed his son in vain. Oops. [/tragic ending]

Survivors: David, Bud, Jim (pictured up top) and many others without names.

Dawn of the Dead

2009-12-28T17:28:00.001-08:00

I'm usually well aware of all current Survivor movies that have been made. If I can't make it to the theater to see them I'm pretty good at keeping them on the list in my head of "must see" movies once they hit dvd (checking the list now...I see Pandorum, A Perfect Getaway, Quarantine...check). However, I completely missed the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead. I can blame it on being very busy with college but I probably forgot about it because it was just another zombie movie. I've never been a huge fan of zombie films because 10 times out of 10 they fall into the Jaws category (or so I thought), and there are at least 10 made a year so I don't care very much to see every single one. I've seen a couple that I vaguely remember like maybe House of 1,000 Corpses? or House of the Dead? I do remember watching 28 Days Later and 30 Days of Night with Josh Hartnett because those were awesome. But still, zombie movies blend together in my opinion.

I picked up Dawn of the Dead for like 3.99, and it turned out to be 4 bucks well spent. The movie starts with about 5 people teaming up against a world gone zombie. They break into a mall for safety and meet up with 3 security guards. Later, they are joined by several other refugees and it becomes a battle for survival against the zombies. Each character we meet has a name and a bit of a story. It's a very roundabout cast of characters which lends itself well to being a better Survivor movie.

The zombie rules here are similar to most zombie films: don't get bitten! The zombie disease or whatever is blood-borne. I like that they just stick to the usual, expected rules for zombies, rather than try to make a more unique story. I'm aware this is a remake so thankfully they were restricted to follow these rules.

*SPOILERS* Below is the cast of characters in order of Survival *SPOILERS*

1. Ana (Sarah Polley) is a nurse and the lead character in Dawn of the Dead. Before boarding up in the mall with the others, Sarah witnesses her husband being bitten and turned into a zombie. She becomes sympathetic with those who are bitten and does not believe they should be killed (until they are actually zombies). Ana sort of falls in love with the lead male character, Michael, in a horror-movie kind of way (ya know, where the lead male and female are practically obligated to fall in love but it's never fully developed or all that believable). SURVIVAL STATUS: Survivor?

2. Kenneth (Ving Rhames) is a cop. He helps the group numerous times throughout the movie with his shooting skills, brute strength and heroism. He's tough but has a respectable demeanor. He befriends Andy, the guy stranded on top of a neighboring building. SURVIVAL STATUS: Survivor?

3. Terry (Kevin Zegers) is a mall security guard in training. He's one of three mall cops that Ana, Michael, Kenneth, Andre and Luda run into when they flee to the mall. Bart and CJ are the other two security guards. Terry is the "good cop" while CJ is the "bad cop." He crushes on Nicole and is determined to save her whenever she's in danger. He's also a bit of a perv as he likes to spy on the women through the security cameras. SURVIVAL STATUS: Survivor?

4. Nicole (Lindy Booth) has lost her mother and both her brothers to the zombie virus. She arrives at the mall with her father, Frank, aboard Norma's truck. She's emotionally a wreck at first and then has to deal with her father dying too. She cuddles up with Terry, and even becomes unrationally attached to the dog the group finds wandering the parking garage. Chips, the dog, is basically the last thing she has left in her world. SURVIVAL STATUS: Survivor?

5. Michael (Jake Weber) is one of the lead male characters. When we meet him he was travelling with a group of 7 others including Andre and Luda, and the other 5 are already dead. We're also told he was a father and his son is presumably also dead. Michael is unsympathetic regarding the bitten. Anyone bitten must be shot before they can turn into a zombie. This may make him seem like a villain but he's more of a rational leader than anything. He's the final casualty of the movie (that we witness) as he reveals to the others that he is bitten and must stay behind as the final 4 sail off towards a [hopeful] zombie-free island. It fits his character well that he sacrifices himself for the others because he wished the same on others when they were bitten. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead Zombie

6. CJ (Michael Kelly) is the lead security guard at the mall. He, Bart and Terry have sanctioned off a floor of the mall and do not want any others to invade their territory. When the others insist on entering their safe haven CJ becomes hostile and threatens to kill people who will not obey his orders. He's mostly concerned that outsiders may carry the zombie virus into the clean group of people around him. By the end of the movie, he transforms from selfish to selfless as he sacrifices himself by detonating an exposive gas tank killing many zombies. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead

7. Steve (Ty Burrell) is the local anchorman. He was picked up by Norma in her truck. Steve is the smart ass of the bunch. We don't know if he has sex with Monica because they are an item, or if they're celebrating their last days on earth together. He forshadows his own death when he tells Ana "If I ever turn into one of those things you have my permission to kill me." After the bus he's on crashes and he escapes, a zombie bites him. A few minutes later Ana shoots him in the head. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead Zombie

8. Glen (R.D. Reid) is the random, forgettable old man that is part of the 8 or 9 group of people on Norma's truck. We never learn much about Glen but we do learn he might be a crossdresser as he's seen trying on women's high heels. We also don't see much of his death. He's on the second bus leaving the mall that flips over. After this accident we're told he is dead along with Monica. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead

9. Monica (Kim Poirier) is the hot blonde that arrives with Steve, Nicole, Glen and several others on Norma's truck. We don't learn much about Monica except that she has a very naughty side as we see her trying on lingerie in a clothing boutique and having sex with Steve during the movie's down-time montage. Monica dies a gruesome death when the bus she's on crashes. The group was using chainsaws to knock zombies off the side of the buses, but during the crash, Glen falls over and by accident the chainsaw he's holding rips down into Monica's chest. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead

