Two blogs in two days, GASP, what the hell! Well I had a big meeting scheduled today, and it was, of course, cancelled. I have another big meeting coming up this afternoon, but now that I know what to expect the wind has come out of the work sails a bit. So I decided to be a bit productive in another way; the blog.
I decided that I would answer the first question I threw out to my little bloggin’ circle; what is your favorite Zombie movie & why?
I’m going to go with Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead (***** out of 5 Stars). I struggled hard to work out what made a great Zombie flick, here’s what I came up with;
- 28 Days Later (***** out of 5 Stars) – isn’t really a zombie flick, but has a dread and foreboding that is almost untouchable. Not to mention that opening segment of Jim waking from his coma is just surreal.
- Shaun Of The Dead (***** out of 5 Stars) – while insanely funny has that 20 minutes or so towards the end that remind you, “HEY DUMBASS! THIS is a HORROR movie!” It’s jarring, it’s intense, and it gives you that hopelessness vibe that is what Romero does best.
- Grindhouse: Planet Terror (**** out of 5 Stars) – Robert Rodriguez aping John Carpenter doing a Zombie movie, do I need to explain it further?
- Night Of The Living Dead (***** out of 5 Stars) – this movie scared me when I was a kid, it scares me now. It’s what started it all, show it the proper ‘respek(s)’.
- Zombi (*** ½ out of 5 Stars) – hey, it’s got a GREAT kill in it, the survivors are smart, the ending is cool as hell, and it has a SHARK FIGHTING A ZOMBIE!
- Zombieland (***** out of 5 Stars) – since this is so fresh in my mind it’s hard for me to NOT want to gush on and on about. The fact is it’s that good. Hell the opening 20 minutes alone are pitch perfect.
All that being said none can capture what Romero put to film with Dawn. It’s funny; it has actual moments of humor, the Zombies being drawn to the mall, and has a sense of joy to it, a rarity in a genre of films that tend to be bleak at best. It’s scary; in the end humans are even worse than the walking dead. It has a social message, the idea of taking place in a mall where all they “want & need” surrounds people and still being disenfranchised is pretty telling about us, society, and consumer consumption. The beginning is gritty & hits you hard as the two cops try desperately to survive a tenement building full of the dead, the escape is frightening. While the end, depending on which cut you have, can either be sort of uplifting or fit the bleakness that defines this genre to a ‘T’. Overall this is the movie out of all of the above that I would choose to watch over and over again, and that’s what makes it ‘Aces’ in my book.
And now for a truncated Tuesday edition of
RANDOM CRAP!
- I’m making this my first “blogspot” exclusive blog. So if you didn’t read it hear you ain’t readin’ it.
- I loves me some Cheese Curds.
- I hate meetings, especially meetings that don’t even happen.
- Believe it or not, I didn’t even watch Monday Night Football last night, and from everything I’ve read and heard it was a really entertaining game. I must say though I’m glad the Jets lost. I have become decidedly Anti-Jet since last year. I like Rex Ryan, and I’m actually rooting for Mark “Sanchise” Sanchez, but as long as that morose malcontent Thomas Jones is in the backfield I’m going to have to actively root against them. Oh that and I’m a Parcell’s guy so anytime “The Tuna’s” team racks up a victory I’m lovin’ it.
- It’s so cold in the building today I can’t feel my fingers…
- I’m starting to fully formulate my Halloween costume for Dynamic Duo’s and it is going to be AMAZING. Now I just need to figure out all the wonderful hair problems it’s going to present.
- The Darkest Of The Hillside Thickets just put out a T-Shirt with the cover from their last album “Shadow Out Of Tim” (********* out of 5 Stars) on it, I MUST OWN IT!
- I’d punch a baby in the mouth for some Chicken Wings.
- Waves of Mercury, there I kept the streak alive…
- I want to be excited for Marvel’s end to “Dark Reign”, “The Siege”, but I just can’t seem to muster the energy to care.
Well that meeting isn’t going to screw itself up…
“I'm not great at farewells, so uh... that'll do, pig.”
This is embarrassing. The only zombie movie I've ever seen was Shaun of the Dead. I love the Walking Dead though, does that help my pop culture cred a little?
ReplyDeleteWell in any case, you just gave me a fine list to get working on. Any particular order I should watch them in?
Seriously? Your "Geek Cred" just took a major hit.
ReplyDeleteOkely-Dokely, if your going to do it up do it up right;
Night of the Living Dead
Zombi 2
Dawn Of The Dead
Shawn of The Dead
Grindhouse: Planet Terror
Day Of The Dead
Zombieland
In that order. The reality is these films, although by different people can sort of blend together quiet convincingly into one long Zombie Epic.
By the by, now that Walking Dead is gonna be a T.V. show, what are your thoughts?
AND did you pick up Max Brook's new Zombie Graphic Novel, "Recorded Encounters", it's 'tits'.
What about that Nazi zombie movie that came last year? That sounds fun.
ReplyDeleteI have nothing but high hopes for Walking Dead on TV but I worry about producers to always want plots to be bigger than the original ones in the comics. The beauty of The Walking Dead is in it's simplicity. It's not so much a zombie epic as much as it is a character study of human surival. In classical terms it's not so much man vs nature (zombies) but rather man vs himself. If they stick to that formula and the original material I'll be thrilled.
I haven't picked it up yet. I have The Zombie Survival Guide on audio book but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. That preview chapter that you sent me looked great though so maybe I'll skip ahead.
Dead Snow was alright, not great. I'd class that more in the Sam Raimi "Evil Dead" catagory than an actual Zombie movie.
ReplyDeleteIn Frank Darabont I trust...
I have both the book and the audio book. World War Z is Max Brook's best thing though, and the audio book is BRILLIANT! Seek it out immediately it is a MUST!