Thursday Movie Picks #67: Halloween Edition - Werewolves

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.For further details visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Halloween Edition - Werewolves

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Hey it's October and the whole of this month I'm running the Halloween Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the weeks.

October 1 - Halloween Edition: Alfred Hitchcock Movies
October 8 - Halloween Edition: Villainous Children (Suggested by Wendell)
October 15 - Halloween Edition: Asian Horror
October 22 - Halloween Edition: Werewolves
October 29 - Halloween Edition: Ghost Movies (Suggested by John Hitchcock)

This is actually the second time I'm running the Halloween edition. If you missed it last year, check out last year's themes below:

October 2 2014 - Unstable Characters (characters that seemed off...eg. Donnie Darko)
October 9 2014 - Zombie Movies
October 16 2014 - Found Footage Movies
October 23 2014 - Vampire Movies
October 30 2014- Haunted Buildings

Hey welcome to another TMP Halloween Edition. This week it's Werewolves! As I try to recall the werewolf movies I've seen, turns out I haven't seen that many. So I am looking for to some suggestions. In random order, here are my picks:

Underworld (2003)
I know Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans is more fitting for today's theme but I didn't like it so my pick is the first movie from the franchise. Love the futuristic world Underworld created in which the vampire and lycans are battling in an ongoing war that is centuries old.
 
Dog Soldiers (2002)
A squad of British soldiers is in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands for a military exercise when they find themselves hunted by a pack of werewolves. They seek shelter at an empty country house and prepare for a battle they are utterly unprepared for as the werewolves circle the house. Like this movie a lot. Suspenseful, plenty of action and scary too.

Ginger Snaps (2000)
I really really love the 1st and 2nd act of the movie which is a female coming of age slash werewolf tale where the werewolf transformation is a metaphor for puberty. We all know how so much fewer female coming of stories there are and this one hits the nail on some aspects of it. If I wasn't lazy at finding gifs, this post would have been filled with several awesome Ginger Snaps gifs. While I like much of the dark humour, there were still times when it was just a little too morbid - Brigitte and Ginger are certainly more more morbidly creative than Harold (from Harold and Maude). Anyway...the third act happened and it went all out werewolf story, seemingly dropping the coming of age aspect and so I found the ending just very disappointing.

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks

Thursday Movie Picks #28: Movies with Colour in the Title
Thursday Movie Picks #17: Movies Featuring Amnesiacs
Thursday Movie Picks #25: Bank Robberies
Thursday Movie Picks #13: Zombie Movies
Thursday Movie Picks #22: Movies that Feature a Family Secret

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday Movie Picks #66: Halloween Edition - Asian Horror

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.For further details visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Halloween Edition - Asian Horror

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Hey it's October and the whole of this month I'm running the Halloween Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the weeks.

October 1 - Halloween Edition: Alfred Hitchcock Movies
October 8 - Halloween Edition: Villainous Children (Suggested by Wendell)
October 15 - Halloween Edition: Asian Horror
October 22 - Halloween Edition: Werewolves
October 29 - Halloween Edition: Ghost Movies (Suggested by John Hitchcock)

This is actually the second time I'm running the Halloween edition. If you missed it last year, check out last year's themes below:

October 2 2014 - Unstable Characters (characters that seemed off...eg. Donnie Darko)
October 9 2014 - Zombie Movies
October 16 2014 - Found Footage Movies
October 23 2014 - Vampire Movies
October 30 2014- Haunted Buildings


Hey welcome to another TMP Halloween Edition. This week it's Asian Horror! I don't know if it's true or I'm just imagining it, but has there been fewer Asian Horror released recently. Or at least if there are still as many, they just don't get as much attention? I haven't seen one in a long time. Asian Horror used to be big in the late 90s and early 2000s; all the major hits were getting American remakes. Now it's quiet. Anyway here are my three picks; at least one is recycled but I can't resist.

Shutter (2004) 
A photographer and his girlfriend starts noticing mysterious shadows in their photographs after an accident. They start investigating and turns out that the photographer's friends too have such similar photographs; they all share a dark past. Love Shutter. It was remade in 2008. The remake was not as spooky and tragically sad as the original, and it made some odd choices with some of the changes.
 
The Maid (2005)
Not a lot of local horror movies have been made; this one is really the only one I've seen and I like it. Creepy and I did not guess the twist. In it a young Filipino woman, Rosa, comes to Singapore to work as a live in maid for a local family and arrives on the first day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar where it is believed the gates of hell are open and spirits wander among the living. Her employers advises her on the do's and don'ts for the month so as to not to offend the spirits but Rosa makes a mistake and soon spooky things start to happen.