10. Tucker (Boyd Banks) arrives with Norma and her truck full of survivors. We learn he has an ankle injury, which is suspected to be a zombie bite, but he insists it is not. Tucker tags along with a group of the guys who travel through the sewers beneath the mall to quietly escape and rescue Nicole. But during the return he's the last back into the sewer and the zombies swarm him. Upon request, CJ shoots him in the head. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead

11. Andy (Bruce Bohne) is an owner of a gunshop that is across the street from the mall. Andy is seen stranded on the roof and he communicates with the main cast of characters via marker boards. He befriends Kenneth and the two play chess and playfully snipe zombies down on the ground. He runs out of food in his gunshop so the others load some onto the back of Chips the dog. But while Chips enters Andy's gunshop, some zombies also leak in and bite Andy. Andy then becomes a zombie and Kenneth is forced to kill him later when the group makes it over to his building. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead Zombie

12. Norma (Jayne Eastwood) is the heroic old truck driver that rescued Glen and several others. She drives them to the mall where they meet up with the rest of the cast. She walks in on Andre and Luda in the children's clothing store where she sees that Luda has become a zombie. By instinct, Norma shoots Luda in the head. In return, Andre shoots and kills her too but not before she fires off a few rounds at him. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead

13. Andre (Mekhi Phifer) is introduced traveling with Michael when they run into Kenneth and Ana. He is a father-to-be and he's very protective of his pregnant wife Luda and their child who is also with them. After Luda gets bitten by a zombie in the mall, he tries to hide the fact from the others because he doesn't want them to kill her. So he hides her in the children's clothing store bound to a bed in hopes of still delivering his child. Luda does eventually give birth but it's too late and the baby is already zombified. Andre is shot by Norma after Norma shoots Luda and he shoots Norma. The others then kill the baby upon discovery. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead

14. Luda (Inna Korobkina) is Andre's pregnant Russian wife. After entering the mall she receives a tiny bite on her arm from one of the few zombies found there. At first, this is no big deal, but once the cast learns the after effects of a bite, Andre hides her so that nobody can see her turning into a zombie. When she does turn into one she is tied down to a bed or something so she can't bite anyone (while still pregnant). Norma runs into the couple and kills Luda out of fear. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead Zombie

15. Bart (Michael Barry) is one of the 3 mall security guards. He is viewed as CJ's sidekick, AKA asshole junior. We don't learn much about Bart except that he likes fat chicks. He gets swarmed and killed by zombies when he, Michael, CJ and Kenneth adventure into the mall's parking garage for reasons I forget. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead

16. Frank (Matt Frewer) is one of the two bitten survivors who arrive at the mall on Norma's truck. He is Nicole's father. The group soon learns the fate of all those who are bitten and Michael orders that Frank be killed because he's a threat to the rest. There's controversy over this decision, but ultimately Frank agrees. Kenneth waits for Frank to turn over before finally killing him. SURVIVAL STATUS: Dead Zombie

17. Bloated Woman. In addition to Frank, there is another bitten victim aboard Norma's truck. This unidentified, and grossly bloated, woman is much further along in the zombie transforming process. She becomes a zombie and is quickly killed by Ana. I guess we should count her as the first official victim of the core cast of characters in the mall, despite the very small part.

Deep Blue Sea

2009-09-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

Deep Blue Sea is the 2nd greatest shark movie ever made that did NOT rip off of Jaws!!! (The best is Open Water 2 of course). Just because DBS and Jaws both feature sharks don't make them the same movie. I don't get it when people claim Deep Blue Sea ripped off of Jaws. They couldn't have made it any more different without removing the sharks.

The Tri-Monster Movie Model

2009-09-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

I tend to categorize all monster movies under one of three categories. Each category is complex and can't be easily described, however each category just so happens to have one of the 3 mega-monster movies of the past 30 years. Those movies are Jaws, Alien and Jurassic Park. These three monster movies and their first sequels are practically the only respected monster movies in the industry (by casual movie goers).

The Jaws Category

Terror strikes an unsuspecting town, city, village, the world, etc. Most of the characters are nameless, insignificant, and you'll likely find scenes where several people get killed at once. This is my least favorite category. Examples: Jaws, The Host, Eight Legged Freaks, Aliens vs Predator 2, Snakes on a Plane.

The Alien Category

An elite group of people find themselves in trouble and have to find a way to survive. The number of people ranges from about 4 to 12 and you at least know the names of everyone. This is my favorite category. Examples: Anacondas, Rogue, The Descent, The Thing, Alien.

The Jurassic Park: Lost World Category

This category is a bit of a mix of the two others. You have a significant group of characters but they are either dispersed or may include hordes of some insignificant characters. There's less order to the "boot-order" of the characters. Examples: King Kong, The Mist, Aliens, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Starship Troopers.

Grizzly Park

2009-03-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

It's Gonna Be A Bear. That's what the sub-text on the DVD says. I picked up one of the "Limited Edition" versions that has a glossy cardboard sleeve over the DVD case. I always hate those things. I believe that only great movies deserve a cardboard sleeve. I know they must be cheap to produce and they make the movie look better and therefore they probably rake in more dough- but still. A movie like Grizzly Rage does not deserve a fancy cardboard sleeve! Especially one as cool as the one on the Limited Edition. OH did I just call the movie Grizzly Rage? I meant Grizzly PARK. Grizzly Rage was that other bear movie. If you're interested in watching a bunch of young hotties run around the forest being ripped apart by a bear I definitely recommend Grizzly PARK and not Grizzly RAGE. The plots aren't exactly the same but they still feel like the same movie. The plot of Grizzly Park actually reminded me of See No Evil. A bunch of hooligans sent to do community service run into trouble and they all get killed (oops!) as karma bites them in the butt.

