Paul Brian McCoy" />
Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      Paul Brian McCoy
      January 17, 2022
      Fiction, PDI Press, PDI Press Writers
    Recent
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      John E. Meredith
      January 17, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

      John E. Meredith
      January 16, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

      John E. Meredith
      January 15, 2022
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • The Marvels (2023)

      Paul Brian McCoy
      November 22, 2023
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • The Marvels (2023)

      Nate Zoebl
      November 22, 2023
    • The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

      Peterson Hill
      October 23, 2023
    • Heart of Stone (2023)

      Nate Zoebl
      August 18, 2023
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      The Final Girl
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • "PATER NOSTER AND THE MISSION OF LIGHT" UNLEASHES TERRIFYING UNDERGROUND HORROR - A PSYCHEDELIC CULT MOVIE EXPERIENCE COMING SOON!

      Paul Brian McCoy
      November 15, 2023
      Movies, News
    Recent
    • “PATER NOSTER AND THE MISSION OF LIGHT” UNLEASHES TERRIFYING UNDERGROUND HORROR – A PSYCHEDELIC CULT MOVIE EXPERIENCE COMING SOON!

      psychodr
      November 15, 2023
    • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

      Paul Brian McCoy
      February 1, 2023
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • The Marvels (2023)
  • The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)
  • Heart of Stone (2023)
  • Obstacle Corpse (2022)
  • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
  • Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
Movies

EZMM 2017 Day 6: What We Become (2015) & Freaks of Nature (2015)

Paul Brian McCoy
April 15, 2017
Movies, Reviews, Zombies 101

2017

It’s that time of year again! Time to celebrate the Resurrection with a weeklong plunge into all things zombie! Here’s the history: In 2008, Dr. Girlfriend and I decided to spend a week or so each year marathoning through zombie films that we’d never seen before and I would blog short reviews. And simple as that, the Easter Zombie Movie Marathon was born.

For the curious, here are links to 2008, 2009 (a bad year), 2010, 2011, 2012 (when we left the blog behind), 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.


For last night’s Easter Zombie Movie Marathon selections, we chose to stick to the year 2015, which gave us an odd mix of super-serious, with the Danish end-of-the-world film, What We Become, and the super-goofy, with the humans/vampires/zombies vs aliens flick, Freaks of Nature.

what-we-become-01

What We Become is the first feature film from Danish writer/director Bo Mikkelsen after twenty years of making shorts (and one hour-long documentary in 2006). I’m really very torn about what to say about this film. It’s impeccably shot, with strong performances from everyone involved, and there’s an attempt to present the breakdown of morality that could occur when faced with apocalyptic situations. However, it’s all so familiar.

It’s like Mikkelsen watched a bunch of serious takes on the zombie apocalypse and distilled out the commonalities to such an extent that What We Become loses any sense of individuality. Is that the thematic point? If so, the film suffers from the medium becoming the message.

The film focuses on a family living in the cozy little suburb of Sorgenfri. There are block cookouts with what I can only imagine are fantastic beers on tap. Everybody is friendly and even if you don’t know someone personally, you’re always willing to help out a neighbor. It’s almost too damn perfect, really. There’s no intrigue. No hidden secrets. It’s the exact opposite of a Stephen King suburb.

what-we-become-02

A new family has moved in across the street from our heroes (none of whom have last names, apparently) and the hot teenage son immediately falls for the new-in-town hot teenage daughter. There’s also a neighbor who loves to hunt and has a hot younger girlfriend with a fondness for public display of affection. There’s a lot of good setup as mom Pernille (Mille Dinesen) is annoyed at always playing bad cop, while dad Dino (Troels Lyby) is a perennial goof, distracted by just about everything and nowhere near ready for what’s to come.

His passivity is central to the real themes of the film and part of the dual meanings of the title is focused on his transformation. Unfortunately, it’s never really explored beyond one scene and ultimately feels like an idea that was intended to be fleshed out in a longer piece, but the film only clocks in at about 85 minutes so by the time he changes, the credits roll.

There’s teen romance as Gustav (Benjamin Engell) and Sonja (Marie Hammer Boda) hook up, but that doesn’t really have time or space to go anywhere either. Before anything can really develop, there’s a strange outbreak and the government moves in, quarantining the town and generally doing what faceless government goons do in all of these movies.

what-we-become-03

What We Become is a slow burn with what could be a really strong payoff. When the action really starts about an hour in – let me repeat that, AN HOUR INTO AN 85 MINUTE MOVIE – we finally see our first zombie (up until that point, this could have very easily just been a plague movie, instead) for real and up close, not shambling around in the dark, and things get intense very quickly.

