Zombies vs. vampires

The way I see it, there are two kinds of people: vampire people and zombie people. It’s like The Beatles and The Stones—you’re into one more than the other. There’s no shortage of pop-culture entries surrounding either group these days. Vampires continue to have their day in the sun (um, not literally) with the Twilight franchise and True Blood, while the walking dead recently shambled to the top of the box-office charts with Zombieland. 

You might think the twist offered by the Norwegian horror flick Dead Snow, which opens this week, is a new one, but actually, it’s the latest entry into a subgenre: Nazi zombie movies. Yes, Dead Snow follows in the footsteps of Shock Waves and Zombie Lake. The former includes Peter Cushing and John Carradine, while the latter features ’80s-era French girls who just can’t stay away from the titular lake or keep their own titulars covered. So, no, new ground isn’t being broken here as a group of med students on a skiing vacation find themselves face-to-rotting-face with a crew of undead Nazis who froze in the mountains during the last days of World War II. Still, even with its fairly minor budget and b-movie effects, this is a Nazi zombie movie, so the zombie faithful will be pleased as the vampire fans once again look down their long, nasty noses at them. 

Oh, and by the way, if you’re one of those people who isn’t a fan of zombies or vampires, hey, that’s cool—just don’t expect us to save you when the undead apocalypse goes down.

OPENING

2012: The guys who blew up the world in Independence Day take us down again.

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day: The sequel to the cult classic. This time, with more guys getting shot!

Disgrace: John Malkovich is a South African professor dismissed from his Capetown university for getting busy with one of his students. 

Gentlemen Broncos: The latest film from Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) stars Jermaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) as a novelist who steals the ideas of one of his fans. 

The Horse Boy: Unlike the spate of fictional movies about autism, this documentary about a Texas couple who take their autistic son to Mongolia shows how tough it is to have a kid on the spectrum. 

Pirate Radio: Even with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, this look at DJs spinning tunes from a ship off the English coast during the ’60s is all soft rock.

ONE TIME ONLY 

NOW PLAYING 

(Untitled): Adam Goldberg is an abrasive, neurotic composer in this satirical look at the modern art world. For once, Vinnie Jones plays a creative type, rather than the guy who kicks ass. 

Antichrist: In Lars von Trier’s latest NC-17 weird-out, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe are a married couple who endure an unspeakable tragedy. And that’s before the genital mutilation and supernatural brouhaha. 

The Box: Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) adapts Richard Matheson’s (I Am Legend) story about a couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) who are given an offer: Push a button, get rich, kill someone you don’t know. 

Disney’s A Christmas Carol: Robert Zemeckis gives Dickens’ classic the animated, 3-D treatment and hands the lead role to Jim Carrey. 

The Fourth Kind: This POV look at alien abduction could be the next Blair Witch—uh, Paranormal Activity. 

The Men Who Stare at Goats: Even though it’s got all the right ingredients, like George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey, this dark comedy about secret psychic warfare loses track of itself (which means it’s not psychic, right?).

Skin: A black girl (Sophie Okonedo) is born to white parents (Sam Neill and Alice Krige) in South Africa during Apartheid. 

White on Rice: Fresh off his divorce, Jimmy moves in with his sister and has to share his 10-year-old nephew’s room while he hunts for a new wife.

The Beaches of Agnes: Agnes Varda, from the French new wave and Left Bank film movements, turns in a touching autobiography that’s as much an experimental film as any of her other work.

Five Minutes of Heaven: Violence begets violence and terrific performances from Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s drama about two men meeting decades after one of them killed the other’s brother.

Michael Jackson: This Is It: Over it. 

Ong Bak 2: The Beginning: When Tony Jaa burst onto the scene with Thai Warrior, everyone thought he was the second coming of Bruce Lee. Even though it has some cool fighting, the prequel makes it clear that he is not. 

Amelia: Hilary Swank plays the famous dominatrix—er, aviatrix. Yeah, aviatrix.

