sonofkinski
Posts 34
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9/12/2007 8:10 PM
posted awhile ago
Romero's 'Diary of the Dead'
Romero's newest has finally come to the festival circuit, and since he's the fucking POPE of the dead, we need to gear up. Forgive my lack of hyperlinking below -- I'm an interweb idiot:
IMDB page: http://imdb.com/title/tt0848557/
Ain't It Cool: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33992
Thoughts on George's previous efforts:
'Night of the Living Dead': My stepfather, a generally unpleasant human being in every other respect, went out of his way when I was 10 years old to rent the original NOTLD for me because, "You like horror movies, and this is the best one ever." He may have been right. The b&w photography is beautiful (and gets better with time), the claustrophobic setting is effective, and the oft-discussed social undertones convey a certain mindset of the time. A truly perfect film, worthy of its status, and hardly matched...unless you include
'Dawn of the Dead': More gore, more humor, more social commentary, more claustrophobia, MORE. It's grim, gripping, and feels like (therefore, is) an epic. Romero was able to expand on his universe without bastardizing the groundwork he laid...which is all the more credible considering how difficult it seems for others to do so throughout the years.
'Day of the Dead': This always felt like "The End", and probably to Romero himself considering the initial reception and problems with the production. It's pretty bleak fare, with the sympathy noticeably shifting to the zombies ("Bud", and the fact that the "freaks" or outcasts are now the humans in a minority's plight/majority rules sense), but the more I watch this film, the more I like it. The Savini effects are great, and it feels like the natural progression from 'Dawn...'
'Land of the Dead': Considering the time that passed between entries and the anticipation I felt, I liked this one a lot more leaving the theater than I do now. Dennis Hopper is too cartoonish, the Rambo-esque gun truck is silly, and lead actor (Simon Baker) is unengaging. I don't mind the "evolution" of the zombies, as that makes sense within the cycle of life (or death, in this instance) to which I subscribe, but it just feels a bit emptier than the others upon later viewings.
'Diary of the Dead', from what I'm reading, is something of a reboot. It's back to the original time frame of the outbreak, but with a more individual, personal view (hence the title) of what's happening. Romero himself has never officially linked ANY of these films together outside of titular progression of a 24-hour time span (night, dawn, day), so the reevaluation doesn't bother me in the least. It's also not a major studio effort, which I don't really care about one way or another outside of the fact that Romero's past independent work seems to stand the test of time much better than any 'The Dark Half' kind of MGM effort.
Any retrospective feelings on Romero's past zombie films? Hopes (or fears) for 'Diary'? Or, well, anything considering I just wrote a bunch?
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TheWorkingDead
Posts 254
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9/12/2007 11:57 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Romero's 'Diary of the Dead'
I've been reading about this film with growing anticipation, and a little bit of anxiety. Romero has never been subtle with his politics, or particularly deep or nuanced, but for me thats a lot of the charm. Bruiser gets a lot of flack for being a pretty crap film, but I think it has some interesting things to say about how violence is rewarded in our society. I hear that Diary of the Dead is a lot more blatant with it's politics, which doesnt sound too promising, but I'm willing to let that slide. Night of the Living Dead; if this isn't a perfect film, I don't know what is. I've written about it before, so I wont go too much into it here, but every time I watch this film I appreciate it more. The way exposition is given through television or radios on in the house, so that the pace never lets down. And of course those social under(over)tones. Romero keeps saying he didn't write the main character as a black man, that Duane Jones was merely the best actor, but it's hard to imagine that the repercussions of the ending never entered his mind. Dawn of the Dead: See above, RE: Perfect Film. Romero's opening scenes are always killer/ This one is peerless, where we get quick, crazy exposition at a rapidly unraveling television station juxtaposed with the practical footage of actually seeing the madness firsthand. In terms of getting the movie off to a powerful start, it's only rivaled by... Day of the Dead: The movie is a bit of a letdown to me, although my appreciation seems to fluctuate a bit with each viewing. Sometimes I hate it, sometimes I dont. That opening, though, setting up the isolation and hopelessness with some truly KICK ASS zombie effects, is something never matched in the rest of the film. It needed this, too, since the rest of the film is so insular and cramped, this short scene opens things up nicely. However, the exposition in this film is ponderous and slow, and I dislike the decision to try explaining the zombies scientifically. But, getting beyond that, I still find the movie slow and unmoving, aside from the setpieces(the scenes at the end in the Zombie corral gave me a nice pang of dread). Land of the Dead: I only saw this the once in the theatre, so I haven't digested it as fully as the others. I suspect I'll have similar reactions to yours, because I enjoyed it a lot in the theatre, but in retrospect find a bit of it annoying. And, Martin, has anyone seen this? It could probably start it's own discussion thread, but I find it to be his best non-Dead film.
