Frankenstein (1931) / Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

The originals, the iconic, the must-sees, great director James Whale brings us the original (talkie) and best incarnation of the famed Frankenstein Monster. These are the movies that made Boris Karloff a household name and legend on the horror circuit.

Both films are amazing and innovative for the time. The first sets up the entire well known story, but the sequel is the far superior film and what made me fall in love with these movies as a whole. One really needs to put the two together because the first really leaves you wanting more of a story arc.

The first one stars Colin Clive as Dr. Henry Frankenstein who seeks to create or reanimate life inside of the mutilated corpse composed of various sources. He then proceeds to the well known lightning strike which awakens the body, and begins shouting one of the most famous line in cinema history "It's Alive!". The monster eventually escapes and wrecks havoc on the town. When a mob forms, traps him in a farmhouse and burns it down leading into the next film.

The second film repeats the cast of the first one with a few additions. These additions contribute to the sequel being better but the main reason for it superiority is the performance of Karloff as the Monster. In the first film the monster is a rather flat character with no dialogue and no reason. But with the introduction of Ernest Thesiger's character, Dr. Pretorious and the Blind Caretaker played by O.P. Heggie. These two character help the monster develop his voice and personality turning him into a Three-Dimensional character. They teach him to eat, drink, smoke and develop friendships eventually creating a wife for him. But when she rejects him he blows up Frankenstein's tower ending the film.

Both films are fantastic but the main focus of them is the monster and he becomes more well rounded in the sequel, thus making it a superior film to the legendary first.

I highly reccomend that everyone see both films, and any film fan should be able to understand and enjoy these films as much as I do, they are in every sense of the term....Classics.

Karloff did also star in the 3rd installment Son of Frankenstein, I have the movie but have yet to watch it. It stars Karloff and another horror legend, Bela Legosi, but sadly it is not directed by James Whale and does not star Colin Clive as he passed in '37. Ill watch it eventually but I'm not expecting much.

Diary of the Dead (2007)

Diary of the Dead is a Zombie Horror flick Directed by the master himself, George A. Romero. 2 years after making Land of the Dead, Romero goes back to the beginnings of the outbreak. He does it in a way that is different from all of his classic and gives it a far more realistic edge by making it a fictional documentary.

The film follows a small group of film students from Pitt who are filming for a school project when the outbreak occurs. This sets them up perfectly to record the events as they unfold and tell the true story that the media will try to cover up. Doing so in a chilling manor that makes the zombie apocalypse feel inevitable.

Along the way the group runs into all sorts of challenges. Overcoming the fact that they need to kill to stay alive is by far the hardest, and it takes it toll on a few characters. After a failed attempt to seek aid in a hospital, the film finds one of its greatest moments, the awesome deaf Amishman, Samuel. His performance is hilarious and does a great job of relieving tension in the script.

The group actually find more survivors who have created a small enclosed town for themselves, and the best part is they have internet access. The directors take advantage of this and distribute their findings to the masses. This is an overwhelming moment of success for the group especially when they recieve 72,00 hits in 8 minutes. The last bit of plot ill detail is the group runs into a group of National Guardsmen who raid all their supplies, i mention this scene because the sequel, Survival of the Dead, follows this group of Guardsman.

Overall a suprisingly good film, it took me a while to get around to it because I didnt realize it was actually directed by Remero, I thought they just tacked his name on it to draw a crowd. But once I realized my mistake I got it in my PS3 and watched it. I was really surpised with how well done it was, it really made me feel involved in the action of the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

Diary of the Dead recieves 7 "I'm Samuel, Hellos"...out of 10.
Any fan of Romero or Zombie flicks should give this movie a try, its worth it.