Synopsis: As part of a new rehabilitation program, eight unrepentant young adults must serve a week of community service in a remote California forest preserve known as Grizzly Park. Under the supervision of stalwart, no-nonsense Ranger Bob, this group of rotten-to-the-core bad apples is offered an opportunity to seek redemption on their journey through the woods. But while Ranger Bob seeks to provide both literal and spiritual guidance to the reluctant campers, an escaped serial killer with an insatiable bloodlust has also found his way into the park. As it happens, however, he's not the only lethal hunter on the loose...

The movie started out well and I actually found myself saying that it might not be too bad. Remember of course, I live for these types of movies so it doesn't take much to please me. There were many times where I seriously thought the movie would turn into a porno. I kept reminding myself that it said rated R for violence and gore; not nudity. Unfortunately the acting in this movie is very bad and the bear attacks are lame. Not as lame as the bear attacks in Savage Planet but close. I would say the attacks are better than they were in Grizzly Rage but you never actually see the bear attack in that movie! So as far as bear movies go Grizzly Park is definitely number two. Number one being The Edge which was an actual movie and actually frightening!

Which one of these characters survives? Click here for spoilers

Hollow Man

2008-12-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

Scientists discover a way to turn living creatures invisible. After a lot of success with primates they decide to test a human. Hollow Man becomes a moral story of what happens when you give man the supernatural ability to be invisible. He thinks he has it all because he can get away with whatever he wants, but this greed and destruction winds up pushing the things that matter in life away from him. Um, who fucking cares? This movie only bleeps on my radar because this man, Sebastian, goes insane and decides that no one can ever know he exists so he hunts down and kills his team one by one!

Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) is the brilliant, egotistical scientist leading the research and discovery on an invisibility serum. He still has feelings for Linda but she is over him.

Linda McKay (Elisabeth Shue) is a scientist and Sebastian's ex-girlfriend. Unbeknownst to Sebastian, Linda is currently sleeping with Matt.

Matthew Kensington (Josh Brolin) is a scientist.

Carter Abbey (Greg Grunberg) is an animal vet.

Sarah Kennedy (Kim Dickens) is an animal vet.

Frank Chase (Joey Slotnick) is a lab technician.

Janice Walton (Mary Randle) is a lab technician.

Who makes it out alive?

Alien Resurrection

2008-12-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

Alien Resurrection is the 4th and final 'Alien' movie (not including any of the Alien vs Predator spin-offs). It's usually not given much respect due to hiding in the shadows of Alien and Aliens, but to me, it's actually my favorite of the saga. The story takes place many years after Alien 3. The star character, Ripley, is long dead and she took the alien species out with her. So now the plot in Alien Resurrection is to resurrect Ripley and somehow the alien that was living in her body before she died also comes back. I believe this is where most of you would roll your eyes and commit this movie to just being a bunch of rubbish, right? Ok, fair enough. As a regular movie there may be flaws, but as a Survivor movie Alien Resurrection gets it right!

Synopsis and cast: The crew on the spaceship Auriga is doing experimental work on cloning Ripley and studying the alien species she's hosting. After several failed attempts at cloning Ripley the scientists finally have some success and have a living alien to study. In order to generate more aliens, the scientists purchase a group of living human bodies in cryosleep. It takes a band of 6 smugglers to deliver such an illegal bounty to the scientists aboard the Auriga. This is where Elgyn and his misfit team aboard the Betty enter the scene. Once the scientists have multiple aliens cloned and matured all hell breaks lose; literally. The bulk of the movie becomes the crews of the Auriga and the Betty running, hiding, and being ripped apart from the aliens. Let the games begin!

Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the infamous alien slayer who was killed in the previous movie but now cloned and back for more.

General Perez (Dan Hedaya) is the commanding officer of the Auriga and supervises the experiments to clone Ripley and study the Aliens.

Dr. Wren (J.E. Freeman) is one of several scientists onboard the Auriga involved in cloning Ripley and studying the Aliens.

Dr. Gediman (Brad Dourif) is another of the scientists involved in cloning Ripley and studying the Aliens.

Elgyn (Michael Wincott) is captain of the mercenary ship the Betty.

Call (Winona Ryder) is the newest crew member of the Betty.

Christie (Gary Dourdan) is the first mate and second in command of the Betty.

Hillard (Kim Flowers) is the assistant pilot of the Betty who is romantically involved with Elgyn.

Johner (Ron Perlman) is a mercenary and member of the Betty's crew.

Vriess (Dominique Pinon) is the disabled mechanic of the Betty.

Distephano (Raymond Cruz) is a soldier in the United Systems Military stationed onboard the Auriga.

Larry (Leland Orser) is one of several humans who have been kidnapped by the crew of the Betty while in cryosleep and delivered to the Auriga to serve as hosts for the Aliens.

Resurrection scores high as a Survivor movie because it's filled with shocking deaths, some WTF survivors, and multiple times where you think someone is dead but they're not.

Bootlist (spoilers)

2001 Maniacs

2008-11-12T20:42:00.000-08:00

One little gem of a survivor movie is the 2005 flop 2001 Maniacs. When I first saw 2001 Maniacs I quite enjoyed it. However, upon rewatching it recently to refresh my memory I realized that the movie is quite bad! The acting is far below average, the comedy is very American Pie-ish, and there isn't really any horror value. I can objectively take a step back and admit that this movie is pretty bad. But there's something about it that's endearing to me that I can't really explain (and no, it's not all the gratuitous nudity).

Synopsis: On the way to spring break, a group of college kids takes a detour through an old Southern town. The people of Pleasant Valley insist the kids stay for their annual barbecue celebration...but instead of getting a taste of the old South, the old South gets a taste of them!

