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| Jumpin said: Mostly rewatches of my favourite childhood films. They give me a warm feeling inside, although some today might see them as too "woke" or flawed because they don't follow the formulaic story structures that they've seen in 98% of films from about 1985 onward. Night of the Living Dead 1968 and 1990 Where it all started. Zombies lay siege to a house with several people trapped inside. They're building the defences, listening to the radio for outside help. I watched both the original Romero version and the Tom Savini remake. The Savini remake stars Tony Todd (best known as Candyman, but is a B-film and horror movie icon) Patricia Tallman (mostly known as the telepath Lyta from Babylon 5). Tom Savini, for those who don't know, is known as the Sultan of Splatter and did the special effects for all of Romero's films except Night of the Living Dead 1968. While the idea of the remake sounds great, it was made in 1990 where censorship was much heavier than it was just a few years earlier when they made Day of the Dead. So the film has a lot cut out, and runs fairly short - that's why I typically recommend the original, even if the remake is worth watching. For example: the original film is the only one that explains the cause of the zombie pandemic, a probe from Venus had some kind of alien radiation coming off of it. The remake completely lacks the radio/TV sections, so it's limited to what's going on in the house and the surrounding areas, rather than having the ear on the world outside - and it focuses WAY more setting up defences against the zombies, and the strife within the house than the original (the original focuses on other elements). The 1968 film is one of the first films in the US to star a black man and that context is there. Not that the remake is bad, it's actually a great film if you want a new take on the classic and don't need the exposition and such - but it's probably not best to watch it first. Dawn of the Dead 1978 Arguably the best zombie film ever made. And one of my favourites. The funny thing is that people today would find this one "too political" because of today's oversensitivity to politics today. One of the central themes is pragmatism vs rights/traditions in attempting to stop the zombie pandemic. The film begins with a TV report, already months into the pandemic with two sides arguing, one telling them about the realities of this zombie pandemic, and that anyone infected will have to be turned over to authorities for processing (killing), but there is another political faction that believes they know better than the government in handling the pandemic, arguing that they should be able to handle their own family members and such (leads to a lot of people getting infected)... the pro-science guy explains very plainly what a zombie is - in what is arguably the best exposition for a zombie film of all time. It then goes into a very gritty action-packed scene where a combat group is attacking a building where people are housing zombies. The battle is primarily human on human, and it is quite gory. The next bit is the gathering of the main characters who are tired of all this shit and make a run for it, traveling through the city, the countryside, see various pockets of people defending what turf they have, and then they reach an abandoned mall where they will build a society, and live there. This is arguably the most fun mall film ever made, even above Mallrats, since they live in the mall and take advantage of all the stuff in there. This film doesn't have the same conflict between characters as Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead - they are working together, clearing zombies, securing more and more of the mall - they forge their own little society in the mall; the real struggle is against their own despair as they watch TV to see what's going on in the outside world while they're in the mall. The 2004 remake has the mall in common with the original, but only uses it as a backdrop, and lacks any of the politics, themes, and character development, and they added in a lot of conflict between the characters instead of showing them cooperating and learning new survival skills (as how they cooperated/learned in the 1978 original film) - the remake is a good action film, but there's not really much substance to it except a few interesting action-horror scenes, mainly in the first 20 minutes - and otherwise has nothing to do with the original except its name, particularly because the original takes place across 5 months and the remake across 1 or 2 days. Rather than trying to explain a zombie apocalypse through people being reckless and careless in a pandemic, it explains it as the zombies just being really really really fast and human weaponry being insufficient. Also, thanks to a dispute between the Argento brothers and the Romero estate, the 1978 film isn't available anywhere, but it is free on YouTube. (If you watch this, warning for the easily triggered, there are racial slurs and racist violence from racist characters). Day of the Dead 1985 This is the most brutal, gory, and darkest film by far. I think many will find this one disturbing (especially if you're under cannabis influence). It takes place years into the apocalypse on a human army base of scientists and soldiers. They're running experiments on zombies, and trying to figure out a path forward for the remnants of civilization. Coms have recently gone down, and the leader of the military forces has died, so a psychopathic rageholic takes over the military command. This creates a bit of a divide between the military and scientific community. There is also the same sort of despair of being stuck on the base (which is situated above a mine system). There is the belief that somewhere out there is a better place, an island perhaps. This is my other favourite zombie film of all time, along with Dawn of the Dead. It doesn't hold the prestige of the 1978 Dawn of the Dead, though - which is generally considered the best zombie film ever made. Day of the Dead is certainly the most underrated as a result. Next and last on the list in this series: Land of the Dead The Wickerman 1973 First, this is a dark comedy, not a horror film. |
As a Neopagan I hate that movie so much. It paints us all as deceptive loons who make human sacrifices. -_-
