Movie Night! Double Bill – 'Dead Heat' and 'It Follows'

Yesterday was full of trying to get loads of work done (and I did but there is still loads to do...) so when I finally got round to turning my computer off, I was in no fit state to read anything. What I was in a fit state for though (albeit barely) was to watch a couple of movies so that's exactly what I did, my Amazon Prime watchlist was in need of a little pruning after all... ;o)

And by the end of the evening, I'd discovered a new guilty pleasure in one film and got really hacked off with a character in the other film. But which film was which...? Oh who am I kidding? You know and if you don't know, I'll tell you :o)

'Dead Heat' (1988)

An undead cop and his partner must chase down the villain who killed him...

Don't laugh (ok, you can laugh) but it turns out that I'd been getting 'Dead Heat' confused with 'Red Heat' and never watched either until 'Carnage Counts' (subscribe to their channel on Youtube, it's great) ran a 'carnage count' for 'Dead Heat' the other day. I watched it, realised there was no Arnie involved and resolved to watch it as soon as I could. Well, 'as soon as I could' ended up being last night and 'Dead Heat' ended up being great. Of course it was... It has cops getting into gunfights with zombies, two cop buddies who are constantly trying to 'out bad joke' the other and if that wasn't enough, Vincent Price turns up at the end as an evil businessman. VINCENT PRICE people!

Honestly, it was like someone sat down in 1988 with a brief to make a zombie cop movie that I would love thirty two years later... and they just hit the target every time.

Treat Williams makes for a great zombie cop (Roger Mortis... get it? Oh dear...), really letting himself get into it more and more as his character's body degrades, the makeup scene was worth it just by itself. Joe Piscopo steals every scene that he's in though (as partner Doug) and is the main source of the laughs. Actually, the gigantic zombie pig (?) stole the show...

I had a great time watching 'Dead Heat' and promise never to get it mixed up with 'Red Heat' (which I still need to watch) ever again... I'm pretty sure everyone else has already seen it but if you haven't then you need to.


'It Follows' (2014)

Annie's date takes a turn for the worse when a sexual encounter leads to her being stalked by a monster that can take on any human form and will not stop until she is dead. The only way to beat the curse is by passing it on through sex but that's a death sentence for whoever she sleeps with. Can Annie kill the monster or will she bring herself to pass the curse on...?

There is a lot to enjoy with this movie but there was a lot for me to get annoyed about with the character of Paul, a character so desperate to sleep with Annie that he literally explodes with jealousy if she looks at somebody else, it's clearly all about him rather than Annie who is in actual danger of losing her life if her friends don't figure something else. And when he does sleep with her... He's straight off out to find a prostitute to pass it on to. He got what he was after, someone else can deal with the problem now... I can't stand him.

One you get past my pretty intense dislike of Paul, the rest of the film is pretty good. The pacing feels a little off when 'monster things' aren't happening but the almost dreamlike feel, to the setting, makes up for this by really emphasising those moments where the monster just wanders up and starts causing invisible havoc with inventive jump scares. I liked the whole concept of the monster as well, 'It Follows' is a few years old now but the idea behind the monster still feels fresh and original.

I don't know when (or if) I'd watch it again but 'It Follows' was a good way to round off this movie night so I can't complain too much that Paul really got on my nerves. Would I recommend it? Yes, yes I would. If you haven't seen it already, and you like the idea of a monster that will wear you down just by walking after you, then give 'It Follows' a shot. It's a quieter piece than most other horror movies but all the more effective for it.

And in other news... you've probably noticed that it's getting closer to Halloween but you probably haven't noticed that I have no idea what horror to stick on during the night... Any recommendations...?

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