And then it’s over with your traditional bleak ending that could have been written by an algorithm.

My main problem here is that the film is so well-made, particularly the last 20 minutes, that Mikkelsen could have really put together something special, but instead opted out. I would hazard a guess that it was all about budgeting. That first hour does everything humanly possible to establish the world of the story without breaking the bank. And as it’s the first post-apocalyptic zombie movie made in Denmark, perhaps it’s a way of testing the waters for something bigger to come.

I hope so because Mikkelsen clearly knows his way around the basics of this type of story. Now I’d like to see him push outside of that comfort zone. Somebody write this man a check!


freaks-of-nature-04

Freaks of Nature, on the other hand, has no hesitation whatsoever about throwing as many crazy ideas as possible against the wall and seeing what sticks. Unfortunately, here, that means we get an imaginative core concept (never explained, by the way) that allows for a fairly vanilla story to play out.

Back in 2011, it was announced that Jonah Hill was in talks to make his directorial debut with a film called The Kitchen Sink – a script that was a top choice from the 2010 Black List. A year later, though, Robbie Pickering was signed to direct, instead and over the following year a lot of names started getting attached to the project: Nicholas Braun (10 Things I Hate About You), Chris Zylka (Flash Thompson from The Amazing Spider-Man), Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical, Spring Breakers), Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) and Denis Leary (you know who he is). The comedy cred was established by announcing the casting of Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Joan Cusack, and Keegan-Michael Key. Finally, Mackenzie Davis joined the cast (although her real breakout would come later with the beautiful episode “San Junipero” of Black Mirror).

There’s even a cameo by one of my favorite actors, Pat Healy.

freaks-of-nature-06

So the cast was solid and the script got high marks. The director wasn’t as high-profile as originally hoped, but he was still a known quantity of high quality. Then they made the film (with a title change), and who would have thought that a concept like a high school comedy set in a town where zombies, vampires, and humans co-exist and come together to battle an alien invasion would fall on its face?

The original release date was supposed to be January 9, 2015, but that got bumped back to September 4, 2015, and then got bumped back to October 30, 2015 – but that would be a limited release. That’s never good news.

The film finally made it to home video in February 2016, after similarly-themed zombie films Cooties (December 2015) and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (January 2016). Compared to these films, it definitely falls square in the middle, as Cooties was a lot of fun and Scouts Guide was borderline unwatchable (actually not borderline, as I tried to watch it and quit after about 10 minutes).

And that, my friends, is more interesting than this film really is. It’s well-made, but everything is so on-the-nose that it’s boring. It’s not awful, and it does have its moments, particularly in the final half, when our main trio of heroes are trying to escape the chaos of a town turned against itself AND an alien invasion, but even there, too often the film falls back on clichés and tired plot devices we’ve seen a million time before.

freaks-of-nature-07

The bigger names are allowed to ham it up in the mistaken notion that more and louder is funnier, and Patton Oswalt had the only improv moments that made me laugh out loud. When the funniest part of your script is making a character admit that they shit their pants in public as a means of proving they’re not aliens in disguise, something needs to be looked at. I’m not sure how this made the Black List.

There’s a guest-voice-appearance at the climax of the film that was also a treat, but possibly only because of the voice. But I guess even one of the greatest documentary filmmakers in the world has gotta eat.

In the end, Freaks of Nature is moderately enjoyable. There are a few laughs sprinkled here and there, and the use of the zombie concept is actually pretty nicely done, with a new twist to the genre that I highly approve of.

Neither this film nor What We Become are films that I’ll probably ever watch again, but they’re not horrible and both are definitely worth a look.