That's a very cheesey synopsis. I can reword it to make the movie actually seem more interesting - without even making stuff up - this is actually what happens:

Better Synopsis: On the way down south for spring break, a group of college kids get lost and stumble upon, what appears to be, a Civil War re-enactment attraction. What they don't realize is that they are at an abandoned grave site for a small Southern town whose inhabitants were all slaughtered by the North during the Civil War. The supernatural locals take revenge upon the college yankees and will not let them leave alive.

My synopsis is a bit more spoilerish and could use some grammatical polishing but I think it sounds more interesting. If you like crude, racial and sexual humor (and can stomach awfully bad acting) then 2001 Maniacs may be up your alley. I will also say this movie is great for the methods in which the victims get killed!

Yankees:

Anderson Lee (Jay Gillespie)
"Ever hear of a 60 second romance? Got a minute?"

Nelson (Dylan Edrington)
"Did I ever tell you how much I LOVE civil war attractions?"

Cory (Matthew Carey)
"It was so wrong bro, but soo right. Southern style!"

Kat (Gina Marie Heekin)
"I'm Kat, as in pussy"

Joey (Marla Malcolm)
"Whenever you're finished you can come up for air."

Ricky (Brian Gross)
"You know what the only difference between a frat boy and a gay boy is? A 6 pack of beer."

Malcolm (Mushond Lee)
"When was the last time you been somewhere where there's no electricity, water, cable, or hot black bitches?"

Leah (Bianca Smith)
"I feel like we're at a confederate frat party"

Who dies and how (click)

Saw II

2008-10-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

I loved Saw (number one). The twist at the end was probably one of my favorite movie twists of all time. The Saw movies in general are great just for the twists so long as you can stomach the grossness. And the amount of grossness only increases with each movie as the twist cleverness goes down, so.... What Saw 2 brings to the table, for me anyway, is the fact that it's the only Saw that classifies as a Survivor Movie. Eight people trapped in a booby-trap laden house have only 2 hours to live as they fight to survive. YES, YES, YES!

Synopsis: Jigsaw is back. The brilliant, disturbed mastermind returns for another round of horrifying life-or-death games. When a new murder victim is discovered with all the signs of Jigsaw's hand, Detective Eric Matthews begins a full investigation and apprehends Jigsaw with little effort. But for Jigsaw, getting caught is just another part of his plan. Eight more of his victims are already fighting for their lives and now it's time for Matthews to join the game...

Hello there. Play this video below and you will learn everything you need to know regarding who fails my little game, and who may survive to star in Saw 3.

Open Water 2

2008-10-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

Open Water 2 is one of the best shark movies ever made! I'm serious. If you have any desire to see this movie then I recommend you do not continue to read my review because I won't be able to be completely spoiler free. The first Open Water movie will probably never wind up on this blog because, frankly, it's boring. Open Water 2 takes the premise of the first, triples the characters, quadruples the drama and then unfortunately removes one large element that leaves the movie exposed and vulnerable to critic attacks. By no means is this actually a "sequel"; it's just another movie with no connection to the first. Originally, it wasn't titled as a sequel, but due to its direct-to-DVD release they changed the name from, I believe, "Adrift" to "Open Water 2" in order to make more money. It was a very smart move that surprisingly I'm not upset over. I think it was ingenious. I am sure I am in the minority of viewers by saying this is a good shark movie. I completely understand why most people hate this movie for one very specific reason. But the difference between those people and myself is I immerse myself in these types of movies a lot more than they do. I live for survival type movies and I've seen every shark movie ever made. So when a movie like Open Water 2 comes along and breaks the predictable pattern of these movies I applaud. I gave this movie a standing ovation for completely deceiving me! The greatness of this movie is only due to its after-the-fact title, Open Water 2. It would not have succeeded with any other title in my opinion. If you have no idea what I'm talking about and wish to be completely spoiled then read on...

Synopsis: A weekend cruise aboard a luxury yacht goes horribly awry for a group of old high school friends who forget to lower the ladder before they jump into the ocean for a swim. The boat proves impossible to climb, leaving them adrift miles from shore. What started as a joyful reunion becomes a fight for survival!

People complain left and right that shark movies are all the same. So here you have a movie that is set up beautifully to be a standard shark movie. Six drunken hotties stranded in the water. Dozens of creepy underwater camera shots. Blood. Panic. "Something just brushed my leg!" The movie keeps you on the edge of your seet waiting for the sharks to come and claim their first meal. Will it be the ditzy blonde? The minor male character whose name you never picked up on? The mother with the baby? Well...certainly not her...right?
So what makes this movie so different then? Revealing this would give away the entire movie so i'll save it for the spoiler section.

Cast:

Dan (Eric Dane) and Michelle (Cameron Richardson). Dan invites some old friends and their partners for a birthday bash on his own yacht. But it's actually not his yacht and he's playing up this millionaire persona to appear successful to his old friends. Michelle has been in his life for a whole two weeks.

Zach (Niklaus Lange) and Lauren (Ali Hillis). Zach is celebrating his 30th birthday. Lauren is an athlete and there appears to be some sort of past or present relationship between her and Zach.

Amy (Susan May Pratt) and James (Richard Speight Jr) have a baby girl named Sarah who is also on board the boat. Amy has a phobia of the water ever since her father drowned when she was a child. Bringing herself and her baby on board a yacht is terribly frightening for her.

Click here for Spoilers

The Cave

2008-09-13T23:10:00.000-07:00

The Cave is a pretty standard Survivor Movie. Nine people adventure down into some dangerous, beautifully-lit cave system in Romania. There they run into trouble in the form of giant, slimey bat-like creatures that chase them back to the surface. But - oh no! The cave entrance has collapsed and they can't escape through the same way they entered. That's pretty much the only plot point ever used in cave movies, but that's not all there is to this movie. The Cave does at least give us a cool sci-fi twist which leads to a head-scratching ending.

