Netflix Picks of the Week: 9/21/08

Having just recently joined Netflix, I thought it might me fun to do some mini-reviews of what shows up in the mailbox each week.

So, this week: "Diary of the Dead", "The Eye" and "The Abandoned"

Diary of the Dead



Ole' Uncle George is back to his zombie-shenanigans with a mockumentary taking place during the first few days of the zombie outbreak. There's a great deal of heavy handed social commentary on media, the internet and other tired subjects. The movie is enteteraining, but feels like it's trying too hard to force a point. But there's a few cool zombie kills and I dug the pool zombies scene.
I give at a 2.5 out of 5. Not great, but worth a look.

The Eye



An american remake of a J-Horror movie I've never watched. Jessica Alba stars as a blind violinist who appears to have a personal make-up artist on hand at all times, since she looks like she's always coming from a Cosmo shoot. Jessica gets a cornea transplant and starts seeing weird shit. So, the game's afoot to slove the ghost mystery and stop the crazy visions. Alba does a decent job and moves past the standard hot girl role. The scares are fairly run of the mill in the post Ring and Grudge era. At least there wasn't a long-haired japanese girl as the ghost, so that's something.
I give it a 3 out of 5. Entertaining, but fairly disposeable. One of Alba's better roles.

and lastly
The Abandoned



One of the After Dark "8 Films to Die For". An orphaned woman returns to Russia after receiving news of her dead birth mother and the creepy old farm she now owns. Some scary-ass shit hits the fan, a long lost twin brother shows up and undead dopplegangers shamble about. The film maintains a constant air of dread and the Russian countryside looks to be a scary, scary place.
I give it a 4 out of 5. Great, creepy ghost story.