APPIP ERROR: amazonproducts[
AccessDeniedAwsUsers|The Access Key Id AKIAIIK4RQAHE2XK6RNA is not enabled for accessing this version of Product Advertising API. Please migrate your credentials as referred here https://webservices.amazon.com/paapi5/documentation/migrating-your-product-advertising-api-account-from-your-aws-account.html.
]
(Visited 226 times, 1 visits today)

Related

Benjamin EngellBo MikkelsenBob OdenkirkDenis LearyEaster Zombie Movie MarathonEZMMEZMM 2017Freaks of NatureJoan CusackJosh FademKeegan-Michael KeyMackenzie DavisMarie Hammer BodaMille DinesenNicholas BraunPat HealyPatton OswaltPaul Brian McCoyRobbie PickeringTroels LybyVanessa HudgensWhat We Become

POPCORN CINEMA 40: Mooning Nazis in the IRON SKY
Comet TV: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Giveaway!

About The Author

monsterid
Paul Brian McCoy
Co-Founder / Editor-in-Chief / Dreamweaver

Paul Brian McCoy is the Editor-in-Chief of Psycho Drive-In. His first novel, The Unraveling: Damaged Inc. Book One is available at Amazon US & UK, along with his collection of short stories, Coffee, Sex, & Creation (US & UK). He recently contributed the 1989 chapter to The American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s (US & UK). He also kicked off Comics Bulletin Books with Mondo Marvel Volumes One (US & UK) and Two (US & UK) and PDI Press with Marvel at the Movies: 1977-1998 (US & UK), Marvel at the Movies: Marvel Studios (US & UK), and Spoiler Warning: Hannibal Season 1 - An Unauthorized Critical Guide (US & UK). Paul is also unnaturally preoccupied with zombie films and sci-fi television. He can be found babbling on Twitter at @PBMcCoy.

Related Posts

  • 4.0

    Luther 2.01

    Kelvin Green, Paul Brian McCoy
    June 19, 2011
  • Black Lightning: The Complete First Season Blu-ray

    Paul Brian McCoy
    June 28, 2018

Daily Top Ten

  • resident-evil-final-chapter-headerResident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017) by Paul Brian McCoy
  • AttackInterview of the 50 Foot Cheerleaders! by Jason Sacks
  • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Uzumaki_3Uzumaki (2000) by Matthew Fantaci
  • PF3Pulp Fiction (1994) by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Satana 1Easter Zombie Movie Marathon 2013 Day 6: Astro Zombies by Paul Brian McCoy
  • WD_Cleaning_HouseThe Walking Dead 4.09 “After” by Paul Brian McCoy
  • TD_MaggieSex, Lies, and TRUE DETECTIVE by Allison Mattern
  • sidonia-00Big Eyes Smart Mouth: Knights of Sidonia (2014) by Serdar Yegulalp
  • ZT-11An Existential Mystical Experience: The Zero Theorem (2013) by Paul Brian McCoy
400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

Weekly Top Ten

  • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • blade-runner-2049-headerBLADE RUNNER 2049: The Sad and Lonely World of the… by Psychodr
  • i-spit-on-your-grave-09Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • HHSR-harlotHaunted House on Sorority Row (2014) by Paul Brian McCoy
  • legend-tarzan-headerAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • 2-headed-shark-attack-headerUnnatural Selections: Two-Headed Shark Attack (2012) by Brooke Brewer
  • Murder-Set-Pieces-03Sick Flix: Murder-Set-Pieces (2004) by Corin Totin
  • salo-headerSick Flix: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) by Corin Totin
  • RY-pictureAdvance Review: Russian Yeti – The Killer Lives by Paul Brian McCoy
  • hills-have-eyes-02The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
400x400 UA Affiliate Banner

Latest Reviews

  • The Marvels (2023)

    Nate Zoebl
    November 22, 2023
  • The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

    Peterson Hill
    October 23, 2023
  • Heart of Stone (2023)

    Nate Zoebl
    August 18, 2023

psychodrivein

Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Marvels (2 Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Marvels (2023)

No Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie has had a bigger trail of negative buzz than The Marvels.
---
Read more of Nate's review at the link in our profile!

#CaptainMarvel #MsMarvel #WandaVision #TheMarvels #CaptainMarvel2 #NiaDeCosta #BrieLarson #TeyonahParris #ZaweAshton #ImanVellani #SamuelLJackson
Today at https://psychodrivein.com "PATER NOSTER Today at https://psychodrivein.com

"PATER NOSTER AND THE MISSION OF LIGHT" UNLEASHES TERRIFYING UNDERGROUND HORROR - A PSYCHEDELIC CULT MOVIE EXPERIENCE COMING SOON! 

