Zombies

[Mister Six]

What's the anti-capitalist stuff in Train? Does it extend much beyond "being an overworked corporate dad is bad" and "rich baddy/noble homeless man"? I honestly can't remember that bit at all.

REC 1 is still very, very good. Best found footage film I've seen (until someone points out a much better one I've forgotten), and I usually find that genre a massive turn-off.

[dissolute ocelot]

Train to Busan was great.

Still not seen Train, but the (animated) prequel Seoul Station is really good as a kind of movie about homeless/sexworker outsiders living through shit and peripherally menaced by zombies who're really the least of their problems.

Night of the Comet (1984) is great fun, a teen zombie comedy set in LA about sisters dealing with their sister issues and playing old video games and hanging round a radio station, with a cool soundtrack of the sort of 80s rock unknowns that always turn up on 80s soundtracks that couldn't afford proper bands (no-name cover of Girls Just Want To Have Fun and everything). The zombie stuff is a bit lame if you're looking for Romero-ish gore, but it does the whole post-apocalyptic atmosphere very well, and there's as much half-assed social critique as Dawn of the Dead. It's almost a cross between Miracle Mile and Earth Girls Are Easy and The Decline of Western Civilization.

[bgmnts]

Day of the Dead: Bloodlines.

Fucking sickening, lasted 15 minutes. The lead is almost raped by a stalker type before being saved by the zombie outbreak, cut to 20 seconds later she is shown jogging in her tiny shorts and tube top with her tits out.

Remember when the original did that?

[Jim Bob]

Day of the Dead: Bloodlines.

Fucking sickening, lasted 15 minutes. The lead is almost raped by a stalker type before being saved by the zombie outbreak, cut to 20 seconds later she is shown jogging in her tiny shorts and tube top with her tits out.

Remember when the original did that?

I razzied actor Johnathon Schaech, in a Reddit AMA.  He's a working actor but Bloody Disgusting shamelessly pimped Day of the Dead: Bloodline in a blatant under the counter bit of promotion and in the process, treated Schaech as though he were a horror icon in the weeks leading up to its release, which set me on edge.  He proceeded to downvote my comments.  That's right, I got downvoted by Johnathon Schaech.  THE Johnathon Schaech (whom, if Bloody Disgusting are to be believed, is a living\undead legend).  Lugosi.  Karloff.  Lee.  Schreck Schaech.  Kings amongst kings.

[bgmnts]

I razzied actor Johnathon Schaech, in a Reddit AMA.  He's a working actor but Bloody Disgusting shamelessly pimped Day of the Dead: Bloodline in a blatant under the counter bit of promotion and in the process, treated Schaech as though he were a horror icon in the weeks leading up to its release, which set me on edge.  He proceeded to downvote my comments.  That's right, I got downvoted by Johnathon Schaech.  THE Johnathon Schaech (whom, if Bloody Disgusting are to be believed, is a living\undead legend).  Lugosi.  Karloff.  Lee.  Schreck Schaech.  Kings amongst kings.

Is the fact that people keep reviving and remaking these movies but each time in a more putrid and rotten form that is only a grotesque mockery of the original meant to be some kind of subtle commentary on zombies in popular culture or am I giving those responsible far too much credit?

Oof.

Also in response to a question about how this differentiates from Romero's work:

Romero's zombie films all dealt with underlying social issues and this does that

lol

[DoesNotFollow]

Got a chance to see Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue/Let Sleeping Corpses Lie on a big screen at a grindhouse type film festival later this year - is it worth a look? Also seeing Shaun at the same place in May. Perfick.

[Egyptian Feast]

Got a chance to see Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue/Let Sleeping Corpses Lie on a big screen at a grindhouse type film festival later this year - is it worth a look?

Definitely worth a look. The cause of the outbreak is quite novel, as is the English setting. Are there any other zombie flicks of the era set in England?

Also known as Don't Open The Window, which gave Edgar Wright and co the inspiration for the Don't trailer.

[Sin Agog]

Shout out to all of Jean Rollin's slightly pervy but very atmospheric horrors set in the French countryside.  Went through about 20 of them some years back.  Of the zombie-themed ones, I seem to recall The Grapes of Death being the most effective.  Loads of long shots of the Provencal.  His movies always had really cool scores as well.

[maett]

Got a chance to see Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue/Let Sleeping Corpses Lie on a big screen at a grindhouse type film festival later this year - is it worth a look?

Fuck yeah!
The adventures of George and Edna is possibly my favourite of all zombie films.
'And don't bugger me abaht'
'You're all the same  the lot of you, with your long hair and faggot clothes. Drugs, sex, every kind of filth..and you hate the police don't you?'
So atmospheric, great soundtrack (thank you Brundle-fly) tense scenes, gore, you can smell the early 70s. Oh it's wonderful.

Also a fan of Seoul Station and Flesh Eaters.

[Brundle-Fly]

I want to big up The Horde (2009) which has some truly brutal zombies and truly brutal characters. French splatterfest with Jo Prestia who is most known as playing Le Tenia from Irreversible (1996).

[Kryton]

Forgot to mention Brain Dead which is the goriest film I've ever seen.

[bgmnts]

Has anyone seen the Korean drama Kingdom on flix yet? Seems to be a zombie series set in the Joseon period. Its based on a webcomic apparently. Unsure how much of it revolves around zombies or if thats just a backdrop to political drama.

[maett]

Has anyone seen the Korean drama Kingdom on flix yet? Seems to be a zombie series set in the Joseon period. Its based on a webcomic apparently. Unsure how much of it revolves around zombies or if thats just a backdrop to political drama.