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sonofkinski
Posts 34
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9/13/2007 12:52 AM
posted awhile ago
Re: Romero's 'Diary of the Dead'
'Martin' is one of my favorite horror movies, and it's easily one of Romero's best. The main character (John Amplas...I think?, who also had a quick cameo in 'Dawn of the Dead') is really well drawn. Upon just writing this, in fact, I can't think of a "modern" vampire movie I like more.
I also really like the radio/TV correspondence in NOTLD. Worthless, but personal, sidenote: I was born in one of the towns mentioned in the television news broadcast...Greenville, PA. And judging by the people I met there through the years, the zombie epidemic was/is alive and well...
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divinemsjunebug
Posts 558
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9/15/2007 10:03 AM
posted awhile ago
Re:Re: Romero's 'Diary of the Dead'
I have to agree with what both of you have said about each of the "Dead" movies. NOTLD is still one of the best movies that I can watch over and over and still see things I missed. I absolutely LOVE the beginning of the film, just a beautiful sunny day, brother having fun trying to scare the sister, when out of nowhere (when they think it is just a crazy drunk man) the brother gets it...what can be more scary? It doesn't happen at night in the dark shadows at first, it happens when you think everything should be safe AND when you are with someone else...just classic. I loved Dawn of the Dead, and I also loved the remake, although even though the two had similar situations, they were really different. The original is still my fav so far. I'm excited to see Diary of the Dead, I hope it will be another modern classic and not just an excuse to express what's wrong with the world...but we will see... Martin, is also one of my favorite vampire movies, very bizarre and a little sad in a way...
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Dr_Gor
Posts 938
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9/17/2007 5:51 PM
posted awhile ago
Re:Re:Re: Romero's 'Diary of the Dead'
"Martin" , I believe, marked the first collaberation between Romero and Savini... BEFORE "Dawn..." ! Note the part where Martin makes a hole in some guys neck with a pointed stick to get at his blood... and, of course, the 'staking' scene at the end... I will not go into my love of Romero's 'Dead Trilogy' in here... most of you already know how I feel about these movies. BUT, I must say, It seems I liked "Day Of The Dead" a lot more than some of you. At the risk of blasphemeing, this might have been the best one out of the three! With a LOT more money (AND experience!) to throw at this project, this turned out to be Romero's SLICKEST and best filmed and edited movie to date! And not to mention the GORIEST! Also, I could TOTALLY identify with the character of 'Rhodes'! (Although I would have been much smarter and taken the helicopter pilot and the hot chick and one or two good gunmen and gotten the hell outa there) Also worth mention is Romero's next pic called "The Crazies" ! This could ALMOST be considered a 'zombie' movie. It is about a secret military 'virus' that is accidentally released into the water supply of a small Pennsylvania town that either kills you outright or turns you into a raving lunatic! VERY low budget but with a great story and some excellent gore FX and some really great 'gunbattle' scenes which I think Mr. Romero does better than anyone else! Also, look for the guy who played 'Frankenstein' in "Day.." as an infectected father who tries to molest his very pretty, and also infected, teenage daughter... I have yet to see "Land Of The Dead' and, of course, "Diary Of The Dead" but I have read and/or heard a lot about both of these movies and I can't wait...
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