Columbine. Your first thought? I bet your first thought is a Columbine high school massacre of 15 students and teachers in April of 1999. Two armed to the teeth individuals walk into a school wearing trench coats and black clothing giving the look of Goth a bad name and forever giving the once questionably fashionable outfit of the early nineties stigma of hate, anger, revenge, and murderous intentions. The film “Blackbird” explores what happens when fear takes over a community because a Goth 15 year old boy makes insubstantial threats among his peers. His life is forever changed because he dresses the part of historical mass murders and lives in a cycle of despair because his right to freedom of speech is revoked by just a few expressive words written on a blog.

Sean is an outcast. His black, satanic laden clothing, thrash metal music, and pacifist persona make him an easy target for popular kids, say the entire hockey all star team. When popular hottie Deanne shows interest in Sean’s life, the angst of high school becomes more of a burden upon Sean’s shoulders Deanne’s boyfriend threatens him. Sean’s counter threats go public and he is thrown into youth detention center by a community who fears a school-shooting massacre. From then on, Sean is force to conform and lie about who he really is and tries to regain his dignity and self from in and out of jail and in a community that fears him.

Bravo writer-director Jason Buxton for producing a freshman film that is powerfully anecdotal, well performed by young actors, and well down in a production sense. Lead actor Connor Jessup serves as a force driven by his bottle emotions in the character of Sean. Jessup, who might remember as from TNT’s sci-fi series Falling Skies, harks up being a gothic pacifist as if he was one himself. Another stand out actor is Alex Ozerov as the relentless youth detention center bully Trevor. These two actors, plus a just as equivalently strong cast with Alexia Fast and Michael Bule, represent a strong contingency of intermediate Canadian actors that need more international exposure.

While Blackbird doesn’t rely on major effects, the captivating storytelling is worth the price of admission. There are numerous underlying issues in Blackbird that are current in today’s world which makes this film so compelling and interesting. Topics like bullying, being true to yourself, high school shootings, parenting, and the broken court system are just a few of many touched upon and exploited for our own good. We, as people, can learn a lot from Blackbird. We can all relate to being bullied and being the bully and facing all the consequences in between.

This multiple festival award winner is being released on VOD platforms and on DVD home entertainment by Breaking Glass Pictures on October 21st here in the States. This release should be a big win for Breaking Glass and a big win for whomever goes and grabs a copy.
Ancient Evil: “Carrie” review (2013)
This 2013 horror film featuring Chloë Grace Moretz, unbeknownst to me when I watched this, is a remake of Stephen Kings’ 1976 film Carrie (which further derived from his 1974 novel of the same name).

Above: “Tampon scene”
(This is the scene in which Carrie begins her first ever period. She absolutely freaks out and bizarrely has no idea that this is a completely natural occurrence. She screams and spreads (period) blood everywhere. Instead of helping her, her fellow classmates prefer to throw sanitary towels and tampons are her.)
I didn’t plan to watch this film, I just happened to stumble upon it on Netflix one night. I had a come over completely absent-minded and didn’t realise at first that it was a remake. I haven’t seen the original yet but I know Stephen Kings style and that it is a widely-known film, successfully kick-starting Stephens’ career. I love Chloë Grace Moretz in both Kick-Ass 1 and 2 because she performs her role flawlessly, seemingly born to play a bad-ass. This is the reason I put the film on with no hesitation. Chloe plays Carrie, a young girl who has a manically religious mother (Julianne Moore) and is constantly ostracized by her fellow students.

This is Carrie just after she unleashed hell and killed the majority of her school year. She was voted prom queen but her wonderment soon turned to disbelief when she was covered in pigs’ blood. Her path of destruction continues.
The film focuses entirely on Carrie being a victim of severe bullying (and of course her bizarre mother and their uncertain relationship). Throughout the film she is being viciously bullied and much to her surprise she discovers she has the power of telekinesis. Her powers are gradually used for evil until a prom night prank forces her to unleash all of the sinister and hellish destruction she can manage. She further kills her mother and herself. I was hugely disappointed with the film and I am amongst thousands who believe this film was a colossal mistake. Although Chloe definitely delivers in the blood-shedding scenes, she hasn’t shown me that she’s capable of playing a vulnerable character. Her timid scenes are not convincing at all, to say the least. The fact that they altered the storyline so Carries powers are shown over time totally dissipates the suspense of the entire film. A story about a teenage girl who doesn’t fit in, many people can relate to this… but that doesn’t make us like it. I can’t really comment on whether it was bad casting or a bad re-make because I just don’t know. I also don’t know why in the final scene Carrie reveals to Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) that she (Sue) is pregnant with a girl. Telekinesis is the ability to move objects without physically touching them. I don’t know the explanation they’d give for her having physic powers too. In conclusion I do suggest you watch it to make your own opinion but this comes with the warning for you not to expect much.
Syfy’s “Z Nation” S1Ep3 ‘Philly Feast’
Living in the Philadelphia area, the “Philly Feast” episode was quite the treat to see the “City of Brotherly Love” be taken over by the undead. Once again, Syfy and The Asylum grotesquely explode every bit and piece of body part in this episode never letting dismembered zombie appendages get old.
Z-Nation writers didn’t wait too long to bring in the cannibal group. Every apocalyptic show has a cannibal group. Z-Nation just happens to reveal them in episode three under the ruling thump of Tobias Campbell played by Rick Rivera (happy National Hispanic Heritage Month, Rick). Now, I love me some good cannibal groups because they’re always the wild card, but this group lacked pizzaz and notoriety. Pisay Pao’s Cassandra character couldn’t quite play up Tobias’s long pig enthusiasts. However, the ending result of the full on assault on Tobias’s camp was well executed in a ‘classical’ fashion. Cassadnra’s backstory now looks to be wrapped up tight and we won’t have to explore that anymore in the foreseeable future, but I still feel she has more to hide or she has more up her sleeve with her new found friends in Addie and Warren.
The scene with the Liberty Bell had me rolling with laughter and giddy with the sight of zombie bashing mayhem. Z-Nation continues to make the implausible plausible and yet somehow make it look totally believable with the ridiculous zombie fraggings and though I do like all the characters, Nat Zang’s 10K has to be one of the standouts. His sniper character is the hardest the kill and I’d like him to reach his goal of 10,000 kills.
Can’t wait for next week’s episode!
EVIL playthrough: Slender: The Arrival PART 1
Well its official, our youtube channel is now active! The first video is a playthrough on Slender: The Arrival.
The Walking Dead – A Bad Lip Read!
The Walking Dead is back! Well, not until October, but a bad lip reading parody of hit AMC show about zombies has been released and it’s freakin’ hilarious. Check it out below!