Yeah I watched it, the second season is just about to be released. There's a fair bit of zombie action. It was a while ago since I watched it and was mainly interested because Bae Doona was in it, there is a bit of political shenanigans, Not really scary and I don't recall it being full of tension but worth a peek.

[Artie Fufkin]

Well, already mentioned :
Dawn Of The Dead
Train To Busan
Rec  1 (maybe cos I wasn't expecting much)
Cargo
Shaun Of The Dead
One Cut Of The Dead

Not yet mentioned :
Maggie with Schwarzenegger in. Admittedly, Arnie can't act, I think if they had an actual actor in this it would be great.
Colin

[magval]

Maggie with Schwarzenegger in. Admittedly, Arnie can't act, I think if they had an actual actor in this it would be great.

Really liked him in this. Fans of Arnie should maybe give it a go. Arnie plays depressed really well. See also the dreadful End of Days.

[H-O-W-L]

I think 28 Days Later is honestly complete shit now. I like about 30.. 40 minutes of it, but as soon as they leave London it becomes actual real proper shit. The only good part of the second half is the House/Heartbeat stuff, and the design of the army checkpoint.

[bgmnts]

I like the bit where Cillian Murphy goes mental and the ramblings of the Scottish soldier.

Plus Naomie Harris (and probably Murphy tbf) is one of the most beautiful humans on earth so gets a pass for that as well.

[Mister Six]

I like the bit where Cillian Murphy goes mental and the ramblings of the Scottish soldier.

Yeah, the "we should be watching the fucking Simpsons" bit hit me when I watched it as a teen, though on reflection it seemed a bit fatuous.

It's two films, really, isn't it? London and then the soldier stuff. And the latter is a bit of a boring letdown, even if it's thematically appropriate.

[phantom_power]

I remember really liking 28 Weeks Later, quite an under-rated things that does some pretty interesting things with the characters

[maett]

Yeah I liked 28 weeks Later, too. It got slated at the time I could only think because there was American involvement and certain people were rubbed up the wrong way by the implication that the U.S forces would be part of rebuilding/securing the U.K.

[C_Larence]

I thought Train to Busan was properly shit. The only character I thought was of any interest at all was the burly husband. One Cut of the Dead is great, but the second and third acts don't live up to the first. Going to watch Pontypool later this week, heard good things (ironically)

[Mister Six]

I thought Train to Busan was properly shit. The only character I thought was of any interest at all was the burly husband.

Wayhey!

One Cut of the Dead is great, but the second and third acts don't live up to the first.

Boo!

[C_Larence]

Boo!

Do you think the second act is as good as the first? I'm a fan of the film but for me it grinds to a halt when

Spoiler alert

it shows how the director got roped into doing the film

[close]

and after that, although it does get going again it's

Spoiler alert

basically the first act again

[close]

. It's still 10x as joyful and inventive and impressive as Train to Busan..

[Mister Six]

The second act

Spoiler alert

sags because there's so much to set up

[close]

, but the third

Spoiler alert

is joyous, as all the little "Waitaminute, why--?" moments from the first are explained

[close]

. Did you know about the details of the story going in? I went in totally blind, which may have helped.

I don't know how anyone could possibly

Spoiler alert

enjoy the first act but not the third.

[close]

Horses for courses and all that, though.

[C_Larence]

The second act

Spoiler alert

sags because there's so much to set up

[close]

, but the third

Spoiler alert

is joyous, as all the little "Waitaminute, why--?" moments from the first are explained

[close]

. Did you know about the details of the story going in? I went in totally blind, which may have helped.

I don't know how anyone could possibly

Spoiler alert

enjoy the first act but not the third.

[close]

Horses for courses and all that, though.

I went in blind yes, although (at the risk of sounding like Ricky "I don't read novels because I come up with a better ending after the first page" Gervais") I think in a way that makes a movie seem worse. Same thing happened with Parasite, where I saw so many reviews beforehand that said go in blind, don't know anything about it, that when I eventually did see it, it didn't live up to the hype I'd created in my head. Besides, I'm not saying I don't enjoy the third act! I just don't think it's as good as the first. If I had to rate the acts separately I'd say:

8/10
5/10
7/10

with the film overall being 8.

[Mister Six]

Ah, I misread your comment. For me the third was fantastic and I don't think the first or third acts are really divisible or easily judged independent of one another. But that's my view and not yours, obviously.

[TrenterPercenter]

Versus (2000) Enjoy.

[bgmnts]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly7Laj8Yp6w

Dawn of the Dead DVD Extra; fictionalised news coverage of the outbreak. I remember this from the DVD way back when, thought it really was impressive for a dvd extra even back then.

[A Hat Like That]

I like the bit where Cillian Murphy goes mental and the ramblings of the Scottish soldier.

Plus Naomie Harris (and probably Murphy tbf) is one of the most beautiful humans on earth so gets a pass for that as well.

I think Ecclestone's character is one of the better 'bad guys' in a modern film. He's got a proper motivation, he's charismatic, he clearly cares about his boys. There's enough in that last section even if it's not as immediate as the first half.

Although why the soldiers hide and wait at the checkpoint until the clearly not infected group that have just arrived in a Taxi gets at least one person infected is totally beyond me ...

[A Hat Like That]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly7Laj8Yp6w

Dawn of the Dead DVD Extra; fictionalised news coverage of the outbreak. I remember this from the DVD way back when, thought it really was impressive for a dvd extra even back then.

I think I would have watched that back in the day. It's excellently done.

5m 05s genuine LOL there.