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Posted on March 27, 2016

Easter in the Land of The Walking Dead

Dawn Keetley

Season 5, episode 3, “Four Walls and a Roof”

The above screenshot is taken from a scene in Father Gabriel’s church in the season 5 episode, “Four Walls and a Roof.” Rick and his group have laid a trap for Gareth and the other cannibals, who have just ambushed Bob and eaten his leg. Two of the Cannibals stand on either side of the door, where they think the survivors are hiding, and they’re about to break in and kill them. Rick has other plans, though. He, Abraham, Sasha, and Michonne will soon slaughter the Cannibals in what a horrified Gabriel calls “the Lord’s House.”

A list of Bible verses hangs conspicuously on the wall, and is featured in countless shots during the course of this episode. The Bible verses are below (at the end of this post)—and, as you’ll see, they all feature the dead who do not stay dead—the resurrected dead.

Posted on March 24, 2016

The Function of Queerness on The Walking Dead

Elizabeth Erwin

As I have noted before, there is a danger in dissecting a television narrative that is still in the process of unfurling. Initially it was my intention to write about how queerness functions within The Walking Dead’s (television) universe after the final episode of season 6. However, on Monday night (March 21, 2016) an exchange occurred on Twitter that made me think this is a more pressing conversation. Read more

Posted on March 16, 2016

“Raised up from the Dead”*: The Walking Dead and Religion

Dawn Keetley

There is much to say about the role of religion in AMC’s The Walking Dead, but here I want to focus on the three crucial church scenes that have punctuated the series so far.

1. In season two, episode one, “What Lies Beneath,” the group is searching for Carol’s (Melissa McBride) lost daughter. They hear church bells and are drawn to the Southern Baptist Church, where, after killing the three walkers sitting in its pews, Carol and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and even Daryl (Norman Reedus) ask God to help them.

Season 2, “What Lies Beneath”

2. In a much different scene in the season five episode, “Four Walls and a Roof,” the group lures those remaining survivors from Terminus who had captured Bob (Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.) and eaten his leg into Father Gabriel’s (Seth Gilliam) church and brutally slaughters them.

3. And finally, in the season six episode, “Not Tomorrow Yet,” Rick stands at the front of Alexandria’s church and exhorts the survivors that their very lives depend on a preemptive attack on Negan’s Saviors—that they must find them and kill them.

The most obvious point to make about the trajectory of these scenes is the dramatic increase in brutality on the part of Rick and his group, which goes hand-in-hand with Rick’s movement from supplicating Christ to taking his place.

Posted on March 14, 2016

Top 13 Movies Reminding Me Why I Don’t Want To Get Married

Gwen

I have to expose my bias here: I have never dreamed of getting married, I didn’t play house, I never planned my ultimate wedding, and despite my grandmother’s insistence, I was able to make it through college without getting my Mrs. I won’t bash marriage, because it really works for some folks. But all those happily married and want-to-be married people get TONS of movies to themselves between the dramas, action films, and romantic comedies. Hell, even horror has really great marriages as we saw in my previous post about the Maitlands in Beetlejuice (1988). So, today I am going to reclaim the horror genre for those of us who prefer alternative lifestyles. In the spirit of fun, this list aims to be a little bit silly and a little bit serious. It is no secret that I love horror films that focus on the family. I feel that it is an important platform that exposes both criticisms of traditional family as well as fears about being part one. (WARNING: There are some spoilers and lots of sarcasm in here)

Posted on March 11, 2016

Commune: Join Us!

Dawn Keetley

Summary: Commune works as a short film because it is both complete in itself and exceptionally evocative. The richness of the film—all the things that lurk beyond the boundaries of the literal story—offer, I think, incredible potential for a feature-length follow-up.

The short horror film, Commune, is the brain-child of Thomas Perrett, who conceived the idea for the film, wrote the script, and directed.

Perrett studied Television and Video Production at Bournemouth University and, since graduating in 2001, has been working as a freelance TV and film editor in London. Commune represents the promise he made to himself to get back into filmmaking, and he was clearly inspired as much by place as by anything else—although he does credit some of his favorite childhood horror films, Poltergeist, Evil Dead, and The Shining, as influencing his vision.

Commune really began, though, when Perrett was invited to a Halloween party at a derelict Jewish commune in North London, a house built on Lordship Park in the 1930s. Decaying and abandoned, the house seemed the perfect location for a film—and Perrett had incentive to work fast since the property was slated for redevelopment.