The Housemaid (2010) 
Unlike my other picks today, this one doesn't deal with supernatural; it's more of psychological thriller/horror. In the movie a woman starts working for a wealthy family as a maid and nanny for the couple's daughter. She and the master of the house soon begins an affair and when it is found out, things go nuts. Interesting movie. Very modern, sleek, cold and dark. Not quite sure about the end but I'm definitely interested in seeing the original 1960 movie.

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks

Thursday Movie Picks #28: Movies with Colour in the Title
Thursday Movie Picks #17: Movies Featuring Amnesiacs
Thursday Movie Picks #25: Bank Robberies
Thursday Movie Picks #13: Zombie Movies
Thursday Movie Picks #22: Movies that Feature a Family Secret

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday Movie Picks #65: Halloween Edition - Villainous Children (Suggested by Wendell)

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.For further details visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Halloween Edition - Villainous Children

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Hey it's October and the whole of this month I'm running the Halloween Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the weeks.

October 1 - Halloween Edition: Alfred Hitchcock Movies
October 8 - Halloween Edition: Villainous Children (Suggested by Wendell)
October 15 - Halloween Edition: Asian Horror
October 22 - Halloween Edition: Werewolves
October 29 - Halloween Edition: Ghost Movies (Suggested by John Hitchcock)

This is actually the second time I'm running the Halloween edition. If you missed it last year, check out last year's themes below:

October 2 2014 - Unstable Characters (characters that seemed off...eg. Donnie Darko)
October 9 2014 - Zombie Movies
October 16 2014 - Found Footage Movies
October 23 2014 - Vampire Movies
October 30 2014- Haunted Buildings

Hey it's the second week of TMP Halloween Edition. This week's theme is a suggestion from Wendell@DellonMovies. I thought this would have been an easy week but my choices seem limited and a few I had picked before and were titles I imagined will be picked by a lot of others. So I tried to think a little outside the box and stretch the children's age to include teens. Under 18 is children right?

The Crucible (1996)
I don't know much about the Salem Witch trials other than towns going crazy, accusing and executing people for witchcraft. Basically you have no defense once you're accused of witchcraft. I saw The Crucible recently and at least in the case in Salem Village it began with a few children having fits which was soon seen as them being enchanted. It was infuriating to see the children play a vicious game and getting a lot of attention, which they probably initially had no idea the repercussions of but possibly later too cowardly to admit, still it was so much worse that the adults subscribe to their lies feeding the hysteria even when there was so much doubt in the air.
 
Battle Royale (2000)
Not all the kids in the chosen class were villainous of course. Many just had to survive. Still there were some that were a little trigger happy.

Chocolate War (1988)
I've picked this movie before for TMP #48 and can't help but pick it again. Love the book; the movie falls a little short but is still a worthy watch. The story has a great villain mastermind who orchestrates a final showdown that breaks the spirit of the new kid who dares to rebel against his secret society rituals and rules, and with most of the school pretty much partaking in all of the villain's orchestration.

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks

Thursday Movie Picks #28: Movies with Colour in the Title
Thursday Movie Picks #17: Movies Featuring Amnesiacs
Thursday Movie Picks #25: Bank Robberies
Thursday Movie Picks #13: Zombie Movies
Thursday Movie Picks #22: Movies that Feature a Family Secret

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday Movie Picks #64: Halloween Edition - Alfred Hitchcock Movies

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.For further details visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Halloween Edition - Alfred Hitchcock Movies

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Hey it's October and the whole of this month I'm running the Halloween Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the weeks.

October 1 - Halloween Edition: Alfred Hitchcock Movies
October 8 - Halloween Edition: Villainous Children (Suggested by Wendell)
October 15 - Halloween Edition: Asian Horror
October 22 - Halloween Edition: Werewolves
October 29 - Halloween Edition: Ghost Movies (Suggested by John Hitchcock)

This is actually the second time I'm running the Halloween edition. If you missed it last year, check out last year's themes below:

October 2 2014 - Unstable Characters (characters that seemed off...eg. Donnie Darko)
October 9 2014 - Zombie Movies
October 16 2014 - Found Footage Movies
October 23 2014 - Vampire Movies
October 30 2014- Haunted Buildings


Well this week is Alfred Hitchcock movies! I have picked a few of his movies before for other weeks' themes (namely Rebecca, Psycho, The Lady Vanishes and Strangers on a Train) so for the sake of variety, I will not be picking them again. Still, of the ones I've watched, I do like a couple of them so it was hard just picking three.  

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
A young woman craves for excitement in her dull life and is thrilled when her favorite charming Uncle Charlie comes to stay with her family for a visit. However she soon discover he is harbouring some dark secrets. If you like Stoker, I'd recommend seeing this; there are some similarities.

Rear Window (1954)
Confined to his apartment after breaking his leg, Jeff a photographer begins spending his time observing his neighbours from his window. He soon begins to suspect that a man in the next building to have murdered a woman. Unable to move himself, he enlists his nurse and his girlfriend to do the investigating. Quite amazing how much suspense is created from just using a single location. Just cut all the other noise and rely on story, characters and good dialogue. This wasn't Hitchcock's only single location movie, they're all just as good but I had to choose just one. If you like Rear Window, check out Disturbia (2007) too which is sort of modern twist to the story and wasn't bad at all.

The Wrong Man (1956)
In The Wrong Man, a string bassist is mistaken for a criminal and his world is turned upside down when events and coincidences seem to conspire against him. I think this is one Hitchcock less popular movies and really is a simple mistaken identity story that is effectively scary.

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks

Thursday Movie Picks #28: Movies with Colour in the Title
Thursday Movie Picks #17: Movies Featuring Amnesiacs
Thursday Movie Picks #25: Bank Robberies
Thursday Movie Picks #13: Zombie Movies
Thursday Movie Picks #22: Movies that Feature a Family Secret

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday Movie Picks #16: Haunted Buildings

Hello and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks! Halloween is tomorrow and this the last week of the  Halloween Edition of Thursday Movie Picks! I hope you've enjoyed reading mine and other participants picks this October and even check out some of those movies yourself.

October 2 - Unstable Characters (characters that seemed off...eg. Donnie Darko)
October 9 - Zombie Movies
October 16 - Found Footage Movies 
October 23 - Vampire Movies
October 30 - Haunted Buildings
 
Before we start let's go through some of the simple rules for the newbies; Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each. For more information and future topics please visit the Thursday Movie Picks page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Haunted Buildings

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I love ghost stories. But I much prefer stories about haunted buildings rather than haunted people (which tend to go to the possession route) thus haunted buildings became this week's theme and my picks will be all favourites.

Dark Water (2002) / Dark Water (2005)

Dark Water came out at the height of the popularity of Asian horror and I was actually quite reluctant to see this because after awhile the movies all seem a tad similiar but ended up really liking Dark Water and the remake which came a few years later. In Dark Water, a newly divorced mother and her young daughter moves into a rundown apartment. The mother is struggling to cope with the big change in their lives and ensuring that she provides a good home so she can continue having custody of her daughter. But unfortunately creepy water stains start to appear on the ceiling of the apartment which is only the beginning of other weird things that would happen.

The Devil's Backbone (2001)

"What is a ghost? A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps. Something dead which still seems to be alive. An emotion suspended in time. Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect trapped in amber." This movie had me with its opening lines. I think a good ghost story is both scary and tragic. Well at least the ones I like are and I just love this movie. It's just heartwrenching. In the Devil's Backbone at the end of the Spanish civil war, after the death of his father, Carlos is left at an orphanage which is haunted. The boys at the orphanage believes the ghost is Santi a former occupant who has disappeared and soon the ghost has latched on to Carlos trying to communicate with him. Without going into it too much, let's just say there are more sinister things in store for people at the orphanage other than the ghost child.

The Others (2001)
Isolated mansion. A family with a peculiar affliction. Weird servants. Limited lighting. This movie really does have a great set up for a haunted house story and plays the suspense really well. There's this scene with the little old lady in the veil in a darkened room in the trailer...that was one scary jumpy scene.

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out my past Thursday Movie Picks
 

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)
  

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday Movie Picks #15: Vampire Movies

Hello and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks! Its October and it's currently the Halloween Edition! I hope you've enjoyed reading mine and other participants picks the last three weeks and even check out some of those movies yourself. It's a new week so continue to brace yourself for some scary flicks as for 5 Thursdays in the month of October, the themes will all be Halloween related. 

October 2 - Unstable Characters (characters that seemed off...eg. Donnie Darko)
October 9 - Zombie Movies
October 16 - Found Footage Movies
October 23 - Vampire Movies
October 30 - Haunted Buildings

As you can see there are some fun themes in the coming weeks. So if you haven't join us already, now is definitely the time to.

Before we start let's go through some of the simple rules for the newbies; Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each. For more information and future topics please visit the Thursday Movie Picks page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Vampire Movies

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Like last week I am once again doing a hidden gems list.