Synopsis: Deep in the Romanian forest, a team of scientists stumbles upon the ruins of a 13th-century abbey. On further inspection, they make a startling discovery - the abbey is built over the entrance to a giant underground cave system. Local biologists believe the cave could be home to an undiscovered ecosystem, so they hire a group of American cave explorers to help them investigate its depths. But what they find deep inside the caves is not just a new ecosystem, but an entirely new species altogether.

Ok, so i've already ruined it; the exploration team runs into these giant bat-like creatures that kill them off one by one. But this should not have come as much of a surprise. I think most people will tell you that this movie is horrible. I agree that the acting is sub par, and the drama/suspense doesn't make any sense at times. But something about this movie places it high on my list and I think it's the overall adventure with the formulaic Survivor element thrown in. The Cave is the epitome of a traditional Survivor Movie. The acting could have been better, but my one complaint is the missing explanation of why the [deep underground] caves are so beautifully lit! Seriously, the caves have this luminescent blue glow all around. I have read the book Subterranean by James Rollins, which is similar in plot. In Subterranean, Rollins makes an effort to point out that the caves are covered with this luminescent fungus stuff that provides an erie glow throughout. The movie is missing this and I think most skeptics wonder the whole time, "who turned on the lights?" Which is funny because the whole movie is science fiction yet we still require some things remain believable and explainable.

Explorers:

Jack (Cole Hauser) the leader of the cave explorers. He's credited for inventing a rebreather that can last 24 hours, which will help explain how they can last so long down in the caves.

Tyler (Eddie Cibrian) is Tyler's brother. He's better looking and more likeable, so i'd place your bets on him.

Charlie (Piper Perabo) is a daddy's little rock climber show-off. A female rock climber who looks like this is destined for a movie role.

Briggs (Rick Ravanello) is a rough 'n tough cave diver. We learn the group discovered him on the dance floor?

Top Buchanan (Morris Chestnut) is 4 words: Remains Calm Under "Pressure"

Dr. Kathryn Jennings (Lena Headey) is a cave biologist.

Dr. Nikolai (Marcel Lures) is a cave biologist from Romania.

Strode (Kieran Darcy-Smith) is a sonar expert.

Alex Kim (Daniel Dae Kim) is a camera man hired to film the exploration.

Movie Clip:

Click here for Spoilers

Alien vs. Predator

2008-09-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

My expectations of Alien Vs. Predator went up and down. I was excited at first. I am a huge fan of the Alien movies. Predator is good but I don't even own it. As I was about to see Alien Vs. Predator I realized...."Ummmm this is gonna suck. There's now way they can do a 'VS' movie and make it work. It'll just be ridiculous and embarassing and everyone will hate it!" But needless to say, I found AVP to be extremely well done. There's really nothing wrong with it in terms of being a movie about predators vs aliens. If you went in expecting something else then you're a fool. The backstory may be a bit hoaky but do realize, again, that it's a movie about predators fighting aliens. I think it's the best damn movie about predators fighting aliens ever made!

Synopsis: It may be our planet but it's their war! The deadliest creatures from the scariest sci-fi movies ever made face off for the first time on film. The incredible adventure begins when the discovery of an ancient pyramid buried in Antarctica sends a team of scientists and adventurers to the frozen continent. There, they make an even more terrifying discovery: two alien races engaged in the ultimate battle. Whoever wins...we lose.

What I adore about this movie is the adventure-bound team. It's my favorite ingredient in a Survivor Movie. Weyland Industries discover a temple hidden deep under the ice. They don't really have any reason to dig down and explore this temple, they're just curious explorers. They take everything very seriously. The archeologists can't determine if the temple is Aztec, Mayan or what, but what they soon learn is that it's a temple used for a great hunt. The humans then provide a breeding ground for the Aliens and the Predators are there on a hunting trip. Yea, something like that.

Cast:

Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan) is an environmental guide and ice climber hired to lead the team through the ice.

Charles Weyland (Lance Henriksen) is the founder of Weyland Industries. Noteably, this is the character that the android Bishop from Aliens was modeled after (same actor).

Max Stafford (Colin Salmon) is Weyland's assistant and organizes the expedition.

Sebastian (Raoul Bova) is an archeaology professor. He's there to provide insight on ancient pyramids.

Miller (Ewen Bremner) is a chemical engineer along to help scientifically date the discoveries.

Thomas (Sam Troughton) is an archeologist able to translate hieroglyphics.

Quinn (Carsten Norgaard) is the cool drilling team leader.

Verheiden (Tommy Flanagan) is a novel member of the exploration team.

Rousseau (Agathe De la Boulaye) is a member of the exploration team just bursting with energy.

Connors (Joseph Rye) is a member of the exploration team who enjoys sticky situations.

Stone (Petr Jakl) is a rising member of the exploration team.

Bass (Pavel Bezoek) is the bullseye of the exploration team.

Plus there are about 8 more unidentifiable people who aren't worth mentioning.

Movie Clip:

Click here for Spoilers

The Eliminator

2008-09-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

Seven people. One Island. Hunted Alive. One Winner.

*orgasms*

Synopsis: Ex-Navy SEAL, Dakota Varley risks his life when he is chosen to be a "contestant" in a 10 million dollar winner-take-all hunt to the death. To win this ultimate game of survival, you just have to be the last man remaining alive. Fighting for his life in a jungle as dangerous as the hunters he faces, Varley must call upon all the training he has ever known, but still, nothing has ever prepared him for this. In this game of survival, you can't get voted off the island, you can only die there...

*Spoiler Alert* the most dangerous thing found in this "jungle" might be poison ivy.

The Eliminator is not a good movie. It's so bad that it's a GREAT movie! I was entertained through every minute. The hilariously bad acting from Paul Logan is B-Movie gold. It's topped off by the so over-the-top acting from G. Anthony Joseph (he's not one of the contestants). Most of the "actors" in this movie are stunt doubles and they even include a UFC fighter. Fans of horribly great B-movies will love The Eliminator.

