Reply to Topic
I like the idea of zombies, however I don't think that many good movies have been made about 'em.
So out of the horde of zom-flicks that exist, these are the few that I like are:
10. Zombieland
I've never been really big into the horror-comedy genre. It always felt to me that the comedy sorta cancels out the horror aspect of the film. Fortunately, Zombieland seems to focus more with the comedy area of it's premise, & the story centered more on the main characters dealing in world with few human survivors than it does on these characters battling their way thru flanks upon flanks of zombies (though, there are enough of those scenes to warrant the name of this movie). So, even though I'm not a big fan of zombie apocalypses, I found that I was able to sit thru this one with a bit more of an appreciation not only for the sub-genre itself, but more importantly, with an appreciation for a certain actor* with the initials BM. And yet, even more importantly, with an appreciation for the fact that I live in a time when I don't have to worry about life's little Twinkie gauge going on empty.
9. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
While I respect George Romero's horror/comedy zombie flix & I understand that there's an audience out there for it, the truth is, I myself have little patience for this specific brand of subgenre.
Therefore, when Zack Snyder came along & redid Dawn with a budget more substantial than what Mssr. Romero is usually used to, & with a more solid storyline, along with the shlock gage turned down a couple of notches, I found myself actually enjoying watching a film about a subject that beforehand, I had no interest in: a mallful of zombies searching for something to munch on beyond the barriers of the food court.
8. [REC] 2
How do you up the ante of a sequel for a zombie flick that already raised the level of real horror & therefore finally busted through the mired schlock that had infected the genre?
Well,
revealing the answer to that question would require some big-time spoilers....
so let me just say that,
after years of accumulating a formula that's gotten way past the point of cliche,
it's about time films about the living dead starting showing some new signs of life.
7. 28 Weeks Later
To be honest, over-all, as a film, I liked 28 Weeks Later more than it's predecessor, 28 Days.
However, the reason I don't have it listed up higher than 28 Days is because, as much as I liked it,
I thought that Days was much horror-like that it's sequel.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Weeks has enough to qualify itself into the category of the horror genre. And personally, I found this one to be much more a thrillride of a movie, with alot more non-stop action, not to mention that, the plot came off as more cohesive.
But Days felt like it had the creepiness factor in it's advantage since it's the film that first introduces the rabies-infected psuedo-zombies that tended to behave more like the running dead than they did the walking dead.
Either way , between the two films, the quality of the franchise so far is high enough that I'm glad to be able to include both of them on this particular list of fear-fraught favorites.
6. Shaun Of The Dead
The zom-com finally crystalizes itself with this entry, a film that features a shlockful of ghouls & gags, but without the over-the-top camp that infested the genre for such a long time.
And if you think that the album Second Coming by the Stone Roses is as much an under-appreciated classic as much as I do, then this is probably the zombie flick for you.
5. Dead Set
I first watched this british series as the 3+ hour compilation movie, not the 30 minute episode installments. So for me, I'm qualifying it as a full-feature film entry, thus allowing me to keep this list at an even 10.
And if you like the first [REC] movie, and if you're tired of those annoying reality "stars" like the housemates of Britain's "Big Bruvver" (or if you're just plain tired of British people in general), then this is the zombie flick for you.
4. Planet Terror
While the shlock that comes with most zombie flicks usually puts me off, Robert Rodriguez's style of depicting his half of The Grindhouse as a caricature of a genre that has already gone cartoonishly over the top, makes this a walking undead gore-a-rama that I could not only stomach, but enjoy as well. Coupled with a modern sense of violence that we've all mindlessly grown to love, it's a zombie action flick of an energetic quality that sparked some life into my usually dead reaction to most shambling corpse fare.
So, if you're into chicks with guns, zombie apocalypeses & amputees (& let's be honest.... who isn't?),
then this is the zombie flick for you.
3. 28 Days Later
Y'know, the concept of zombies has gotten bogged down with the campiness that has overtaken this horror sub-genre over the years, that the horror aspect seems to have been practically filtered out. And though alot of this may be due to the logistic of being able to easily escape these stumbling monstrocities, the fact is, if anyone here actually saw a zombie, they'd still be scared sh#tless. If at least by the idea that they have born witness to something as "death-defying" as an entity of the "undead".
This movie attempts to address these issues by respectfully replacing the idea of rising from the dead more akin to being infected with a rabid mind-devolving plague. And IMO, that's enough to turn the concept of a zombie into a more reality like creature that's pretty damn scary. Especially when added to the fact that they can now move fast enough to catch you.
2. [REC]
Take what Cloverfield took from The Blair WitchProject, add a dash of 28 Days later, and then sprinkle on some sub-titles (at least, in my case),
& there you go. A quality zombie flick of which I rarely get to see without a giant glob of gooey camp splattered all over it.
1. Night Of The Living Dead
This could almost be considered the "Blair Witch Project" of it's time, in that had a very documentary realism style to it that was later further advanced by the shaky camera genre of recent years.
And to my mind, it was the first time I had ever seen the depiction of zombies as truly scary. Because, let's be honest here. Even though everyone always makes fun of the fact that they're easy to escape, the truth is, if any of us were to be truly confronted by a husk of rotting flesh that stood upright, just the idea that we were actually witnessing one of the "living dead" would be enough to makes sh#t out our own skeletons.
Or at least, scare us to a point of not being able to think as straight as one would like during such a sticky situation.
A concept that is convincingly depicted in the behavior of the various characters of NotLD & is the primary reason why the heart of this horror classic still beats strong today.