The eagerly awaited underground horror movie from Christopher Bickel, "Pater Noster and the Mission of Light," enters its final stages of post-production with an anticipated release in early 2024.
---
Read more at the link in our profile!

#PaterNoster #MissionOfLight #PaterNosterAndTheMissionOfLight #ChristopherBickel #UndergroundCinema #UndergroundHorror #IndipendentFilm #AdaraStarr #BadGirls #TheThetaGirl
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation: The Bond Project - Goldfinger

Goldfinger is the prototypical 007 film and performed well at the box office.
—-
Read more of Scott’s article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #TheBondProject #Goldfinger #SeanConnery #HonorBlackman #BernardLee #CecLinder #DesmondLlewelyn #GertFrobe #HaroldSakata #IanFleming #JamesBond #ToshTogo #LoisMaxwell
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E70 - Pyramid Of Darkness (4) / Chaos In The Sea Of Lost Souls 

Greg and Jaren continue their journey as Cobra tries to activate the fourth and final control cube! Will they succeed? Will someone explain to me how Tomax and Xamot feel pain? 
---
Watch the guys from @AnythingJoesPod at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #GIJoeARealAmericanHero #PyramidOfDarkness #ChaosInTheSeaOfLostSouls
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 451: She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law

She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law leans heavily into one of Marvel Comics’ strengths – characters who are more than just a heroic icon, superheroes who have lives outside being a hero where the two halves interfere.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #SheHulk #SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw #BenedictWong #CharlieCox #GingerGonzaga #JameelaJamil #JoshSegarra #MaliahArrayah #MarkRuffalo #TatianaMaslany #TimRoth
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E69 - Snakes on a Plane

Greg and Jaren discuss the news and happenings in the world of G.I. Joe! In this episode: Super 7's Cobra Mothership, Hiya Toys Major Bludd, Mezco 1:12 Duke, and Void Rivals 1 - 4!
---
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #Super7 #CobraMothership #Mezco #Duke #HiyaToys #MajorBludd #VoidRivals #RobertKirkman
Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Fall of th Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

The Fall of the House of Usher ranks with the very finest of Mike Flanagan’s work.
---
Read more of Peterson's review at the link in our profile!

#TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher #Netflix #MikeFlanagan #BruceGreenwood #CarlLumbly #CarlaGugino #EdgarAllanPoe #HenryThomas #KateSiegel #MalcolmGoodwin #MarkHamill #MaryMcDonnell #RahulKohli #SamanthaSloyan #SauriyanSapkota #TniaMiller #WillaFitzgerald #ZachGilford
Today at https://psychodrivein.com POPCORN CINEMA Today at https://psychodrivein.com

POPCORN CINEMA 52: Olaf Ittenbach's NO REASON and Other Violent Shit 

CINEMA: Oh, I've seen a few things. Ittenbach was part of the German underground gore movement of the late 80s, early 90s . . . wait, did you want to hear about this?
---
Read more of John's article at the link in our profile!

#PopcornCinema #OlafIttenbach #NorReason #BurningMoon #GermanUndergroundGore #Gore #German
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Cahiers du Hor Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Cahiers du Horror 13: Who is Gahan Wilson?

Gahan Wilson is single-handedly my favorite horror cartoonist slash illustrator.
---
Read more of Fred's article at the link in our profile!

#CahiersDuHorror #GahanWilson
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Latest Columns

  • Lost in Translation: The Bond Project – Goldfinger

    Scott Delahunt
    November 10, 2023
  • Anything Joes: S01E70 – Pyramid Of Darkness (4) / Chaos In The Sea Of Lost Souls

    Greg Engle
    November 8, 2023
  • Lost in Translation 451: She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law (2022)

    Scott Delahunt
    October 27, 2023

Look Who's Talking

Barbie Worldwide
Barbie Worldwide - 8/5/2023
Lost in Translation 429: The Barbie Movie Teaser
Barbie still in the driver's seat and the movie is speeding past a billion by August 7, 2023.
John E. Meredith
John E. Meredith - 4/5/2023
EZMM 2023 Day 3.1: Zombie for Sale (2019)
Of course, I just woke up from an old-man nap and had a strong urination before reading this, so now...
John E. Meredith
John E. Meredith - 4/3/2023
EZMM 2023 Day 1.1: I Am a Hero (2015)
Oh hell yeah. Looks like one more thing to add to my watch list.
RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

Large_rectangle_336X280
All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise