“They’re coming to get you, Barbra!

I know I said earlier that Dawn of the Dead is the greatest zombie movie of all time, and I stick by that. But part of me really feels that the original Romero zombie classic lords over them all. It establishes the Romero rules, has an incredibly spooky vibe, and to this day is creepy as hell. And this was in 1968, when this sort of thing normally wasn’t seen in theaters.

For the two of you who haven’t seen Night of the Living Dead, the film focuses on a group of survivors hiding out in an abandoned farmhouse while the walking dead are outside, waiting to feed. The group includes the noble and level-headed Ben, the practically catatonic (and most certainly useless) Barbra, the hot-headed coward Harry, his wife Helen and their daughter Karen, and young lovers Tom and Judy. Somehow, this group of people has to figure out how to not only barricade the windows and doors, but also how to survive each other. And, in what would become a signature trait of Romero’s zombie flicks, surviving each other proves to be more daunting than surviving the zombies.

Despite its status as a classic and revered film, Night of the Living Dead has been treated like a cheap, second-class flick throughout the years. Because it’s in public domain, countless copies of varying (read: shitty) quality abound. It’s been colorized (blasphemy!) and bootlegged to death. Romero even produced a remake a couple decades later. But if you’re interested in picking up a copy of the original (and you should), I highly recommend grabbing the George A. Romero authorized version. Not only has it been completely remastered, but it contains some really nice historical special features. And hey, Romero actually profits off of this version.

Like John Carpenter’s Halloween, the family and I watch Night of the Living Dead every year on Halloween night, it’s that good. So why didn’t I use it as the final entry for SHOCKtober? Well, we’ll also be watching something else this Halloween. Tune in tomorrow to find out what it is.

There must be a rule in Hollywood that when an actor is needed to play a straight-shooting, no-nonsense law man, Timothy Olyphant has to be the first person you call. Granted, the guy plays the role well. I just wonder if he ever feels like telling his agent, “No more cop roles!”

But I digress…

The Crazies is a remake of the 1973 George Romero flick by the same name. It’s not a zombie movie, per se, but it certainly contains a lot of zombie-like characteristics. In this version, an airplane containing a biological weapon crashes near a small town in Iowa and the chemicals get into the water supply. Shortly, the contaminated water begins to make the townsfolk nuts, turning them into homicidal maniacs.

A small group of survivors, including Olyphant’s sheriff, his wife the doctor, his deputy, and his wife’s nursing assistant, have escaped the madness of the town and the government containment effort. While the infected are running around, killing everything in sight, the military has also been called in to contain and eliminate anyone who may have the disease, and half the battle is escaping the soldiers patrolling the area.

The Crazies is a very well-done horror flick with plenty of scares and great production. The action starts immediately, so there’s no trudging through pointless exposition. It won’t go down as one of the all-time greats, but it is definitely worth your time. Olyphant does his Deadwood/Justified law man schtick, and it plays perfectly, while the supporting cast backs him up well. Definitely give this one a shot.

Today we’ve got the latest movie from the Godfather of the zombie genre, George A. Romero. Survival of the Dead isn’t a great flick by any means, nor is it among Romero’s best. That said, even the least of Romero’s zombie movies are worth watching, and this one in particular poses a fairly intriguing scenario: what if killing the zombies is not the answer? After all, they aren’t really just “zombies”. They are (or were) our friends, our family, our loved ones. Is putting a bullet in their brains really the answer? Because, after all, what if the zombie plague is simply a disease that can be cured, and once the cure is found we can then get our loved ones back?

Yes, this concept has been touched on in past zombie flicks, such as Day of the Dead, but Survival explores it pretty deeply by using a feud between rival families as the vehicle. On an island off of Delaware live two factions, one of whom thinks in order to survive they need to wipe out all the zombies, the other who believes they should lock up the zombies in hopes of a cure. If you’ve seen Romero’s Diary of the Dead, you’ll remember the group of soldiers who appear about halfway through the movie. These soldiers return in Survival and get in the middle of this island debate. What follows is a fairly decent zombie flick with lots of blood, gore, a few laughs, and…an army chick diddling herself about ten minutes into the movie. So yeah… Even better, the movie’s just been added to Netflix Instant Queue.

So again, while Survival of the Dead isn’t the best zombie movie out there, it’s definitely worth a watch. I mean after all, it’s Romero.

Tomorrow we’ll check out a spooky old mansion.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the greatest zombie movie of all time. Of this there is no debate. George A. Romero’s 1978 sequel to the classic Night of the Living Dead encapsulates everything great about the genre. There are thousands of undead roaming the streets, the survivors are interesting and engaging, and the setting is nothing short of classic.

Much of the film takes place at the Monroeville Mall in Pennsylvania. But the action begins at two different locations: a television studio that is slowly degenerating from an information source to all-out chaos, and a tenement building where the National Guard is invading in order to clear it of zombies. Two characters from each of these scenes join up and flee in a television news helicopter and eventually wind up seeking refuge at the abandoned mall.

Romero is a master not only of the living dead, but of using the zombie plague as a backdrop for a deeper narrative of social issues and human interaction. The longer the survivors stay holed up in the mall, the more they realize they’re not really living. And when events finally force them to act, shit hits the fan.

Again, this is the greatest zombie movie ever created and one of the greatest horror films of all time. If you’re going to seek it out (which you should), I highly recommend the Dawn of the Dead (Ultimate Edition). It contains multiple cuts of the film and tons of extra features.

George Romero seems to be able to sneak these movies out without telling anybody. Wasn’t it just a year ago that Diary of the Dead came out? Either way, Survival of the Dead is apparently finished and touring the festival circuit, which means it should hit DVD in about a week. Ok, maybe not, but I doubt it’ll play anywhere outside of the indy theaters.

So remember those AWOL National Guard pricks from Diary of the Dead? They are apparently the stars of Survival. They hear about an island off the coast where people are safe from zombies and decide to check it out. Of course, by the time they get there shit has hit the fan as rival clans are conflicted over what to do with the zombies. One faction wants to blow their brains out, while the other wants to find a use for the zombies while they attempt to find a cure. Stuff happens, brains are eaten, and blood is spilled.

Survival supposedly has a bit of a western feel to it, something you can make out from the above trailer. The reviews seem to be a bit mixed, but that’s how it seems to go with Romero’s movies these days. I enjoyed the hell out of Diary, but I can see how some folks have problems with it. I’m sure the same will be true of Survival. To me, it’s just good to see the zombie master working his craft.

I’ve got a weird thing for playing cards. I love playing casual games of poker with my friends and enjoy having unusual cards with which to play. In fact, sitting next to me I’ve got a deck of Beatles cards, Marvel Ultimate Alliance cards, two decks of World Championship Poker the Video Game cards, and now an awesome set of Dawn of the Dead playing cards. I’m a zombie fanatic and there is no better zombie movie than the original Dawn of the Dead, so how could I resist spending $5 on these bad boys? I like ‘em so much that I decided to scan all of them so you could see the images. Fans of the movie (I’m looking at you, Phneri) should definitely seek these out. They come from Aquarius Images and can be found here or here.

Click on for the rest. (more…)

It appears that the zombie Godfather George Romero is working on yet another zombie movie. After last year’s mostly-good Diary of the Dead, I assumed perhaps Mr. Romero would be taking a bit of a break from the genre. According to Variety I’m wrong:

Director George Romero is beginning production on an untitled thriller. Once again, the antagonists are flesh-eating zombies.Romero first mined zombies with “Night of the Living Dead” and has been cannibalizing the genre since, most recently with “Diary of the Dead.”
Romero wrote the new film and began shooting this week in Ontario.

Plot involves inhabitants of an isolated island off the North American coast who find their relatives rising from the dead to eat their kin. The leaders of the island feud over whether or not to kill their reanimated relatives or preserve them in hopes of finding a cure.

Cast includes Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe, Devon Bostick, Richard Fitzpatrick, Stefano Colacitti and Athena Karkanis.

According to Ain’t It Cool, the working title for the movie is “Island of the Dead”. They also have a new article with some blurry set pictures, as well as the news that Toronto locals can get in on the movie by signing up for a local call for zombie extras! So if you’re in the Toronto area, get on it now!