An Education: Nick Hornby of High Fidelity fame wrote the script and does a 180 by writing about a girl who desperately wants to grow up and thinks she may have found a shortcut in a good-looking charmer twice her age.

Astroboy: Animated version of the famous manga about a robot boy who has machine guns coming out of his ass. Oh, yeah, it’s for kids.  

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant: Plenty of big names, like John C. Reilly, Salma Hayak and Ken Watanabe, appear in this tween film trying to cash in on the vampire craze.

Saw VI: There have been six of these? Seriously? 

Law Abiding Citizen: Jamie Foxx is a Philly D.A. trying to stop sociopath Gerard Butler, who is somehow blowing shit up while serving a prison term.  

More Than a Game: Sharp documentary about five high-school friends who won the 2003 national basketball championship. Oh, right, one of them is called Lebron James.

New York, I Love You: The sequel to a similar project about Paris, these 11 short films are about the beast that is New York, all tied together. There are plenty of high-profile actors, but the nature of the project guarantees that the whole is uneven. 

The Stepfather: Dude comes back from military school to find out his mom’s married to Nip / Tuck’s Dylan Walsh—who, it turns out, is evil.

Where the Wild Things Are: Let the wild rumpus begin! Scroll down at Lastblogonearth.com to find Anders Wright’s review.

A Serious Man: The Coen brothers offer up an examination of faith that moves in mysterious ways.

Couples Retreat: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell make a dumb romantic comedy.

Paranormal Activity: The buzziest horror film of late, touted as the next Blair Witch Project, was shot in San Diego on a shoestring budget by a first-time director.

The Boys are Back: Clive Owen’s wife dies, leaving him to care for their children and his teenaged son from a previous marriage. 

Capitalism: A Love Story: You may not always agree with Michael Moore’s filmmaking methods, but it’s hard to argue with his message. Rise up, people. 

Coco Before Chanel: Audrey Tatou plays the famed designer in her pre-fame years. She’s pouty, but she lights up the screen when she smiles. 

Zombieland: Woody Harrelson. Zombies. Rated R. ’Nuff said. 

Bright Star: Jane Campion’s latest period piece creates a very real person out of Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), the country girl who’s long been considered the tart who fooled around with poet John Keats before his death.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell: Biopic about Tucker Max, self-proclaimed drunken asshole.  

Paris: Juliette Binoche shows up with her three kids at the doorstep of her brother, who’s desperately waiting for a heart transplant. 

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: Sure, this 3-D adaptation of the beloved children’s book looks cheesy. But it’s great, and any cheese involved makes it taste even better. Seriously, one of those rare children’s films that’s equally awesome for adults. And it includes Neil Patrick Harris voicing a monkey.

The Informant!: Steven Soderberg directs a pudgy, mustachioed Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre, a ’90s-era whistleblower with aspirations of greatness and a propensity for bending the truth. 

The Baader Meinhof Complex: Lengthy look at the domestic terror cell that terrified Germany during the 1970s, committing bombings and murder in the hopes of undermining the country’s still wet-behind-the-ears democracy.

Julie & Julia: Meryl Streep is Julia Child, and Amy Adams is her biggest fan, Julie Powell, who got through life with the help of Child’s My Life in France.

The Hangover: They cut a good trailer for Todd Phillips’ new film, about three buddies—Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis—who wake up the morning after a brutal bachelor party with no memory of what happened or where the groom is.

ONGOING 

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center Space Theater: After undergoing significant renovations, the Fleet is re-opening its dome Imax theater, complete with a kick-ass new screen. Films vary week-to-week. Showtimes and prices can be found at www.rhfleet.org.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: No, it’s not a time warp—the love-it-or-hate-it camp classic continues its midnight run in its 37th year of release. When the lead character of the film is a transvestite scientist named Dr. Frank-N-Furter, you know you’re in for some seriously trashy viewing. And, of course, this is the one movie where you want the audience shouting at the screen. Screens Fridays at midnight at La Paloma Theater in Encinitas.