I will have some of the upcoming weekend's to do's sometime tomorrow, but right now, I decided to do little fluff piece. As the regulars here know, I'm a fan of zombie films. I'm going to list a number of them here, some good, some bad, and have you guys vote on your favorites (give me your top five) in the comments section...feel free to mention/recommend any I may have missed. In about a week I'll tally the votes and list Frederick's top ten zombie flicks.Night of the Living Dead - The 1960's Romero classic
Night of the Living Dead (1990) - Tom Savini's remake.
Dawn of the Dead (2004) - The high adrenaline remake, partially inspired by 28 Days Later.
Dawn of the Dead (original) - The second in Romero's trilogy
Day of the Dead - The final installment of Romero's 24 hours of zombie.
Dead Heat - A zombie buddy cop film featuring Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo.
Evil Dead - Bruce Campbell, a remote cabin, and really cheap lighting. I have some friends who would call that their perfect date.
Evil Dead 2 - Pretty much one all over again, but with a bigger budget.
Army of Darkness - Five simple words...Hail to the King, baby.
Land of the Dead - Romero makes his return to the zombie genre with Dennis Hopper playing the biggest corporate asshole since Paul Riser's yuppie from hell in Aliens.
28 Days Later - Arguably, and no pun intended, revived a dead genre.
28 Weeks Later - A worthy sequel dealing with the Rage infection in England.
Return of the Living Dead - This is where "braaaaiiiinnnnsss," comes from.
Return of the Living Dead III - A different take on dealing with turning into a zombie.
Slither - Equal parts alien invasion and zombie menace.
Resident Evil - Yes...from the video game and yes, Milla Jovovich. Do I need to say anything else?
Resident Evil: Apocalypse - Um...I got nothing.
Grindhouse: Planet Terror - Possibly the highest budget zombie film I have ever se
en. Definitely the most recognizable cast.
My Boyfriend’s Back - Coming back from the dead for the prom...it's just that important to some people.
Idle Hands - Some early Jessica Alba. Amusing.
Dead Alive - A zombie film from Peter Jackson, long before Lord of the Rings.
8 comments:
28 Days Later
Shaun of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Evil Dead 2
And of course...
Ed and His Dead Mother.
There is also a trio of surprisingly good zombie novels that the author, David Wellington, has made available for free on the web.
Check out "Monster Island" at http://www.brokentype.com/monster/
These are also available on Amazon if you insist using dead trees to read about dead people.
Will have to look those up. For myself, I'm going -
1. Night of the Living Dead (original) - really, it's the birth of the modern zombie film, that has to count for something.
2. 28 Days Later
3. Army of Darkness
4. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
5. Shaun of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Dawn of the Dead (original)
Evil Dead 2
Dead Alive (holy crap was this movie sick)
Night of the Creeps (a write-in)
Also, Monster Island was pretty cool - http://theshortfatkid.wordpress.com/2006/07/19/a-bad-guy-named-gary/
There's one coming out this year you may have to add to your list. "Fido" has been getting rave reviews and the trailer is a pisser.
Also, I think you have to add Fulci's "Zombi 2" to the list. Zombies fighting sharks? Quality...
1. Night of the Living Dead (1968) - it set the standard and it's still scary.
2. Dawn of the Dead (1978) - A bit dated (crayola blood?) but hand-in-hand with Night.
3. Shaun of the Dead - plays with the genre and manages to be scary and also one of my five favorite comedies, too.
4. Dawn of the Dead (2004) - So what if they run? I can watch this any time.
5. Braindead (Dead-Alive) - Seeing this in college, I knew Peter Jackson was a genius ten years before Lord of the Rings.
You forgot to mention Zombi, which is a terribly slow film, but notable for its epic underwater "Zombie vs Shark" scene.
I would also argue that the Evil Dead trilogy could be argued to be about ghouls and not zombies.
See definition for ghoul:
ghoul
–noun 1. an evil demon, originally of Oriental legend, supposed to feed on human beings, and especially to rob graves, prey on corpses, etc.
And Zombie
zom·bie /ˈzɒmbi/ –noun 1. (in voodoo) a. the body of a dead person given the semblance of life, but mute and will-less, by a supernatural force, usually for some evil purpose.
b. the supernatural force itself.
2. Informal. a. a person whose behavior or responses are wooden, listless, or seemingly rote; automaton.
b. an eccentric or peculiar person.
3. a snake god worshiped in West Indian and Brazilian religious practices of African origin.
4. a tall drink made typically with several kinds of rum, citrus juice, and often apricot liqueur.
5. Canadian Slang. an army conscript assigned to home defense during World War II.
The monsters in Evil Dead are awakened by an evil Egyptian curse which would hint at more ghoul-like creatures, whereas most zombie origins are unknown, but hinted at (outer space-Night of the Living Dead series), biological (Dead Alive & 28 days Later), military (Planet Terror) and actual Voodoo (Zombi).
My top faves (I can't narrow it down to 5!):
Night of the Living Dead - Something about the black and white, the eating scenes, and even the slow pace at which the zombies walk still make this movie pretty damn creepy. A big complaint about zombie films is their slow pace-this movie shows that it doesn't matter how slowly they move-they are coming for you and they have all the time in the world to get to you.
Night of the Living Dead (1990) - Watched this at Kevin's suggestion and was impressed at the changes made.
Dawn of the Dead (2004) - The high adrenaline remake, partially inspired by 28 Days Later. (Couldn't have said it better).
Dawn of the Dead (original) - A bit slow by today's standards, but captivating all the same.
Return of the Living Dead - Cheesy, but entertaining. Some of the best lines in cinema history.
Grindhouse: Planet Terror - To me, everything a zombie movie should have-zombies, brutality, evil government, gore, and, of course, a hot chick with a machine gun for a leg.
Shaun of the Dead - Should be admired for expertly melding a chick-flik, comedy, and damn good horror film into one movie.
I thought the Necronomicon referred to in Evil Dead they said was Sumerian...and yes, I agree that it comes from the curse, however, in Evil Dead II, the curse is transfered through infection - Ash ends up cutting his own hand off to fend off the infection and creates a zombie hand trying to kill him.
I might be a little looser with the definition, but even the poster for ED II seems to imply the dead returning from the grave rather than demon possession .
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