The Eliminator came out three years before The Condemned. The only difference between both movies is this features contestants being hunted, whereas in The Condemned they must kill each other. The Condemned was probably better just due to the fact that The Eliminator was straight to DVD. Everything else feels pretty much the same right down to the music played on the DVD menu.

The game of survival features 7 people captured against their will to be hunted alive on an "island" (The "island" is only an island from the CGI aerial shots). Each hunter is only given two bullets. Each contestant's survival is being gambled on by a group of big-shot millionaires. Chances are the winning contestant will not get a dime as we learn in the opening scene that the diabolical man running this, Miles Dawson (Michael Rooker), does not like to pay up. The stakes are high for the rich gamblers because once their contestant is eliminated, they lose their bets. While there's a lot of neck-snapping action down on the island, the gamblers get busy snapping at each other with insults and conspiracy theories.

Contestants:

Jesse Jenkins (Paul Logan). He's a Kendo Expert and a DEA from Central America. He got sold out on the job and captured to compete.

Santha Torres (Danielle Burgio). She's a freedom fighter who trains men and women to kill. She's also a rebel insurgent and an expert at Guerrilla warfare. Not to mention she claims she killed 14 men before they could capture her. (wow, this is hilarious!)

Tonya Coyne (Vicki Phillips). A special forces drill instructor. She's an expert at hand-to-hand combat and explosives. It's Bazooka Barbie!

Seth Kwong (Phi-Long Nguyen). He's an undercover police officer and Wu Shu specialist. He was my pick for winner.

Darius Blake (Jamal Duff). He's a convict taken from a prison in Kosova. They couldn't find any other black guy I guess.

Salvador Montoya (Marco Ruas). He's a Medy Yeins drug cartel (a what?) and interrogator.

Dakota Varley (Bas Rutten). A desert storm Huey pilot according to his bio. An Ex-Navy SEAL according to the plot synopsis. So he's just simply amazing. He enjoys kickboxing, cage fighting and long walks on the beach.

Movie Clip:

Click here for Spoilers

This photo was taken from the Making-Of DVD Featurette. I think it explains everything...

My Little Eye

2008-09-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

My Little Eye just may be the longest hour and thirty minutes of your life. Or if you're interested in hard-core scary films (ones that serve no entertainment value aside from being scary) then you may just love My Little Eye. If you're someone who subscribes to those online Big Brother feeds and you can spend long periods of time watching people chit chat about nothing AND you like dark, chilling, depressing movies, then you may also love My Little Eye. This movie is basically: Big Brother: The Horror Movie. I remember several years back MTV did that scripted version of the Real World where people were mysteriously murdered. I wish I could find that because I probably would have enjoyed it more than My Little Eye.

Synopsis: Five strangers are cast to spend six months in a house, with their every move broadcast on the web. If no one leaves before six months are up, they'll split a million dollars. It's the newest in reality entertainment, but it may be the last thing those five people ever do. Each of them is being put to the test by outside forces which prey on their worst fears. Is it all a challenge to see if they'll last? Or, is someone playing a deadly game with their lives?

It's MTV's The Real World crossed with the Blair With Project. The five 20-somethings are trapped in this dark, old house out in the middle of nowhere. The house is very dull and dreary looking; It really sets the mood of the movie. There are little web cams all over the house. They talk a lot. There isn't really any action in the movie aside from two people having sex at one point. It gets a little interesting when the cast is thrown some messages from the outside world. One guy gets a letter that a family member died. One girl gets a message from some psycho she has a bad history with. Some of the cast believe these things are just ploys from "The Company" (the people running the operation) to try and tempt them out of the house. They seriously think that the whole world is watching them and that one day they'll all be famous. That is, until, a stranger actually stumbles upon the house. He tells them that he's never heard of their web show despite practically living online himself. The houseguests grow suspicious and somehow crack into some internet connection and try to find their show's website. What they find is not what they expected...

Cast:

Matt (Sean CW Johnson) is the good-looking jock. He's quiet, calm and doesn't attempt to hook up with either of the girls.

Rex (Kris Lemche) is the punk. He let's us know he's only there for the money and will stop at nothing to prevent the others from leaving.

Emma (Laura Regan) is the girl next door. She's sweet and innocent but with a dark past that comes back to haunt her.

Danny (Stephen O'Reilly) is the quiet guy. He has a crush on Emma.

Charlie (Jennifer Sky) is the slutty girl. She loves showing off her body and hopes to be famous.

Click here for Spoilers

The Ruins

2008-09-01T18:12:00.001-07:00

I stumbled across the book The Ruins through Amazon.com's suggestive advertising during the summer of 2007. It sounded interesting and up my ally. I'm always looking for great Survivor books as well as movies. I bought the book about 6 months before I even learned they were making a movie, but I didn't read it right away. As soon as I saw a preview for the movie I quickly tried to finish the current book I was reading (what a bore it was) and start on The Ruins. Once I started reading The Ruins I could not put it down; it was that good! Not extremely exciting, but written very well.

The movie, on the other hand, was a different experience. I'm not a fan of standing behind cliches, but yea, the book was better. It's the same basic story in both the movie and book - at least they didn't try to change that - but the fact that they changed the ending just to appease "stupid" American audiences is what really made me dislike the movie. It ruined the movie. There were a couple other things including a rushed feeling that the movie gave off, which I think could have been done better. I don't blame the movie for rearranging what happens to who because I'm sure they wanted to create some surprise for people who had read the book.

Synopsis: When a group of tight-knit college friends visit the site of an undisturbed Mayan ruin, they stumble into an ancient trap: an unspoken evil waiting to drag its victims into an endless nightmare. As fear and paranoia eat away at their sanity, their only chance at escape is to commit the unthinkable.

