comment #1

fitz-hume says ...

Looks like something which Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror tried to be but failed. That is a genuinely fun and entertaining zombie movie.

comment #2

Rich S. says ...

The rare film where every trailer has been better than the one before. Woody Harrelson will become a geek god after this film.

comment #3

frankbooth says ...

Lex, you're needed here. Please reprint your rant from that other blog.

And are running zombies now the norm? I hate you more than ever, Zach Snyder.

comment #4

frankbooth says ...

Exception to the Zombies are Tired and Played-Out Rule: [rec].
I finally saw it last night, and it lived up to its reputation. Very well-done on a low-budget in a limited setting. Stomach-churningly suspenseful gruesomeness, milking the mockumentary format (which I'm also sick of) to the fullest.

But seriously, ten-year moratorium unless you have a brilliant new take or your movie is good as [rec].

comment #5

Rich S. says ...

I'm right there with you, frankbooth, but you know something? Zach Snyder didn't create fast zombies. George Romero did. I just don't think he meant to at the time.

In the original Dawn of the Dead, there's a scene where they land the helicopter for refueling at a small rural airport. Peter, the big SWAT guy, goes into an office at the airport, where he's attacked by two child zombies. Those two little bastards don't lurch or lumber. They run right at him repeatedly until he machine-guns them both to pulp.

It's a great scene and in its own way, pretty funny. It wouldn't have worked if the kid zombies were slow. But in his complaining about running zombies, I'll bet Romero forgets that scene.

comment #6

George Prager says ...

WTF?!!!!!!

http://www.fox61.com/entertainment/sns-obit-john-hughes,0,3256368.story

comment #7

frankbooth says ...

Well, they were young zombies. They weren't all stiff yet.

comment #8

frankbooth says ...

Oh, shit, there goes the zombie talk. Today is going to be a day of Hughes exalting/bashing.

comment #9

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

AWESOME movie, frank. Seriously one of the scariest, most suspenseful films I've ever had the pleasure of sitting through. Especially the ending. Wow!

Rich -- At his age/mileage, I bet Romero forgets a lot of things. He obviously forgot how to make a good zombie film -- the scariest thing about Diary of the Dead is that it actually got released!

comment #10

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Yeah the forthcoming Hughes obit. ought to be interesting...

comment #11

Rich S. says ...

I actually liked Diary of the Dead. Though the "documentary " thing has been done to death, it had some creative zombie kills and some decent moments. The scene with the zombies collected in the pool was one of the most chilling scenes Romero ever did.

comment #12

frankbooth says ...

I was sure that final zombie was a digital, Gollum-style effect, but it was actually a very skinny GUY in makeup. Wow.

I should see Diary. The thought that it's the same basic idea as [rec], but that some young whippersnappers did it better, is depressing. But then, Land of the Dead was depressing, too.

I really don't want to sympathize with zombies.

comment #13

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

No Frank, you really shouldn't see Diary...lol. Honestly, it's everything you fear and hate about the mockumentary that you listed above, DotD falls squarely into all of those tired cliches, IMHO. I didn't even really think the effects were any good. And this is actually coming from someone who rather enjoyed Land of the Dead...for what it was. Obsessive film bitch I am, I I saw the fifth Dead movie ONLY to complete (God, I hope that's the end of it!) George's cinematic zombie cycle. It was honestly really hard to sit through.

On the other hand, I would definitely recommend [rec] to Rich.

comment #14

lipranzer says ...

I preferred the earlier trailer, but "girls just mature faster than boys" did make me laugh. I still think this looks like it could be fun, unlike PLANET TERROR, which I didn't think was fun at all.

I have heard very good things about [REC]. I'll check it out when it's no longer renting as much.

comment #15

frankbooth says ...

SPOILER DISCUSSION!

SPOILERS!

BIG SPOILERS!

Okay, fair warning...

Am I just dumb, or was the ending confusing? There was all this stuff about possession and a vaccine, and then some scientific mumbo-jumbo on the tape.

Was it an infection, and the church allowed it to spread by dealing with it as a religious issue? Or did they somehow unwittingly turn demonic possession into a communicable disease in their attempts to concoct a vaccine?

I could have done without all the exposition, personally. The film almost lost me, briefly, during the news clipping scene. It rallied nicely for a kicker of an ending, though. (Which was spoiled by being shown in all the ads.)

comment #16

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

"Am I just dumb, or was the ending confusing?"

Not dumb. Very first thing I did after seeing the movie was go straight online to see other people's take on it. Sadly, I can't seem to find the original thread, or even recall exactly which site it was from, but it was really interesting.

It was a little something like this:

http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131408

Except a lot longer, with a lot more back and forth with more commenters.

REPLY TO SPOILER DISCUSSION FOLLOWS

"Was it an infection, and the church allowed it to spread by dealing with it as a religious issue? Or did they somehow unwittingly turn demonic possession into a communicable disease in their attempts to concoct a vaccine?"