So out of the horde of zom-flicks that exist, these are the few that I like are:
10. Zombieland
I've never been really big into the horror-comedy genre. It always felt to me that the comedy sorta cancels out the horror aspect of the film. Fortunately, Zombieland seems to focus more with the comedy area of it's premise, & the story centered more on the main characters dealing in world with few human survivors than it does on these characters battling their way thru flanks upon flanks of zombies (though, there are enough of those scenes to warrant the name of this movie). So, even though I'm not a big fan of zombie apocalypses, I found that I was able to sit thru this one with a bit more of an appreciation not only for the sub-genre itself, but more importantly, with an appreciation for a certain actor* with the initials BM. And yet, even more importantly, with an appreciation for the fact that I live in a time when I don't have to worry about life's little Twinkie gauge going on empty.
9. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
While I respect George Romero's horror/comedy zombie flix & I understand that there's an audience out there for it, the truth is, I myself have little patience for this specific brand of subgenre.
Therefore, when Zack Snyder came along & redid Dawn with a budget more substantial than what Mssr. Romero is usually used to, & with a more solid storyline, along with the shlock gage turned down a couple of notches, I found myself actually enjoying watching a film about a subject that beforehand, I had no interest in: a mallful of zombies searching for something to munch on beyond the barriers of the food court.
8. [REC] 2
How do you up the ante of a sequel for a zombie flick that already raised the level of real horror & therefore finally busted through the mired schlock that had infected the genre?
Well,
revealing the answer to that question would require some big-time spoilers....
so let me just say that,
after years of accumulating a formula that's gotten way past the point of cliche,
it's about time films about the living dead starting showing some new signs of life.
7. 28 Weeks Later
To be honest, over-all, as a film, I liked 28 Weeks Later more than it's predecessor, 28 Days.
However, the reason I don't have it listed up higher than 28 Days is because, as much as I liked it,
I thought that Days was much horror-like that it's sequel.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Weeks has enough to qualify itself into the category of the horror genre. And personally, I found this one to be much more a thrillride of a movie, with alot more non-stop action, not to mention that, the plot came off as more cohesive.
But Days felt like it had the creepiness factor in it's advantage since it's the film that first introduces the rabies-infected psuedo-zombies that tended to behave more like the running dead than they did the walking dead.
Either way , between the two films, the quality of the franchise so far is high enough that I'm glad to be able to include both of them on this particular list of fear-fraught favorites.
6. Shaun Of The Dead
The zom-com finally crystalizes itself with this entry, a film that features a shlockful of ghouls & gags, but without the over-the-top camp that infested the genre for such a long time.
And if you think that the album Second Coming by the Stone Roses is as much an under-appreciated classic as much as I do, then this is probably the zombie flick for you.
5. Dead Set
I first watched this british series as the 3+ hour compilation movie, not the 30 minute episode installments. So for me, I'm qualifying it as a full-feature film entry, thus allowing me to keep this list at an even 10.
And if you like the first [REC] movie, and if you're tired of those annoying reality "stars" like the housemates of Britain's "Big Bruvver" (or if you're just plain tired of British people in general), then this is the zombie flick for you.
4. Planet Terror
While the shlock that comes with most zombie flicks usually puts me off, Robert Rodriguez's style of depicting his half of The Grindhouse as a caricature of a genre that has already gone cartoonishly over the top, makes this a walking undead gore-a-rama that I could not only stomach, but enjoy as well. Coupled with a modern sense of violence that we've all mindlessly grown to love, it's a zombie action flick of an energetic quality that sparked some life into my usually dead reaction to most shambling corpse fare.
So, if you're into chicks with guns, zombie apocalypeses & amputees (& let's be honest.... who isn't?),
then this is the zombie flick for you.
3. 28 Days Later
Y'know, the concept of zombies has gotten bogged down with the campiness that has overtaken this horror sub-genre over the years, that the horror aspect seems to have been practically filtered out. And though alot of this may be due to the logistic of being able to easily escape these stumbling monstrocities, the fact is, if anyone here actually saw a zombie, they'd still be scared sh#tless. If at least by the idea that they have born witness to something as "death-defying" as an entity of the "undead".
This movie attempts to address these issues by respectfully replacing the idea of rising from the dead more akin to being infected with a rabid mind-devolving plague. And IMO, that's enough to turn the concept of a zombie into a more reality like creature that's pretty damn scary. Especially when added to the fact that they can now move fast enough to catch you.
2. [REC]
Take what Cloverfield took from The Blair WitchProject, add a dash of 28 Days later, and then sprinkle on some sub-titles (at least, in my case),
& there you go. A quality zombie flick of which I rarely get to see without a giant glob of gooey camp splattered all over it.
1. Night Of The Living Dead
This could almost be considered the "Blair Witch Project" of it's time, in that had a very documentary realism style to it that was later further advanced by the shaky camera genre of recent years.
And to my mind, it was the first time I had ever seen the depiction of zombies as truly scary. Because, let's be honest here. Even though everyone always makes fun of the fact that they're easy to escape, the truth is, if any of us were to be truly confronted by a husk of rotting flesh that stood upright, just the idea that we were actually witnessing one of the "living dead" would be enough to makes sh#t out our own skeletons.
Or at least, scare us to a point of not being able to think as straight as one would like during such a sticky situation.
A concept that is convincingly depicted in the behavior of the various characters of NotLD & is the primary reason why the heart of this horror classic still beats strong today.
__________________
Right now, all I'm wearing is a mustard-stained wife-beater T-shirt, no pants & a massive sombrero.
Right now, all I'm wearing is a mustard-stained wife-beater T-shirt, no pants & a massive sombrero.
Last edited by TheMightyCelestial; 10-22-12 at 02:18 AM.
)
I can't wait to see Diary of the Dead.