My favorite element of The Ruins is without a doubt the herbal antagonist. I think I can safely say that The Ruins will be the only movie to appear on this blog that features killer plants! What happens is the 6 friends get too close to the ruins (pictured above), which is heavily populated with these docile man-eating vines. These vines get in you. They suffocate you. They suck you dry. Once the college friends step foot on the ruins, an army of local Mayans surround them and prevent them from leaving for the fear of carrying the evil vine's seed outside the quarantined vicinity (notice the moat of salt surrounding the ruins). The friends get stuck atop the ruins waiting for someone to come and rescue them before starvation or the vines kill them first.

Cast:

Amy (Jena Malone) is Jeff's girlfriend. She's hesitant on traveling to the ruins but persuaded into going.

Jeff (Jonathan Tucker) is Amy's boyfriend. He's the group leader and wants everyone to see something unique before leaving Mexico.

Eric (Shawn Ashmore) is Stacy's boyfriend. He's the most laid-back of the group.

Stacy (Laura Ramsey) is Eric's girlfriend and Amy's best friend. She tends to agree with whatever Amy says.

Mathias (Joe Anderson) is from Germany. His brother is an archaeologist with a dig site at the ruins and invites him to come visit. Mathias invites the others too.

Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) is a Greek boy the group meets near their hotel. He tags along leaving his other Greek friends a map to follow later. He doesn't speak English.

Movie Scene:

Click here for Spoilers

Event Horizon

2008-08-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the best, and my favorite, space survival movies is Event Horizon. This movie undoubtedly follows in the footsteps of Alien, but that's just what it wants you to believe. I wouldn't call it a ripoff. It has a similar feel and it shares the same genre but it goes in a completely different direction. One movie critic said The Descent (2006) was a ripoff of Alien (wow!), so i'm sure some would easily consider Event Horizon a ripoff as well.

Synopsis: The year is 2047. Years earlier, the pioneering research vessel Event Horizon vanished without a trace orbiting near Neptune. Now a signal from it has been detected, and the US Aerospace Command responds. Hurtling toward the signal's source is a rescue crew including the lost ship's designer. Their mission: find and salvage the state-of-the-art spacecraft. What they find is a state-of-the-art interstellar terror. What they must salvage are their own lives, because someone or something is ready to ensnare them in a new dimension of unimaginable fear.

When I first saw this movie about 10 years ago, I thought it was the scariest movie I had ever seen. That might have been so, but now rewatching it years later I disagree with my first impression. It's dark, it's jumpy, it's suspenseful, it's bloody -yes, but overall it's more freaky than truly horrifying . On the plus side, it's one of those Survivor Movies where nobody is safe! There is no corny hero who falls in love and HAS to make it out alive so as not to upset the audience. I like that about hardcore Sci-Fi movies; they don't have to play by the rules.

Without totally spoiling the movie, but reader beware, I'll explain more of the plot. Aboard the lost Event Horizon ship was this powerful core generator thing that harnessed the ability to create black holes. They mention it would take a thousand years to travel to the closest star, but through a black hole it would only take a day. It turns out that the Event Horizon traveled through a black hole it created and returned with all of its crew mysteriously dead. The movie doesn't completely confirm this, but it's said that they literally traveled to Hell in some other dimension and back. Something spooky was brought back aboard the ship from "Hell" which made the crew and now the rescuers lose their minds.

Cast:

Miller (Laurence Fishburne) the fearless captain of the Lewis and Clark- the search and rescue ship. In a previous mission we learn that he had to leave one man behind in order to more likely save himself and others.

Dr Weir (Sam Neill) the designer of the Event Horizon. He's the guy who created the black hole generating thing and he likes to confuse everyone with scientific mumbo jumbo. His wife, Clare, is dead and she haunts his dreams.

Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) is the medical technician. At the last minute she was ordered to accompany this mission and had to leave her son, Danny, with her ex.

Cooper (Richard T. Jones) is the search and rescue technician. The crew jokes that he's useless but he serves the movie by being the stereotypical comic relief.

Mr. Justin (Jack Noseworthy) looks like the youngest aboard the crew and he's in charge of engineering. He's nicknamed "baby bear."

Lt. Starck (Joely Richardson) is the executive officer aboard the Lewis and Clark.

Smith (Sean Pertwee) is the pilot of the Lewis and Clark.

D.J. (Jason Isaacs) is the head of trauma. He's labeled as the strange, loner guy.

Movie Scene:

Click here for Spoilers

Jurassic Park III

2008-08-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

Jurassic Park 3 is by far the least popular of the series. I'm not going to bother defending it against its predecessors, but I will say that it's still a fun, jungle adventure movie that fits right in here.

Synopsis: Adventure runs wild when renowned paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant agrees to accompany a wealthy adventurer and his wife on an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, InGen's former breeding ground for prehistoric creatures. But when they're terrifyingly stranded, Dr. Grant discovers that his hosts are not what they seem, and the island's native inhabitants are smarter, faster, fiercer and more brutal than he ever imagined...

Yea, there's not much to this movie. This plot could have been 1/4 of the storyline if this movie were to be as good as the first two. JP3 is just a bunch of people running away from dinosaurs in the jungle. Nothing else, nothing more, and there's really nothing wrong with that!

I'm actually not a huge fan of the Jurassic Park movies. I love them as good movies in general, but as Survivor Movies they're weak. They are way too predictable as to who dies and who survives. I would assume this is because they are geared towards older children and families as a whole. Which means they can't get away with killing a family man, a woman, or even a good-looking guy for that matter. With Jurassic Park 3 that's pretty much the entire cast.