In a word, yes. lol.

One of the things I have to admit I really dug about the ending (some ppl didn't, different strokes) is that it kept the exact details of what the hell happened a bit muddy. I found this pretty effective technique, because as she's going through those tapes/clippings, you get hints at what might have gone wrong, but it's up to your imagination to kind of fill in the blanks. Actively including the audience in this activity leads to extreme anxiety, and the scene is drawn on sooo incredibly long (one could argue too long, perhaps?), I find it the tension to reach almost unbearable levels.

I have a feeling Hitchcock would be very fond of the technique of this movie (probably Welles, too, for the excellent sound design & the varied ways [rec] finds ways to drive the narrative without dialogue).

Anyway, I hope I'm not building this movie up too much for some people, but this thing seriously blew me away. It was the best movie I saw last year ahead of Che (it wasn't technically a 2008 film, but I felt okay with this designation seeing how it never got a theatrical release in the U.S. -- a fucking crime), and I seriously consider it one of the top 5 horror movies ever made.

The Quarantine remake -- which I was straight pissed when I heard about it -- is actually pretty tolerable, most likely because it strays very little from the original. But what's the point? It lacks the energy, rawness, and you-are-here-now quality of [rec], and in horror that's damn near everything.

In a way, it's too bad this film didn't come out instead of Blair Witch Project back in '99. It's near-perfect execution of the horror-mockumentary (horrormentary?), and would have actually lived up to all the hype.

ANYWAY, thanks for bringing this movie up (never thought I'd have the opportunity to discuss it on HE). Should be a cult classic for years -- if not decades -- to come.

comment #17

MDOC says ...

[REC] wasn't on my radar screen, now it is I need to check it out. Apparently it was remade as Quarantine. Anybody see Quarantine? Is it any good or was too much lost in translation?

comment #18

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Like I said in my above never-ending ramble, it's pretty decent...but I'm not really sure why someone would choose to see that over [REC] -- well, at least the first time around -- unless it's an issue of availability.

I just checked the budget on the remake and it was only $12 million, obviously far more than the Spanish original, but still mere peanuts by Hollywood standards. Probably a wise decision. I think the more money you pour into this type of movie, the less raw (and ultimately, terrifying) it becomes.

comment #19

frankbooth says ...

Shockumentary.

comment #20

COCO says ...

The Woodman rocks......lean and mean...this will
be the one to watch....until....''28 Months Later''
.....until then ''buckle up''.

comment #21

longrunner says ...

CitizenKaned: 'Obsessive film bitch I am, I I saw the fifth Dead movie ONLY to complete (God, I hope that's the end of it!) George's cinematic zombie cycle. It was honestly really hard to sit through.'

Not the end of it, I'm afraid. Romero's new zombie film is going to be at TIFF next month. It's called Survival of the Dead: http://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/films/georgearomerosofthed

As much as I admire Romero, this looks bad. And I really disliked Diary, too.

comment #22

derekmonster says ...

Dan O' Bannon's 1985 zombie gem RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD strikes an excellent balance between humor and horror and to me is still very funny to this day...fast zombies are in effect in this one, too.

comment #23

frankbooth says ...

That's true. ROTLD was hilarious, and it still holds up. (The humor more than the effects.) But O'Bannon made up his own rules and wasn't just aping Romero. His zombies talked, could survive dismemberment, felt pain, ate brains.

What I object to is taking Romero's mythology, the biting, headshots and everything else, but then allowing the rotting dead to sprint like spry young bucks.

Anybody see Let Sleeping Corpses Lie/Manchester Morgue? That was a rare, original zombie film with a creepy atmosphere all its own.

comment #24

Rich S. says ...

Hadn't heard of that one, frank, but I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it. [rec], too. BTW guys, thanks for the huge spoiler warnings. It's much appreciated. Jeffrey could take a few pointers there.

In terms of zom-coms, I also liked ROTL 2, which gets half its humor through the self-realization that it's just repeating the first film.

Fido is also a lot of fun, especially the "duck and cover" films at the beginning.

I cannot wait for World War Z, though. If they pull it off (and I'm not saying they will), it could be the new standard.

comment #25

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Jesus, longrunner...that about ruined the start of my day, lol.

Funny thing about Romero is I always thought he had some fairly unique concepts for horror and genre flicks: Martin, The Crazies, Knightriders, The Dark Half (hell, I even thought Bruiser was pretty interesting even though it wasn't exactly a very good film), so I find his recent habit of falling back on his Dead films kind of depressing.

I mean he is getting older and of course it's his legacy to do with as he pleases, but I really think it worked best as a trilogy. I understand why LotD was made (fans were clamoring for more; introduce new generation that grew up with zombies to an actual Romero flick), but I'm officially offboard now.

Nice to see some love for RotLD, what an awesomely fun movie. Speaking of making too many, man, they really whored their brand name out towards the end of that cycle. Yeesh.

comment #26

free games says ...

The Woodman rocks