zombies

“In a world where the dead are returning to life, the word ‘trouble’ loses much of its meaning.”

“It’s easy to recognize our own reflection, even when it has blood in its teeth.” – Keith Phipps

Last night, I watched George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead, and, y’know, I kind of liked it. I don’t think there’s any danger of it supplanting either Dawn or Day of the Dead as my favorites so far, but it has some really interesting things to say, some really decent actors to say it with, and it feels like a natural progression from those earlier films.

If I have any complaint, it’s maybe that the movie feels a little rushed near the end, sacrificing some of the interesting world-building that Romero does before that, as it marches towards its natural, flesh-eating conclusion.

Still, I’d definitely recommend it.

“How can we expect them to behave if we act barbarically ourselves?”

In what is shaping up to be my continuing zombie re-edification, last night I watched Day of the Dead. And yes, as someone via Twitter wondered, the Romero original. Until I was asked, I didn’t know there was an alternative.

I don’t know what more to say beyond that I really liked the movie. It was much less campy than I had feared. Sherman Howard’s zombie Bub, for instance, which is where I thought much of the camp might come, is really quite effective and quite the opposite of camp. The film can be tough to watch at times, with its claustrophobic setting and cynical depiction of humanity — there’s less black humor than in Dawn of the Dead, something Romero mentions in his DVD commentary — but I’d highly recommend it.

I guess it’s now on to Land and Diary of the Dead.

Zombifried

First, some links. It’s amazing how these things will accumulate, isn’t it?

On Saturday, I watched the original Dawn of the Dead. I’d rented it once before, years back, but for some reason never actually watched it. I’m very familiar with, but have never actually watched any of George Romero’s zombie movies before this.

It’s a really interesting movie — although, as Romero himself acknowledges on the DVD commentary, not a particularly frightening one. There’s more dark humor and social commentary than there are real scares. That’s not to detract from the film; those are precisely the things that have made it such an enduring classic, and arguably the quintessential film of the genre.

I definitely intend to watch Romero’s other zombie films. Although purists may be dismayed to learn that I’m also interested in seeing the 2004 Dawn remake.