New Old Reviews - Zombie Edition

I haven't made a post in a while, mainly because I haven't been able to get to any movie screenings between work an classes. No movie screenings means no movie reviews, so I've kinda been stuck with just posting crazy Japanese videos.
I have on the other hand been able to watch tons of Netflix movies, which, although entertaining, are somewhat too old to provide an informative review. However, a good movie is a good movie, so I thought I'd share my thoughts regarding two horror films I watched this past week.

Slither
*****

Dawn Of The Dead (remake)
****

In case you didn't know it already, these two films are connected through the same writer, James Gunn who also directed Slither. I do want to point out the director of Dawn of the Dead, Zack Snyder, who has a very classy and attractive first name. His name aside, he also happens to be a tremendously talented director who knows his genre in and out.
Let's start out by saying Slither is by no means a good movie. The idea itself is reminiscent of what you might have seen in the corner of a Blockbuster store gathering dust between copies of Species 4 and 5. What Slither is on the other hand, is a great experience. In fact it's one of the greatest experiences I've had watching a movie in a long time. So keep that in mind when I explain that it is about flesh eating slugs from outer space that quickly latch themselves to the brains of unfortunate humans and turns them into mindless zombies who serve an alien lord who also has acquired a human vessel.
Did you catch all that? Yeah. It has everything. Gross slugs, violated humans, zombies, aliens, more zombies, and especially zombies.
So I guess you wouldn't want to bring a date to it. But then again, for such an unnerving subject, the characters are surprisingly human. Nathan Fillion in the role of the town sheriff is tremendous here, as he has already proven himself with Firefly, Serenity, and his numerous television appearances. Elizabeth Banks also shines. What the movie gets absolutely right is it's characters, who although frequently show lapses in logic, are surprisingly realistic and charming in their quirks. They are genuinely interesting and as a result they move the story and you along with it.
On the other side of the spectrum we have Dawn of The Dead, a remake of the original film of the same title. Whereas Slither genuinely provided a charming experience by finding a soft spot in your heart, Dawn manages to find a different soft spot by punching you in the stomach. In my opinion, this is one of the most grittiest and most epic zombie films I've seen.
But you don't have to watch the whole thing.
In fact the first fifteen minutes will suffice, because quite frankly, this movie has possibly the best first fifteen minutes of any horror film, and maybe any film documented. This of course is the beginning segment in which zombies first begin to make their terrible presence known. I won't explain it, because I simply cannot do it justice, but I will say the randomly exploding van made me realize I was watching movie history.
Apart from that however, the film somewhat stutters halfway through while the group of survivors decide to turn their poorly thought out plan of escape into a reality. As a writer, i understand the need for your characters to keep moving, but as an audience member you can't help but feel like they don't really have a reason to leave. Why don't they just take the advice from Shawn of the Dead and go to the pub until the whole thing "just blows over?" But maybe I'm thinking it over way too much. The exploding heads should be enough.
See both of them, but if you only have room for one in your queue, I'd go with Slither.