• GENRE: Zombie Horror
• ACTORS: Dexter Fletcher, Dickon Tolson, Lana Kamenov, Anton Brejak, David Carradine[1. David Carridine has a cameo role. His bizarre life and death include credits in the 1970’s TV show, KUNG FU, and the 2004 movie, KILL BILL vol. 2], Tricia McMurtry, Jody Willis, Marisa Zaza, André Bharti, Leanne Dixon



• RATING: R
• PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for children. Some bad language. Extremely disturbing imagages and situations. Violence.
• INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie is intended for fans of the genre, and may not be appreciated by others.
• GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) A mysterious virus “kills” most of the population in a matter of seconds. The dead don’t stay down. The survivors cope.





• REVIEW: This is an example of a really, really bad zombie movie. The film looks like it was shot by 4 or 5 guys with a camcorder. One suspects this movie was shot with little or no knowledge of how to actually make a movie; and with no budget at all. The acting is just plain awful. The zombies look like corpses that were dipped in a barrel of used motor oil. The only dispute here is whether the ghouls are technically zombies. People bitten by a “traditional zombie” die and re-animate as zombies with an instant taste for human flesh. But in “Autumn,” people die from the “virus,” and after a day or so re-animate as walking dead. At first these “walkers” show no signs of aggression. But the ghouls/walkers progressively develop more violent tendencies. Oddly though, the film makers do create some pretty disturbing images. And this twist on the zombie theme might be interesting in more capable hands.
• RECOMMENDATION:[2. If you wonder why zombie themes and horror films have space on a Christian website like K_Line Christian Online, please see my blog post on point] This is a zombie horror movie. Many people will be highly offended by every movie in this genre because of the graphic violence, gore, language and other questionable elements. Even if you are a fan of this genre, Autumn is a terrible movie on so many levels. I recommend watching the trailer instead. It is scarier, much shorter, and looks more professionally produced than the feature film. The movie gets one star based on the potentially interesting twist on the zombie theme.
• RATING (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★

FOOTNOTES:

• GENRE: Sappy Romance
• ACTORS: Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins, Henry Thomas, D.J. Cotrona, Cullen Moss, Scott Porter, Gavin McCulley, Jose Lucena Jr., Leslea Fisher
• RATING: PG-13



• PARENTAL NOTE: A PG-13 implies to many parents that this film is suitable for teenagers. In this case, I don’t agree. As detailed below, this movie pushes a fairly trashy theme, even for those who are not put off by the sappy story line. Limited cursing and brief nudity.
• INTENDED AUDIENCE: If you like the Twilight movies, or most any movie with the word, “Princess” in it, then Dear John is aimed toward you. This movie is intended for teenage girls, who apparently swoon en masse at the sight of Channing Tatum’s bare chest. His bare chest is on display for quite a bit of the film. I don’t agree that the movie is appropriate for even this group.
• GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers, although the title to this movie is something of a spoiler) Boy meets girl at the beach. They fall in hopelessly in love during their two weeks together. Boy goes off to war. They exchange letters.




• REVIEW: First of all, I need to explain why I am reviewing a sappy romance movie. Dear John is really not my cup of tea. It was recommended by one of the original founders of the Christian Men’s Breakfast group. Which proves again, that one ought not believe EVERYTHING that one hears. OK, about the sappy premise, as expressed in the GENERAL PLOT section of this review… The story is trite and worthless, to be sure. But I admit that lots of people enjoy mindless fluff in a movie. Frankly, I personally object to the fact that a movie supposedly about a member of the Army’s “Special” Forces, only portrays a couple of combat related kills. Also, there are no zombies in this movie, nor any psychopathic killers. Admittedly these shortcomings are also a matter of personal taste. My real objection is the way in which the relationship between the main characters veers in an “inappropriate” direction. A movie which portrays sin as wholesome and normal, does more harm than a movie which portrays immoral behavior without pretending that sin is anything but sin. This is especially true, when the target audience is approximately teenagers.[1. If you have read my other Christian Movie Reviews, you know that I have highly recommended other movies which have far more inappropriate situations than in Dear John. Is this a double standard? Well, it is a different standard for sure. Movies directed to adults (e.g. horror, zombie) should be judged differently than movies which target children and/or teenagers. I’m working on a separate article on this topic. I’ll link this review to the article, when it is posted.] Although I hesitate to nit-pick the small points of a movie, I’m uneasy about the killing off of one of the character’s spouses to make room for “true love.”
• RECOMMENDATION: This film does look like it was produced by professional film makers (add one star), and it arguably has a plot, such as it is (add one star). However, for all the reasons set out in this review, I have to subtract so many stars that this movie should really have a negative rating. As it is, zero (0) stars is the lowest I can rate this movie, which is actually giving Dear John undeserved credit. This film is worthless, and trash. Don’t waste your time.
• RATING (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★ zero stars!

FOOTNOTES:

My family and I went camping this summer. I did not get a T-Shirt, but I did help make this zombie movie. According to my sources at YouTube (which I’m assuming is heavily fact checked before items are posted to the world wide web), this video is REAL and NOT FAKE. Judge for yourself.

RATING (Out of 5 stars): ★★★★★