Cast:

Erik (Trevor Morgan) and his step-father Ben go para sailing around "Jurassic Park" island (ok, the islands are named Isla Sorna or Isla Nublar but who cares?). When their pilots mysteriously vanish they cut themselves loose and land on the island.

Paul (William H. Macy) and Amanda Kirby (Tea Leoni) are not wealthy adventurers. They're an average, middle class divorced couple with a son who's now lost in Jurassic Park. They pretend to be rich to get the help they need, and seek Alan Grant in particular.

After surviving the first Jurassic Park adventure, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) has returned to his work as a paleontologist digging up bones. He's bribed into returning to Jurassic Park by the Kirbys with his assistant, Billy (Alessando Nivola).

Cooper, Nash and Udesky, AKA dino-Breakfast, dino-Lunch and dino-Dinner. These guys are hired for protection against the dinosaurs.

Movie Scene:

Click here for Spoilers

CUBE

2008-08-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

Synopsis: Six ordinary strangers awaken to find themselves in a seemingly endless maze of interlocking cubical chambers armed with lethal booby traps. Without food or water, they have only a few days to live. None of them knows how or why they've been imprisoned, but soon discover that each possesses a skill that could contribute to their escape. As they work together to extricate themselves from their claustrophobic cell, one thing becomes painfully clear - unless they learn to cooperate to solve the secrets of this deadly trap, none of them has very long to live.

Wow. After reading that blurb from the back of the DVD case I was hooked. Nothing could stop me from watching this movie. It's what I call a movie that has amazing potential for my tastes. But I still had to cross my fingers that it would work and not totally suck. Not every movie with great potential turns out well- especially ones with low budgets like CUBE. However, I was delighted that the movie was pretty darn good. Bare in mind, it's a very low budget movie. The entire thing was shot in 1 room. Literally. But the characters, the acting, and my enthusiasm for survival suspense held the movie together quite well in my opinion.

Lurking around each corner of the CUBE is a booby trap waiting to kill off another one of the hamsters. Who will die first? Who will be next? Will anyone make it out alive?

I love that as the movie progresses the turn of events shifts away from what you'd expect. I also love that each player has a story and a reason for being included. The group needs everyones skills to survive; for some it takes the entire movie to learn what that skill may be, and of course, some don't make it far enough to lend much help. That's the greatness of the CUBE.

Cast:

Leaven (Nicole de Boer) is a student still in college. She's a math whiz and a sweetheart.

Holloway (Nicky Guadagni) is a divorced doctor. She's caring and compassionate for others.

Worth (David Hewlet) is an architect. He's single and does not fully appreciate life. He may have had a hand in building the CUBE.

Kazan (Andrew Miller) has autism. The others view him as more of a liability than any help. But little do they know, his skill may be the most important of all.

Rennes (Wayne Robson) is an escape artist currently running from the law. He knows a lot about the trap mechanisms used within the CUBE.

Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint) is a police officer. He's a take charge man with little concern for hurting anyones feelings.

Movie Scene:

Click here for Spoilers

Anaconda

2008-08-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

It's only fitting that I kick this off with my favorite survivor movie of all time: Anaconda. Anaconda is a fun, campy and underrated creature feature that has everything I enjoy in a good adventure. I love the colorful cast of characters and the believable plot (a hard thing to come by in monster movies). I love the mix of scares where sometimes it looks someone's about to die - but then they don't. I love the Amazon setting and the fact that they actually filmed it on location! I'm always a fan of animatronics over crappy CGI when it comes to bringing the monsters to life. Anaconda does a mix of both with varying believabilities, but overrall it's not too bad. And of course, Anaconda wouldn't even contend as my favorite movie if the elite band of characters weren't picked off...one by one.

Synopsis: A documentary film crew ventures into the world's most isolated jungle - the Amazon - in search of a lost and forgotten civilization. Early in their journey they come to the aid of a stranded Paraguayan guide, Paul Sarone, who joins their expedition. But Sarone is actually a poacher on the trail of a legendary snake. Sarone hijacks the boat and steers the crew right into the path of a deadly anaconda.

Cast:

Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) is the documentary film's producer and director. It's her job to lead the production.

Dr. Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz) is the expert on the mysterious Shiri Shama Amazonian tribe; the subject of the documentary. He's hired to locate the tribe.

Mateo (Vincent Castellanos) is the scruffy boat captain. He and Paul Sarone aren't exactly strangers. It's a bit more than a coincidence that the crew and Sarone cross paths.

Warren Westeridge (Jonathan Hyde) is an actor. He's hired to narrate and be the on-camera personality for the documentary. He's a bit British and doesn't like roughing it in the jungle.

Danny Rich (Ice Cube) is the camera man. He's a city boy and good friends with Terri.

Gary Dixon (Owen Wilson) is the sound engineer. He'd rather film the documentary on Sarone capturing a giant snake.

Denise Kalberg (Kari Wuhrer) is the production manager. It's her job to basically just look hot in the jungle. Gary is her boyfriend.

Paul Sarone (Jon Voight) is the snake poacher who stumbles upon the film crew when they save his life. He's after a very large anaconda and a large paycheck to go with it. He convinces the film crew to help him hunt the snake. The only problem for them is that he wants the snake alive.

Movie Scene:

Click here for Spoilers

About Survivor Movies

2008-08-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Survivor Movies! I've made this blog to catalog, review and even spoil all of my favorite Survivor Movies - good or bad. A Survivor Movie is a movie that consists of a group of people who are put in some sort of situation where they must survive. More than likely they don't all survive. Screw any "plot" - we are entertained by watching them get picked off...one by one.

Survivor Movies tend to fit one these categories:

1) Creature Features

2) Killer Thrillers

3) Disaster Movies

Survivor Movies mostly fall across 4 actual movie genres: Action, Sci-Fi, Horror and Drama.