The Home of the Creative Mind

Welcome to PooBahSpiel, the online voice and home of the creative mind of Mark Monlux, Illustrator Extraordinaire. Prepare yourself for an endless regaling of art directly from the hand of this stellar artist. And brace yourself against his mighty wind of pontification. Updates are kinda weekly and show daily sketches, current projects, and other really nifty stuff.

Monday, July 28, 2014

The Comic Critic Reviews Battle of the Damned


I had such high hopes for Battle of the Damned. I’m a big fan of both zombies and robots. After I saw both in the preview for Battle of the Damned when I was sharing it with my friends—that is, my zombie- and robot-loving friends, they too voiced their excitement. As a zombie film connoisseur, I will tell you what I look for in a zombie film. The first thing it should have is an interesting premise. An example would be the film Zombie Strippers, in which the Zombie Apocalypse starts in a strip club. The second thing it should have is some interesting zombie death scenarios that have either never been seen before or which pay homage to previous memorable death scenarios. The third thing is at least a couple of lines of memorable dialog. I got excited because Battle of the Damned had a great premise: Zombies vs. Robots, but the movie falls apart because all the fighting between the zombies was mundane. There were no uniquely memorable kills. All it would have taken to fix this flick was a few thoughtful shots using some practical special effects. That, along with strained, not memorable dialog, let this movie flounder. As a result, Battle of the Damned is doomed not to become a cult classic—but just a footnote in bad zombie film history.