30 Days of Night (2007)

Living in a part of the world where daylight hours are consistent throughout the year it fascinates me that there are parts of the world that do not get daylight for weeks at a time during certain periods. And this is exactly the premise of 30 Days of Night. In a small Alaskan town, night has enveloped them and a coven of vampires have descended for the darkness have provided the perfect conditions for hunting. Tired of movies with romantic vampires...don't worry, this one only features the vicious kind.

Byzantium (2012)

In Byzantium, Clara and Eleanor are mother and daughter who have been on the run from some mysterious men moving from town to town for the last 200 years. Arriving at a coastal town they masquerade as sisters and try to start a new life. I really enjoyed this movie. Visually Byzantium is  beautiful and I love the interesting take on the vampire story especially that at it's center is the mother and daughter relationship with Clara struggling to protect and provide a life for her daughter and Eleanor the eternal schoolgirl who yearns to be free from their secret and tell her story.

Daybreakers (2009)
I've mentioned Daybreakers on this blog once before for the Attack of the Sequels Blogathon. I think Daybreakers is a pretty imaginative movie, painting a world where vampires are the dominant species and everything in it is transformed to serve the needs of vampires (darkened cars, underground tunnels for daylight travelling). Trouble in this vampire world is the dwindling human population meaning the blood supply upon which the vampires are dependent on is almost exhausted. Despite it not being able to fully exploit the great premise and falling apart in the last third, Daybreakers is still a very entertaining action horror movie.

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out my past Thursday Movie Picks

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)
 

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday Movie Picks #13: Zombie Movies

Hello and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks! We're now in the second week of the Halloween Edition. Once again brace yourself for some scary flicks as for 5 Thursdays in the month of October, the themes will all be Halloween related. 

October 2 - Unstable Characters (characters that seemed off...eg. Donnie Darko)
October 9 - Zombie Movies
October 16 - Found Footage Movies
October 23 - Vampire Movies
October 30 - Haunted Buildings

As you can see there are some fun themes in the coming weeks. So if you haven't join us already, now is definitely the time to.

Before we start let's go through some of the simple rules for the newbies; Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each. For more information and future topics please visit the Thursday Movie Picks page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Zombie Movies

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Ah zombie movies...I'm relatively quite new to them having only begun seeing them in the 2000s with 28 Days Later which have been argued to not technically be a zombie movie since the infected didn't die first before reanimating. Anyhoo...I have like most of the ones I've seen and 28 Days Later is a definite favourite, but it won't be part of my picks this week as I'm going for Hidden Gems.

Fido (2006)

Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead are the more popular zombie dark comedies so I thought I'd highlight Fido for one of my picks. Fido pretty much begins where Shaun of the Dead ends but set in the 50s. So imagine a world like Pleaseantville where zombies have been domesticated by having them wear collars making them controllable and productive members of society. In this world having a zombie servant becomes a desirable thing because it's all about keeping up with the Joneses right? Until of course...accidents happen.

Warm Bodies (2013)

So we already have a zombie comedy, let's now have a zombie romance, Romeo and Juliet style. Don't worry there's no tragic suicides here because Warm Bodies is light hearted fun comedy/drama/romance set in a zombie apocalypse. Plus R the Romeo in this tale is already dead. Yep he is a zombie. His brain has limited functionality (he can't even remember his name), just enough for him to know he is hungry and needs to eat people. That is until he eats one boy's brains and inherits his memories and the emotions tied to it. R soon find himself falling for Julie, a living girl from the boy's memory, and goes to great lengths to protect her from his fellow zombies. You're probably now thinking how the romance part works out since Julie is human and R is dead...it works out...you'd just have to see it.

World War Z (2013)

After the delays, the reshoots the movie had and how different the story was reportedly to be from the book, I had expected World War Z to be disappointing. So I was quite surprise that it turn out to be an entertaining, heart pumping and action packed zombie flick. I'm not a fan of fast zombies...but it does make this zombie infested world extremely scarry. World War Z follows Gerry, a UN investigator, fly around the world to investigate the disease. So basically through him we see the zombie apocalypse on a global scale, which I don't think any other movie has done before, and certainly effectively gives a certain sense of escalating claustrophobia as we come to see no corner of the earth is untouched by the pandemic. I would also recommend the book. Other than the zombie apocalypse affecting the whole world, the story is vastly different. The major difference probably being that the book is made up of a series of accounts of the war by characters from different parts of the world from various backgrounds told to a UN agent interview style.

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out my past Thursday Movie Picks

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers