Re: Zombie Movies
hupfinsgack said:
Can't believe nobody mentioned Braindead yet. A classic Peter Jackson film....
It was originally released under the name "Dead Alive" here in the states and had a slipcover that suggested NOTHING of the over the top goriness inside. I'm thinking they re-released it under its native name after that "Hobbits Big Day Out" movie? "I kick ass for the Lord!"
Also not mentioned is Return of the Living Dead, a mid-80's direct followup to the "Night of the Living Dead". It's not totally bad, decent enough, but the sequels to that one aren't worth mentioning.
Didn't realize until this post how few true Zombie movies there are, and of those few, nearly all tend to play on the ones that came before it. Shaun of the Dead requires a good working knowledge of the "___ of the Dead" series, "Evil Dead" series, and even 28 Days Later to catch all of the "inside" jokes in the movie. Shaun even uses Romero's "metorite" origin idea over of the "28 Days" and "Brain Deads" monkey virus origin idea.
Here's a stretch; Maximum Overdrive, is pretty much a "Zombie Truck" movie. Its based off the SK short story Trucks, that he got the idea for after watching some of the previously mentioned Zombie Movies. Instead of humans roaming around for brains, you have Trucks terrorizing people for gasoline. The Dawn of the Dead remake even uses the same "ending" idea as Maximum Overdrive had. "I'm sailing away, setting a course for the open sea.."
And the RE series, while full of eye-candy, flip tricks, and Milla Jovovich, sucks horribly as a Zombie Movie. All action, no Horror. 'Tis a shame.