Reviews

Emergency is airing, now, very late at night, on the local TV station. And it's great to see it again. Before Baywatch, this show gave us a much more realistic look at the daily lives of those who respond when we call 911.

Although some of the technology and terminology is outdated now, most of it is surprisingly still in use! The dramatic component..that rescues don't always succeed..is refreshingly real in comparison to Baywatch, where CPR always works and no one dies unless their character has to be killed off. But the humour is there too, just as it is in the locker rooms of firehalls and police stations all over.

A minor comment about Gage's lack of musical abilities prompts him to take up the bagpipes, among other instruments, and the ongoing practical jokes played by Kelly add greatly to the humanity of the show. In fact, I strongly suspect that most of the incidents portrayed on the show actually happened.. Most of them are far too ridiculous to have been invented by some writer!

A great show from days gone by...if only they'd do as well now..

This movie is a very funny and affectionate spoof of the George Romero movies, made a decade or two earlier. It's not particularly "gory", in that the FX technologies at the time weren't that advanced. The movie rarely takes itself seriously, and is filled with obvious and probably intentional "logic glitches". (IE a long dead corpse with a fresh pink tongue? Or a skeleton with eyeballs?) The magic gas 2-4-5 Trioxin works on anything that used to be alive, not just humans. Look closely and you'll see a collection of pinned butterflies flapping their wings! And the cinematic classic, the Split Dog. There are plentiful one-liners (What's that noise?? It's dead people screamin'!!) and a cutting glance at contemporary fads, fashions and trends.

Unlike the lame sequels, this is a comedy-horror with...."BRAAIINS!"

This movie is far overdone with FX that aren't needed. Hollywood has gone crazy for CGI, using it even when "normal" filming techniques would be cheaper and easier. A prime example: Jennifer Lopez "falls upwards" out of her cell, and impacts what seems to be water. Why not just put her in a pool, film it and dub? This effect worked great in an Enigma music video. Instead, they hang her on hooks and digitally remove gravity. Overall, this film was bizarre, with some genuinely creepy moments, but the "in-brain" sequences relied more on FX than creativity. Silence of the Lambs achieved the same effect much more efficiently.